Boonoo Boonoo River, New South Wales Superthread

[coolian2]

I come from a family of academics. I know it's a bastard and I'm not cut out for anything more than being et al in some references - and I already have some ideas and prospective co-writers to put some oddities together in downtime.

Yet here I am going into a profession that is totally unrewarding unless you skewer yourself.

It's lucky pain is fun. It's also lucky I cherish being able to help form functional people, even if it isn't going to be easy at times. I mean, fuck, I'm functional because of small miracles.

 

[coolian2]

Negatives:
You get caught up in a conversation or reading something engaging and the water goes cold before you're done washing your hair.

That's what would happen to me.

I usually spend 5 minutes washing and 20 minutes pondering the universe. If I could allocate time properly this could go even, but it won't.

I'll probably be covered in conditioner furiously rebutting some moron trying to gaslight my side of the political spectrum, oblivious to my upcoming date with pneumonia.

 

[Axver]

It's interesting. One of my mates just finished his PhD and he's gone back into teaching to earn some money while he waits for an academic job. He utterly loathes it.

Meanwhile I'm jealous because he's got a stable job and certainly making a direct difference to more lives than I am. My higher education public policy work may have some sort of indirect influence at system level, but that doesn't give you the same warm fuzzies as engaging people directly, and I'm not entirely confident that my work will contribute to the system going in the direction I'd prefer anyway.

But it does make me realise that those clamouring for free higher education in Australia need to pull their heads in and formulate arguments that respond to the actual situation and pressures. I maintain my ideological commitment to that cause, but I do not see how it's achievable in the short or medium term.

 

[Axver]

I usually spend 5 minutes washing and 20 minutes pondering the universe. If I could allocate time properly this could go even, but it won't.

I'll probably be covered in conditioner furiously rebutting some moron trying to gaslight my side of the political spectrum, oblivious to my upcoming date with pneumonia.

I don't have the largest hot water tank, which is actually a good thing because otherwise I'd waste so much water. As it is there's enough to have a good, unhurried wash, stand around for a couple of minutes in the warmth, and then get booted by the cold just as I'm starting to take too long.

The real timewaster is the hairdryer actually. This hair doesn't stay straight by itself.

 

[coolian2]

I guess there's a difference in how you feel about it. I want to be hands-on (proverbially, obviously!) in making a difference, but you want to be where you can make that hands-on effort more effective, even if it's indirect.

I agree with you on free education. It's got the right ideas, but it needs a realistic way to work. We aren't in the age where it was as plausible as it used to be.

 

[coolian2]

I don't have the largest hot water tank, which is actually a good thing because otherwise I'd waste so much water. As it is there's enough to have a good, unhurried wash, stand around for a couple of minutes in the warmth, and then get booted by the cold just as I'm starting to take too long.

The real timewaster is the hairdryer actually. This hair doesn't stay straight by itself.

I've been lucky - most places I've been at are gas powered and prepared for the number of people using it! If I've needed to get a move on, I can change gear fast.

I have to laugh at the hairdryer. I let it fall as it may, and usually keep it short so the grey at my temples show a bit more. I don't understand women because it's a huge attraction point for far more than I ever thought.

Probably might get a haircut tomorrow actually....

 

[Axver]

What the fuck is up with Interference tonight. I can barely get it to load, heaps of errors, but when it does load it's nice and quick.

 

[coolian2]

I've got no issues, just wondering where anyone else (aka you) happen to be.

Maybe I've got good timing.

 

[Axver]

I guess there's a difference in how you feel about it. I want to be hands-on (proverbially, obviously!) in making a difference, but you want to be where you can make that hands-on effort more effective, even if it's indirect.

I agree with you on free education. It's got the right ideas, but it needs a realistic way to work. We aren't in the age where it was as plausible as it used to be.

Yeah exactly. When I'm running tutorials it's really nice to see that direct contribution you make - this semester was wonderful, I had one group that at the end gave me a round of applause and heaps of them came up to shake my hand. I was super embarrassed. When I work in policy it can feel like a really tedious drag until you think about the difference it makes in broad terms. You just don't really see it at the time.

I could go into a long rant, but the fundamental problem is nobody can explain how to get more money into the higher education system. Arguments for its intrinsic importance and economic significance are not working. So what are we meant to do when the investment from governments just isn't there? I am optimistic that in future decades there will be more to gain politically for governments in higher education investment, but we don't have time to wait to shift the popular consensus. The next 15 or so years are going to be transformative for higher education globally, and in Australia we are running a system already past its use-by date (not sure about the NZ situation) and in urgent need of reform. Those of us who believe in free higher education need to work within that and make sure any changes do not make that goal harder to achieve in future. But we can't achieve it in the short term, that's a basic fact.

 

[Axver]

I've got no issues, just wondering where anyone else (aka you) happen to be.

Maybe I've got good timing.

Admittedly part of that absence was making dinner and watching cricket. But the damn thing really didn't want to load. It didn't seem to be having as much trouble on my phone, but it was still slow.

Touch wood it seems to have sorted itself out now.

 

[Axver]

I've been lucky - most places I've been at are gas powered and prepared for the number of people using it! If I've needed to get a move on, I can change gear fast.

I have to laugh at the hairdryer. I let it fall as it may, and usually keep it short so the grey at my temples show a bit more. I don't understand women because it's a huge attraction point for far more than I ever thought.

Probably might get a haircut tomorrow actually....

My one vanity is my hair. I can't stand the natural curls. But even with the keratin in my hair it won't fall straight if I don't use the hairdryer.

I know it's ridiculous, but I have few indulgences so I permit myself this one.

Lately I have thought a bit about cutting it short but that feels so drastic and I've spent so long growing it just the way I've got it that I'm not yet willing to make a drastic change.

 

[coolian2]

My one vanity is my hair. I can't stand the natural curls. But even with the keratin in my hair it won't fall straight if I don't use the hairdryer.

I know it's ridiculous, but I have few indulgences so I permit myself this one.

Lately I have thought a bit about cutting it short but that feels so drastic and I've spent so long growing it just the way I've got it that I'm not yet willing to make a drastic change.

I must admit, I've started to get a bit vain on my hair and beard. Mainly to showcase the grey temples and not look untidy.

DO NOT SHAVE YOUR HEAD. Take this from the voice of experience.

 

[coolian2]

I must admit I have been getting my Tove Lo on via Spotify.

Damn Swedish women are insane but astounding.

 

[coolian2]

Yeah exactly. When I'm running tutorials it's really nice to see that direct contribution you make - this semester was wonderful, I had one group that at the end gave me a round of applause and heaps of them came up to shake my hand. I was super embarrassed. When I work in policy it can feel like a really tedious drag until you think about the difference it makes in broad terms. You just don't really see it at the time.

I could go into a long rant, but the fundamental problem is nobody can explain how to get more money into the higher education system. Arguments for its intrinsic importance and economic significance are not working. So what are we meant to do when the investment from governments just isn't there? I am optimistic that in future decades there will be more to gain politically for governments in higher education investment, but we don't have time to wait to shift the popular consensus. The next 15 or so years are going to be transformative for higher education globally, and in Australia we are running a system already past its use-by date (not sure about the NZ situation) and in urgent need of reform. Those of us who believe in free higher education need to work within that and make sure any changes do not make that goal harder to achieve in future. But we can't achieve it in the short term, that's a basic fact.

Placeholder response for when I'm not mostly asleep. Will add to tomorrow.

 

[Axver]

I must admit, I've started to get a bit vain on my hair and beard. Mainly to showcase the grey temples and not look untidy.

DO NOT SHAVE YOUR HEAD. Take this from the voice of experience.

Oh god, I would never shave it, you've no worries there. "Short" by my standards would probably still be long for many guys.

My main problem in wanting a change is I'm not really sure what else would look good.

 

[coolian2]

Try a #3 around the sides and a good scissor cut over the top.

 

[Axver]

I've definitely thought about going short on the sides. I've considered keeping the length over the top but undercutting the sides.

I'm not sure what do with my beard though, since it runs straight into my hair now. The whole reason I have my beard is I'm too lazy to shave. If I cut my hair short on the sides that could necessitate a change to the beard too, at least in terms of what I do with it on my cheeks/sideburns.

(Remember when I first grew it out and I posted a picture to the Superthread some six months after I stopped shaving and nobody could see it? It does grow a bit faster these days, but I can still go about 6-8 weeks between trims.)

 

[coolian2]

Just get the beard trimmed down to the same level as the sides. It might work.

I say this as a person who got his own beard trimmer because my beard was going a bit too wild.

 

[Axver]

It's crazy how the hair on my head grows like a fucking weed and is so hard to tame, while my beard is the laziest motherfucker you've ever met.

 

[coolian2]

I'm the opposite. I'm balding, yet my beard, chest, arms, legs are so hairy it's kinda weird.

 

[coolian2]

Okay balding is over the top.

Thinning.

 

[Axver]

Your hair is migrating south.

 

[coolian2]

It's more north, with a southerly relocation

 

[Axver]

My hair is so damn thick, and balding in my family is so uncommon, that I will be stunned if I ever lose it. I'm sure it will thin a little, and that would be welcome because a little thinning down would mean it's still thicker than most people's hair!

I'm grateful for this too. Some guys suit baldness. I would look so fucking awful.

 

[Kieran McConville]

My hair is so damn thick, and balding in my family is so uncommon, that I will be stunned if I ever lose it. I'm sure it will thin a little, and that would be welcome because a little thinning down would mean it's still thicker than most people's hair!

Same. My hair's so unmanageable that I went twenty years with it super-long and always tied back in a nineties pony tail so it was away from my face. Now I've gone the opposite extreme. I'd shave my head every day if the skin could tolerate it, which it can't.

 

[Axver]

With no intervention, my hair naturally turns into an afro.

Even with keratin in my hair it still tries its best to curl. It's ridiculous. I could handle it a little easier if it didn't grow so damn fast.

 

[Kieran McConville]

If only there was some drug that made your hair stop growing after a certain length (not permanently of course). That'd be alright.

 

[Axver]

I wouldn't even mind mine growing so long if it didn't also become so damn thick. A couple of months after a haircut I feel like some guy hiding under a giant mop.

 

[coolian2]

I'm preparing for a date and I hate the both of you.

 

[coolian2]

:combs forward: