Tag: #random

Secrets

November 11th, 2023

How good are you at keeping secrets?

I can’t make a general statement about this because I am certainly not omniscient, and I don’t know what I don’t know. But.

I do know that there are people who love to gossip. Who can’t wait to share whatever interesting tid bit they found out, even if it’s not the whole story, and perhaps not even true. I also know that there are people who like to share all the details of their life, sometimes without regard for the interest of the audience in those details.

I heard a saying once, “Three can keep a secret if two of them are dead.”

The point is, if someone tells you anything overly personal or confidential in any way, and especially if they flat out tell you that it’s not public info or that they’ve told no one else, or very few people, you have an obligation (via the trust placed in you) to not say anything about it to anyone else. It is not your place to share because it’s not your information. There are, of course, exceptions. For example, if the person is planning to hurt themselves or others in any way, that’s a time to seriously consider breaching that trust. In fact, it’s the only time that I am aware of that a heath care provider can (and has the obligation to) breach patient confidentiality.

Everyone has their own secrets but not everyone can keep the secrets of others. How do you rate?
My Ideal Schedule

November 9th, 2023

I know there different people out there – morning people, night owls, those comfortably in the middle. I can, and have, adapted to all of these. I’ve worked overnights. I’ve worked overnights and a mid-shift day job. I’ve worked a 9-5. I’ve worked retail, and we all know that means that your schedule is different. Every. Fucking. Week.

Anyway. I have decided that my ideal schedule is that of a night owl. I function very well when the rest of the world is sleeping; dreaming without the threat of an alarm going off. When the creepy things are said to be out and about. When people are afraid for whatever reason. And I don’t know why that invigorates me, but it does. I am more creative, more passionate. That’s just how it is.

Now, I can function otherwise. I’m not someone who is locked into a routine. I am adaptable. But, I suppose that if my ideal method of functioning is that of a “night owl”, that kinda makes me nocturnal, doesn’t it?

I’m up later than I should be working on something I probably shouldn’t be, but I want to, and I’m writing this in the downtime, so yeah.

How cool would it be if society could/ would adapt to people’s internal clocks? For example, if I were a marketing person – executive or otherwise – what if the firm i work for said, “You’re a night person? Ok cool. We’ll have daily calls set in the afternoon for you to get clarity on projects, and then you can have the night to do your thing.”

And for the early bird? “Oh, you like to be up early? Great. we’ll schedule daily calls for you late morning to early afternoon, and your day can be done by 3pm.”

How awesome would that be?

Side note. capitalization is bullshit. sometimes. i prefer not to use it other than for names, honestly. i can tell where the start of a sentence is by the period from the last sentence.

and with that, i’m done. have a great night!
Round robin story writing and Naked Cookie Men

November 2nd, 2023

Back in the day, I remember doing this round robin writing thing in one of my English classes. I don’t remember exactly, but I was maybe 13 years old. We were put into small groups, given 5 minutes to start writing a story, and then that story was passed to the next group, we were given another 5 minutes to continue the story we were given, and this went on for the course of the class. Each group would later read the finished story to the class, and a title would be decided. We wound up with some interesting stories for sure!

One of them, I don’t think I’ll ever forget. It was reminiscent of, and likely inspired by, the Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles. I don’t remember exactly what it was called, but it was something about Naked Cookie Men.

Allow me to explain. The story starts innocently enough. A group of friends hanging out in a pool, lounging on tubes or floaties or whatever, munching on cookies. A freak storm rolls in, and the pool is struck by lightning! The friends are transformed into cookie/human hybrid creatures, and they’re naked because the lightning burned their clothes! They, of course, have some wacky superpowers, because what mutant being in a fictional story doesn’t have superpowers? I mean, come on now! Wild antics ensue, but I don’t remember the details at this point. All I remember is the entire class laughing when we read the story out loud, and several of us asking why they didn’t just put clothes on. Of course, they couldn’t, because the supernatural energy that created their hybrid state would singe any clothes that came in contact with their skin. Or something. We have to remember that the strangeness in the story came about from a group comprised of all boys, so 13 year old boy logic has to come into play here! Duh!

It was a really awesome exercise, and I found that relinquishing control over something I had helped to create was difficult, but rewarding at the same time, because it allowed me to see different ways the story could evolve. And, it was just fun!

This got me thinking (oh, look, unexpected plot twist! 🙂 ), and I would love if I had an opportunity to do something like this as an adult. Or to see the result of adults doing this. Imagine – J.K. Rowling meets John Grisham meets Danielle Steele with a pinch of Stephen King! I think this would be an amazing thing to do, and could create some truly incredible stories. In practice, each writer sets a 5-10 minute timer. When that timer goes off, even if you’re mid-sentence, you pass it along to the next writer. They do the same thing. Around and around for a predetermined number of iterations and then review the final product. I think this would be fun!

If anyone reading this is interested in doing something like this just because, hit me up at laura@apeculiarcerebraltangle.com!

If not, I hope you enjoyed the Naked Cookie Men anecdote! Have a great day!
Nice people

October 28th, 2023

I have come to realize that people are nice for different reasons.

Some people are nice simply out of adherence to social convention.

Some people are nice because they are manipulating you; they need or want something from you.

Some people are nice because they are just a nice person, and may even be a bit naive.

Some people are nice because they have walked through hell and fought demons every single day at some point in their lives, and perhaps still do. All the while, the world goes on as usual, expecting normal things from people in very abnormal circumstances.

The problem lies in the fact that you never truly know which category a person falls into, and you may never know. This is why it is important to always be kind, but also important to protect yourself. This may mean saying no if you need to, establishing boundaries, and so on. This may also mean not taking advantage of someone’s niceness, because you may not want to find out what the other side of that person looks like.
Why?

October 27th, 2023

This is my favorite question; has been since I was a little kid.

I remember one instance in particular, I was maybe 4 or 5 years old. I was walking into a store with my mom, chattering away about whatever crossed my mind, likely asking a bunch of questions in the process. I remember asking my mom why the sky is blue. She got exasperated, sighed, and told me that I ask too many questions.

In all of my 4-or 5-year-old glory, I was unphased, and responded adamantly, “Mommy, why do I ask too many questions?”. She sighed again and told me to hush. I continued to, and to this day, ask a lot of questions. I actually have a tattoo on the back of my neck that says “question everything”.

I know that I may never have the answer to all of the “why” questions that I ask, either out loud or in my mind, and that’s ok. I also understand that the answers I have now may change as science evolves and uncovers even deeper truths. Either way, I will continue to search for answers.

I will always ask, “Why?”.
The Yellow Pages

October 27th, 2023

I’m probably gonna date myself here, but I don’t care.

I liked the yellow pages for finding companies. You could look up a category – lawyers, furniture, dentists, whatever – and get a listing of all the businesses of that type in your area. You know your area, so could tell by the town names how far away they are. Maybe you had a friend who used a particular company and told you they loved dealing with that company. Noted. Maybe a coworker had a horrible experience with a different company. Also noted. (Mental filing cabinets are your friends!!)

My point is, I don’t want some algorithm to show me only the results that it thinks I’d be interested in. I also don’t want another algorithm to bombard me with ads for shit I have no interest in just because I was curious about one thing on a random fucking Tuesday a few weeks ago. I don’t want to see sponsored listings for something only remotely related, or from companies that pay to subvert other companies by having their info at the top of the results list. I want to see ~all~ of my options, speak to a human being when I call, and make my own informed decision about who I’m going to give my business to. Just sayin.

That’s all, rant over. Carry on.

Happy Friday!
The Point Continued (part 5)

October 14th, 2023

You can read part 4 here.

Part 4 was a discussion of the scarier points of a random universe, but ended with a question about free will, which I’d like to get into now. To start, we will consult Merriam-Webster.

There are two ways to write this word — freewill and free will, the former being an adjective, the latter a noun. We are interested in the noun, so here we go:

Free will is making a choice on your own, but can that rule out randomness? Habits come to mind, which makes me think that yes, free will can rule out the idea that all choices are random.

But what about those choices not related to habit? And, to expand on that, how many of our choices are not related to habitual behavior? For example, if you are a frugal person, and see a dollar on the sidewalk, you’re likely to pick it up. If not, you may just walk on by. That choice to pick up the dollar or not, is related to a quality that you have – being frugal. And it creates certain habits, even if you did not consciously work to establish said habit. That leads to the conclusion that the type of person we are – frugal, a career person, an animal person, etc. – determines the types of habits we have and the choices we make. That, in turn, makes me think that all of our choices are related to habit, and if that is the case, not random.

Additionally, are there any random habits? The more I think about this, I think that any choice that we make is based on habit. But we can choose to forego habitual behavior. For example, I attended a baby shower today. I purchased non-practical gifts for said event. This was out of character for me, since I tend to err on the side of practicality when it comes to gifts for big events like birth or marriage.

Let’s take a moment to consult the dictionary again:

Habits are usual, regular, or recurring events or modes of behavior. Random is random – it could be any of the choices, with equal probability of each; the flip of a coin. Human beings are creatures of habit. If you have a particular value, such as honesty, or frugality, then your behaviors tend to reinforce that value. In other words, your choices reflect your values. Habits are value based. Can values be random? I lean towards no on this, because values have a purpose, and can have or cause a pattern.

A random thought, how do instincts fall into this? Instincts are predictable behaviors, but not one that a choice is made about.

This needs some additional thought before I continue. Prepare for part 6!

Have a great night!
Rude fuckers

October 10th, 2023

Rant time.

I hate rude people. They hereby, if it was not made clear previously, officially qualify for Asshole status. If you’re in a meeting and make a phone call without warning and without excusing yourself, that is rude. If you tolerate intense background noise on a call that makes you difficult to hear, and then expect the other person to just deal with it, you are rude. If you cut someone in a long line for something without good reason and without asking, you are rude. If, in general, you do not consider other people in your day-to-day interactions around other people, and ask, or excuse yourself before doing something that will interrupt, inconvenience, or in some way negatively impact them, then you are rude, and by extension, an asshole.

Have some fucking manners – don’t be an asshole.
Beliefs

October 9th, 2023

Beliefs are interesting things, because there is no fact behind them; there is no objective evidence. And yet, violence – wars, even – happen because of beliefs.

I saw an interesting clip on FB a while back, and there were two dudes talking, and the one said, “Don’t you know that belief is a doubt?” and the other dude says, “How is belief a doubt?” and the original dude says, “Because you cannot believe something and know it.” and he goes on to explain that “you can only believe in what you don’t know.” (here’s a link to the clip on Youtube) It was really intriguing, and certainly pertains to this discussion. If I know something – I know I woke up this morning, or that I had steak and shrimp for dinner last night, I don’t have to believe those things. They happened; I witnessed them. Or, as the dude in the video points out, I know my parents, I don’t believe in them. But, I’ve never met Santa Clause, so as a child, I had to believe in him. It’s a perspective I never considered.

On to more thinking, and brooding that it’s too cloudy to see the meteor shower.

Have a great night!
Light has no internal clock

October 7th, 2023

Wow. Came across a video…. here.

I have issues with Neil deGrasse Tyson because he demoted Pluto, but the man is amazing intellectually, without a doubt.

This is… insane. Light has no clock, no age. I just…. I can’t even process this right now, being almost midnight, but I have to get into this more. Einstein was right, and in a way that corresponds to the absolute core of how the universe operates. How does this impact things that I’ve been thinking about? What might this mean for life in general? What are the implications? The faster that you move, the less time exists for you. What!? The existence and impact of time is based on a condition.

My mind is reeling, I can’t write right now, I need to process.

Have a great night!