things I think about...
When I envisioned this far off Sci Fi future wherein everyone would use a
computer to do everything, somehow http wasn't the protocol I had in mind.
I think it's important to act, rather than to react. If a
person primarily reacts as opposed to acting, then control of a
given situation belongs to that which initiated the reaction.
All the love in the world doesn't make the day run smoother...
Breaking out of the culture you were raised in can give you a lot
of insight that you might otherwise miss. The trick, I think, is to break
out of your culture, without succumbing to rebellion.
I really am not comfortable with a certain kind of typical geek's "need to
know". There's this sort of
in-love-with-gadgetry mindset that I'm not sure I like. Gadgetry geeks
like to know things. They like to
talk about them, and explore them, and feel knowledgeable and
authoritative about them. But when it
comes down to it, the exercise seems to be purely intellectual
masturbation, not really application.
This also sometimes has the tendency to lead an otherwise pretty bright
person to believe he's qualified
on the topic of his current interest, just because he's educated himself
about it somewhat, however informally.
Not that wanting to know things is bad, per se. But take someone of this
'gadgetry' mindset who has studied,
for instance, Emergency Medical Response. Just because that person decided
to take an EMT course doesn't mean
I'd want them on the scene of my emergency. Knowing isn't the same as
doing.
I searched for years for the perfect skin washing substance. I tried
every soap with gritty bits, every sponge, every brush, anything to find
that exact blend of rough and soft that would cleanse well and do the
right thing for my skin. It turned out to be a washcloth.
Eureka.
With confidence comes... over-confidence. As I become better at what I
do for a living,
I find myself being more confident about life in general. Much to my
dismay, I've found
in recent months that I've been confident about things that I was either
totally unqualified
to be doing, or blatantly wrong in information I was conveying to people
who knew less than I.
I'm developing the dreaded Instant Expert Syndrome. Somebody shoot me.
...
Now that I'm a grownup, I think it's time to really love life.
Many thanks to CoolText.com