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May. 18th, 2013
A few months ago, 
harrock came home with some blue yarn from Mind's Eye, and clamored for socks. I thought I would be very clever and make him two pairs of two-color socks, rather than one pair of light blue socks and one pair of dark blue socks. Sadly, the tension on the stranded colorwork is just a little too tight, and it doesn't fit over his heel. I can put it on, but it's a little too long for me (since it was intended for Jerry, who has huge feet). I am not sure there is really a good target audience who has extra-long but narrow and small-heeled feet. However, if you are such a person, these could be your socks! Having tried three times and failed three times to make a pair of stranded socks for shumashi years and years ago, I really need to internalize the lesson DO NOT TRY TO MAKE STRANDED COLORWORK SOCKS YOU WILL BE SAD. My tension is pretty good for sweaters, but socks just require so much more stretchiness.
This is a pretty good demonstration of the difference between the top strand and the bottom strand. In the toe transition, the light blue is the bottom strand; in the leg transition, the dark blue is the bottom strand. In both cases, that means the toe-side solo stitches are a little more pronounced than the cuff-side solo stitches. (The bottom strand is always a little more emphasized).
May. 17th, 2013
Originally published at Waterboarding the Horse. You can comment here or there.
For the past week, social media has been buzzing with a 90-second video of Jeff Bliss, a Texas high school sophomore, giving his World History teacher a piece of his mind about the endless packets and worksheets, and what he feels is lacking from his teacher. Not surprisingly, the video has sparked a fresh round of teacher-bashing.
For my part, I feel lucky that I have the freedom to be a lot like the kind of teacher that Jeff Bliss is calling for. ( Read the rest of this entry »Collapse )
I just learned that merle_ died.
I only knew him through LJ and email. He followed me back to my journal from 
intj, IIRC; his first comment in my journal was in 2005. I've known him -- insofar as he let himself be known -- for almost eight years. In the last year, he revealed more of himself, and I knew the nature of his problem -- but not how close to the end he was. Maybe he didn't know; maybe he didn't let himself know.
I am stunned and I am heartbroken. I will miss him. I wish he'd gotten more of life than he did; I'm glad he got what he did.
I wrote to diatom about something we were doing and said that even if we find that we don't fit together in each others' lives it made sense to go forward with this plan. She said that I was "brutal and hard-core." My reaction, that of chardin and others I talked to was that yes, that's a fairly good description. Through a number of conversations that have followed I've managed to explore the more emotionally brutal side of myself, both the positive and negative. I'm incredibly delighted because I've been hoping to better understand these aspects of myself for a long time. Now, with the help of several friends, I have the words and concepts to do a much better job of understanding what's going on.
As Chuck put it, "As an engineer, I believe in the power of negative thinking." we identify risks, consider them, ask whether our idea still sounds good given these risks. Then we modify the idea, repeat finding the problems and fixes, until we're happy. And that's central to how engineering, protocol design, and computer security all work. Except of course in computer security you've got lots of people more clever than you coming up with extra bad ideas.
It's not surprising that I'd adopt a similar strategy for emotional issues. Probably at first I didn't even notice the difference. I guess it's more surprising how effective I've found the strategy. diatom pointed out that naming these negative things gives them power. There are a couple of ways I think that's true. The first is that if you're thinking about a possibility, it's more within the scope of things you could bring about. For example if you're thinking about what would happen if you leave a relationship, then it does make it more possible that you could leave the relationship. Secondly, there is a spiritual/mystical/magical aspect to names and power.
I find that by naming risks, by approaching them on my own terms, I can own them and control when i react to them. I can approach them while I'm still forming a plan and figure out how bad I'll feel if something negative happens. When I decide to go forward with a plan even though there are residual emotional risks, I can prepare for the possibility ahead of time. I'll know that this is something I chose as a possibility; something i accepted with full will and intent. That matters a lot. I was reminded last night exactly how much it helps to own your risks when something goes wrong.
Also, in my spiritual work, this sort of emotional examination is essential. I find myself asked to face challenges. There are significant benefits. However I need to understand how things can go badly because I need to know if I have the necessary emotional reserves. i need to know what to prepare for.
i think I approach negative language differently than a lot of people, particularly when there's a conditional. At the beginning of May I was at a Beltane fire. Someone stood forward, and asked people to consider all the pain offered to the fire, the deepest pain ever experienced by the participants. They asked us to ponder that and to realize that the strength of love is greater than that pain. Their timing was not ideal given some painful things that happened at that fire. I sat there pondering the strength of love and all the risks i had taken in the quest of love. It quickly became clear that's not how a lot of people took it. I've never heard a fire circle be that silent for that long before. Talking to participants, it was an intense and not particularly happy experience for them. I think a lot of people focus and are drawn to negative emotions rather than focusing on the context around them. That doesn't seem to be true for me, at least when they are invoked by reference rather than experienced unexpectedly.
However I've also been pondering how to get the affect I'm looking for more with my communication. Now that I have a better idea what I'm trying to accomplish I think there are a couple of approaches; both very NVC. The first is to show the positive side of what I'm feeling and emphasize that as the emotion. "I'm really excited when I think about this plan. Even when i consider the biggest potential down sides that I think are vaguely plausible, it still seems worthwhile." Then go on to request that the other person reassure that they are OK. "I'd like to share some of the down sides. would you think about how you'd feel if those down sides come to pass and confirm this still seems like a winner?" That is very much what's going on inside my head. However, that doesn't seem to be what I often communicate.
As I commented to one friend I was discussing with this, I need to pay more care for others feelings. I have a tendency to act something like the following. "Hey look at this! That was an emotional abyss; how did you feel when it was looking back at you?!" I need to acknowledge that I'm asking people to do something hard and to ask them rather than just subjecting them. I hope this will help me keep the aspect of brutality that feels very valuable and important while being compassionate.
May. 16th, 2013
I use reading filters heavily on LJ, and one of them -- and only one, AFAIK -- is returning an Error 500.
So some of you, I can't read your posts. I have no idea why.
May. 15th, 2013
02:21 pm
So, I'm participating in this online class for work. I need to interview several people and ask; "If your life were perfect and your dreams came true, what would your life and work be like in 10-15 years?" Or; "What are the values or virtues that are most important to you? What kind of person would you love to be?"
I'd love to hear your responses. You can post anonymously if you feel more comfortable. I would very much appreciate hearing from everyone if you so choose. :)
By the way, this class is very interesting. It's learning to coach with compassion. I came up with the idea of participating in the class as part of one of my yearly performance goals. I've always been interested in mentoring and enjoy reading about various leadership philosophies. This class appealed to me because it focuses on the emotional aspect of leadership and how important it is to lead with kindness. You know, as opposed to the Goatsucker's idea of ruling with an iron fist and a baseball bat.
Good stuff.
Cheers!
Rumors of my inactivity have been.. mostly true, actually.
May. 14th, 2013
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