in praise

RJ (rmjwell @ LiveJournal) posted this link of Laura Trice doing a TED talk on asking for praise.

This is one of the many reasons I adore RJ.

Asking for praise is hard. Getting praise when you don't think you deserve it is harder.

to quote Tom...Teh Stupid It Burns

http://filkertom.livejournal.com/942074.html

Read the post...read the article that prompted the response...read the article that he added just to make things interesting.

Just for the record: My wives have guy friends, so do my husbands. My husbands have women friends, so do my wives.

I've always had men friends. I no longer feel like I have to sleep with them to be friends with them...it hasn't harmed either my continuing friendships with men I used to sleep with, men I didn't used to sleep with, men I still sleep with, or men I love.

(Please remember that love and sex are not the same. It took me a long time to learn that one.)

from the bookview cafe blog

Throwing Books Against the Wall

Phyllis Irene Radford

Do we have to finish a book that bores us? I don’t think so.

Do we have to plow through the tangled language of the classics? Not unless you truly want to. Dickens may be a magnificent storyteller but I get lost between subject and predicate. How can I find the story if the words go in one eye and out the other ear? I don’t even want to talk about either of the Bronte sisters.

Do we have to read depressing books because they are socially important? Make your own definition of socially important. You can find most of that on the evening news, you don’t have to wallow in it unless you’re doing research.

Reading should be a pleasure, not a chore. So abandon guilt and delve into a genre novel, a short story, or whatever interests you.

BRAVA!!!

As someone who usually has 2-4 books going at once and who has literally hundreds of books that I own and have never read, I can but cheer Ms. Radford's admission and permission to not waste time with boring books.

One woman's pearls of wisdom are gobbets of slime to another...and I flipping HATE to read something because someone thinks I "ought to" do so (made being an English major rough, let me tell you.)

The Book View Cafe is a treasure indeed...both because it gives access to fiction from some of the top women writers out there today and because it lets us see what is behind the curtain.

Do It Yourself

There is no way for others to do the work and for you to reap the results. Reading someone else's blueprint of mental progress will not transfer it's realization to you. You have to develop them yourself. p. 21*

If I learn nothing else from the 14th Dalai Lama, the admonition to do it myself is enough. And this is just the beginning.

*Bstan-dzin-rgya-mtsho, How to practice : the way to a meaningful life (New York: Pocket Books, 2002).

on solitude-the end of

William Deresiewicz in the January 30, 2009 issue of The Chronicle Reader takes on the topic of the end of solitude and how that seems to be a defining force of the age.

This is The Connected Age. We have facebook and Live Journal, IM and chat, twittering is rampant and people seem to think that it is good. We are all part of the web. In some ways it is good to be a part of the social network but in some ways it's exhausting. There is literally too much information out there providing static in the brain; it is easier to talk to everyone I know, but harder to listen. I have no need to know that X is brushing her teeth and getting ready to take laundry out of the dryer when I don't see X face to face from one year to the next and I don't really care about her teeth or her laundry.

Man may be a social animal, but solitude has traditionally been a societal value. In particular, the act of being alone has been understood as an essential dimension of religious experience, albeit one restricted to a self-selected few. Through the solitude of rare spirits, the collective renews its relationship with divinity. The prophet and the hermit, the sadhu and the yogi, pursue their vision quests, invite their trances, in desert or forest or cave. For the still, small voice speaks only in silence.

Part of my personal quest is to find the still, small voice. I want to meditate, clearing my brain of cobwebs and my soul of dust. I may not like myself all that much, but I want to have the chance to be with myself. Then maybe I will enjoy being part of the web again.

which way is up?

I have been running in circles because it's the beginning of the semester and my map / plan tends to blow away. No battle plan survives first contact with the enemy.

It's okay. I'm mostly staying calm, catching my flyaway thoughts in nets made of lists...tasks on gmail, postit notes on igoogle...trying to get my schedule blocked out.

I finished Proust was a Neuroscientist and plan to write a review later this weekend, with notes and lists of what I want to spin off from that. I'm reading A Winter's Tale by Mark Helprin. I was reading it anyway, because a friend suggested it (her favorite book). Helprin's use of language to describe a place that is fantastic rather than fantasy and a love that is improbable paints the scenes with sharp-edged lushness.

One of the things Lehrer talks about in Proust Was a Neuroscientist is language as an art and how it affects and changes the brain, discussing different authors from Whitman to Woolf. As someone who has experience damage to the brain with interuption of my ability to communicate and someone who is actively trying to change my brain now, the chance to read beautiful use of language is an opportunity not to be missed.

to quote elizabeth bear

because I like the way she writes:

My radio keeps saying President Obama.

I realize that this an overreaction, and yet I feel like I somehow accidentally woke up in the parallel universe where the trainwreck end-of-the-world narrative was just a trashy bestseller with an unbelievable plot.

Change has come to Washington

http://www.whitehouse.gov/

I don't want to comment too much on the newly elected president, because he has got a rough row to hoe. I have to say, though, that I am glad he is a president for the 21st century. If you don't believe it, look at whitehouse.gov.

*kitten* *SPLORK*

introspective ... yet boring

Eating blueberry muffins and drinking tea...listening to "mellow 70's sirius radio" and trying to figure out why I can't just say no when someone asks me how I feel about things...I don't know how I feel...even if I did I don't want anyone else to know how I feel. For all that I loved alt.callahans and I would hate to lose Live Journal (I still think facebook pretty much sucks) because I like to keep track of people...and I see the people I know and consider friends as family more than anything else...I'm not all that emotionally close to my biological family. The interwebz lets me be close to people at a distance.

Of course I bitch and moan when I want to do something with another human being and there isn't one nearby. I feel guilty because I'm not into togetherness and I hate feeling guilty. I have trouble communicating and I'm not even sure I want to fix it (although that is why I started biofeedback...it was supposed to make my brain and my personality and my health all better. I don't know if it is going to work or not.

metablog post 1/13

1/13/2009

Maps—a record of the territories I am exploring at this point in time (a private blog)

A mind map is a collection of goals, tasks and desired results which are plotted out in a visual manner. I have divised a map for Spring Semester 2009 and I am planning to use this map as a guide so I don't get rattled or distracted and so I can stay on task and follow the path without getting lost.

At the same time, I must remember that the map is not the territory.

1/13/2009

The map that I started with (I drew a mind map while we were playing D&D in Michigan City) had “ME” in the center.

The different areas of Me that I have plans to explore include:

Study

Family

Work

Health

Extracurricular

This list is too abstract to be of much use, so my first task is to break down each area into highways, roads, trails, paths and trackless expanses.

I feel like Bilbo must have, when he was starting out on his adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves. Excited and delighted, but convinced that adventures are pesky things that make one late for dinner.

1/15/2009

Each of the roads must be taken separately, because the laws of physics won't let us be in more that one place at a time. We are not Schroedinger's cat and we must be somewhere, otherwise we wouldn't be anywhere at all, which is interesting philosophically, but pretty much sucks in reality. I want/need to do several different things siimultaneously (multitasking is ubiquitous), but that might just result in getting Lost.

So here I am, at the crossroads. Let's look at the different signs and see if we can get some direction from the Crone, or maybe from the Scarecrow.

Even though the different lines on the me map are not in any particular order (the me map is more of a circle or a spiral than a hierarchy) text on a paper is linear, so I will start with the first line first.

Study

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning but I wasted my college years learning thing that left me ignorant of the core of a “good education.” I am like Radar O'Reilly when he says, “ah, Bach.” He doesn't know what it means, but it sounds good. Between my crappy memory and the fact that I was able to slide by without learning much in classes, I can talk about Shakespear or semantics or singers of songs...as long as I don't have to provide depth or back up my rambling with facts.

I can provide a list of half a hundred things I might want to read about, but I get distracted and bored too easily and I go from one thing to the next without picking up more that a smattering of knowledge. It's easier when I am held accountable and forced to follow a syllabus and when I can listen to an idea presented various ways and hear other people's thoughts on a subject. I may not have thoughts, or if I do, may not be able to express them in a way that anyone wants to hear.

In any case, I am going to create a “class” with three core textbooks and use it this semester to provide structure to my reading and thinking.

Camille Paglia, Break, blow, burn (New York: Pantheon Books, 2005).

Bstan-dzin-rgya-mtsho (the 14^th Dalai Lama), How to practice : the way to a meaningful life (New York: Pocket Books, 2002).

Jonah Lehrer, Proust was a neuroscientist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007).

Each of these books will provide value in itself, will provide a guide to other readings and help me in other areas that I am mapping.

metablog post 1/15/2009

1/15/2009

Each of the roads must be taken separately, because the laws of physics won't let us be in more that one place at a time. We are not Schroedinger's cat and we must be somewhere, otherwise we wouldn't be anywhere at all, which is interesting philosophically, but pretty much sucks in reality. I want/need to do several different things siimultaneously (multitasking is ubiquitous), but that might just result in getting Lost.

So here I am, at the crossroads. Let's look at the different signs and see if we can get some direction from the Crone, or maybe from the Scarecrow.

Even though the different lines on the me map are not in any particular order (the me map is more of a circle or a spiral than a hierarchy) text on a paper is linear, so I will start with the first line first.

Study

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning but I wasted my college years learning thing that left me ignorant of the core of a “good education.” I am like Radar O'Reilly when he says, “ah, Bach.” He doesn't know what it means, but it sounds good. Between my crappy memory and the fact that I was able to slide by without learning much in classes, I can talk about Shakespear or semantics or singers of songs...as long as I don't have to provide depth or back up my rambling with facts.

I can provide a list of half a hundred things I might want to read about, but I get distracted and bored too easily and I go from one thing to the next without picking up more that a smattering of knowledge. It's easier when I am held accountable and forced to follow a syllabus and when I can listen to an idea presented various ways and hear other people's thoughts on a subject. I may not have thoughts, or if I do, may not be able to express them in a way that anyone wants to hear.

In any case, I am going to create a “class” with three core textbooks and use it this semester to provide structure to my reading and thinking.

Camille Paglia, Break, blow, burn (New York: Pantheon Books, 2005).

Bstan-dzin-rgya-mtsho (the 14^th Dalai Lama), How to practice : the way to a meaningful life (New York: Pocket Books, 2002).

Jonah Lehrer, Proust was a neuroscientist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007).

Each of these books will provide value in itself, will provide a guide to other readings and help me in other areas that I am mapping.

metablog post 1/15/2009

1/15/2009

Each of the roads must be taken separately, because the laws of physics won't let us be in more that one place at a time. We are not Schroedinger's cat and we must be somewhere, otherwise we wouldn't be anywhere at all, which is interesting philosophically, but pretty much sucks in reality. I want/need to do several different things siimultaneously (multitasking is ubiquitous), but that might just result in getting Lost.

So here I am, at the crossroads. Let's look at the different signs and see if we can get some direction from the Crone, or maybe from the Scarecrow.

Even though the different lines on the me map are not in any particular order (the me map is more of a circle or a spiral than a hierarchy) text on a paper is linear, so I will start with the first line first.

Study

I am a firm believer in lifelong learning but I wasted my college years learning thing that left me ignorant of the core of a “good education.” I am like Radar O'Reilly when he says, “ah, Bach.” He doesn't know what it means, but it sounds good. Between my crappy memory and the fact that I was able to slide by without learning much in classes, I can talk about Shakespear or semantics or singers of songs...as long as I don't have to provide depth or back up my rambling with facts.

I can provide a list of half a hundred things I might want to read about, but I get distracted and bored too easily and I go from one thing to the next without picking up more that a smattering of knowledge. It's easier when I am held accountable and forced to follow a syllabus and when I can listen to an idea presented various ways and hear other people's thoughts on a subject. I may not have thoughts, or if I do, may not be able to express them in a way that anyone wants to hear.

In any case, I am going to create a “class” with three core textbooks and use it this semester to provide structure to my reading and thinking.

Camille Paglia, Break, blow, burn (New York: Pantheon Books, 2005).

Bstan-dzin-rgya-mtsho (the 14^th Dalai Lama), How to practice : the way to a meaningful life (New York: Pocket Books, 2002).

Jonah Lehrer, Proust was a neuroscientist (Boston: Houghton Mifflin Co., 2007).

Each of these books will provide value in itself, will provide a guide to other readings and help me in other areas that I am mapping.

metablog post 1/13/2009

The map that I started with (I drew a mind map while we were playing D&D in Michigan City) had “ME” in the center.

The different areas of Me that I have plans to explore include:

• Study
• Family
• Work
• Health
• Extracurricular

This list is too abstract to be of much use, so my first task is to break down each area into highways, roads, trails, paths and trackless expanses.

I feel like Bilbo must have, when he was starting out on his adventure with Gandalf and the dwarves. Excited and delighted, but convinced that adventures are pesky things that make one late for dinner.

metablog post 1/13/2009

1/13/2009

Maps—a record of the territories I am exploring at this point in time (a private blog)

A mind map is a collection of goals, tasks and desired results which are plotted out in a visual manner. I have divised a map for Spring Semester 2009 and I am planning to use this map as a guide so I don't get rattled or distracted and so I can stay on task and follow the path without getting lost.

At the same time, I must remember that the map is not the territory.

My mind and soul and spirit are the territory. They are a wild place that has only been mapped in the vaguest sense, like the maps of the ancients that are labeled at the edge of the world “Here Be Dragons.

buy a donut from crispy cream

I am normally not much for boycotting or buying a particular brand because someone tells me to do so, but I got this from filkertom.

I am going to take a box of krispy cream donuts to work on Thursday just because the guy who is calling for the boycott is an idiot.

librarians in a Heinlein Novel

I feel like I must quote tim Spaulding talking about and quoting a talk by Christine Peterson:

This is like a Heinlein Novel!

I recently enjoyed a recorded talk by Christine Peterson, co-founder of the Foresight Nanotech Institute, on open-source security and politics.

The basic point is to get alpha geeks to think about what they can contribute to basically polticial questions--to better, less invasive physical national security but also to stand up and fight against absurdities like polling machines running proprietary software, when everyone in software knows open source would provide a much better check on potential hacks.

She has a section that mirrors how I feel about the new OCLC Policy and librarians' and library technologists' responsibility to get engaged and do heroic things, to keep libraries "free to all" and not the cornerstone of a perpetual monopoly:

So you may be sitting there going, "God, the Constitution! Franklin, Jefferson... this is like a Heinlein novel! She's trying to convince me I'm in a Heinlein novel, where there's heroic action to take."

Well, guess what, you are! You really are. This is a critical time. And there's going to be huge decisions and a lot of work to be done. And you're the best ones to do it. I hate to tell you that. I know you have other things to do.

strange movie

Velvet Goldmine. Glam rock and scandal. I wasn't a glam rocker...just a little too old and not cool enough. Christian Bales plays the young reporter whose life was changed forever by the man whose story he is researching...

Stepsister Scheme by Jim C. Hines

I've been anxiously awaiting The Stepsister Scheme by Jim Hines since it came to my attention at Windycon when I got to meet the esteemed Mr. Hines. You can find an interview with Jim at Whatever (wonderful blog by John "agent to the stars" Scalzi.*

I will buy it tomorrow, as soon as my paycheck is in my hot little hands.






*I love being fen and an sf geek...it means I get to hang with famous authors like Jim Hines and John Scalzi, who are both adorable.

Leo tells us how to make 2009 the best year ever

http://zenhabits.net/2009/01/the-single-secret-to-making-2009-your-best-year-ever/

I like Leo and he makes a lot of sense...He may have put himself out of a job (and he even jokes about it) if everyone who reads his blog follows one piece of advice and then spreads the word:

Stop waiting for happiness. Happiness is right here, right now.

That is my new mantra....

time and music

From Arts and Letters Daily: An essay on time and music

Time is the stuff of music: music manipulates our experience of time; it plays with the rhythm of experience; it stretches and complicates our relationship to the passing of time.

I am not a musician nor a scientist nor a physicist, musician nor keeper of time, but the concepts of time and music interest me, because they are all about the brain.

village voice lays off nat hentoff

http://www.nytimes.com/2008/12/31/business/media/31voice.html

I know it's not a good time to be a journalist, but this is ridiculous!

Quoting the New York Times:

In an article in the current issue of The New Yorker about The Voice, Louis Menand wrote, “Until its own success made it irresistible to buyers who imagined that they could do better with a business plan than its founders had done from desperation and instinct, it had the courage to live by its wits.”

Mr. Hentoff said he learned the news in a phone call with Mr. Ortega on Tuesday morning. “I’m 83 and a half. You’d think they’d have let me go silently,” he said. “Fortunately, I’ve never been more productive.”