1966
Went to the club today - saw Miguel Angel. Nice guy…but he isn’t Juan. Went home early, like I always do now. Juan talked to me for 1/2 hour. I like him. Does he like me? I hope so.
1979
Feh! No wonder, when the humidity is in the 90s and I wake up with a head full of damp spongey brains. Maybe it’s reading mysteries that does it. For me, it’s reading, period. It’s always made me rather spacey; I get so far into my reading.
Comment 2023
The famous story in my family is the time I was reading Laura Ingall’s Wilder’s “The Long Winter” when my dad announced we were going out for ice cream, and I went and got my coat. It was summer.
1984 (Norway)
Oh, my aching feet!! I have done too much walking and also too much sleeping. I am leading a discussion section in 10 minutes and here I sit, quite bleary-eyed, on the tram. No breakfast. Ah, well.
I am finding that it is easy to get lost in Oslo. It was probably easy to get lost in Copenhagen, too, but I didn’t stay long enough. Here, I go wandering off at least once a day, and soon find myself heaven knows where.
Had a hard, brief bout of homesickness, which happens whenever I get lost, hungry and/or tired.
Later:
I took the afternoon off to rest and reflect, after a very hectic and intense morning. I didn’t set my alarm, got up at 7:20 instead of 6. I didn’t get to the 8:30 discussion I was supposed to lead until 8:20. (Not bad, considering I rolled out of bed an hour earlier.) At any rate, I ate breakfast afterwards and had an interesting chat with some folks, then headed back to Stabbet College and slept nearly two more hours.
Then I had a chance to look at my maps, guidebooks, etc, and plan out my remaining time. It’s odd. Even when I’m all alone, I fill my days up with activity and clamor. Here I am, sitting on a hillside far above Oslo, with a breathtaking view of the fjord, and my mind won’t shut up.
Even later:
I slept a bit upon coming home, but then woke up with a start. Looked at the clock - - 9:30! - - and panicked. A look out the window gave no clue as to whether it was morning or night, but gradually I convinced myself that it was still Wednesday.
I continue to puzzle over the problem of providing useful information about “technology” to developing nations. The situation is such a patchwork of existing information, new research, some of it more accessible than other. I think solutions will require a lot of preliminary detective work.
What information bases already exist? In what form? Who can access them? What do they cost?
How do we fill the gaps between various information bases?
How can this information best and least expensively be made available to those who need it? Periodic publication? Response to direct inquiry?
Is this information usage as is or would it need to be re-written, updated, and translated? Who would do all that?
How much would it all cost? Where would funding come from?
These ideas really excite me, but they scare me, too.
Comment 2023
They ought to scare you, 1984 Jo. You have absolutely no training, no expertise to solve the problems they are discussing at this conference. For example: in a panel discussion introducing the general topic of “technological needs in developing countries”, which was focused on women and families, an American speaker was all “desktop computers!!” and one representative from a developing nation replied that they didn’t have electricity and needed better access to clean water. For the life of me, I can’t even remember why I was at this conference…so out of my depth!
I often think about how it’s impossible to read history in the comfort of our modern decadence of artificial lighting, plumbing, and air conditioning. My poops (with or without an iPhone) is infinitely more comfy than whatever Julius Caesar did. Not to mention the idea of washing down a taco with Dr. Pepper after an appetizer of kim chi sliders at the local froufrou eatery.