I never attended CFAR but I internalized some of the practices after reading breakdowns of them and maybe this was a failure to transmit the lesson over text, but some of them really got into my psyche in a bad way
ex: murphyjitsu
Murphyjitsu is where you have a goal and you imagine precisely how you might fail at that goal until your plans are so fortified that failure would shock you
but it turns out that this kind of negative orientation towards goals is not effective at all for me
Mar 28 • 29 tweets • 4 min read
I wonder if some of the anxiety around AI art is that "art" at a certain level of...quality? it isn't the right word but let's run with it for a bit
art of a certain quality is functionally infinite for a massive % population now
and that changes art for us
when I was sixteen I worked for a furniture store
we had all these gorgeous paintings for sale
being somewhat familiar at this point with art auctions and pricing, I was shocked that they were only a few hundred dollars a piece
Feb 20 • 40 tweets • 6 min read
the last time I talked to my dying grandfather was over a zoom call
we had to wait a year for his funeral
shortly afterwards, the script flipped and it was suddenly socially acceptable to attend large outdoor protests
we were trying our best to participate in a novel set of (temporary!) norms, provisionally trusting that someone was trying to think clearly about what might be helpful, and missing out on a great deal
Feb 2 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
some of you are getting weird with your politics in conversation, in the same way that the left got weird with theirs, and I just want you to know that it isn't any less creepy or stupid looking when you do it
there is a kind of (I thought) exaggerated style of stating one's political opinions that I believed was just kind of a funny bit when one's Guy is losing, but of course far too obnoxious to do when one's Guy is winning, but no, apparently that's just what some of you are like
Aug 11, 2024 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
I was under the impression that a "no soliciting" sign implied "no political canvassing," am I wrong here, do I need to get another sign
I also assume it covers "no religious proselytizing" so if I'm wrong about that too I need to know
Dec 24, 2023 • 12 tweets • 2 min read
shortly after I got married at 19, I traveled down to the Oregon coast with my now-ex, and we did the tourist thing, looked at a few vintage shops, etc
I bought a violin from one of those shops for $100
I had just been looking into what it would take to pick up the violin again after playing VERY briefly as a child
and then I found this one
I had the money, so I got it
I knew it probably wasn't a fantastic instrument
Dec 17, 2023 • 13 tweets • 2 min read
some things that, in some very important sense, you never have to do and especially do never have to do in the context of an online social scene where nobody is directly capable of using force to fuck with your housing, money, food, physical safety, or autonomy
1. pick a side when people are riled up at one another, publicly or privately
where you can kind of nudge them to improve/strengthen just by putting them in situations where they need to function slightly better
obviously exercise in general works a lot like this
May 21, 2023 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
what was up with that unspoken campaign in the 90s and 00s to render lucky charms impotent
every show had an episode where someone lost their lucky whatever right before their Big Day
their friends would provide them with a fake, only to reveal the subterfuge at the end of the episode because the power to Win was in the main character's heart all along
May 17, 2023 • 6 tweets • 2 min read
sometimes when my kid is making a mess that I theoretically don't have any objection to, I leave the room or stop watching bc it's easier to cope with a mess I stumble upon than a mess I witness from start to finish
this seems suboptimal (tho not a huge deal) bc I would rather just cultivate equanimity about my kid making harmless messes as she goes about her day...
May 16, 2023 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
thinking about that elderly woman who approached me in a mcdonalds when I was ~16 and told me that I had psychic abilities*, and she wanted to talk to me if I ever had the time
*I think that's what she said, it was along those lines
she gave me her business card (fortune telling) and told me to get in touch
I was spooked so I never called her and put it out of my mind
May 15, 2023 • 7 tweets • 1 min read
type of girl who got really into The Love Song of J. Alfred Prufrock in high school
being neurodivergent may make you much less of a mark for many common types of parasitic con artist
but...
...it makes you way more likely to be a much rarer type of mark that a much rarer type of parasitic con artist can smell from a mile away
Feb 15, 2023 • 12 tweets • 3 min read
tonight I will be talking about some different kinds of Faces, and why I find them repugnant
I like to watch instagram reels before bed
and it turns out that there are trends in facial/vocal expressions and muscle tension patterns
for the most part, I do not like this
Dec 30, 2022 • 5 tweets • 1 min read
listening to the dresden files again after a decade+
I think I really appreciate harry dresden as a character in ways I didn't back in high school
for one: he just. really likes women. likes them as people and as women. no woman is really ugly to him, he always finds some detail to be charmed by
Dec 24, 2022 • 9 tweets • 2 min read
something about "settling down and raising a family" has been tricky for me to figure out
like...how do I orient to the long term, make necessary plans and preparations, without losing playfulness or spontaneity
like: christmas happens every year. every month I could find an hour to do something that actually facilitates something I want to happen at that year's christmas. so that when christmas comes, so much of it is already in place
Dec 24, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
every year I want to be the kind of person who makes Christmas really Happen but my plans are all way too involved to realistically enact during the christmas season
it's always confusing like, how did my grandma manage it every year
and then I remembered that she always finished her christmas shopping in july
she had her christmas meal planning done by thanksgiving
Dec 22, 2022 • 10 tweets • 2 min read
ok so if I rate "difficulty getting out the door and going somewhere" on a scale from 1-10
"having no responsibilities or children on a nice spring day" is a 1
"having a toddler" is a 4
and this blizzard/temp situation is an 8
...how often does this shit happen in Minnesota?
I know things will get easier as I learn to deal with it but tonight I am feeling incompetent and blocked and overstimulated and uncomfortably reminded of early covid lockdowns and I used up all of my toddler entertainment ideas before 1pm today
Dec 22, 2022 • 6 tweets • 1 min read
kinda wish our house still had a boiler system
the victorian homes we toured last winter were so fucking cozy despite all the windows, I suspect forced air just doesn't cut it for this layout
I think, on day three of these stupid temps, I'm finally starting to adjust to the ambient temperature downstairs
btw did you know that stimulants can make you colder (including caffeine)
