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ext_15194 ([identity profile] hobbituk.livejournal.com) wrote in [community profile] monthlydiaryday2030-06-12 09:22 pm
Entry tags:

Welcome to our community!

The Mass Observation Project (MOP) is a unique UK-based writing project which has been running since 1981, and before that from the 1930s to the 1950s. Every year on 12th May, people not part of the project are asked to contribute a diary of their day to incorporate into the records.

I did that this year, along with a number of other people, and it was so interesting to see what everyone else did, thought I would try my own "mini" version of the Mass Observation Project, and post a monthly "Day in my life" post on the 12th of each month. Other LJers wanted to join in, and on 12th June 2013 a number of us posted our diary entries. But they were all in individual journals, and what was needed was to have them all in one place... and so this Community was born.

It is open to anyone, anywhere in the world, as long as they have an LJ and want to join in.

Membership is moderated, but posts aren't. If you would like to join, please send a message to the community

The rules are very basic:

1. A diary entry is kept for the 12th day of each month, either typed directly onto the pc or written down in a notebook and typed up and posted later.
2. Posts can be any length, but if you need to scroll down more than once, please put some of it behind a cut!
3. Pictures can be included, but please keep them to a reasonable size, and again, if more than one, behind a cut.
4. Each post should be tagged with your LJ name, the year and the month. i.e. hobbituk, 2013, June.

At the moment, the community is set up to be members only able to post and read, but this may change over time dependant on what the community members want to do. There may be polls...!
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anais_pf ([personal profile] anais_pf) wrote in [community profile] thefridayfive2025-07-24 02:14 pm

The Friday Five for 25 July 2025

This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] stauros

What is...

1. one place you volunteer (or would like to)? Why?

2. one book you'd like to see made into a movie? Why?

3. one creature (living, extinct, or mythical) you'd like for a pet? Why?

4. one place on Earth you'd like to visit? Why?

5. one talent or skill you'd like to develop? Why?

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.

If you'd like to suggest questions for a future Friday Five, then do so on DreamWidth or LiveJournal. Old sets that were used have been deleted, so we encourage you to suggest some more!
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-23 04:32 pm

Quick question....

How bad of a faux pas is it if you're filling out a job application in person and then realize after you hand it in that you've gone ahead and proofread it?

(Asking for a friend!)

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-24 01:48 pm

And another interview today

It never rains, but it sure does pour.

(Although this really is a somewhat archaic construction and doesn't mean what I've formed it to mean here. I do know that.)

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-22 12:34 pm

I scheduled two interviews today

With a generous leave at one commute schedule and 2 hours between them


But then it turned out the first one had inexplicably been scheduled in GMT so I didn’t eat and barely made it out the door. And I’ll have to jog to get from one to the other, too!
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garnigal ([personal profile] garnigal) wrote2025-07-20 05:42 pm
Entry tags:

LJ Idol Prompt 4: Figure of speech

I grew up in rural Ontario. It was a very homogenous town, where we all had the same frame of references - sports, farming, the same food and traditions.


And then I grew up and moved to the city for University.


It wasn’t even a big city, but there was certainly a variety of different perspectives, different backgrounds, different frames of reference. I learned so much, not just in class, but by being surrounded by new people. But even there, it was still southwestern Ontario - whiteness and English language ruled.


Things changed after graduation. In my career, I worked with many people for whom English is not their first language, particularly Canadian English. I’ve enjoyed that diversity, but mostly I’ve enjoyed helping define the random turns of phrase that come up in discussion without even thinking about the confusion you are creating.


In my 25 year career, I’ve been a tech writer, an editor, a trainer, a knowledge manager. The commonality is communication. With that focus, I’ve seen teams made and broken by poor or excellent communication. 


“What is two-four?” “What is dart?” “What is give’r?”


It is my honour to be the person asked when language is used in unusual ways. It’s improved my own communications, not just with my colleagues, but also with my family.


We are a playful species, and our biggest game in language. We use it to connect or separate, to build or destroy. In the end, the opposable thumb and tool using may have made us capable, but language using is what made us human.


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anais_pf ([personal profile] anais_pf) wrote in [community profile] thefridayfive2025-07-17 01:39 pm

The Friday Five for 18 July 2025

This week's questions were suggested by [livejournal.com profile] bindyree

5, 4, 3, 2, 1 . . .

5. Name five favorite movies.

4. Name four areas of interest you became interested in after you were done with your formal education.

3. Name three things you would change about this world.

2. Name two of your favorite childhood toys.

1. Name one person you could be handcuffed to for a full day.

Copy and paste to your own journal, then reply to this post with a link to your answers. If your journal is private or friends-only, you can post your full answers in the comments below.
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-20 11:39 am

Glancing at Trump's tantrum-of-the-day

I guess today's coin flip has landed on "pivot to popcorn". If the world is burning we may as well get some use out of it, right? Popcorn all around!



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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-19 06:25 pm

Can't believe those storms did nothing about this heat or humidity

Blech.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-18 10:59 am

Robben Island by Pamela Sneed

The only antidote I may have to Trump’s election
is in a small ferry to Robben Island
one that shuttles you to the former prison
where those who fought against apartheid were held
The only answers may be in one wool blanket
a basin
toilet
cell
and the tiny windows of  Robben Island
in the discarded artillery
the rock and the limestone yard
where many were blinded
driven mad
Now the survivors former prisoners
give tours
their faces carved like tree roots exposed
The only answers may be in the surrounding peaks of Table Mountain
its Twelve Apostles
all now standing as testament to what
through years of struggles
can be defeated
overcome


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Link
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-15 07:27 pm

Something that's always interested me

is when an organization feels the urgent need to say something both in officialese and also everyday talk. I can think of three very relevant examples in NYC:

1. Every time you do your taxes or do almost anything that involves interacting with the state government, you'll have to pick your county, and if you live in Brooklyn or Staten Island that means they list the county with the coterminous borough in parentheses.

2. If you have a kid in school, every year they send you a form reminding you to fill out your Emergency Contact Card, and every year they include the phrase "Blue Card" right afterwards. Because that's what we all call it. Because they're blue.

3. And here's one I haven't thought about much since adolescence, but if a job is apt to hire teens then they will ask for their Employment Certification and then, inevitably, add "Working Papers" right afterwards, again, because that's what everybody calls them.

There must be other examples I'm missing, as well as non-NY examples. I sometimes wonder if it'd be easier for them to just cave to the inevitable and start listing the everyday term first and then list the "real" term afterwards.
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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-17 07:09 pm

Thunderstorms!

Gosh it's thunderstorming out there!

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-16 02:35 pm

Today's five second mini-rant:

Nonstandard and informal are not synonyms. Dialectal and informal are not synonyms. Regional and informal are not synonyms. You can speak formally even if you're speaking a nonstandard regional dialect.

Everybody needs to stop saying that dialect words are, ipso facto, informal.

Edit: On a different note, omfg this dude.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-15 04:45 pm

Hm. I thought we got a big bag of cat food

but it turned out to be a big bag of dog food.

This is... not so great, really.

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-14 01:09 pm

Well, I'm (probably?) hired pending the results of this background check

and completion of orientation. They really are taking anybody with a pulse, as judged by the extremely detailed list of instructions for appropriate behavior during orientation. I'd be more insulted, but that's good for me, I really need a job. If they had higher standards they would hire somebody with formal work experience, or at least an associate's degree.

(Don't think I've stopped applying other places, mind you, but I'm really not in a position to be picky, either.)

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conuly ([personal profile] conuly) wrote2025-07-13 10:59 am

The Grimoire Grammar School Parent Teacher Association

Well... if you're interested in reading a book about how living in an over-privileged Connecticut town is terrible and nobody should ever do it (especially if that's going to intersect badly with their terrible childhood) then this is a book you'll like. I preferred Dreadful - the realism : magic ratio in this book leaned a little too realistic, also, I just do not believe that the only school choices are a. fancy schools for wealthy overachievers that have massively high standards and high stakes testing b. xenophobic schools with very low standards and c. homeschooling. Even if there are no public school options there still have to be artsy fartsy schools for wealthy people who know that their kids cannot do the pressure cooker thing starting in kindy.