Throwing a Google-ie
hrowing a Google-ie
There’s nothing else that will make you feel like an underachiever than googling your own name. C’mon it’s very sad but we’ve all done it! (and if you haven’t, do it!)
You think it’ll be a laugh to see all the other “Yous” and you get a bit of a rude awakening as you realise that all these other “Yous” are doing so much more of note than the real you is. Look at my list, it’s damn depressing. Among the world’s many Gillian Martins, we’ve got:
1. Gillian Martin, professor of German, Trinity College, Dublin
2. Gillian Martin, illustrator of the books and poems of Edward Lear
3. Gillian Martin, top female cyclist
4. Gillian Martin, Behaviour Specialist with the Callan Institute for Positive Behaviour
5. Gillian Martin, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Foundation and former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General
6. Gillian Martin, Minnesota‘s top classical DJ
7. Gillian Martin, top Badminton player
8. Gillian Martin, New Zealand based hand therapist (no, me neither…)
This is the start of the road to madness!
It could be worse though; the list could be full of serial killers, porn stars or ruthless dictators, so I suppose I can take solace in the fact that there’s some good work being done out there in the name of “Gillian Martin”. I mean you’d need to feel sorry for anyone called Genghis Khan, Myra Hindley or Joseph Stalin. Though, I doubt any Mr and Mrs Khans have looked down on their newborn and exclaimed “Let’s call him Genghis, he looks like a little Genghis, don’t you think, darling?”
But what a nightmare if you innocently name your child your favourite name and then some person sporting the same moniker becomes notorious in some way. What would you do? Now I’m sure that there’s unlikely to be any Mr and Mrs Glitters out there with a son called Gary, but what about all the Thomas Hamiltons out there in the UK, or the Maxine Carrs, or the Peter Sutcliffes or the Abul Hamsas?
Anyway just as I was about to throw in the towel and consign my life to the no-mark scrap heap I eventually found who I believe to be the original Gillian Martin (that’s me) on Google. Two entries, in fact, about the same thing. They were about my exchange trip to Finland with my students last year. One was on the Finnish College website and another on my own.
Here’s the link:
http://www.haapop.fi/sivu/fi/kansainvalisyys/tapahtumat/come/haapavesi/
And even though I had to go nearly twenty Google Pages in to find me, it made me feel okay. I haven’t written any theses on world peace, I haven’t found a vaccine for nothing, I haven’t had my works published, I haven’t therapised any hands, or even beaten anyone at badminton – but then that’s not my game is it? I’m a teacher and if there’s one thing I’d like a bit of kudos for, then that’s it. That trip was one of the high points in my career and I think I can speak for my students who said it was the best thing they ever did at college. We had a blast and even learned some stuff. Even if it was only Finnish swear words.
Anyway, that’s my excuse for not being an over achiever! Let’s just hope that none of those other Gillian Martins goes bad and spoils it all for the rest of us!
Throwing a Google-ie
hrowing a Google-ie
There’s nothing else that will make you feel like an underachiever than googling your own name. C’mon it’s very sad but we’ve all done it! (and if you haven’t, do it!)
You think it’ll be a laugh to see all the other “Yous” and you get a bit of a rude awakening as you realise that all these other “Yous” are doing so much more of note than the real you is. Look at my list, it’s damn depressing. Among the world’s many Gillian Martins, we’ve got:
1. Gillian Martin, professor of German, Trinity College, Dublin
2. Gillian Martin, illustrator of the books and poems of Edward Lear
3. Gillian Martin, top female cyclist
4. Gillian Martin, Behaviour Specialist with the Callan Institute for Positive Behaviour
5. Gillian Martin, Senior Adviser at the United Nations Foundation and former U.N. Assistant Secretary-General
6. Gillian Martin, Minnesota‘s top classical DJ
7. Gillian Martin, top Badminton player
8. Gillian Martin, New Zealand based hand therapist (no, me neither…)
This is the start of the road to madness!
It could be worse though; the list could be full of serial killers, porn stars or ruthless dictators, so I suppose I can take solace in the fact that there’s some good work being done out there in the name of “Gillian Martin”. I mean you’d need to feel sorry for anyone called Genghis Khan, Myra Hindley or Joseph Stalin. Though, I doubt any Mr and Mrs Khans have looked down on their newborn and exclaimed “Let’s call him Genghis, he looks like a little Genghis, don’t you think, darling?”
But what a nightmare if you innocently name your child your favourite name and then some person sporting the same moniker becomes notorious in some way. What would you do? Now I’m sure that there’s unlikely to be any Mr and Mrs Glitters out there with a son called Gary, but what about all the Thomas Hamiltons out there in the UK, or the Maxine Carrs, or the Peter Sutcliffes or the Abul Hamsas?
Anyway just as I was about to throw in the towel and consign my life to the no-mark scrap heap I eventually found who I believe to be the original Gillian Martin (that’s me) on Google. Two entries, in fact, about the same thing. They were about my exchange trip to Finland with my students last year. One was on the Finnish College website and another on my own.
Here’s the link:
http://www.haapop.fi/sivu/fi/kansainvalisyys/tapahtumat/come/haapavesi/
And even though I had to go nearly twenty Google Pages in to find me, it made me feel okay. I haven’t written any theses on world peace, I haven’t found a vaccine for nothing, I haven’t had my works published, I haven’t therapised any hands, or even beaten anyone at badminton – but then that’s not my game is it? I’m a teacher and if there’s one thing I’d like a bit of kudos for, then that’s it. That trip was one of the high points in my career and I think I can speak for my students who said it was the best thing they ever did at college. We had a blast and even learned some stuff. Even if it was only Finnish swear words.
Anyway, that’s my excuse for not being an over achiever! Let’s just hope that none of those other Gillian Martins goes bad and spoils it all for the rest of us!
