Just too close for comfort
Jan. 13th, 2007 11:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
catalyst2Just finished reading "Things my girlfriend and I have argued about". I thought this was a very funny book - so much so that I got strange looks from the people sitting next to me at the beach when I laughed out loud.
Pel Dalton is one of those utterly self-centred guys who thinks the world picks on him and yet everything he does encourages the world to do just that. What Pel has going for him is one of those utterly sardonic senses of humour that just strike the right note for my sense of humour. For me. the very funniest part was the depiction of the utter vacuity of so much work in tertiary educational institutions (into one of which I am compelled to shuffle occasionally). The proliferation of committees, the endless TLA (Three Letter Acronyms), the utter vanity of most of the little work that anybody actually produces was all so true to the mark that I winced at some of the descriptions, seeing myself in some of them - which just made it funnier, of course! When Pel, for example, was occupying three positions in an Acting capacity (for no extra pay, I might add), I think of my own time in 2005/2006 when I was doing exactly the same - and I dealt with it exactly the same way:
1. Do as little as possible.
2. Always cut short a discussion about work for position 1 with an "urgent meeting" for position 2.
3. Don't do anything that will have lasting consequences.
4. Prioritize your work - do the stuff that will stop the shit hitting the fan for your boss before all else.
The arguments that Pel and Ursula have are also funny. Because it is written completely from Pel's perspective, Ursula's irrationality is emphasized but I could see how Ursula could also could also be driven quite mad living with someone like Pel. I also liked his lunch-time "conversations" with Roo and Tracey. Most often, it was like 3 parallel conversations that only occasionally meandered across each other, usually with completely bewildering results.
Aaah, great times - and great book. Crap ending - but to have anything decisive happen in Pel's life would be so OOC that it would have been jarring.
Pel Dalton is one of those utterly self-centred guys who thinks the world picks on him and yet everything he does encourages the world to do just that. What Pel has going for him is one of those utterly sardonic senses of humour that just strike the right note for my sense of humour. For me. the very funniest part was the depiction of the utter vacuity of so much work in tertiary educational institutions (into one of which I am compelled to shuffle occasionally). The proliferation of committees, the endless TLA (Three Letter Acronyms), the utter vanity of most of the little work that anybody actually produces was all so true to the mark that I winced at some of the descriptions, seeing myself in some of them - which just made it funnier, of course! When Pel, for example, was occupying three positions in an Acting capacity (for no extra pay, I might add), I think of my own time in 2005/2006 when I was doing exactly the same - and I dealt with it exactly the same way:
1. Do as little as possible.
2. Always cut short a discussion about work for position 1 with an "urgent meeting" for position 2.
3. Don't do anything that will have lasting consequences.
4. Prioritize your work - do the stuff that will stop the shit hitting the fan for your boss before all else.
The arguments that Pel and Ursula have are also funny. Because it is written completely from Pel's perspective, Ursula's irrationality is emphasized but I could see how Ursula could also could also be driven quite mad living with someone like Pel. I also liked his lunch-time "conversations" with Roo and Tracey. Most often, it was like 3 parallel conversations that only occasionally meandered across each other, usually with completely bewildering results.
Aaah, great times - and great book. Crap ending - but to have anything decisive happen in Pel's life would be so OOC that it would have been jarring.
