Ted Chiang, kitties, life

[flexagon]

I grabbed The Lifecycle of Software Objects yesterday morning so I could read a page or two as I went out to get coffee, then ended up reading it in one sitting -- I forgot you can't count on reading just a page or two of Ted Chiang. Such good thinking on non-human sentience, both natural and artificial! I put the book down and buried my face in Nala's curled-up body on the couch next to me. (One of life's great pleasures, in my mind, is putting one's face on a sleeping cat... they're warm, soft, nice-smelling and have space in the middle for one's nose.) Then, still in a thoughtful mood, I took the beastly beastie to the vet for testing after a month on stop-being-so-hyper thyroid medication; she gained half a pound over the last month, which is good.

I've been experimenting with a couple of decision-making heuristics lately.

One is to choose the thing you'll be more likely to remember in 10 years. This is tricky since broken bones, divorces and other tragedies are pretty memorable, but you get the idea. It's one reason I signed up for the obstacle course on Saturday.

Another is defined by a question: What would you do if you thought you were truly important? I can see this being tricky, too, for people who would get overly duty-bound if they thought of themselves as being important, but I find it encourages me to be brave.

Comments

[khamsin.livejournal.com]

Agreed on the cat bellies and on how easy it is to remember the tragedies and forget the small joys.

[dancing-crow.livejournal.com]

Hah. I like the second one because it reinforces my wavering impulses towards self-improvement, especially in riding horses which is something I still think of as a pointless luxury.

Most of my daily stuff I won't remember in 10 years (although we did have a memorable Prom night last night, but it mostly wasn't any of my doing), so that, while useful, seems to address larger projects than I generally undertake.

[flexagon]

Most of my daily stuff I won't remember in 10 years... so that, while useful, seems to address larger projects than I generally undertake.

Hilarious! To me, it reads like an encouragement to do small things... those small but unusual things that are a break from the routine and that I'll, yeah, probably remember.

The obstacle course thing on Saturday will take maybe half the day.

These little mental tricks are so specific to individual people and their circumstances and quirks!

[kaigex.livejournal.com]

I think the specific tricks aren't so important, per se; the value is in acting to change and shape your narrative and so remembering it's malleable.

[dilletante.livejournal.com]

I signed up for the obstacle course on Saturday.

oh yay! i really wanted to do it but the early waves were all booked by the time i went to look. perhaps next year. i want to hear how it is!

[silentq.livejournal.com]

I'm going to be going early on Saturday as my ride wants to cheer on a friend in the 10:30 wave, I'm going to try very hard not to get freaked out watching others on the course first. :) Here's to having fun and no broken bones!