silveradept | Tuesday come and gone...

...and the desk was pretty quiet. Although I did have to repeat a mantra to myself - "It is not okay to kill the technologically incompetent." a few times. You see, the original order had a presentation computer and projector to be delivered to somewhere. So I set it up that way, but it turns out that really, the computer was only there because they wanted to play a PowerPoint off of it. What they had wanted was a machine with wireless access, and the PC happens not to have that, actually. It has wired Ethernet, but not wireless.

Now would be a good time to mention that the person had a laptop with them that had the files on it. So what they really wanted to do was lift the presentation off of one computer, put it on another, and then use the recipient computer for the presentation. It would also probably be a good time to mention that my workplace has adapters for almost any type of video-out a laptop can throw at us that will make it compatible with the standard VGA port of the projector. What they really wanted was a projector and an adapter, and that's what ended up happening, once they realized that they didn't want to stand at the computer for their eight-hour meeting. Thus, it is still not okay to axe those who have no idea what they really want.

That's been the lowlight of the day. There was some discussion at the U*CON meeting I had, but productive work still arrived out of it. And since it's May, things aren't particularly heated, but we're still trying to set some things in place so that the rest will follow. 'Sokay, though. We're a civil bunch. No need to call in the superheroes on us.

There's also a strange tale floating about that encapsulates some profound revelations - about the holy underwear of the Lord. Or something. It's actually about someone's trip through the Mormon church, ending in excommunication. There is the bit about the underclothes of the Lord, though. It'll feed fuel to the fires of speculation that the LDS really are a cult of some sort. For me, it's actually a rather funny story about what most people think is a very not funny subject. (Religion is funny - but only to certain ways of looking at it.)

The poignant thought of the day isn't even mine - it comes from someone else I know directly, but am a couple steps removed from on the LiveJournal hub -

theshunter. I hope she doesn't mind my lifting one of her sentences, but the impacts are pretty good. Ready? Here we go.

It is only once I begin to have an understanding of what something is not, that I can start to see what something is.

Pretty cool, huh? It works like a lightbulb for me, and helps gel what Conforth said to me: Nirvana is not Enlightenment. Now I finally begin to grasp it - the underlying statement there, though, is that experiencing Nirvana makes it much, much, easier to get to Enlightenment. Once you've experienced the fundamental Non-Existence of All Things, it becomes that much easier not to get attached to any one thing, while still experiencing all things properly. I still don't think I've become Enlightened, but now I can work at it from a different light - not by searching for The Truth, but by accepting the truths. Perhaps things should be more like what Jan Scott Frazer said Yoga was about - accepting who you are and what you can do at this very moment, rather than worrying about what others can do.

So maybe this whole angst and depression and aimlessness has been due to my missing of the signs, rather than my missing anything else. I tossed a couple bucks to get a Secret of Mana Theater fan a poster rather than having Sprite Monkey sign his programming book. (Didn't win his raffle, either. Oh, well) Why? I didn't think about it too much, I certainly wasn't in it to try and further my standing anywhere. I thought about that later, as my greedy little self considered the possibility. But the key was that at the time, I did it because it felt right and I had the money. That was the kind of harmony I've been looking for. And it's been there the whole time, while I've been second-guessing it.

So now, it's time to embark on some projects. If I can't find another part time job to fill the gap, I'll use the time doing something else potentially productive - sketching, possibly writing, maybe even trying to get myself published. Now that I've seen so very much of what I am not, I'm finally starting to get the impression of what I am. I'm a guy with a dragon sitting on his shoulder, fluttering his own wings as we both look at something interesting. And that's okay. And perhaps some day, I'll be able to draw that out and be proud of the work.

Or maybe not.

silveradept may explode without warning

M
EXPLOSIVE

But really, I'd rather that

katsudon have good employment, and soon. Because the way that she was let go from her current job is definitely Not Cool. (Hope she doesn't mind that I mention her predicament. Just say that it should vanish and it will, much like a good Harry Blackstone trick.)