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September 13, 2006
On riding the T (and other points of interest)
I wish I could come up with more creative titles for my blog entries, but oh well...
Here is what the local weekly, the Dig, has to say about riding the T, echoing my sentiments (albeit somewhat hyperbolically):
"The Massachusetts Bay Transportation Authority—the T—is the nation’s oldest subway system. It may also be the nation’s worst. The trains never run on time, the stations are decrepit, the escalators are always broken, and the system shuts down around 12:30am—way before any normal person’s night should end. For generations, the state’s political elite have been giving their surly, alcoholic, half-retarded cousins great-paying government jobs with the T; the result is a system that’s wholly inept, and one that resents you for: a) being alive, and b) expecting a mass transit system to, um, work...
Speaking of efficiency, the T is notoriously unreliable and often retardedly slow. Always assume that the T hates you and wants you to die (and make you late). That’s because it does. Red, Orange and Blue Line riders should build an extra 10-15 minutes into their commutes. Green Line riders around BU and BC should allot double the ride time that it should take to get to their destination, and never ever leave home without a newspaper."
While the Dig is notoriously negative, this comes pretty close to my experience so far. Last Friday I was 30 minutes late to class because there was an electrical failure on the Red Line at South Station, so every one had to get off and, um, find their own way to work? Give me the New York subway any day.
At any rate, those of you who don't live here or don't use public transportation here probably do not understand, but this is just my every-once-in-a-while rant.
In other news, I just signed up for some free tutorials with the BU IT department, which is sweet considering I've never really learned any of this stuff. All I have to do is find a session that fits my schedule and then register for it, which isn't difficult considering I have no job or assistantship. So I'm taking tutorials in introductory and then intermediate HTML, Dreamweaver, CSS, and hopefully Adobe Photoshop later on. I know many of you probably already know how to use these, but I've always been too lazy to learn them myself, so I'm taking advantage of having other more capable people teach me for free.
School is keeping me busy enough, what with all of the reading I have to do. Currently I am reading Understanding Media: The Extensions of Man, by Marsh Mcluhan, who I am finding to be quite brilliant and prophetic, even though his writing style can be confusing. Also, I am tackling excerpts from Kenneth Burke's Language as Symbolic Action. Communication theory, here I come.
Lastly, I suddenly decided to drop a class that I knew was going to do nothing for me. I added on a video production for advertising and PR class. Doesn't sound like me, but then again, school is about trying out new things, right?
| By heiders | 04:45 PM
Comments
oh, the Dig, I miss it and its beautiful plan for my week.
as far as IT stuff goes, I've been meaning to learn HTML (better) and CSS for a long time, but still haven't gotten around to it (although I have learned about w3schools.com). this semester, thanks to my assistantship, I have joined the unfortunate ranks of tech services and now, instead of just lacking skills, get to be berated for lacking skills.
Posted by: linnea at September 13, 2006 08:39 PM
Ah, McLuhan, the meat and potatoes of every media studies neophyte.
Language as Symbolic Action is a very provocative title. Since I enjoy learning by proxy (thus enabling myself to stay informed without doing any of the actual work), please do update on the various juicy bits of academia you pick encounter.
Posted by: funke at September 15, 2006 09:27 AM
And obviously I can't edit my own comments. "Pick" should have been erased along with "up on" and replaced entirely with "encounter."
Posted by: funke at September 15, 2006 09:28 AM
Well, today I learned that man is a symbol using animal and the inventor of the negative. And rotten with perfection. Don't ask me to explain what that means.
Posted by: heiders at September 15, 2006 05:23 PM
