March 29th: The perfect tense

"In linguistics, the perfect tense usually refers to the present perfect tense used to describe actions now completed (thus "perfect"). The term "perfect" comes from the Latin perfectum, meaning "completed", from the verb perficio."


And so Wikipedia defines a term that, frankly, has absolutely nothing to do with what it means. I've always found this phrase interesting and, in taking this concept literally, have found myself pondering this question:


If we spend all our time regretting the past, stressing about the future and worrying about the present, is there really any such thing as the perfect tense?


Take, for example, what is currently life for millions of students all over the world. Exam time is rapidly approaching, stress levels are building, students are arguing with parents who think tidying their room is more important than revising (in my case anyway)... university offers are coming in (or not, if you're unlucky), student finance forms are being filled out... and seventeen and eighteen year olds everywhere are going "Shit... I'm moving out. Shit... I don't know how to do laundry. Shit... I don't know how to cook. Shit... I need to do some work!"


And so do we do some work? Pfft. Don't be daft. At least in my case, I find every possible way to procrastinate on the face of the planet; have even once or twice resorted to tidying my room. What is it about procrastination that takes over every aspect of one's life? For me, procrastination isn't even productive in any other way - I've got about twelve unfinished blog posts on my drafts page that I'm either too uninspired or too lazy to finish.


I am doing my final A Level exams in three months. I am moving out in six and I have no idea how to cook or clean or get these elusive grades I need to do it all in the first place and somehow I assume it's all just going to happen, that I've got all the time in the world - but time is running out. Time can run faster than I can, so why the hell am I still here? Still on Blogger; still on Facebook; still on Twitter and every other stupid site that I can't seem to leave alone despite the fact that I know that when I open that envelope in August and pull out the piece of paper that contains my future I will, for a dizzying hopeful moment of possibilities, think that maybe it won't be as bad as I think - but then I'll look and I'll see that I've done what I always do and let myself down again. Do I not realize this is one of the most important years of my life? Choosing a university, doing my A Levels, leaving home... why am I floating along like I always have, now of all times? Why can't I just get a grip already?


Oh well. I suppose that's all you're getting from my ever-complaining mind today - I'm sure it'll all work out. It always does.


Molly x


Doesn't 'procrastination' sound like some kind of sexually transmitted disease?

March 3rd: Love

I don't understand the word "love".

"Love" is made up of four letters. L, O, V, and E. Do these letters carry a deeper meaning than the rest of the alphabet? Are they in some way special? Or are they just coincidence - four letters chosen by somebody at some point in history and given the responsibility of denoting the most powerful and important force in the universe?

Except gravity, of course. Life would be pretty difficult without gravity. Perhaps where love makes us more lighthearted, gravity's effect is to counter that by making us heavy-bodied; perhaps gravity is love's counterpart, the one that always manages to bring us tumbling back to Earth again. Perhaps by being in love or by loving somebody, we are defying gravity.

Why, when these seemingly insignificant individual letters are bound together, do we get a word that supposedly represents the strongest of feelings - romantic or platonic? What gives this word the authority to describe such a thing? And who decided what "love" should be called? Who coined "love"? Who invented love?

Give it some thought. You'll end up just as confused pleasantly mystified as I am.

Molly x

In case you were curious about the identity of the 'somebody at some point in history', I took the liberty of looking it up on http://www.etymonline.com/ so that I could inform you all.

Old English lufu "love, affection, friendliness,". *Lubo (cf. O.Fris. liaf, Ger. lieb, Goth. liufs "dear, beloved;" not found elsewhere as a noun, except O.H.G. luba, Ger. Liebe), from PIE *leubh- "to care, desire, love". Meaning "a beloved person" is from early 13c. The sense "no score" (in tennis, etc.) is 1742, from the notion of "playing for love," i.e. "for nothing" (1670s). Love-letter is attested from mid-13c.; love-song from early 14c. To be in love with (someone) is from c.1500. Love life "one's collective amorous activities" is from 1919, originally a term in psychological jargon. Love affair is from 1590s. Phrase for love or money "for anything" is attested from 1580s. To fall in love is attested from early 15c. The phrase no love lost (between two people) is ambiguous and was used 17c. in ref. to two who love each other well (c.1640) as well as two who have no love for each other (1620s).

Don't you just feel love, affection or friendliness for me for doing that for you?