- Upgrade WordPress so that lint runs on version 2.0.4 (we’re still on version 2.0.3). I’m not sure how long this process would take me, but I want a quiet day to sit listening to Julian Bream playing Bach’s guitar Suite in E Minor, S. 996, drinking cups of tea and having pleasant conversation with M while idly tinkering with the server.
- Write something on how the Chinese language works, for Simone (see comment here). Nothing gives me more pleasure than reading and ruminating about languages. (Okay, maybe some things give me more pleasure, but you get my drift…)
- Write a short review of The Vivisector for the library blog. Yes, I actually gave in and read that book, despite my dissing book clubs. The review doesn’t have to be too long - like these.
- Convert my blogging paper into an article for Australian Academic and Research Libraries. For the March 2007 issue. I’ve also been invited to submit my wiki paper to The Electronic Library but I’m in two minds because I don’t want my work to be trapped behind subscription-only doors. Lately I’ve been thinking about academic journal publishers and whether or not, in coming years, they will be completely bypassed as scholars decide to self-publish or at least use freely available, open access methods of communicating their research. As a librarian, I hope so!
- Sell the house.
- Get Baubles the Cat a haircut, in time for the Long Hot Summer ahead. The photos don’t show it, but she’s a bit matted at the moment, especially around the ears and down her back.
- Write up all of those notes in my Blogging Possibilities Notebook.
- Plan a long decadent holiday in Europe. I want to go to Groningen, Amsterdam, Rotterdam, London, Paris, Berlin, Prague, Rome, Athens and Ystad. Oh, and Istanbul.
- Have a yum cha breakfast one of these weekends. It’s been ages.
- Play with Zotero. I’ve upgraded to Firefox 2 and have installed Zotero but haven’t looked at it yet.
Archive for October, 2006
I was contemplating the view through the window in my study this morning. The sunshine is beautiful.
The books are threatening to take over my room. (All the bookshelves are still in the old house.)
My photoshoot was interrupted by a gray and white furball. “Follow me, CW!”
“What are you waiting for?”
Note the white bowl next to the spa/bath - Baubles the Cat’s water bowl! “Do I need to spell it out for you??”
“CW!! C’mon!!”
The things these humans put me through for a drink of fresh water…
A comment I just wrote in response to JadedLotus’s comment here made me think about hobbies, and how mine have changed a bit over the years.
Funny things, hobbies. Wikipedia defines a hobby as a pastime:
practised for interest and enjoyment, rather than financial reward. Examples include collecting, making, tinkering, sports and adult education. Engaging in a hobby can lead to acquiring substantial skill, knowledge, and experience. However, personal fulfillment is the aim.…
An important determinant of what is considered a hobby, as distinct from a profession (beyond the lack of remuneration), is probably how easy it is to make a living at the activity. Almost no one can make a living at cigarette card or stamp collecting, but many people find it enjoyable; so it is commonly regarded as a hobby.
My hobbies definitely fall into the category of activities-one-can’t-make-a-living-from, but thinking about it, some of them have definitely helped me at work.
Reading would have to be my Number One hobby. (If you’ve been reading this blog for a while you would probably have guessed.) My library shows the range of things I read: science fiction, crime fiction, Malaysian, Indonesian, Chinese language fiction, linguistics. Blogs feature here too, as I read a lot of blogs these days… How does reading help with my job? Besides filling my head with all sorts of useful facts and fancies, I’d say it also helps my memory - I seem to have a knack of remembering strange facts, and better still, am often able to dredge such facts up in response to obscure questions, or at parties. It all goes towards The Mystique of The Librarian. Such as it is 
I’d have to say that blogging is my next most rewarding hobby, even if it is my newest one. Besides giving me writing practice, I’m loving the fact that I’m getting to know so many people from all over the world. Workwise blogging helps because I learn so much from other bloggers - whether it’s technology related, or to do with my profession as a whole, or just the whole gamut of issues people are talking about these days.
Games - computer games - also take up a bit of my time. At the moment? World of Warcraft. I’m making friends and enjoying it whenever I catch up with Morgan in that world. Workwise: problem solving, lateral thinking, learning interfaces, typing. (Yes, typing - in-game chat has given me hours of practice with the keyboard. I have never learned how to type, formally, but years of chatting - IRC, email, in-game, IM - all great practice. I don’t need to look at the keyboard.)
Finally, my (not so) secret hobby: fountain pen collecting. I haven’t actually bought a single pen this year, not since my self-imposed ban on lurking on eBay. This hobby is an expensive one and after a while I decided that I needed to stop “needing” that Pelikan M400 (or whatever). My credit card can’t take the strain, even if it is such fun getting parcels from all over the world… These days I limit myself to penspotting. Meetings can be interesting (why do so many senior academics own Montblanc ballpens??). Workwise? Well, writing with fountain pens is good for my handwriting. And perhaps it also gives me an eye for detail!
