HEY hello hi you there YES hi it’s the Friday (+1) Open Thread! I am delirious with lack of sleep and excessive caffeine, and I would like to hear all your thoughts and feelings and definitely photos, yes photos, I want to hear your photos ok that’s a thing now. Welcome to the one place on the internet where you should most definitely read the comments.
So I’m not at Camp and I’m gonna guess you’re not either, unless you’re reading this on your phone in the crafts cabin because human interaction got overwhelming. (Hello, Brianna!) It’s all good though WE GOT THIS. I am currently in my A-Camp hoodie, which is practically the same thing. I mean, this hoodie has taken an awkward photo with Allison Weiss in a bar in Soho, y’all, that’s almost as gay as a million queers on a mountain.
And here’s my girlfriend in cat pants, JUST BECAUSE.
So many things to tell you about this week – the UK local and EU elections were on Thursday, that might be a thing of interest to maybe two of you? I see you, politics geeks, and you are not alone. Here’s a fun fact: as a Singaporean and resident of the UK, I am eligible to vote for the European Parliament elections as a Commonwealth citizen. Here’s another fun fact: three years of studying political theory (not entirely voluntarily) means that I can now talk at length about post-national configurations of citizenship as illustrated by this bizarre voting situation, but what I can’t do is figure out how to get myself on an electoral roll in a timely fashion. SORRY, DEMOCRACY.
And speaking of post-national citizenship (as you do), I just submitted my dissertation! Yesterday, in fact. An hour before the deadline. I have since celebrated LIKE A BOSS by… returning all my library books.
I learnt that if you camp out overnight in school less than twelve hours before your 10,000-word paper is due and forget to bring your laptop charger, the sheer sense of panic and impending doom makes you procrastinate way less. Earlier this week I downloaded my Twitter archive because I hit 25,000 tweets (shh don’t judge) and it turns out that every year without exception May is the month in which I tweet the most. Why? EXAMS. Exams make me feel like talking to the world about everything all the time – and I am very, very far from what you would call a “people person” (or sometimes even “capable of functioning in the presence of other humans”). Here’s a brief list of other things I’ve done this week while procrastinating:
- Offered to host this not-at-camp open thread situation
- Offered to carry my girlfriend’s child (she turned me down)
- Cleaned all my typewriter keys with blutack
- Unsuccessfully attempted to hunt down the first issue of Lumberjanes
- Sent cat photos to people on WhatsApp I otherwise rarely talk to (they sent cat photos back, I highly recommend this)
- Started rewatching OITNB
Now that 60% of my final year’s work has been submitted (and 82% of my overall degree is done!), I feel sure enough of my upcoming graduation to be able to tell people that I’m headed to Columbia next year to do a year-long MA in Sociology. SO. Teach me how to America, you guys. Tell me in the comments what you would say to someone who’s really nervous about crossing the pond for many reasons ranging from “cycling on the wrong side of the road” to “racial profiling at immigration.” Teach me the tricks of renting rooms in NYC. Do you have Walkers salt & vinegar crisps there? Do any of you have a cat I can pet within walking distance of Morningside Heights? Why do none of your measurement systems make any sense to me?
And in return, a thing from Singapore. Pink Dot SG, our one “pride” event, is far from perfect (and by that I mean “induces in me a fair amount of cynicism and distress”) but this video has some of my favourite people in it and at the end of the day this is a community I’m proud to belong to, so:
Now it’s your turn! Talk to me about anything and everything. I’ll be here all week, putting off reading the Leviathan just one more day forever.
How To Post a Photo In The Comments:
1. Find a photo!This is the easy part. Find a photo on the web, right click (on a Mac, control+click), hit “Copy Image URL,” and then…
2. Code it in to your comment! Use the following code:
<img src=”http://imageurlgoeshere.jpg”>
If you need to upload the photo you love from your computer, try using imgur.
*How To Post a Video In The Comments, Too:
1. Find a video on YouTube or Vimeo or WHATEVER and click “embed.” Copy that code, but first make sure it’s for 640px wide or less. If your player is too large, it will not display properly.
2. Copy the code and paste it directly into your comment.
3. Go forth and jam.
Two very detailed and helpful guides that explains how to do these things with more context are here and here!
