Now is the time for repentance; I have come to see an error in my ways. For years now (probably 8), I have insisted on writing dates dd/mm/yyyy instead of mm/dd/yyyy. This is how most places outside of the US write dates and it seemed more logical to me, as the units of time progress nicely from largest to smallest. However, today, as I was shifting through my daily plans, I realized that if you have a bunch dates filed in alpha-numeric order, the standard American format makes more sense; when you write dates dd/mm/yyyy, January 1st is followed by February 1st, then March 1st, and so on, which is generally not a useful order to place things in. If you put the month before the date, January 1st is now followed by January 2nd (hooray!). Following this logic, best practice would actually be to write everything yyyy/mm/dd (which is the way it’s done on the paperwork I’ve filled out for the Chinese government), but I don’t know if the West is ready for that yet.
After listening to a podcast on the New Books Network this afternoon, I pirated a book called Sand Talk, about Australian Aboriginal ways of knowing. It lays out an alternative cosmology which sees time as both cyclical and inextricable from the land, yet the book remains remarkably reader friendly, relying in equal parts on legends, personal anecdotes, and historical/scientific knowledge. I would highly encourage it to anyone interested in sustainability and/or philosophy. I’m about 90 pages in since 3pm.
As was requested of me last night, I made a placement test for a new student by noon today (the administrator who would normally do it has COVID), however the student never showed up to the Zoom meeting…
Day 3 of classes ran more smoothly than day two, but I’ve got to find a better way to keep the beginner learners occupied. They are my biggest class and thus spread my attention the thinnest. And to be fair, Hannia has the right instincts; pet turtles are, in fact, more interesting than verbs. The next move is on me.
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