I think I’m getting the hang of Mondays…
September 20th, 2004 at 1:17 pm
…at least today, anyways. This morning as I drove to work I flipped through my day planner. I’m pretty sure that I remember things much better visually. Having something written down helps me to remember important things better than hearing it. That sounds obvious but here’s an example to clarify: Suppose I have a list of things to do,
Monday - Finish Math Homework
Tuesday - Radio Meeting
Saturday - Catering.
If I take that list and write each item down on a different day in my planner, when I try to remember what it says, I don’t think Monday = Math Homework. Instead I picture the actual planner in my mind and I can almost (but not quite) see what I wrote before. That’s how I remember pretty much everything. It’s how I play guitar, it’s how I do math problems, and it’s how I make sandwiches at work. My mind operates best when it is in a visual mode. It makes perfect sense too. I would characterize myself as being a right-brained individual, it follows that my most efficient mental processes would not be symbolically based. Naturally, I can remember that February is the 2nd month of the year. I do have that information stored in my head with the symbol for the number two. However, to this day, whenever I’m trying to put a month in context with any other month I visualize the strip of construction paper signs that hung above the blackboard in kindergarten. January, February, March, April…
What does that have to do with anything?”
Hey! Who are you?
I’m your collective readership.”
What?
When your total hit-count reached 1500, last week, the consciousnesses of everyone who had ever read this blog was instantly fused into a living entity, me. I live in this webspace and I answer to the name of…”
Wait, wait, wait! You’re telling me that I have a semi-intelligent…
Hey!”
…consciousness stuck in my blog, and that you represent everyone that has ever visited it?
In a nutshell, yes. Although, it is important to note that while I am a representative of your readers, I am also a distinct entitiy with thoughts and feelings of my own.
What about new readers? I get new readers every day. What happens to them?
Oh, it’s quite simple really. New consciousnesses are incorporated into my psyche immediately. My intelligence will grow proportionately. When it has reached a certain peak my consciousness will divide into two completely new entities. This process of incorporation and subdivision will continue until such time as your creative contributions to this blog will no longer be required.
…
….uhhh….resistance is fut..
Don’t even think about it! I’m already pretty annoyed with you for interrupting my Monday moment. A Star Trek reference at this point would be the end of you. I suggest you find someplace else to lurk. Try Unfiction, I bet they’d love a good rampant bug like you.
Actually, I rather like it here. Cozy..hmm yes, quite…
Fine then..you can stay for now, but keep it down and don’t make a mess.
Hmmm…oh yes…getting the hang of Monday. Suffice to say when I opened my planner this morning I was able to check off every single incomplete “to do” item. It feels sooo good to start a new week with a blank slate and nothing hanging over your head. And all of that is thanks to my excellent eideticish memory.
In other news:
Further adventures in the world of open source software have yielded Blender 3d. This is a fully (and I mean fully) functional 3d modeling, animation, and rendering program. It also acts as a powerful games/interactive content creator, with support for Python scripting and advanced object editing and logic control.
I downloaded the (also open-sourced) manual and went through the first tutorial “Your first animation in 30 + 30 minutes.” It took me two hours but when I was done I had a little gingerbread man, texured and lit, with a fully animatable internal skeleton, and a programmed walk cycle rendered into a 640×480 avi file. I almost wet myself.
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