Guilty Pleasures: As You Get Older

One of the aspects of life that I find most fascinating is how people's tastes change with age.

A dramatic change for me has been my taste in music. Five years ago, I listened to and wrote ambient music 80% of the time. While some techno fascinated me, I thought it was redundant and obnoxious.

Today, I listen to techno 80% of the time. Some ambient is fascinating, but I mostly find it redundant and obnoxious.

(Okay, I really only listen to techno about 50% of the time.)

As I get older, I'm finding this trend continues... I just want music that's blatantly electronic.

Latley, I have even been listening to Astral Projection. I feel guilty admitting that.

What are you doing now that your younger self would have slapped you for?

Rest In Peace, Kikapu

Well. I just discovered that one of the net labels that I have released music on, known as Kikapu, was laid to rest this year.

Looking around, it seems like there are very few netlabels yet thriving. And those that I found were less than impressive. Is Kahvi the only one left? If you read this and know of one, please drop me a line.

Well, I'm back from Hawai'i. We got in around 11:00 last night, and we took today to run post-vacation errands. Here's a video to whet your appetite for tropical things (the music is mine):



Here's a photo of some of the other family members admiring the scenery:

First Ink

My first real attempt at ink (sumi brush, with a few details in fine brush):


... I kinda missed the point of rendering in ink, which is to say I was way too focused on the details (actually, the sketch before I started was actually pretty cool--I probably should have kept it in graphite).

Cats

"Paul Leyhausen proposed that cats adopt humans into their social group, and share excess kill with others in the group according to the local pecking order, in which humans are placed at or near the top.^[34] Another possibility is that presenting the kill might be a relic of a kitten's behavior of demonstrating for its mother's approval that it has developed the necessary skill for hunting; watching the behavior of cats presenting their catches, it is also possible to come to the conclusion that the animal has simply decided its owner is too stupid to hunt for him- or herself."

(Wikipedia)

Linguistics ≠ Language

I was a linguistics major in college.

As I'm positive I have said to each of you reading this at one time or another, linguistics is not the study of languages, it's the study of the nature of languages. It's metalanguage, kinda.

The distinction is somewhat subtle, but it's something I'm painfully aware of. I am strong in linguistics, weak in languages. This came from a series of mistakes about my self-identity that I made as a child. One of those mistakes was to say "I hate memorization". As a result of that belief, I ended up passing on many things that I now realize I would have thoroughly enjoyed... including languages.

Where I grew up, languages were not an option until High School, where they were essentially required. ...And I kicked and screamed into it. I chose German, 'cause I thought it was the coolest of the (meager) offerings (French, Spanish, and Latin were the alternatives). No other reason.

I went into class with heavy disdain: I wasn't there to memorize. I "suck at spelling". I don't care about history, and learning about cultures wasn't pragmatic. It's surprising I managed to get the Cs that I did!

Of course, I've recently discovered how easy memorization is, and so I've finally taken up the Languages torch. But today it really dawned on me just how much damage I had done in the past. ...I have a very, very late start, and a long way to go to catch up. I've spent the last six months working on it, and I feel good about my progress. This week, I chose to put the Hindi book down for a while and really focus on becoming fluent in German. In the past week alone, I've gone from scratching my head on 80% of the material I read/hear, to understanding 70% of it. Of course, this is mostly the effect of "it's like riding a bike": after all, I had four years of HS and 2 years of college in the damn language... so it's mostly just "coming back to me". But still, it feels good. On the other hand, I'm still a long, long way from fluency. A year or two, if I push it. But anyway...

...What beliefs did you form in your youth that have hindered your goals as an adult?

Something that May Sound Weirder Than Usual

(...and that's saying a lot.)

Two weeks ago, I started Oblivion over again. You see, my son also likes to play it now and then, but he inverts the Y-axis on the controller (so it behaves like a plane rather than a mouse), and even thought it only takes 30 seconds to change, it annoys me that I have to do it. ...So I decided to create a new "user account" on my PS3, and start Oblivion over on that system.

Last night I was enjoying my game of Oblivion, not because my character kicks ass (she doesn't), but precisely because I found it slightly challenging... and because I was using some new skills that I had never tried before (Alteration, Alchemy). She's level 17 or some-such, and routinely gets her ass handed to her, unless she can pull off a Conjuration (still by far my favourite skill in the game), because she's a typical Breton: Magicka out the wazoo but less Health than most rats. It doesn't help that her blade and block skills are both around 40. She dies about once an hour (and only that often because her alchemy skill sure does come in handy in a pinch).

I don't like dying in games. Not normally, anyway. But this time, I'm appreciating the challenge. Not sure why.

This is when it dawned on me that I really enjoy playing Oblivion. And then it dawned on me that I wanted some diet orange soda. ...Because, you know, I really enjoy diet orange soda. A lot. Actually, it's a little disturbing: I get a touch of euphoria when I'm drinking it.

And it's not just orange soda. It's also Fresca. And Stash Raspberry Tea.

Nor is it limited to drinks. Sushi does the trick. Pizza, too. Yeah, definitely pizza. Slightly-cooled (definitely not re-heated) mushroom pizza. And any adequately-spicy pasta. Especially one with a side salad and a kick-ass dressing. (I recommend Brianna's Assaggio Caesar.)

Food clearly isn't the only thing in the world that brings about euphoria. Playing a good hand of Blank White Cards, finding incredible art, hugging a dog, writing a cool block of code, learning one of biology's dirty little secrets, and listening to music that unabashedly abuses electronic gear... these are all things that physically affect my neurobiology.

Point being, there are fairly simple things in the world that I can immediately appreciate and put me back into a "happy place".

I recommend identifying and enumerating these things.

Gak! Where'd My Dollar Go?

Most of you probably know this, but Google does conversions. I whimsically just tried the search "euros in dollars", and almost fell off my chair:

1 Euro = 1.5368 U.S. dollars

...Back in the day when I was lusting after soft-synths, prices were commonly only 20% higher in dollars.

Magical Beliefs

So, I lazily skimmed an article mentioned on the Skepchicks blog... and I tried really hard to apply the points about magical thinking to my own life, but I just couldn't swallow the pill.

70% of what the article talks about are simple associations: I wouldn't name my kid "Adolf" because of the negative associations... not because I think the name is cursed!

10% of what the article talks about is social pressure, and another 10% is simply the biological (chemical) effect of the mind on the body. Watch (or read) Derren Brown. What people will do because of other people may appear magical, but doesn't make it so.

The last 10% of what the article talks about is just misunderstanding or anthropomorphism of statistics. The most common one I see (being a role-player) is with dice: the idea that some dice "don't like me", or that if we leave the dice on the table with their highest value facing upward, we're more likely to roll well.

As a result: sorry, no. I still can't buy the premise that all people believe in magic.

Acrimonious Exchanges on the Internet

acrimonious exchanges on the internet? no way!

A friend of mine just mentioned this in an email, and it reminded me of something I wanted to say on my weblog: this is the forté of the internet.

...Not that this is a startling revelation: I suspect we are all keenly aware of it. But I felt like explicitly stating it. The internet really lends itself to conflict. I believe that after enough time passes on the internet, you will inevitably see the formation of thousands and thousands of micro-societies, as people schism further and further by "realizing" they "don't have to deal with" alternate attitudes.

On one hand, this is empowering. People of like mind, separated by insurmountable geography, are coming together. This is fantastic.

On the other hand, our tolerance for our neighbors slips away. This is depressing.

Raiders of the Lost Ark in 5 Seconds

Sacrilicious:

(Almost all of the "in 5 seconds" films are amusing. Take 20 minutes and browse 'em!)

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.