C[omp]ute

From: andrew cooke <andrew@...>

Date: Tue, 1 Jan 2013 15:28:06 -0300

After visiting the psycholgist I looked back and imagined myself sitting
there, in the office (consulting room?), earnestly explaining what I wanted to
do: understand and solve a particular problem.

And I imagined other people in that same room, and how they would be different
to me.  It struck me that there must be as many approaches as people.  Then I
started to wonder what other people do when they have a problem.  And I
realised that most probably don't "understand and solve it".  Yet they go on
living - their world doesn't end in failure.

So I started to think more about the alternatives.  Many people just ignore
problems.  Or, at least, don't - like me - jump head first in, anticipating
them before they've even occurred.  And I started to see that I was stuck with
a single tool, and that other tools - like waiting, for example - might be
just as useful.


At the same time, as I've said elsewhere, I started to meditate.  It turns out
that meditation is basically practicing not giving a fuck.  That's what you
do: you sit there, waiting, until you think of something.  And then you try to
not give a fuck about it.

It's kind of weird when you think of it like that.  Buddhist monks should
somehow look more like James Dean.


So I've started to care less.  Well, kind of.  I'm still a newbie at this, so
it's more an exotic option, that I occasionally remember.


Once consequence of my new-found (if still nascent and restricted) ability to
care less is that I've started sleeping at parties.  It's not normal, but who
cares?  In fact, I think most people would find that sleeping at parties
improves them significantly.  You get a nap, which is refreshing, and the
party is broken up into smaller chunks, which turn out to be more interesting.

The parties I go to these days have empty bedrooms, so it's not hard.  The
only ground rule is to warn anyone who might wonder where you are.  And I
guess it helps if you are gifted with the MS super-power to nap anywhere,
whatever the volume of music.  That or remember some earplugs,


Andrew