The Art of Procrastination

Bugger. I am not getting anywhere with studies. And the clock in now ticking loudly & dramatically.

At least I study a subject that is based on current affairs….and a lot of B.S’ing. And to point out to those readers who have not yet noticed, I am kinda good at that. To the passable degree, at least.

Three things that have fascinated me today:

1. “Each on of us being in the civil state as regards our fellow citizen, but in the state of nature as regards the rest of the world, we have taken all kinds of precautions against private wars only to kindle national wars a thousand times more terrible?”
Jean Jacques Rousseau

Clever Frenchie. Societies & states were established to protect us from the anarchy of nature, just so we now have wrecked more vicious “anarchy” in an international ‘order’.

2. There have been and still are many groups that despise “The West” and claim that they are fighting it and all it stands for and all it has produced. Yet, they use the very institutions, tools & concepts developed in and by The West to fight.

Eg. The concept of Nationalism is a western construct. Yet, to fight the colonizers of Europe, African anti-colonial movements fought to spread & rally behind the idea of Nationalism. As do many radical fundamentalist Islamic groups today.

3. In a moment of complete procrastination I spotted the jumble of still existing chaos in my room, and remembered what was buried in there. And I chose to finally conduct a HIV test on myself. To completely and utterly confirm my status. Outside of all window periods.

Yes, it was not a wise or clever move, but one does crazy things to avoid the low whistle of the textbook. I don’t agree with home-test kits. My ex-boss gave me a couple after a trip to the States & I haven’t really looked at them since he demonstrated with his own blood how they worked. It was a very uncomfortable 5 minutes for me that day in his office.

All went well. In the way it is almost impossible to draw a few decent drops of blood when you want to! Especially with only a blunt swiss army knife. And then I couldn’t remember if one or two pink lines meant negative. And I couldn’t find the book on my now-nicely-organised shelves (study procrastination) that told me.

But one can find everything on this here internet!

I know my result now. Finally. Thank you Google. Yet again.

That is if the test I used is one of those FDA- approved ones, and not one of the home-tests being called back by some hack medical company in the States, apparently. If I did it properly (I don’t really see how the mess up in steps can occur but you NEVER know). And if the plastic board or the serum have not expired in the heat and movement they have endured for nearly a year now. And if my blood was suitable, and my finger was clean enough (after being hacked at by a blunt dirty knife).

I’m trained to do counseling, so at least that was under control. I also picked up old tips as I paged through books to find out about the one or two line thing.

Which goes a little way to prove why I disagree with home-testing for HIV. Too many outside factors which the layman does not realize as he isn’t trained to counsel or test for HIV.

I’m negative.

Back to studying.

My darling puppy, Chivas, has seven stitches in his nose. He could not care less. But I think he enjoyed coming home as stoned as a procrastinating arty student after the vet.

Oh, Jo’burg bloggers