Path to Enlightened Insanity

Its funny, I’ve had so many thoughts recently where I’ve said “I need to take some time and write on that.” Now that I’ve sat down and given myself time to write I am well, wordless. Maybe its more that I don’t know which to take first.

Okay the largest theme has been thinking how I fit into society, and the efforts I do and don’t make to fit in, and why I do or don’t make those efforts.

This all got started Friday with the seemingly most insignificant of conversations. Eric brought up one of my characteristics that frustrated him, specifically I talk with food in my mouth. (Mind you this is food in my mouth, not food that is in my mouth and is jumping out of it.) My argument is this is who I am and does not cause anyone else harm.

Other people around me feel uncomfortable being around me when I’m talking with food in my mouth. But they feel uncomfortable I do not make them uncomfortable, they are the ones who are uncomfortable.

A parallel example is in order. There is a tradition of kissing your loved one before they go on a trip, be it an airplane, train, bus, or car trip. While this happens in several different places it often happens at the transportation transition station. (read bus stop, airport, train station, etc..) Its an accepted norm that there will be some light PDA (LPDA) at these locations. Now I have kissed another guy at an airport (the Dayton Airport to be exact.) If someone said this made them uncomfortable I would tell them to fuck off (as politely as possible) because they are the ones who are uncomfortable, not me and my boyfriend. If they are uncomfortable with my boyfriend and I being who we are it is their discomfort not mine.

I can of course choose to censor my behavior. If there was some benefit to this, (say avoiding gay bashing) I would change my behavior. But I’m pretty comfortable with the fact that I won’t be gay bashed at an airport.

but back to talking with food in my mouth. At this point in my life it is who I am. I can of course choose to change this behavior, but I believe that the benefits do not outweigh the costs. If those who are uncomfortable are so bothered by it perhaps they should choose and try not to be uncomfortable.

A quick word. This is a response to a real conversation with Eric, not to lambaste him or his friends in public, but just to spit out my thoughts about it. As always the comment feature exists for people who disagree with me, or care to add something.

I found out that I’m now three degrees removed from Shawn Walker. (Specifically my boyfriend Eric is friends with Shawn’s boyfriend Jason.)

The can of worms from last year that I’ve slowly put back into their can came flying back out (with a little less force than last time.)

Shawn is a really cool person despite the fact that I was hurt, mostly by myself, by my last interactions with him. I’d like a second chance to be friends with him, but that isn’t wholly my choice.

The future will happen as it will happen. I cannot control it. Life and the connections we make are fragile, transient, and malleable.

Opportunities are in the future. I just have to keep my eyes open and try not to expect that I’m entitled to anything.

I moved my kitties, Shaun and George, to my apartment yesterday.

If I had known the howling meows I’d be getting on the drive from my dad’s house to my apartment I wouldn’t’ve done it. One of them was so scared he pissed all over himself, talk about indignities.

They’re really mellow. I can’t help but feeling that I broke up their little family that they’d been part of for the past eight and a half months. I get to see my family frequently, sometimes more than I’d like, but my cats likely are not going to be seeing any of the other cats, Fluffy, Squeaky, or Sphinx, anytime soon, if ever again. I didn’t and couldn’t give them notice.

To top it off this apartment is significantly smaller than my dad’s house and they can’t really go outside and play like they used to. In short its a sucky place to be a kitty.

I tell myself I had no choice, that the kitty family was going to be broken up none the less, but that really doesn’t make me feel much better.. I just want them to be happy thats all…

• Life is not deathly serious
• Have fun while doing your daily routine
• Acting crazy is a good way to have fun
• Laugh at yourself, even if you’re the only one laughing
• Stress makes us sick — avoid it.
• Watch children. They know how to avoid stress and be healthy
• Putting a joke in a memo isn’t against company policy
• Be frivolous at least a third of your day
• Frivolity leads to good ideas
• Life is too short to be serious all the time — let yourself off the hook
• Laughing is a way to soar like big balloons
• Smile

Confusion is the root of understanding.

I just saw Convenience for the second time and I’ve listened to it several hundred more times.

Its It is so complex but so simple at the same time. Convenience is an excellent piece of art which you can enter from any point, explore and find a philosophy or suggestion for living.

I keep trying to extract a concrete nugget from it to apply to myself. I never get a concrete substance only a fleeting essence. But, I think it has already worked its way through me, without being self-evident.

Three hundred and sixty three days ago, I choose not to crawl, not to go forward. These words make it self-evident that I have crawled and I am almost standing at a point where I can start walking again.

It is nowhere near any of the pictures I’ve painted but the canvas is the same, and you can see parts of the previous pictures still poking through.

I am standing, here.

I have several conclusions I’ve come upon today.

1. Time Warner is incompetent.
2. Designers of web applications need to realize its still an application, this means it has a user interface design. Therefore you should design a usable web interface.
3. Programmers of web applications should ensure the data on the site is accurate. Even though it is on the web is not an excuse for it to be pure lies .
4. Eric is a very good cook, despite what his mother says about him.
5. Not having Internet access when you expect to have it sucks.
6. The Internet is more important to me than my cell phone. I can place a phone call on the Internet. I cannot access the Internet on MY cell phone.
7. Living in an apartment complex with a washer and dryer room is awesome, because you can get three loads of laundry done in two hours.
8. Vice-Presidents suck.
9. I don’t like conforming.
10. Lists with ten items in them are over rated.

I hate writing about politics, which is probably why I do it so much, because I’m a masochist at heart..

I was reading an entry at Lawrence Lessig’s blog. The entry itself is unimportant, the important part is the comments.

I’m amazed that people are so divided on the issue of Terrorism. I guess I shouldn’t be but I am. Why can’t everyone just think like me?

Back to being serious. I’m happy that there is diversity on the issue, but I am dismayed that people can’t get on the same definitions, and instead spend hordes of time arguing over them.

Heres a way to think about the issue. In most states in the United States you’re required to carry automobile insurance. Why? Because if you’re at fault in an accident you’ll have to pay, and the states have a vested interest to ensure that everyone is protected from everyone else. For example, I currently insure myself against my own mistakes for $25,000 per person of bodily injuries that I cause, $50,000 per accident of bodily injury that I cause, and $25,000 per accident of property damage that I cause. These limits are fine for me because I have about a negative $20,000 net worth. Which means if someone sues me for an accident they’re going to have a hard time collecting more than my insurance limits because I have no assets with which to pay someone. I am protecting my fiscal interests (however meager they may be) by purchasing insurance.

Now if I were a multi-millionaire I would purchase significantly more insurance. Why? Because I would then have a lot to lose and I would want to protect my assets. But I don’t have to purchase an insurance policy, all I have to do for the government is provide proof of my ability to pay a liability claim. But I could do this in many different ways. I could like my poor self choose to purchase an insurance policy or provide proof of my ability to pay a liability claim. There are six ways to do this in the State of Ohio. I can choose to purchase an insurance policy and transfer the risk to the insurance company, or I can place monetary instruments on deposit with the state.

The important part is the transferring of risk. I can choose to keep that risk, and just show that I’m fiscally responsible, or I can pay the insurance company to transfer the risk to them. But there is only so much risk I can transfer, no insurance company would write a policy for say $1 Trillion in losses. (okay, I’m not sure about that number, but just pick a large enough number, eventually they won’t write it.)

Getting back to the point. If I’m a millionaire I can either keep or transfer the risk, but I can only transfer so much, and the more I transfer the more it costs me. The long and short of it is we’re having a big disagreement about what our risks are, and if we can transfer them in the form of heightened security and reduced liberty.

My take: We’re a rich country and we should just assume the risk. Yes there will be incidents that will have a significant cost, but nothing that we cannot absorb the risk.

There was my long ramble to get to that point. So never accuse me of taking a shortcut.

I’ve almost completed my first full week in an “office environment.”

It’s definitely a different type of work environment. I really really really like working on the 25th floor and eating in our gourmet cafeteria on the 28th floor.

Boredom is a different issue. I think I just need to learn to deal with it. CSD was boring a whole bunch of the time. (Come on, after about two months of eavesdropping on people’s conversations there is only so much of mundane conversations you can take, and I did that for two and a half years.)

Oh another thing I forgot, I have a Starbucks within walking distance without going outside. I have to take special care that I don’t blow a hole in my budget. (yes Starbucks coffee can do that.)

Hmm… I’m not sure what else to write about. That is all that is on my mind at the moment.

I’m exhausted, but I feel that I should be writing in this more. I’m going to see about being more productive on my lunch hour. I should be able to do more than just eat during an hour.

Work is going good. I really enjoy working on the 25th floor, and eating in the cafeteria (which has excellent food) on the 28th floor.

I don’t like driving in Cincinnati traffic. But I think that Cincinnati traffic is a bit like Wright State’s parking problem, everyone bitches about it, but it really isn’t that bad. But it has given me space to look into emergent behaviors and characteristics of large systems and how they organize out of many individual decisions by individuals. This has led me to want to re-read Emergence, perhaps after I get to Steven Johnson‘s newest book Mind Wide Open.

In a way, I’m working on the same thing at work. We’re setting up rules and following through on them on which we judge companies that we contract work to. I’m in a bit of disagreement with my boss. He’s of the opinion to keep it simple, I’m of the opinion that the system gives us a whole bunch of power lets use it to make our lives and our contractor’s lives simpler, when we can get the same thing out of it. Ehh… Things could be worse, I mean at least I feel that I’m treated a lot better at Chiquita than I was at CSD. Now that I’m happy about.

Oh boy.. Its been a week.

Just a list:

1. Called the police to get help for a friend in another state
2. Accepted two job offers
3. Had one job interview
4. Moved to Cincinnati
5. Entered into a refinancing agreement on a significant portion of my debt
6. Reskinned my website (okay thats been in the works for a little while)
7. Terminated my employment at my previous job
8. Oooh.. Oil change and tire rotation
9. Eric and I decided to move from just being friends to dating..
10. Officially renamed the eJournal to “Path to Enlightened Insanity via Defacted Musings”
11. Opened one bank account (again for the money)

Okay its more than what it initially seems like. To top it off I’ve been kicking around ideas for a book or two…

Yes I have slept…

A greater level of sanity should reveal itself soon.