2008.10.01 07:00 - Stress and Stopping

Hey There, I broke this section into bite size pieces.  No comments today.  CH

Caledonia Heron: hey Prospero :)
Caledonia Heron: how are you?
Prospero Frobozz: Hanging in there... you?
Caledonia Heron: mm ok, not sleeping well so slugging down the coffee :)
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah, I haven't been sleeping well either :/
Prospero Frobozz: Last couple of nights, have had trouble sleeping... then, yesterday, was feeling a bit flu-ish, and slept a fair amount during the day.
Prospero Frobozz: Made the mistake last night of getting all involved in this book I was reading....
Caledonia Heron: hopefully you feel better
Caledonia Heron: I really enjoyed your play the other day :)
Prospero Frobozz: Thank you! Yeah, it's been fun to do.
Caledonia Heron: I was thinking about how you block the scenes and how that translates to sl which adds some extra blocking elements
Caledonia Heron: making sure you have the animations/scripts just so, knowing where the marks are, stuff like that
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah -- one of these years I hope to do a play that takes advantage of SL as SL.
Prospero Frobozz: But, yeah, it's complicated to emulate RL!
Caledonia Heron: lol
Caledonia Heron: sure ... what would it be like to make it more sl-ish
Caledonia Heron: have tp-ing, building, stuff like that
Prospero Frobozz: Indeed
Caledonia Heron: changing into different forms
Prospero Frobozz: When I direct the Tempest, ariel will be all over that kind of stuff :)
Caledonia Heron: you could do puck like a transformer character
Caledonia Heron: or midsummer night - that has a great fantasy element
Prospero Frobozz: Indeed
Prospero Frobozz: We did take advantage of having the characters teleport out after the glowy bit at the end when the time travel recall was activated :)
Caledonia Heron: that's true - nice particle effects too :)
Prospero Frobozz: The "sound effects" were just things I had the actors do.
Prospero Frobozz: Through their mics
Prospero Frobozz: The timing was much easier that way.
Caledonia Heron: oh, yeah makes sense
Prospero Frobozz: Using in-world sounds is troubelsome, because everybody hears it at a different time-- depending on when their client gets the sound downloaded.
Caledonia Heron: yeah - have been trying to figure out how to rebroadcast something so everyone is synched up - not sure it's possible
Caledonia Heron: it would seem the option is only individual instances of the stream
Prospero Frobozz: Streams will never work for that; the very design of streams doesn't fit with that.
Caledonia Heron: yep
Caledonia Heron: I have concluded that also

Prospero Frobozz: It's funny at "Science Friday" on the MG -- you can tell that people are hearing things at different times because of what they say.
Prospero Frobozz: hmm
Prospero Frobozz: Some folks are listening on the radio and hear things a minute before everybody else.
Caledonia Heron: yeah, true and consider if you want to rebroadcast a segment
Caledonia Heron: and have everyone be "together" ... not happening
Prospero Frobozz: Yep
Prospero Frobozz: the Internet wasn't designed for simultaneous shared experience like that...
Prospero Frobozz: Hopefully at some point somebody will solve it.
Prospero Frobozz: But, for now, the best we can do is listen to streams and deal with the fact that it's just kinda close.
Prospero Frobozz: Or, use Voice :)
Caledonia Heron: yeah, work within the limitations
Prospero Frobozz: Some folks in the SLSC, wanting better quality and not to have to deal with the technical irritations of Voice, thought they could try using the stream.... I didn't even participate in the experiment, because I Knew how it would come out :)
Prospero Frobozz: I don't know if they ever did experiment, but that delay... just not gonna happen.
Prospero Frobozz: And, even if you did deal with the delay, somehow, the fact that it's different for everybody listening is a showstopper for something interactive like theater
Caledonia Heron: yeah, just won't work right now

Caledonia Heron: I feel a little like I haven't been doing my pab "homework" lately ... skimming in and out randomly
Prospero Frobozz: I have to admit... I have yet to do a pab "homework".
Prospero Frobozz: Once or twice, I sit back and try to just be
Caledonia Heron: lol
Prospero Frobozz: But the whole meditation thing... maybe it's just because I haven't approached it right, but it's something I've never fully managed to "get"
Caledonia Heron: yeah, I understand
Caledonia Heron: I notice that some pab folks say they can really tap into the being aspect when they are what I call off center, like tired or agitated or "something"
Prospero Frobozz: Interesting
Caledonia Heron: it doesn't work like that for me ..... it works best for me when I'm at rest with myself
Caledonia Heron: I have an inordinate amount of stressors at work right now... so it's low level pab for me right now
Prospero Frobozz: d'oh
Prospero Frobozz: Sad when there are too many stressors at work.
Caledonia Heron: plus family moved in indefinitely with us, one of whom is psychologically troubled
Prospero Frobozz: Those things can really eat away at you.
Caledonia Heron: good grief, I'm saturated
Prospero Frobozz: Ugh
Prospero Frobozz: Family
Prospero Frobozz: My wife and I every so often talk about going into the Federal Witness Protection Program so that our parents won't be able to find us :)
Prospero Frobozz: Having family move in at all can be intensely stressful... adding somebody who's pscychologically troubled must turn it up to 11
Caledonia Heron: awww, they want to wuv you :)
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah.
Prospero Frobozz: That's the problem :)
Caledonia Heron: yeah, the girlfriend is bipolar and threw away her meds
Prospero Frobozz: I've had the problem ever since I was a little kid that I couldn't live up to my mom's image of what she thought I was....
Prospero Frobozz: yikes.
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah, I can understand wanting to throw away the meds, but that can be bad if you're bipolar.
Caledonia Heron: I don't know what the solution is but I do know I'm not qualified to resolve it
Prospero Frobozz: Is this a long-term move-in, or a short-term move-in?
Caledonia Heron: tell your mom I said you rock... nuff said :)
Caledonia Heron: unknown.... they want to move to my city, have no job, no leads, she can't work, no house, no cash
Prospero Frobozz: hrm
Caledonia Heron: and.... they have a 1.5 yr baby
Prospero Frobozz: Does he have any plans to *look* for a job?
Prospero Frobozz: Or is this "my sister Cal will support us!"
Caledonia Heron: think so on the job, hope not on the support
Caledonia Heron: anyway, enough crud.... sigh
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah... sorry about that, plus the low-level work stressors.
Caledonia Heron: comparatively :)
Prospero Frobozz: heh
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah, when I was at Vanderbilt, the work stressors were constantly building to the point that they were probably health-threatening towards the end of my last year
Caledonia Heron: yeah, health is an issue for sure
Caledonia Heron: stress is very bad - I have ra like your wife
Prospero Frobozz: Ah! Yeah. She's really not able to focus for more than 3-4 hours a day as a result of her RA. She had to quit the graduate program she was in because of it.
Caledonia Heron: I can maintain focus for long periods but must mitigate stress to do so

Adams Dubrovna: Hello Prospero, Cal :)
Caledonia Heron: Hi Adams :)
Prospero Frobozz: Several years ago I was talking to Keivan Stassun -- another astronomer at Vanderbilt -- and he was saying that despite the fact that they all drink and smoke, people in France tend to live longer than people in the USA
Prospero Frobozz: (I don't know if that's true.)
Prospero Frobozz: Somebody who looked into it figured out that the reason was that we're all so much more stressed.
Caledonia Heron: we're talking about stressors Adams and how it effects our pab practice
Prospero Frobozz: Probably we should all smoke and drink more :) But, really, I think we live in a culture that perversely values stress.
Caledonia Heron: perhaps ... I have heard that French thing and immediately resolved to eat more butter :)
Adams Dubrovna: :)
Caledonia Heron: eat more cheese, drink more wine :)
Prospero Frobozz: ...go on strike more...
Prospero Frobozz: At least in the USA we have the cultural snobbery that our country is better than everybody else down.
Prospero Frobozz: :)
Caledonia Heron: lol, maybe gesticulate more, speak verbosely and passionately :)
Caledonia Heron: I think the French will go head to head with us there
Adams Dubrovna: Yeah, me too :)
Prospero Frobozz: Yep... well, if we want to emulate the French, that's one thing we've already got covered.
Caledonia Heron: [wish I had a snappy beret in inventory :)]
Prospero Frobozz: Anyway. The USA has all sorts of unhealthy cultural values.... everybody should be stressed is one, even though we don't say it that way. It's part of the "must be the winner" coupled with "must be succesful" coupled with "dont' screw up" coupled with "if you fail you're out on the street on your own", etc.
Prospero Frobozz: If you're not working and stressed, you're lazy or something.
Prospero Frobozz: Dunno
Caledonia Heron: yeah .... I think that shows up like you can't not check your email on vacation
Prospero Frobozz: Heh
Adams Dubrovna: hmmm
Prospero Frobozz: Well, I've learned that if I don't check my email on vacation, how far backed up I am when I get back completely undoes any value the vacation might have had
Adams Dubrovna: I don't take a computer when I go on vacation
Caledonia Heron: yeah, I've done it that way because I definitely get the point
Caledonia Heron: and, I've done it where I tell people I skipped email for x time.... I'll get with you very soon and just take my time, efficiently but on my time
Caledonia Heron: I really prefer that way
Caledonia Heron: I mean, good grief, if you have the time to take vacation you can't really say you have your finger on the button in some silo
Prospero Frobozz: Heh

Adams Dubrovna: There is a trick to not feeling we have to answer emails as soon as see them
Prospero Frobozz: Well, the truth is though that you *need* to take vacation, esp. if you have the finger on the button
Caledonia Heron: tell us your trick Adams
Caledonia Heron: lol, no kidding Prospero
Adams Dubrovna: Said that wrong, it takes some effort I guess but I am learning to do it
Caledonia Heron: one thing is to not check your email every 20 seconds - maybe just 2 times per day
Caledonia Heron: and set a time limit
Adams Dubrovna: Like when people wait to email me on weekends
Adams Dubrovna: yes Cal
Caledonia Heron: don't check work email on weekends
Adams Dubrovna: I use a different email on weekends from the one I use at work now
Prospero Frobozz: Yeah, checking email two times a day wouldn't work for me... too much stuff comes in that I need to know about sooner.
Adams Dubrovna stops to check his email
Adams Dubrovna: :)
Caledonia Heron: I know what you mean Prospero - I almost got totally hosed on something because everyone was emailing Sun/Labor Day on something
Caledonia Heron: me too Adams :) ha ha
Adams Dubrovna: I guess you already noted that the 15 minutes stops are a good stress reducer :)
Caledonia Heron: well I was mentioning to Prospero it doesn't really work for me like that
Prospero Frobozz: I need to head out....
Adams Dubrovna: bye Prospero
Caledonia Heron: ok, glad you stopped by, don't join the witness protection program just yet :)
Prospero Frobozz: The rolling restart is done, and I'm teaching a class on Unix filesystem basics to Lindens in 1.5 hours
Prospero Frobozz: So, I am going to... no, not prepare... take a nap :)
Caledonia Heron: feel better :)
Prospero Frobozz: Have fun, all!
Caledonia Heron: and thanks again for the play
Adams Dubrovna: Thanks
Prospero Frobozz: "all"
Prospero Frobozz: Seems a bit much for two people, but there you go.
Prospero Frobozz: SEe ya!
Prospero Frobozz: :)
Caledonia Heron: adios

Adams Dubrovna: The stopping doesn't lift you out of the stress at all?
Caledonia Heron: no, there is no true stopping for me at high stress levels
Caledonia Heron: true stopping occurs when I am at rest
Adams Dubrovna: My main problem is that I forget during those times
Adams Dubrovna: but when I remember I can feel the stress start to disappate although it may take two or three stops to do it
Caledonia Heron: I should likely reapply myself :)
Caledonia Heron: wash rinse repeat
Adams Dubrovna: Admittedly I sometimes put on music to help in between too :)
Caledonia Heron: yes, music is one of my passions
Caledonia Heron: I find auditory stimuli highly related to stopping
Adams Dubrovna: yes
Adams Dubrovna: Does the same thing - helps focus away
Caledonia Heron: yes absolutely
Adams Dubrovna: I have had the odd sensation lately that when I set on the bell and stop regularly I become more productive
Caledonia Heron: wow - excellent
Caledonia Heron: I make lists :)
Adams Dubrovna: That helps too
Adams Dubrovna: With the stops, I spend less time thinking about the task and just do it :)
Adams Dubrovna: just like making the lists
Caledonia Heron: I see the correlation
Adams Dubrovna: The stops then become like someones analogy of breaths skipping across the waves
Caledonia Heron: nice image

Adams Dubrovna: Does the astronomy group meet every day?
Caledonia Heron: there is a coffee time each day for informal talk and on Fridays there are presentations, and every 2 weeks there are planning meetings
Adams Dubrovna: Are they all at 8 am?
Caledonia Heron: yes, you are welcome to join us if you are interested
Caledonia Heron: I will give you a landmark ... sec
Adams Dubrovna: I would like to at some point, which would be best if I could only do one?
Adams Dubrovna accepted your inventory offer.
Adams Dubrovna accepted your inventory offer.
Adams Dubrovna: Thank you :)
Caledonia Heron: I would start with the popular talks held on a monthly basis in the Galaxy Dome - typically the 1st Friday of the month
Adams Dubrovna: Great
Caledonia Heron: Prospero often gives the talks - he is a learned astronomer :)
Adams Dubrovna: Oh my, I did not have any idea :)
Caledonia Heron: seems to have an affection for supernova and dark matter :)
Adams Dubrovna: I have had interest in astronomy at various times in my life but never kept up. I really enjoyed watching the daily briefings during the Voyager flights to Jupiter and Saturn
Caledonia Heron: yes - I think there are a lot of us that are fascinated by the stars and their phenomena
Adams Dubrovna notes that tomorrow is a first Friday
Caledonia Heron: you can go to
http://www.mica-vw.org
 and see what's on the schedule
Adams Dubrovna: Thank you very much :)
Caledonia Heron: I'm going to take off - I have a big list today :)
Caledonia Heron: I'm always glad to see you - you seem an old friend and we've never even met :)