Today I had an epiphany. On second thought, "epiphany" connotes some sort of productivity--a moment of truth in which something pivotal and previously unnoticed betters forever the life of the "epiphant." (Epiphant being the receiver of an epiphany.) As you will see, definitions and new words have overwhelmed my day. But I'll come back to that topic.
For those who don't know, I'm living in Berkeley, unemployed. In a valiant quest for gainful employment, I sat down at around eight o'clock with firm intentions of continuing my job search. Sunday evenings, however, are an insidious foe.
It started innocuously; I opened a new browser window to re-read the job requirements for a position I'm applying for, then started punching out a cover letter. The words wouldn't behave themselves, so I set the cover letter aside.
I opened another tab to look at graduate fields of study at UC Berkeley (yes, I'm still trying to figure out what to do with my life). The PhD in Linguistics caught my eye, so I opened that link in a new tab. Dutifully reading the website, I realized I had almost no idea of what Linguistics was.
This called for a new tab! I googled Linguistics and wound up at the Wikipedia article on Linguistics. After scanning the article, I clicked the external link at the bottom taking me to the "Language Log."
New tab. The language log has a worthwhile youtube vid with the audio by Stephen Fry. I watched it, then wondered who Stephen Fry was, so I clicked his weblog.
Tab #5. Stephen Fry, it turns out, is one of the principal actors in "V for Vendetta." (If you haven't seen it, do so immediately, before the 5th November.)
I mentioned this tidbit to Kelsey, who was reminded that we must observe "Guy Fawkes Day," November the 5th to most of us, which is to drink 40's, eat cupcakes, and watch "V for Vendetta."
Wittily, I responded "cupcakes, 40's and V for Vendetta? That's kind of anti-thematic, don't you think?" I wondered aloud whether anti-thematic was a word.
Three tabs later I had checked the google news site for instances of "anti-thematic," as well as dictionary.com and the urban dictionary. It was present in none of these.
Excited, I opened tab #9 and began to compose an urban-dictionary definition for my new word. I had never written a definition before, and the task was more complex than anticipated. I found myself opening tab #10 (online thesaurus) and #11 (another urban dictionary window to cross reference words in my new definition). Tabs #12-14 followed with several additional dictionary and thesaurus sites.
I finally worked out this definition:
Anti-thematic:
the deliberate or accidental absence of any common theme among a group of objects, ideas, events, etc.
Example
Despite his fondness for malt liquor, Andrew didn't attend the "Cupcakes, 40's, and Guy Fawkes" party on the 5th of November, declaring the combination "inappropriate and anti- thematic."
Flushed with success, I submitted my definition.
At this moment my inverse epiphany struck. Dumbfounded, I stared at my formerly innocent, productive browser. In front of my eyes lay a fully intact chronology of corruption. From job search to...making up words?
And that's how Sunday evening had it's way with me.
