Random Fever THoughts

[learnteach]

Sick again, this time the throat cold.   I've been able to medicate and get out, which is good, but it does tend to make me limit my participation with other people due to the desire not to spread germs.
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Buncha random thoughts.

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Last night I was playing scrabble with a kick-butt (boot posterior) group, and one of the other players saw me also playing "Bejeweled" on my phone during the game, and coughing behind her hand, said "ADD".   Yeah, so?  My coping mechanism is to allow myself to follow distractions, rather than get frustrated trying to bring all my attention on one thing.  If I preplan a scrabble turn, it's going to be messed up by the next player anyway--the board changes three times--so why be frustrated?   The other side of the ADD is a drive to perfection/competitiveness, which I try not to feed because I don't like the emotional low of losing.  There's no emotional high at winning; just a satisfaction that I've done well. 

So I'll keep my coping mechanisms, thank you very much.

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For live improve, the Grateful Dead were suppposed to be the best.  They were unstructured hippies.  The improve inherent in live Pink Floyd is much more subtle and much more satisfying to me.   Probably just my progrock bend.

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Context.  One of the reasons I found the movie "The Pirates who Never Do Anything" is that I saw many of the references, both overt and implied.   The blind man, from "O Brother" (and therefor The Odessy), the definitive nods to Disney pirates, the internal references to other Veggietales shows--it made the show much funnier for me.

In mentally reviewing the 12th night Commedia by Golden Stag Players, something of the same effect came in.  I know (basically, not in the advanced sense the players know) the personalities of the roles--il Capitano, etc.   I know most of Shakespear.  I'm familiar with Hank Sink.   (Henry V).  And I could see the bones of the original in the clothes of the commedia, but only because I knew those bones so well.  ANd the players knew the bones well too, being theatrical.   But the audience didn't as well, in general, so any bit that required any contrast with the original play was at risk.      Perhaps it would have worked better with less shtick and more straight plot, a bit less slapstick--for instance, why Luxembourg so many times?  Might have been funnier (given the French Princess wanting men) if they went because they wanted women.   Hank Sink's big speech, which was obviously a bit point, was not as strong without the dramatic tension of the buildup of the perception of impending loss--all the scenes in camp the night before, etc. 

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Passion, and work.  I reall[y enjoy interacting with people, especially students.   Why can't I find my passion there?   Because I hate interacting with nonsenical systems, and that's what education is now.

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Enough.   Basta!  Off to cook chicken soup.  Come by if you want some, but call first, because I'm going to nap somewhere in here.

Comments

Rude?

[learnteach.livejournal.com]

The ADD comment? Naw, just accurate. And so on the next game I focused a little more, took advantage of the fact that we used an online dictionary, and won. Online dictionaries have ALL the words.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I don't have ADD, and I read between turns in Scrabble. Why? Because it can be very dull watching someone think up a word.

[shutt3rg33k.livejournal.com]

werd

ADD?

[kahnegabs.livejournal.com]

When I do that sort of thing, I just think of it as multi-tasking!

Reading during Scrabble?

[metageek.livejournal.com]

Huh—the rule I grew up with is that one may not read anything while playing Scrabble, since you might stumble across a useful word.

Re: Reading during Scrabble?

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

People have tried that one on me. It didn't work.

**stepping up on soap box, again**

[tusya1300.livejournal.com]

"coughing behind her hand, said ADD"... I fully own my ADD with OCD tendencies... ***oohh shiney*** and for that matter it is not a "mental state" or "handicap", ADD just allows the individual to process things faster than others.

**Stepping down off soap box** of course the down side to this is people think, well, all sorts of things (that they call you later).

[mamapduck.livejournal.com]

There is a rather excellent album out called, "O Veggie, Where Art Thou?" Good traveling music.

[kawgirl.livejournal.com]

Heh. No one told your friend that you're not supposed to diagnose your friends with mental disorders, huh? *hides DSM behind her back* (:

[aastg.livejournal.com]

Your comments on the play are interesting, especially in light of the SF Law that says if take on the form of a thing, you are subject to the rules and limitations of that form. The intention was to parody Henry V, and when you do that you have to follow the original closely enough for the audience to recognize that you're parodying it; but, as a Commedia, you have follow the rules of that form so it's also recognizable as such. What made writing the scenario so tricky for madbaker and me was that the two forms really aren't that compatible.

Funny that you say "less schtick, more plot" - we actually had the opposite problem: we had to constantly force ourselves NOT to over-engineer the plot!

[sbuchler.livejournal.com]

ADD? I wouldn't have guessed you had it - you never seem to zone out when we're talking :-)

Warm fuzzies! Hope you feel better soon!

ADD, Vouz?

[korwyn.livejournal.com]

I always get a little concerned with the instant ADD diagnosis when, oh look a kitty!

As a countess I know says "My favorite color is Bright Shiny!".