Havent posted in quite some time. just making sure it all still works. I’ve been thinking about writing again soon. Might see a change of direction, maybe more of the same.
I am not going to write the three planned posts. Instead I’ll shorten each into a sentence and post that instead. Maybe i’ll keep this blog up, perhaps i’m losing interest.
First: Arby’s wassurprisingly dirty and our service was terrible, which would be more understandable had the place been busy, but it was not.
Second: The Dethklok show was a pretty good time and I enjoyed the music; that being said, Metal is not my scene, and my first metal show was probably my last.
FInally: I played a game of beer pong with some coworkers that led me to mediate on the arbitrary nature of social convention in general and reminded me that common sense only justifies the actions of the incurious.
I hope you have enjoyed these briefs. I have been enjoying my time in the real world and seriously neglecting this blog.
So despite what seems to be a complete lack of concern for keeping this blog updated, I actually have three new posts in the pipe. Is this the makings of a comeback? Time will tell. For now though I’ll go ahead and use this post to briefly describe the next three.
First, I feel compelled to report on a recent experience at a local Arbys, after which Charles and I realized we should never visit another. As a former dining services professional, I just have to say something about such a poorly run establishment. Later though.
The second post concerns my first ever metal concert.I went to see Dethklok for my birthday. I had a great time, and the experience, I think, is worth narrating at length. Again, later.
Finally I have a post inspired by a game of beer pong. After discussing whether or not to play the game under NBA jam rules, I was thinking a bit about social convention in general. So again, more on that later.
I’d rather not go 10 days without a post before dropping four on the same day, but that’s the way it’s gonna be. So it goes
So I’m posting from the mobile again, but at least I’m posting something. I’ve been very successful at making improving my instrumental skills a more central part of my day to day experience. However, I haven’t quite kept up the blogging and other Internet related activities, or my ongoing research on self-similarity, self-reference and self-replication in complex dynamic systems. Hopefully I can reintroduce and reinforce those habits without disrupting the new ones I like.
I have also been interested to see the effects of my efforts at evading a dillema I faced this summer. I haven’t been successful at purposefully adjusting my value structure. I just can’t choose what to want and what not to want. I have, on the other hand, been surprisingly successful at keeping my priorities in line with environmental opportunity, rather than internal compulsion. I ordinarily wouldn’t expect it possible to maintain a disconnect between value and priority, but somehow I’m making it work for the time being. Of course I know, value, priority, and opportunity all need to get in the same line soon.
Hope I haven’t been to cryptic. It’s much more difficult to explain myself when I’ve been away for a while. I can’t remember if I’m using common themes or inventing terms as I go. Oh well. Only way to shake this rust is to keep posting.
At the moment I am taking a break from working at the shop. The three hours I am taking right now will be the first hours in 120 in which I am not present in the store and it is open. I need the break.
Basically, I am blogging at the moment to give myself something to do while three songs finish playing on iTunes, after which I will be jumping on the old bicycle and heading back to it.
Today I am in a fantastic mood. I have been alluding to a problem I had wherein I did not follow my own advice and got into a disconnect between my expectations in a situation and the reality of that situation. Problem resolved.
I think it was not so much that I had not been following my own advice as that by thinking I wasn’t doing it, I wasn’t. Now I am.
Life is very simple when you understand that it is necessarily constructed of a series of objects, real or imaginary, concrete or abstract, and of all shapes and sizes, to which you assign values. Values result in planning, and planning and circumstance generate behavior.
Any pattern of behavior can be achieved if you understand that values that structure it. It is really remarkable how much of a difference in your life can result from seemingly minor changes in your priorities.
More on this later, but the song is ending, and I have to return to work.
Although the university administration has done its best to put a damper on the festivities, welcome week is on in east lansing. With welcome week comes the pop-a-balloon sale at Katz, which I enjoy thoroughly. Everyone should come by. We’ll be open late.
Also, this is my first welcome week in five years that my work schedule allows me to really participate in this festival of a week. I’m excited
This is my first post in nearly a month I think. I never had any intention of giving up the blog, nor was it the case that I had nothing to say, I simply realized, after a few bad posts and a few more attempts after that which were never even saved, I only had one thing I wanted to say and the blog was not the proper format for it.
My blog has been many things for me, but by its nature it has always been a platform for me to share my thoughts. For the past month, my thoughts have been turned increasingly towards one pressing problem. A problem which, interestingly enough, is of the very sort that my posts deal with. It is of course a problem of mind, a problem of value. Though I’ll dive deeper into my failure (or choice?) to disregard my own best advice in later posts, I was in the process of explaining my absence from these pages and i should really get back to it.
As I was saying, every time I would sit down to write something, I would find myself writing about this same problem. I just honestly couldn’t write about anything else. I really needed to talk about it, and the blog was not the place for that. Just not appropriate.
Anyway, the good news is that while the solution to the problem is ongoing, I have at least been able to get my thoughts on the subject out of my own mind, if not recorded to posterity.
I hope any readers can understand that as much as I might enjoy writing about the very private thoughts I have, some things are personal and not best for public consumption.
Anyway, the break is over, and I have a lot to catch up on: changes at the store, new roommates, and more on how Shane deludes himself as easily as anyone else. Be sure to check back in,,, if you’re still reading.
So this has been a good week for staying busy and making money. I’ve been working every day since my parents were here, and it looks like I’ll me able to pay my cable bill this month.
Of course, working at the shop means reading sweet books, and the one I’m reading right now is called “Escher, Godel, Bach: Eternal Golden Braid.” it’s a doozy, and I’m only a quarter of the way in. So far though I like it a lot. Seem to be about the unusual properties of formal systems, and a little about the nature of intelligence. It’s a bitnoverwhelming actually, but as soon as I digest it I’ll be blogging about it. I’m looking forward to it.
So due to some travel plans and an unfortunate dental emergency, my two days off work for the week are now days on. I need the money, and I like what I do, but 9 days in a row working a retail counter can be a bit of a drag.
We haven’t had any real weirdos this week, just the usual people. Guys wanting to buy liscense plates, guys telling us about the hookers they may or may not be seeing regularly, guys that saw the same piece at a festival for like 20 bucks. The usual crowd.
Now, to be clear, customer service is totally my game. I worked for SCDS for years not only working with customers directly, but also training student employees to be good customer service representatives for the university. I know my business. I want to assure you readers that I do my very best to answer any question as accurately and politely as possible. At the same time, when these idiots leave the store, you can bet we’re going to discuss it.
That’s how you get through a day happily, laughing at the customers. In fact, much like at an indie record store, a slight air of superiority lends to your credibility as a customer service professional. I seem to have found myself in an industry where good service means being aloof almost to the point of being rude, and having no fear of pointing out that the customer may just be wrong. In fact, if you come in and act wrong enough, we’ll throw you out. Makes for an interesting work environment.
Anyway, hope y’all enjoyed yet another post about my regular life. I promise I’ll get to some more serious content as soon as I get a good opportunity to type with my whole hand. Topic suggestions welcome. Hit up the comments section
