Thursday 16 January 2014

I dislike shorthand

I dislike shorthand....but there's an actual logical reason behind my dislike. Basically, it's a time saver right? A convenience. By learning it, it allows you to take down conversations, discussions, etc. in fine detail because having learnt it, you can write at like, crazy fast speeds and such....but here's the thing....technology.

We live in an age where you can record conversations, without errors or mistakes (because it's there, on the tape or hard drive or memory stick or whatever) and later transcribe them as needs be, and that's the problem that learning shorthand supposedly obviates. But it can be done so much easier! Yes, you can't take recording devices into courts (but you can take notes...which is weird, considering the point is accuracy? what I mean by this is that you're not allowed to alter shorthand notes you make in court, even if you make a mistake....yeah) and thats a bit of an annoyance, but honestly, does it matter? Is it worth learning what is effectively a new language (that has little to no practical use outside of itself) just for one aspect of a career that I hopefully will have no experience of at the end of my time?

It's just...annoying me...this is time that could be better served writing up stories, learning interview techniques (which, I suppose it is, in an oblique kind of way), working on the more academic side of the course, just...anything, you know, instead of copying down dictation after dictation after dictation....this is how education used to be in Victorian times, we moved on from that for a reason! (Or if you want a modern day example, fine, look at the Japanese educational system, it's based almost entirely upon retention of facts and systems, like shorthand is, no analysis or criticism allowed and they are suffering for it intellectually) 

I know, it's shocking, a student complaining about the work one has to do, but mein gott, it is dirge, pure and simple, and it is something that I simply cannot see where the benefit is. The only reward that I have heard of is that newspapers will not hire people without it...you know, that news medium that is doing so well at the moment. I've heard the argument that "well, maybe the recording device breaks or doesn't capture the voice right/you can't hear it over background noise" and I don't know, but to me that just sounds incredibly...well....stupid, quite frankly. There are enough programs, even free ones, that can filter out sounds on audio streams. "Yes, but it's a back-up to your recording device." ....so simply carry a second audio device...

I kind of understand it in the sense that academics love to complicate what are essentially simple concepts/practices. Why do something if it is easy, right? If anyone could do it...heavens forbid! No! We must make it long, drawn out and tedious enough that it dissuades the average person so that when we have mastered it we can lord it over folk, yes! 

I am, of course, going to stick at it. Because at the end of the day, I kind of have to, and there are things a person has to do even if they dislike it (and believe me, this is something I really dislike), but also, I just had to have a little rant about it. If employers in the United Kingdom are looking at shorthand speed though, I think I may have to go abroad to make a living though. I think learning an actual language would be more interesting anyway. 

Friday 10 January 2014

So yeah, it's been a while....

I'd like to say that I've not updated because I've been too busy working....or socialising....or in a coma....but the truth is that I've just been lazy. But the thing is, I don't really turn off, not ever, I'm always thinking about ways I can improve, things I can do better, stuff I can do to make a greater impression...It's annoying, in some respects, because I very rarely follow through with those plans, because (and I am sure this something that we are all afflicted with) I am so easily dissuaded. Not through lack of support, or lack of recognition, but....well, no, actually exactly those things. 

We, that is to say I, like to act holier than thou, I'll talk about things that are important to me, and I get that that is why you may probably, are probably, not interested in what I have to say...and that's cool, it really is. Writing these things is basically a form of therapy (yay for free therapy!) for me, and that I have not wrote...written...I don't know the correct English....but whatever, that I have not posted for a while would seem to indicate that my life is more or less going well...because, you know, I've not posted....or something....so why am I posting this now, why am I writing this blog now? 

Basically, life is going just grand for me, I don't have many complaints, I am white, male and in university, if there was some kind of genetic lottery, I would be winning it at the moment. It's just....relativity...you know, things are only as good as they relate to you? To one's self....It might sound bad, but even if you were a billionaire, if you lost a million in an hour, it wouldn't matter, it'd still be bad you lost the million....and I guess that's kinda what this is about...there are those that are far better off than I....and those that are far worse off than I....but isn't that life?

That will always be, surely? At the moment, what's destroying me is my frankly laughable attempts to get into a relationship, but that is (when measured against the plight of others) inconsequential. Here I am, worried that I may never have children, that I've gone too long without a freaking date, and then there are people who, you know, are worried that when they go to sleep tonight they won't freaking see tomorrow. It kinda puts one's thoughts into perspective. *Yes, i do know I am saying freaking a lot...I'm trying to wean myself off of swearing..it's not going all that well....*

And that's kinda it...things are going well, but they could be going better, and I'm getting greedy, so I need to write this kind of shit and remind myself of that. But...the thing is, I don't even know if they are going that well...by some metrics, sure, things are swell...but people who know me know that above all else I desire a family and that is....that is far from a reality....I don't know....I guess that's all I've got for now, otherwise I'm going to get really mushy, so ciao bella.