Ask me anything.

[silveradept]

There's been a "post every day for a month, with topics selected by your reading list" going about. This is not that post. I could not commit to posting like that, especially with the chaos probability that is having animals and other people in the same house as you.

This is a post asking for topics that you want to see me post about, whether mundane or marvelous, low-brow, high-brow, or anything in between.

In addition to the inability to keep the schedule, I'm not doing the post-a-day version because I'm suffering from the duck problem. I thought about saying that I didn't think I was important to anyone, so why bother, but too many ready counterexamples nix that idea. And it's not just the people and animals that depend on me for food, shelter, and affection - the universe was even less subtle than usual in disabusing me of that notion, by having one of the regular teens at the library give me heartfelt thanks for the library being awesome since we reintroduced it to him in eighth grade with talk of excellent books, homework resources, and flying foldable discs that were not distributed until the day's end. Suffice it to say, the universe was having none of that self-pitying bull.

The right adjective is that I don't feel interesting enough to people for them to want to comment or ask questions of me. This is part of what can make things like love memes difficult - if I'm not nominated by someone else, does that mean I'm not interesting enough for them? If I self-nominate, but there aren't that many comments, am I too bland for someone to come up with something for me? I don't have the life experiences that make it important to deconstruct fiction or point out how obvious it is that Charlie Brown is just going through the motions when it comes to Christmas. And it's a one-way drive to Problematic City if I said something unthinking like, "Well, since I'm not visibly an oppressed minority, whether by gender presentation, race, sexual orientation, etc, etc, I'm not interesting, because oppression makes people interesting." or "Disability makes the world much more frustrating, but also interesting in how it gets dealt with, so disabled people are clearly more interesting." People who deal with that on a daily basis have interesting and mind-expanding thoughts and posts, but they themselves should not be exoticized into something interesting based on those characteristics. Plus, they would rightly chew me out for treating their experience that way. (That I've been socialized to think of it that way is a product of my provincial upbringing, and it gets firmly squashed if it starts to come out when in bad mental states.)

The other part is that I'm not really sure my hobbies or television watching or other such things would be of interest to others, because I'm used to a self-image that says the things of the mind are more important and worthy of speech than the things of the body. (Which more balanced people will point out is crap.) Wanting to present my most refined and intellectual self through linklists and commentary, I'm all-to-willing to dismiss the other parts of life, even as I give comments on those parts of life for others.

This is the duck problem, though - judging everyone else by their outside and me by my inside. And it can make for all sorts of weird conclusions based on comments or their lack. Which is part of why I thought the comment culture idea was brilliant - it's a package that allowed me to say, "I do not require this refinement for people commenting, so if that's been stopping you, please comment." (Anyone quipping, "Physician, heal thyself" right about now, I know, I know...)

So, as a way of trying to trick myself into getting out of my own head, and as a way of proving to myself that I'm interesting, ask me things, mundane or marvelous, body or mind, as the notion strikes you. Answers will be as comfortable as I feel answering, but only unasked questions get no answers.

Comments

[azurelunatic]

Generally I don't think to ask you things about, say, your environment & personal interests because you write so little about them, and often when someone writes that little about their day-to-day circumstances on the internet, it means that they're avoiding it for privacy (or similar) reasons. So over the years I've learned to not pry, and accept people in terms of what they want to share with the internet.

So. Um. What do you particularly enjoy about the day-to-day of the library? What is a typical day like?

[silveradept]

That makes...a lot of sense, actually. And is right, in a lot of ways, because privacy is a Thing if you work with kids. Which I do.

The typical day at the library is generally atypical, because programs might be happening that day, or other chaos can intervene at any moment. The enjoyable parts are when the people are appreciative for you helping them with technology questions, or finding books, or when you have thirty children all shaking their egg shakers and dancing in silly ways in your story time. There are not so enjoyable parts, too, when people get shirty about procedures, or stridently insist they returned books back even after you checked and it isn't there, (people who politely ask you to check are a different matter), or yell at you because you asked them to wait until you finished with someone else before getting to them.

A typical day will usually consist of answering questions from users (very few of which are the research-heavy questions and more are things about accounts or where to find materials on the shelves), checking in new books that have arrived, handling e-mail about various topics (summer reading is always there), answering the telephones, planning or searching for programs, when not doing them, thinking about or doing collection maintenance, and occasionally reading professional blogs and literature. And there are occasionally meetings.

[bladespark]

I was just about to say this same thing. All people are potentially interesting, no human being is truly dull. Humans are complicated and fascinating creatures, all of us. But when a person posts about the world on a regular basis, as you do, but not about that person's own self, it reads as a desire for privacy, which I always respect.

[majoline]

*offers hugs* It's been hard stepping up to post more, because I like to think I'm smart, but I tend to write pretty casually on the internet and I already have a tendency towards brevity, so yeah. :/ I grok the odd feeling about balacing mind body.

That's a long winded way to ask, so do you have anything tv/hobby/book wise, you'd like to talk about? ^u^

[silveradept]

My watching and reading and hobby stuff have all decreased significantly since I have animals and a significant other that demand my free time for them. That said, I do like Elementary and am hoping that Doctor Who can get on its horse and produce more episodes per season. But I tend to watch them less with the critical eye, unless something just smashes through the suspension of disbelief.

And the great irony of working in the library is that I rarely ever get to read anything. Right now, I'm reading a really neat book about color, talking the science of color and how it can be used in science, as well as the histories of the colors we have on the spectrum. It's a great coffee table book and keeps the science lay-accessible. Just about everything else I've been reading has been picture books, which are beautiful and subversive things these days. Like penguins that knit, or a book that has been transformed from a book about a bunny birthday to a villainous plot to take over the world with mind control and secret agents.

[firecat]

This is part of what can make things like love memes difficult - if I'm not nominated by someone else, does that mean I'm not interesting enough for them? If I self-nominate, but there aren't that many comments, am I too bland for someone to come up with something for me?

I can relate to this.

You give great linkspam.

What are some of your favorite video games and why?

[silveradept]

That's a long career to look back on. I will always have a soft spot for Sierra adventure games, including the Space Quest and Quest For Glory series (but just about anything from them and Dynamix was good, before they were subsumed by Vivendi), and I've enjoyed each iteration of Final Fantasy and The Legend of Zelda. The Disgaea series gets special mention because it is both freaking difficult and freaking hilarious.

I also like beat-em-ups, like Double Dragon, Streets Of Rage, and the arcade TMNT games, made much better with the ability to free play them through emulation.

So my favorites are pretty wide, depending on what genre you're talking about.

[firecat]

I'm especially fond of Douglas Adams's adventure game Starship Titanic.

[silveradept]

I have not actually played that. Might have had something to do with how the Hitchhiker's Guide Interactive Fiction was really difficult. Or because I didn't have an income and a computer that could play it at the time.

[firecat]

I played both Douglas Adams adventure games with the hint book in front of me, because I'm not clever with puzzles.

[majoline]

*solidarity fistbump* That's still one of my favorite video games.

[southernmyst]

This is the duck problem, though - judging everyone else by their outside and me by my inside.

I've never heard it called that before, but I know that problem oh so well!

Anyway, I'm curious: What animals do you have? Have you any stories to share about any of them? What do you like to do with your significant other? (G rated things, of course!)

[silveradept]

It's the duck problem because of a story a professor told about a class of his where everyone came to him at different points of the semester to confess they were having problems with the course, while everyone else seemed to be doing fine. He then told the class about it and analogized their stresses to looking at ducks on the water - above the water line, ducks appear to glide smoothly and effortlessly through the water. Below the water line, though, they're paddling furiously to stay on top of the water. So judging just by what you see makes you believe everyone else is fine and only you are struggling.

I have two dogs, that came with the significant other, and we have adopted three (four, counting the deceased one) cats together. The cat stories generally involve their rambunctious nature and willingness to run through the house and any door that's opened, even if only for a second. Zoe, the grey cat, apparently made her intentions known at the adoption house by marching up the stairs and jumping into my lap while I was contemplating other cats to adopt as play companions for the surviving cat of the original two.

As for things I life to do with my significant other, I don't know as much about those - our hobbies are different, and trips away from the house usually involved pet care, so the enjoyment factor is blunted because it can seem like we're doing the same things as being at home, just not at home. We do like playing games together, though, when we can.

[kaberett]

You are interesting; I definitely care; I just... don't quite have the brain to scrape together to ask questions. (But have been meaning to for a while!) Am enjoying the discussion in comments here, though.

[silveradept]

No obligationa, certainly. If you don't have the brain, no sense in trying to do something.

[scaleness.livejournal.com]

Where did you grow up, and what's your relationship to that place now? (you may've talked about this before, but I don't remember off the top of my head)

[silveradept]

I grew up in a small town between two cities in Michigan, a place I will call "provincial" unhesitatingly and that would be proud of that designation. Lots of people for whom hunting is sacred, Republicans are good people, and religion is an integral part of life. People for whom high school sports would have been the major thing, except for the racetrack nearby.

Right now, I am utterly contemptuous of the state's elected government, a contempt that started while I was still at university and that has nothing working to alleviate that contempt since.

More locally, though, I've been back to the place where I grew up since I left, and it confirmed for me that what I miss are the people and the family that are there, and not the place or the general environment involved. I have some nostalgia for my university town, too, and I miss the snow. About the only thing that would pull me back would be administering an estate or abject failure where I am. While it would be nice to reconnect with the people there, the rest of the environment would be corrosive.

[lilacstarprint.livejournal.com]

I have a question! I have a question!

Would hiccups startle tulips if encountered in the rain?

[silveradept]

Not initially, but after the sound waves scattered some, they might frighten a tulip that encountered one from an unexpected direction.

[thewayne.livejournal.com]

Why does the porridge bird lay its egg in the air?

[silveradept]

It believes in Randian self-reliance to the point where if an egg can't hatch and learn how to fly before it splats on the ground, it wasn't sufficiently motivated and would have grown up to be a parasite on Real Porridge Birds.