A short State of the Karl
Apr. 27th, 2007 04:07 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
karlht(Had my first experience with LJ eating posts earlier. Bleah. And as always, I'm convinced that post was more articulate and sense-making than this one will be.)
Briefly, I've been a bit of a hermit lately. If I owe you correpondence of some sort, typed or otherwise, I apologise. I'm moving around in a bit of a fog, and I don't have much idea of when it will lift.
I'm information-grazing, which is a good thing except when it isn't. Everyone has their ideal balance between reading and writing; mine has been tilted way over to the "reading" end of the scale for months now. I've been trying my best to "show up to the page," but it feels like I've spent weeks staring at empty editor buffers and browser text boxes. Coding isn't any easier than writing prose; my brain just seems sluggish in general.
About the state of the world, I have only two things to say: Canada is looking more like the U.S. every day, and not in a good way. And Venezuela, for which I had such high hopes, is showing distinct signs of authoritarianism. We get entirely enough of that tendency here in the land of the nominally free; if Mr Chavez is determined to be an alternative to American-hegemony-as-usual, couldn't he find a better way to show the contrast than by vigourously suppressing dissenting views? People will start to think that politicians everywhere are just out to keep power for as long as they can, and that way lies complacency and ruin.
About computers, software, and their ilk: Do I stick with the old tools (Tcl, Expect, OpenACS, text-only Web browsing, awk, sed, Emacs, C when absolutely necessary for speed, Lisp when dealing with large systems) because my brain is old and calcified, or because the new tools (Ruby, Rails, Python, Twisted, Zope, C++ as a 'system language,' ubiquitous JavaScript, and the behemoths: Java and Eclipse) are all part of the endless recapitulation of an industry that feels compelled to re-invent itself every decade at the very least? Every time I learn a new language, it feels like I'm going over and over the same old already-solved problems.
About people and relationships: Why is it that so many people seem to think that the surest way to make themselves feel better is to make someone else feel worse? I've been pondering that one for at least thirty years, and I'm quite sure I'm no closer to an answer.
If you're reading this, the odds are good that I love you. Please be so good as to treat yourself accordingly.
Briefly, I've been a bit of a hermit lately. If I owe you correpondence of some sort, typed or otherwise, I apologise. I'm moving around in a bit of a fog, and I don't have much idea of when it will lift.
I'm information-grazing, which is a good thing except when it isn't. Everyone has their ideal balance between reading and writing; mine has been tilted way over to the "reading" end of the scale for months now. I've been trying my best to "show up to the page," but it feels like I've spent weeks staring at empty editor buffers and browser text boxes. Coding isn't any easier than writing prose; my brain just seems sluggish in general.
About the state of the world, I have only two things to say: Canada is looking more like the U.S. every day, and not in a good way. And Venezuela, for which I had such high hopes, is showing distinct signs of authoritarianism. We get entirely enough of that tendency here in the land of the nominally free; if Mr Chavez is determined to be an alternative to American-hegemony-as-usual, couldn't he find a better way to show the contrast than by vigourously suppressing dissenting views? People will start to think that politicians everywhere are just out to keep power for as long as they can, and that way lies complacency and ruin.
About computers, software, and their ilk: Do I stick with the old tools (Tcl, Expect, OpenACS, text-only Web browsing, awk, sed, Emacs, C when absolutely necessary for speed, Lisp when dealing with large systems) because my brain is old and calcified, or because the new tools (Ruby, Rails, Python, Twisted, Zope, C++ as a 'system language,' ubiquitous JavaScript, and the behemoths: Java and Eclipse) are all part of the endless recapitulation of an industry that feels compelled to re-invent itself every decade at the very least? Every time I learn a new language, it feels like I'm going over and over the same old already-solved problems.
About people and relationships: Why is it that so many people seem to think that the surest way to make themselves feel better is to make someone else feel worse? I've been pondering that one for at least thirty years, and I'm quite sure I'm no closer to an answer.
If you're reading this, the odds are good that I love you. Please be so good as to treat yourself accordingly.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-27 01:42 pm (UTC)Always good to hear from you, hon. Looks like work is going to suck up this weekend. I'm just hoping I can go to the SCA camping event I've been planning on for next weekend (Crown Tourney)...
It's rainy and dreary and I'm very very tired. But hearing from you has brightened the morning considerably :-)
*more hugs, because we always need hugs*
Love,
-=- Em.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-27 03:20 pm (UTC)You are extraordinary. And not in an overly-entitled Pippin kind of way.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-28 04:24 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-27 05:03 pm (UTC)Hugs, miss ya,
-dave
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-27 08:53 pm (UTC)I do look forward to hearing from you, though, and am concerned about the fog thing.
Oh, thought of you yesterday...local news has discovered polyamory...ten years behind when I found out about it...does no one on Channel Three have the internets? But of course, is almost Sweeps so it was all "Couples with Open Marriages(what year is this again?) and hidden faces...film at ten.
I just thought "Oh, Karl would fucking hate this," but I thought I would share the joy anyway. Nobody I know that has one says "Open Marriage" anymore. Surely it's gone the way of avocado shag(shut up!) and key parties.
I'm sure you feel me on that...Phoenix is *so* cool. Always ready to party like it's 1979.
Oh, as usual, dear.
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-28 04:25 am (UTC)**hugs**
(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-28 06:09 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-04-29 04:55 pm (UTC)I haven't been keeping track. What's been happening under Harper? (I have a hard time believing he has made THAT much of a change, with his minority government...)
Do I stick with the old tools... because my brain is old and calcified, or because the new tools... are all part of the endless recapitulation of an industry that feels compelled to re-invent itself every decade at the very least? Every time I learn a new language, it feels like I'm going over and over the same old already-solved problems.
It all depends. What are your goals?
- If you're trying for a new job that requires that you know X technology, then learn X technology.
- If you're trying to de-calcify your brain, and you think that learning X technology will stretch it, then learn X technology.
However,
- If you're trying to accomplish a task, and your tool set can do it well, then don't bother learning new technology. It will just slow you down.
Finally, love you, brother. Eli and I miss you and the rest of your home. When can we get together?
Miss you!
Date: 2007-05-03 03:11 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2007-07-09 07:57 am (UTC)i feel loved.
i never get to spend enough time hanging out with you. mostly cuz your brain is swirling in languages i don't comprehend. java is coffee in my world :)
i do however know that i can always go to you and talk as long as i make sure your hydrated first.
p.s. dragons giggle cuz we are cute