ON PLAGIARISM AND SOME OTHER THINGS

School has always resembled a labyrinth, I don’t know how I keep forgetting this fact and thus keep hurling myself headlong into one. Being so bad with directions, my nightmares usually consist of episodes of myself running around in a dark labyrinth. Those, or the never-ending nightmares of school exams. Being back to school put me in a wretched situation: I am constantly in a nightmare, whether awake or asleep.

A naïve misconception on my part was that I would only be required to attend a few classes in addition to doing my research, but lo and behold! I am now wading knee-deep in a mammoth pool of tasks, which include writing a book and lecturing too. Writing a book is simply beyond my league, yet I know my supervisor won’t let me off the hook with this one. Smack me on the face as many times as you want, my answer is still the same: I simply cannot write a book. So to get around of this one task, I guess I am miserably condemned to doing plagiarism. Another nightmare material: one day somebody will walk up to me and say “You’re under arrest for breaching the copyright of John G. Proakis”.
Oh well. My only consolation is the saying “Copying from one book is plagiarism, copying from more is research.”
*quickly downing my fourth cup of coffee for the day*

While we are on the topic of nightmares, how about this nightmare that hit me while being fully awake: R has taken to lunches with a so-called “goth” girl.
*quickly downing my fifth cup of coffee for the day* .

No, this wasn’t like he had lunch with a colleague. This was like he spent two consecutive Saturdays with her. Well, he told me that he was going to see her, so it wasn’t like he was doing it behind my back. The second time, he even asked me to come along, and I did (wasn’t I so nice and obedient, eh) but I still felt all strange and disturbed. I admit I did the very same thing behind his back quite a few times, but now that the table is turned … gee.
*slowly downing my sixth cup of coffee for the day*

The consolation of this one, strangely, is copying Proakis’ book, verbatim, at 200 wpm, while chanting “I will never again go on dates behind his back – I will never again go on dates behind his back”.

Typing prevents one from crossing her fingers. Whether or not one’s toes are crossed, that is “completely beyond the scope of this text”*.

*my favourite line from Proakis, which seems to be one of his favourite too.