Signature Strengths

I re-took the Authentic Happiness test (link in the previous post) this morning. Here are my results:

1. Appreciation of beauty
2. Forgiveness and mercy
3. Love of learning
4. Curiosity
5. Fairness and equality
6. Creativity
7. Caution

...the rest I don't think of as "signature", so I'll omit. But it's interesting to see my lowest scoring traits:

1. Industry
2. Kindness
3. Social Ability
4. Ability to love and be loved
5. Modesty
6. Honesty

...I take some exception to "Kindness" being one of my worst, and I blame the test, which (I think) used such questions as "I always call people when they are sick", to which I had to answer "No". (I never do.) ...For the record, I think I'm a very nice person! ...I just don't go out of my way for friends the way I (perhaps) should. : D

The other weaknesses are pretty much true. "Honesty" is on there mostly because, as I have stated elsewhere, I think people have the right to lie in certain circumstances...

While I was there, I noticed that they keep all your old scores. I checked back to the first time I took the test, in 2004. "Judgment, critical thinking, and open-mindedness" used to be my #5. Now it's my #10.

Interesting, that! I definitely agree with the test, there: open-mindedness used to be a guiding principle for me. ... now I'm fairly quick to judge (even if I never oppose anything; just filter it out). I'm still a skeptic, but I tend to think of it more as a hobby or a secondary character trait, not as a "signature" trait.

Homework 3: Low-Key (Charcoal)

For this assignment, we were asked to draw a fruit or veggie in charcoal, doing it low-key. I didn't have any paper on-hand, so I ran out an bought a Strathmore "300 series Charcoal" pad. Compared to the paper we use in class, it sucks. It's thin--I tore two pieces before getting a clean piece--and the texture is a bit too pronounced. I won't be buying this flavor of paper again. (I also bought some tricolor Conté crayons.) This photo didn't come out well (level adjustment on the camera or something)... it's actually a bit darker than this, and I couldn't quite tweak it in Photoshop to match it. Anyway, this was the result:

My main focus on this one was consistency: I wanted nice solid blocks of color without too much "modulation" (my teacher uses this word all the time) where I couldn't see it in the pepper. I'm pleased with the result, even though this isn't something I'd hang. As I'm looking at it now, though, I see a few flaws, like the dark, straight shadow on the left (which is too dark and too straight) and the shadow parallel to the right edge of the pepper (which is way too dark and doesn't show the structure properly). Cé la vie.

It was fun.

A Few In-Class Charcoal Pieces

About two hours each, done in-class using charcoal:

The Biggest Science News Story This Year

If you're reading this and haven't subscribed to TED yet, then you probably haven't seen Craig Venter talk about creating new bacteria. Absolutely the most important thing happening in science right now. No contest. (Okay, the Encyclopedia of Life comes in second. Heh.)

I'm really excited about this.

Strengths Finder (Rant)

I hate Gallop.

They perform this annual survey at our company, measuring whether or not our employees are engaged. I know we are (for the most part)... but they claim their stupid little 12-question survey will prove it.

One of the questions on the survey is "I have a best friend at work".

What kind of a fucktastic question is that?!?

We just had to take a "Strengths Finder" survey today. It was much, much worse.

I like the idea of strengths-finding, and happily took Martin Seligman's version of the same kind of test. I think Seligman's has merit. His test itself was a little tedious, sure, but it's not nearly as exhausting and LAME as the Gallop survey. Once again, they've ruined a good idea. The Gallop test is copyrighted, so I'm not supposed to copy anything from it... but in the spirit of "it is your duty to break unjust laws", I will copy one of the questions:

I am passionate about education.

I am passionate about eliminating violence.

I'm supposed to pick one of those two, or the awful "Neutral" that's in the middle. How am I supposed to do that? ...I mean, I'm forced to choose "Neutral" here, since I'm passionate about both of them. Extremely so.

It just feels wrong.

And lame.

Among the results they yielded for me was the following. Read this and tell me exactly how much it applies to me!

Connectedness

Things happen for a reason. You are sure of it. You are sure of it because in your soul you know that we are all connected. Yes, we are individuals, responsible for our own judgments and in possession of our own free will, but nonetheless we are part of something larger. Some may call it the collective unconscious. Others may label it spirit or life force. But whatever your word of choice, you gain confidence from knowing that we are not isolated from one another or from the earth and the life on it. This feeling of Connectedness implies certain responsibilities. If we are all part of a larger picture, then we must not harm others because we will be harming ourselves. We must not exploit because we will be exploiting ourselves. Your awareness of these responsibilities creates your value system. You are considerate, caring, and accepting. Certain of the unity of humankind, you are a bridge builder for people of different cultures. Sensitive to the invisible hand, you can give others comfort that there is a purpose beyond our humdrum lives. The exact articles of your faith will depend on your upbringing and your culture, but your faith is strong. It sustains you and your close friends in the face of life's mysteries.

I want to hit someone from Gallop.

About a year ago, Gallop sent a rep out to our company to tout their 12-question survey. I read them the riot act. I ripped 'em a new one. It was ugly. ...I think I made our CIO blush. I focused mainly on the "best friend" question, but they wouldn't have any of it. "Years of data!", they proclaim, "Thousands of variants were tested, and these questions most closely corresponded to the top-achieving companies in America!"

Mmmmn-hmmmn. That sums it up, I think. ...If you want to measure top performance in America, here's seven questions for you to rank between "strongly disagree" and "strongly agree":

1. I am white.
   
2. I am male.
   
3. I am wealthy.
4. I am Christian.
   
5. I spend time schmoozing with those of equal or greater status than me.
6. I have no trouble stepping on those weaker or of lower status than I.
7. My father was rich and powerful.
   

I'll bet those correspond real well.

Fuckers.

(And for the record, my total strength-finder results were Learner, Input, Connectedness, Intellection (?!?), Ideation. Most of these are true enough, if stupid jargon-ized words, but my five-year old could have told you that the ideas behind them were my strengths. Seligman's test revealed to me that one of my "signature" strengths is forgiveness. Not immediately apparent, but ultimately true.)

God Be With You

I just read about this neat trivial detail of greetings and other "phatic" elements (via) of conversation:

English “Good-bye” is a distortion of “God bye” of the early nineteenth century, and “God bye” come out of “God be with you” of the Middle Ages. So “Good-bye” is a religion-loaded farewell. In the late 1960s, young Californians, who were too hip to believe in God and too now-oriented to even consider tomorrow, came up with the vapid “Have a nice day.” Soon it became endemic and popular all over the U.S. But, to Chinese, this farewell may sound strange and confusing.

But That's What My Character Would Do! (Rant)

What single element that ruins role-playing games for me is that battle-cry among role-players: "That's what my character would do."

[sigh] I can't say I have ever heard that uttered, not once, and had something good happen to the game as a result of it. Period.

What's more, I don't think I've ever heard it uttered and be true.

Characters don't betray their friends, they don't attack someone just for insulting them (by far the most common mistake), they don't go wandering off alone (leave that to the NPCs), they don't ruin the party's endgame: they make sacrifices for the good of the outcome, whatever that may be. Yes, they might do it kicking and screaming, and that's all good. But, no, that's not what your character would do. He would suck it up and trudge on. ...Assuming your character is a hero, that is. Many good stories use such devices for antiheroes. If that's what you see your character as, so be it. Let's change the dynamic of the game and make it about your fall from grace. ...But I don't think that's what these players have come to the table to see.

I will briefly pause to interject: I have seen one player pull of an anti-hero successfully. But he established early on that he was doing it, and he never, ever uttered that phrase. We knew what his character would do, and we had fun with it as a result. He was the complication.

My mantra?

For a good game, your hero's priorities should be secondary to the storyline.

Role-Playing Lifecyles: Enjoyability versus Predictability

My experience has been that a typical RPG runs a fairly predictable social curve. (Of course I mean a game that isn't doomed from the start, which may in fact be more typical than not.)

The first session is always about potential: players are shy, characters are ill-defined, the system begins its exposition. Some players have already decided whether or not they are going to enjoy the game... but I think for the most part, people leave their opinions open after the first session, in a wait-and-see attitude.

The next few sessions--three, perhaps--build up to a climax of enjoyability, as characters start to develop, players learn one another's quirks, and the plot of the game gets underway. I've often seen characters trying out vastly different kinds of things in the first few sessions: usually starting out on the timid end of the spectrum, and gradually growing more bold. The fun of these sessions is still largely about potential, since the possibilities are still endless.

...But those multitudinous futures must, of course, be culled to a single destiny for the characters. (Image is (C) Sci-fi channel, used without permission.) Soon, the outcome becomes imperative, and the players become more tense... often (always?) because the players are unclear about the "correct" path to success. Sometimes they have differing ideas on how to achieve the goal, and are unwilling to compromise. And by this time (we're six-or-so sessions in, I guess), personalities also begin to clash, as each player gets perturbed by the others' predictability.

The honeymoon is over. What happens here has always disappointed me: the players become stuck in their roles; forward momentum is stifled. Idle chatter increases, as the players no longer anticipate what is going to happen next in the game. Players are more likely to miss sessions. Players have their characters do obnoxious things (and I will go into one of these in my next post).

What happens from there is highly variable. Some games make it, some fizzle and suffer awkward deaths. Some become campaigns. And those, I find, are often helped--not hindered--by the addition of new players. They help begin the curve again,. in my experience.

So the next time someone asks to join your game, tell them they can come in around the sixth or seventh session.

Thomas Payne

"Time makes more converts than Reason."

Thomas Payne, Common Sense, 1776

...This is taken slightly out of context. He's talking about how things that were once considered bad judgment can be ignored over time: we become complacent.

...Where Our Hero Confronts Poets and Loses

I didn't get much of a reception to my latest album on Kahvi. ...A post or two on the Kahvi message boards... a single (!) link from another blog. That was it.

A little disappointing. ...So I decided to do a quick search. ...I eventually found one podcast that made use of it: Sundown Lounge. It's a poetry podcast out of LA, featuring quite a bit of funky music. My music was used as a kind of backdrop (he calls it a "Music Bed") over the host speaking in episode 129.

Hey, I'll take that. I was into poetry once... and my dad has always been a fan. And, hey, I once lived (kinda) near LA. It fits.

Of course, his choice of my music was random... he just picks a Kahvi track for each episode.

Besides that, the music (which is more typical, lyrical music) on the podcast is really quite good. It's surprising what you can find for free these days if you're plugged in to the right jack. ...I suppose I shouldn't be startled. One of my wife's friends is into the LA musician's scene (not as a performer, but as an organizer). I've seen a few local (LA) gigs, and they were all superb. Angela Ueber comes to mind. (I would link, but such things are blocked here at the VA.)

Anyway, it's certainly worth a listen, if you've got 40 minutes.

As for my music?

Meh. It didn't go over well. Can't win 'em all.

Conté Crayons

My wife didn't know what they were. (And she found them pretentious.) I'd only read about them in art books. But this week, I started working on a project using Conté Crayons. I like them.

They have much the same effectiveness as charcoal, thought they are a wee bit waxier (only a wee bit). ...I find they blend a little darker when pushed around, so it's difficult to gauge how much to put down to achieve the proper tone... but (and here's what I like most) they erase a little more easily than charcoal. ...Not entirely, of course, so it's foolish to think you can get really white tones if you've put down any Conté at all... but still, it comes up nicely otherwise. Other than that, I just seem to have a little more control with it than charcoal... and the tones and textures just appeal to me more.

The project we're working on is huge. The idea is simple: just a tool. But we're drawing it on two sheets of 20x30(ish) paper, making the total size (if mounted horizontally, as I've done) 20x60. This is enormous! My tool is a simple pair of pliers, somewhat old and beat-up. I've worked four hours on it so far, and have only shaded one of the jaws and outlined the second. (As well as blocking in the entire tool.) It's a lot of work...

But I am enjoying it. ...More than charcoal.

This Blog Space Rated M (18+) for Mature by the ESRB

I subscribe to Wikipedia's article of the day. The latest article talks about the ESRB re-rating Oblivion, from teen (13+) to mature (17+).

This made me angry.

It was all well and good to ignore the ESRB... but today I was forced to think about it. And I decided I don't like the number.

Sure, fine, tell me that the game contains violence. Undead. Some gore. And that there's the potential for user-contributed content to have much, much worse. I'd like to know these things.

But don't fucking tell me how old my kid should be to see it. That's not your decision, and I resent you, Iyesarby, for suggesting it is.

I own two copies of Oblivion: one on the PC, the other on the Playstation 3. In fact, I've been playing Oblivion a lot, recently (to calm m'nerves.) I let my 11-year-old play.