2008.12.07 19:00 - Life 101

This session was recovered from the autologging test database. It appears there wasn't a guardian on duty that evening, so anyone who feels the urge to comment should please go ahead.

 

stevenaia Michinaga: haha, I see corvi, but I hear purring 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: Hiya, Steve. 

Adelene Dawner: ^.^ 

Corvuscorva Nightfire laughs..Ade on my lap. 

Adelene Dawner: Oh, so, Corvi... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: yes? 

stevenaia Michinaga: no water in the middle tonight? 

stevenaia Michinaga: (yet) 

Adelene Dawner: The other day, when that random person was here, and you said that thing about me knowing languages... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Adelene Dawner: ...what were you thinking of? 

Adelene Dawner: And no, I turned the water off, Steve. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: computers..autie...nt... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: english 

Adelene Dawner chuckles at Corvi. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: I was thinking of the different ways that people communicate... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: and that you're pretty good at them. 

Adelene Dawner grins. "I thought that might've been it, and thank you. It was a potentially vey useful insight." 

Adelene Dawner: *very 

Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles. 

Adelene Dawner: I've pulled a book out of my collection - decade-plus-old self-help book that made a lot of sense when I read it as a teenager, and still does, though this is really the first time that I feel it'll be useful to actually do the exercises. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: what made you like it? 

Adelene Dawner: ...not sure, at the time. So much of it got incorporated into how I think, it's hard to remember what parts of it I already understood the first time I read it. 

Adelene Dawner: It's where I got the idea of considering emotions as useful tools, for one.

Corvuscorva Nightfire: oh! 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: I see. 

Adelene Dawner: Yeah. ^.^ 

Adelene Dawner: Good stuff. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Adelene Dawner: But one of the exercises I'm doing now is... well, putting words to what your purpose in life is. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Adelene Dawner: Which is kind of an interesting contrast to PaB, since it has you do that in the form of an "I am..." sentence. 

Adelene Dawner: And yet in some ways not a contrast at all... because what you're looking for is what'd be there once you drop all the 'I have...' stuff. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: give me an expample? 

Adelene Dawner: One that is uses is "I am a joyful actor" 

Adelene Dawner: Which... doesn't quite capture the depth, I know. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles..what do you write? 

Adelene Dawner: for the exercise? 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

stevenaia Michinaga: why does this sound familiar? 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: what's the name of the book? 

stevenaia Michinaga: (asking self) 

Adelene Dawner: Dunno, Steve. Don't think I've talked about it before. The book in question is Do It: Let's Get Off Our Buts... and it's part of hte Life 101 series. 

Adelene Dawner: They were very popular in the early 90s 

stevenaia Michinaga: do you know the author(s) 

Adelene Dawner: Peter McWilliams... the entire text is available online, I can find the site for you easily. 

Adelene Dawner: http://www.mcwilliams.com/books/books/ 

stevenaia Michinaga: I think "Life 101" was something use alot 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: so...what do you write there, Ade? 

stevenaia Michinaga: here wait, you were 7 in the early 90's 

Adelene Dawner: no... I was born in '81 

stevenaia Michinaga: ok, I can;t add 

Adelene Dawner: hehe 

stevenaia Michinaga: (or type) 

stevenaia Michinaga: please go on 

stevenaia Michinaga: (before corvi thwaps me with paillow) 

Adelene Dawner: The exercise -that one, anyway - is pretty simple... you write down a list of adjectives that describe you, and things that you enjoy doing, and see which ones resonate. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire snorts at Steve. 

Adelene Dawner: I was playing with 'compassionate teacher' for a while yesterday, but it wasn't quite a perfect fit, mostly 'cause I emphasize learning just as much if not more... but 'student' didn't fit at all, I'm not that focused on concerted study... I think I thought about 'learner' and 'explorer' but they didn't fit, for much the same reason. 

Adelene Dawner: But 'translator' fits very well. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods, smiling. 

Adelene Dawner: (Of course, that leads to me going "ok, so what the hell is that good for...", but, one thing at a time I guess...) 

Corvuscorva Nightfire laughs..yes...well...it's been good for me, to have you translate. 

Adelene Dawner: The book does seem to assume that knowing your purpose will automatically lead to recognizing goals that fit that purpose, and, um, no, it doesn't. Even if the purpose is useful in an immediate sense. 

Adelene Dawner does wonder what if any connection there is between that and the fact that she has a distinct tendency to drift from one thing to another... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: you mean for work? 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: or generrally? 

Adelene Dawner: I mean in general. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods, smiles. 

Adelene Dawner: I tend not to have goals... even the 3de thing, if I'm honest, is more Three's goal for me than my goal for myself... not that I don't think it's a good one and not that I won't work toward it, but... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: maybe you can get by with just purposs.. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles, waves! 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: Ross! 

Adelene Dawner: Yes, maybe so... useful to know, anyway. Hi Ross! 

Adelene Dawner: ^.^ 

Adelene Dawner: It would be nice to have a goal, for once, though. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: well one doesn't have to "feel" a goal to have one. 

stevenaia Michinaga: Ade, I don;t have clearly defined goals, jsut the general pull of whatever my interests direct me toward 

Adelene Dawner: mmhmm 

stevenaia Michinaga: it;s a very relaxed approach to movement 

stevenaia Michinaga: then you get to smell the roses on your way to your interests 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: You know..honestly...I think I move that way most of the time, too. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: it's when I don't feel it, that I create a goal. 

stevenaia Michinaga: instrad of forsaking something because it;s not on some path you've defined 

Adelene Dawner nods, shrugs. 

stevenaia Michinaga: smiles at your response 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: each new year...I create several "resolutions" they're really goals..like "go to the dentist" or "make a will" 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: things I wouldn't do just cause I'm interested...but would be useful to do anyway. 

stevenaia Michinaga: good point 

stevenaia Michinaga: more like a to do list than a goal 

Corvuscorva Nightfire shrugs..yes..but the goal is "have good teeth" and "make sure my partner is taken care of"...hmmm... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: well...maybe those ARE things of interest to me. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: strike that thought from the record then..they are just exactly what you said. 

Adelene Dawner: Well, a goal that you choose would almost by definition be something that interests you... either that or something you think you should do. 

Adelene Dawner: The book uses the word 'dream' more often than 'goal'... basically, a really *big* goal, and again, something that interests you, probably by virtue of relating to your purpose. 

stevenaia Michinaga: hello aiross 

aiross Finesmith: Hi Steve -Happy Birthday! 

stevenaia Michinaga: hello, does it show? 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: She might have had a tip off...but hte hat does say alot. 

Adelene Dawner: ...good grief I'm oblivious. ^.^ 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: naww..I got tipped off, too. 

Adelene Dawner ha noticed the hat but assumed it was just Steve being his usual wacky self. 

stevenaia Michinaga: giggles 

Adelene Dawner: ^.^ 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods..would be easy to assume. 

Adelene Dawner: And happy birthday, as well, Steve. 

stevenaia Michinaga: thank you Ade 

stevenaia Michinaga: an Air 

Adelene Dawner wonders what kind of big goals could even go with translating... 

Adelene Dawner: (in the sense that I do it, I mean) 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. "might be a wait and see kind of thing" 

stevenaia Michinaga: depends what you mean by translating? 

Adelene Dawner: As Corvi mentioned earlier, people have all different ways of using language, even if thy speak the same one. Sometimes, two people just can't make sense of each other... sometimes that's subtle, sometimes it's not... and I often can make sense of both of them and 'tanslate' concepts from one way of using language to the other. 

stevenaia Michinaga: wb aiross 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. or within themselves..sometimes that's what you do for me. 

Adelene Dawner: Computer programming is actually a decent example of the same kind of thing... it's technically translating from one language to another but the idea of getting the point across between the two modes. 

Adelene Dawner nods at Corvi. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: exactly. 

Adelene Dawner: It's similar to 'saying the right thing at the right time' but I explicitly acknowledge that 'the right thing' is almost never my own idea. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: say more? 

Adelene Dawner: um... not much more to say. Most if not all the ideas that I present are gathered from various places and people. The concepts are out there... I just pick the right one for the situation and say it in a way that makes sense to the listener. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire smiles..ADe..that's what we all do! 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: we borrow all the time. 

Adelene Dawner: I know. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: it's rare for a concept to be new... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: jsut newly applied. 

Adelene Dawner: But it makes more sense to me to phrase it this way than to try to put teacher/student words around it. 

Adelene Dawner: Conceptually it's very close to that, though. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: alot of teaching is using the student's own memes to explain a concept. 

Adelene Dawner nods. "There's a reason my first attempt was the word 'teaching'. That's not inaccurate, it's just not the best fit for the entire purpose." 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: which sounds like what you mean? 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. 

Adelene Dawner: 'learner' isn't a good fit for me because it implies that I'd be interested in, like, classes and stuff, and I'm generally not. But I always have tried to learn the most I can from every situation I find myself in, to the point where doing so is rather central to who and what I am. 

Adelene Dawner: And 'teacher' doesn't cover that at all. 'translator' at least starts to... I'm translating from that to something that others can understand more easily. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire nods. it works for me! 

Adelene Dawner: ^.^ 

stevenaia Michinaga: I must go... thanks, nice to meet you aiross 

Adelene Dawner: 'night, Steve. ^.^ 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: Bye, Steve. 

aiross Finesmith: Hope to see you again. 

stevenaia Michinaga: thanks 

Adelene Dawner hmmmms... 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: hm? 

Adelene Dawner: ..........yup. Also comfy. ^.^ 

Corvuscorva Nightfire grins. 

aiross Finesmith: /scratches Ade's ears 

aiross Finesmith: This seems like the ultimate compliment somehow. 

Adelene Dawner chuckles. 

Adelene Dawner sighs... "My brain has apparently decided that bedtime is now 10:30... I don't want to go, but my brain is definitely turning to mush here. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: G'night, Ade. 

aiross Finesmith: That is more like my bedtime too. G. nihgit 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: I'll see you tomorrow. 

Adelene Dawner: 'night, Corvi, 'night, Ross. See you. 

Corvuscorva Nightfire grins at Ross..you, I'll see sooner. 

aiross Finesmith: good! 

Corvuscorva Nightfire: brb