Annoyances

I was reading TUAW this morning, and they were talking about the Apple.com site and how some people were reporting that the Downloads section was gone. In a nutshell their article was just saying that no, it’s not, it’s just not on the navigation now because they needed room for an iPad tab. My favorite quote from the article* was:

“Fortunately you can easily locate the downloads section simply by typing the word “downloads” into the search box.“

I’m currently reading Booklife and one thing that he mentions is the idea that school literature programs have made people bad readers. At first I was somewhat taken aback by this assertion, but as I read more about what his premise was, I started to agree with him. In a nutshell: in literature classes in high school and college we are taught to read literature with an eye towards what is not written. In other words, you’re supposed to find the allegory, the symbolism, the hidden meanings. Doing this is fun because for one thing it’s a pretty creative way of reading. If the meaning you are positing is “hidden” then the fact that no one else can see it just proves your point more. In fact, as long as you can argue your interpretation effectively it doesn’t matter that no one else can see it. If you’re persuasive enough, everyone will see it (if only to get you to stop harping at them). But what does this mean for reading later? If you’re always looking for the hidden meaning in something, then there’s a good chance you’ll miss the overt meaning. In High School, I had to read the Hemingway story “Hills Like White Elephants”. This story stuck in my head because it was the first time I ever really understood what people were seeing when they found these hidden meanings. (Thank you Mr. Duncanson.) I’m not saying that I really believed they were there, but we read that story so many times that I started to believe that the story might have actually been about elephants - not just descriptively titled. My question to that class is, do you remember what the story was about, what the text said? In other words, not the pregnancy, or the idea that the character was trying to talk her into an abortion. None of that was actually said. Do you remember what the scene was? My guess is that most people don’t remember, because we got so hung up in the hidden story. Where was it set? What were they doing? To badly mangle another quote: “sometimes and elephant is just an elephant”. Perhaps if we started reading things looking for the un-hidden meaning first we might have an easier time understanding what people are trying to tell us. Why I Like Science Fiction If you read most scifi books with an eye to what is said, and not what is not said, you’ll get the basics of most books. Literary snobs might argue that that makes the books less interesting - but I find them plenty interesting. And they don’t have to be obfuscated to hold my attention. Don’t get me wrong, in re-reading “Hills Like White Elephants” 25 years after my first read, I was profoundly moved by the story. Most of the allegory that we discovered in that long-ago class has disappeared into where ever memories go when they aren’t used. And I suspect that a lot of the reason I found it difficult at age 17 was because of my age and lack of experience. But I still enjoyed the story first as a description of a couple sitting in a foreign train station, waiting for a train, and discussing their life together (or not) and what they were going to do.

I’m currently reading Booklife by Jeff Vandermeer. One of the first chapters talks about Twitter and he says that he doesn’t really like Twitter because it “fragments [his] attention”. Like him, I don’t find Twitter all that friendly. Many of the people I used to chat with on Twitter now have so many people in their timeline that they never even see my posts. And I’ve never had the experience of asking a question or for help and getting more than a minimal response and often a snarky, negative one. I wish I’d had a better experience, as it was a lot of fun at first. But now I just sync my Web Design blog to the account and mostly ignore it. It’s less stressful that way.

Why do medical practitioners insist on treating their customers as cogs in a machine? Some offices use random numbers, others use parts of your social security number, and still others use your birth date. But what about something that is unique to me and I’m used to responding to, know by heart, and makes me feel like a person rather than a computer? I know this is going out on a limb, but maybe my NAME??? Add that to the office having their millions of systems that aren’t connected together and it doesn’t make me excited and happy to go to the doctor: «ring» receptionist: Hello XYZ medical clinic, how can I help you? me on phone: Hi, I’m in intense pain and was wondering if I could get in to see the Dr. today rather than on Thursday for my appointment. r: Sure! Let’s see, what’s your [ID number that they use]? me: ### r: [type type] Jennifer? me: Yes. r: Let’s see, I can transfer you to your Doctor’s receptionist. [click hold] me: (thinking) what are you then? «ring» receptionist 2: Hello, XYZ medical clinic, how can I help you? me: Hi, I’m in intense pain and was wondering if I could get in to see the Dr. today rather than on Thursday for my appointment. r2: Sure! Let’s see, what’s your [ID number that they use]? me: AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAA! What is it about the medical community that they seem to confuse efficiency with lack of customer interaction? I don’t hearken back to the “good ole days” when the cure for a hangnail was to cut off your leg, but I wish I could afford a “concierge doctor” who would come to me and at least pretend to care that I’m scared, in pain, and upset. The end result was that I can’t move my appointment forward, they don’t have any room. But she was willing to cancel my appointment for me if I wanted. BUH??? Sure, I’m in pain, and want to move it FORWARD, but I’m sure canceling it completely will solve the problem. Perhaps you have a gun I can use to put myself out of my misery?