CAG@LOCS#15
Never have i ever had such a pleasant and [. . . there should or needs to be an adjective that encapsulates educational, enlightening, and inspirational in an politely intimate way; when i discover it, i'll insert it here] spontaneous conversation at a coffee shop. Victoria is the CEO of The Creative Education Foundation and the organizer of CPSI ("sip-see"). She recognizes that both an empirical situation and the perceptions of it in the minds of those involved are real. This might be a fundamental insight.
She's also the only person to have asked me, as soon as i mentioned my origin, if i left VT because of the shootings. With most people it seems to be a taboo to bring it up (certain awesome housemates excepted), or at least inappropriate for a first meeting. This self-consciousness was absent. I'll be striving for that.
Her last name is reverse-ironic: i'll sound cliché however i describe her so i'll stop with a note of thanks for her applause, encouragement, and cautions. And for offering to help in line when my card was declined. (I used cash.)
While this is on my mind, i should write it down. My tendency has been, as far back as i can tell, to seek out a "right" way of looking at things to decide to adopt, then dismiss the other possibilities. An observation that's been slowly creeping up on me is that every way of looking at things is by definition subjective, and various of these must be considered in order to understand a situation as well as humanly possible - adverb stressed because the reason each perspective is vital is that it's what someone would act upon. Even if someone is utterly wrong about something, they can be 'honest" or even plain right as far as they're concerned, and this is a perspective that cannot be dismissed. The proposed best way of dealing with this is to first understand your own perspective - what's coming into play as you interpret something - then be able to acknowledge it and express it, then be able to discern the same from others, or at least get an idea, the doing of which will help em achieve the first two. This has got to be maddeningly hard in practice. Confounded idealistic philosophies that other people keep proving demonstrably possible.
Esselon has a touch of magic to it. The subway-style brick-walls-and-metal-ceiling aside, the single feature that works this feat is the semioctagonal curtain encasing the front entrance from the rest of the store, parted just enough to glimpse the layout and the edge of the bar, of the plush, heavy fabric that you'd never want to unwrap yourself from. The pastries are typical in concept and average in execution, but the mochas . . . match the curtains. Like sipping a dream, and in that respect a bit too creamy and sweet for even my uncultured tongue. When they start brewing nightmares i'll have another go.
I'm actually about to "finish" (applied to the problems i've chosen to focus on) the third Theory of Manifolds assignment, which i could make next to no progress on a month ago but somehow have been able to cruise through this week. Mathematics is a discipline that one learns in spurts, in much the way that life is claimed to evolve in the opening voice-overs of the X-Men movies, but with somewhat less grandiose consequences. Contrary to a rebellious POV i've clung to since childhood, one of not-quite-genius caliber simply cannot learn more quickly by focusing more immediate time and energy; one must pause, mull, wander, and meanwhile the ends connect themselves with proper details provided. Kinda sucks, doesn't it, to think that the kind of instant training available to Matrix-born humans may be a physical (chemical? biological? it may all be the same soon enough) impossibility. So where's the distinction between mental memory (which can certainly be fabricated) and physical memory (which for all i know must be learnt)? Everything is spectral.
Bet you didn't know you were already growing your own garden. ^_^ The housies and i are gonna try this next week.
She's also the only person to have asked me, as soon as i mentioned my origin, if i left VT because of the shootings. With most people it seems to be a taboo to bring it up (certain awesome housemates excepted), or at least inappropriate for a first meeting. This self-consciousness was absent. I'll be striving for that.
Her last name is reverse-ironic: i'll sound cliché however i describe her so i'll stop with a note of thanks for her applause, encouragement, and cautions. And for offering to help in line when my card was declined. (I used cash.)
While this is on my mind, i should write it down. My tendency has been, as far back as i can tell, to seek out a "right" way of looking at things to decide to adopt, then dismiss the other possibilities. An observation that's been slowly creeping up on me is that every way of looking at things is by definition subjective, and various of these must be considered in order to understand a situation as well as humanly possible - adverb stressed because the reason each perspective is vital is that it's what someone would act upon. Even if someone is utterly wrong about something, they can be 'honest" or even plain right as far as they're concerned, and this is a perspective that cannot be dismissed. The proposed best way of dealing with this is to first understand your own perspective - what's coming into play as you interpret something - then be able to acknowledge it and express it, then be able to discern the same from others, or at least get an idea, the doing of which will help em achieve the first two. This has got to be maddeningly hard in practice. Confounded idealistic philosophies that other people keep proving demonstrably possible.
Esselon has a touch of magic to it. The subway-style brick-walls-and-metal-ceiling aside, the single feature that works this feat is the semioctagonal curtain encasing the front entrance from the rest of the store, parted just enough to glimpse the layout and the edge of the bar, of the plush, heavy fabric that you'd never want to unwrap yourself from. The pastries are typical in concept and average in execution, but the mochas . . . match the curtains. Like sipping a dream, and in that respect a bit too creamy and sweet for even my uncultured tongue. When they start brewing nightmares i'll have another go.
I'm actually about to "finish" (applied to the problems i've chosen to focus on) the third Theory of Manifolds assignment, which i could make next to no progress on a month ago but somehow have been able to cruise through this week. Mathematics is a discipline that one learns in spurts, in much the way that life is claimed to evolve in the opening voice-overs of the X-Men movies, but with somewhat less grandiose consequences. Contrary to a rebellious POV i've clung to since childhood, one of not-quite-genius caliber simply cannot learn more quickly by focusing more immediate time and energy; one must pause, mull, wander, and meanwhile the ends connect themselves with proper details provided. Kinda sucks, doesn't it, to think that the kind of instant training available to Matrix-born humans may be a physical (chemical? biological? it may all be the same soon enough) impossibility. So where's the distinction between mental memory (which can certainly be fabricated) and physical memory (which for all i know must be learnt)? Everything is spectral.
Bet you didn't know you were already growing your own garden. ^_^ The housies and i are gonna try this next week.