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Travel diary, days 5-6
Steve Rayhawk: Okay, I'm going to be an undead megacorporation.
Alicorn: You mean your character is going to be an undead megacorporation?
Steve Rayhawk: Yeah. Though only undead in an economic sense, all the employees are still alive.
Alicorn: So you're going to be the CEO of the corporation?
Steve Rayhawk: No, the whole corporation. I'll only communicate via press releases.
-- Alicorn and Steve discussing an awesome-sounding game of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which unfortunately didn't get played yet.
Steve had this fascinating way of applying the concept of "undead" to real life. First, in economics, an undead corporation is one that's employing e.g. outdated business models and would usually go bankrupt, but is still being kept "alive" via protectionist measures. Moving the metaphor into the domain of epistemology, an undead belief system is based on incorrect beliefs that should really die out, but are kept alive because of various personal reasons. (E.g. a creationist who refuses to accept the evidence for evolution.)
On Friday, I wrote a new blog post, did some of the exercises from Anna's math workshop, and finished my mindmap (which isn't really a mindmap). I was intending to discuss with Anna my issues about not knowing what I should be doing here , but she was out of the house and will only be coming back today.
Saturdays are reserved for relaxation. We all went to an Indian buffet place which has good although spicy food, I played several games of Go with various people, and helped Jasen make some boffer swords. Then I tried to beat up Jasen with my sword, mostly getting beaten up in the process. I also tried to get some kind of storytelling or roleplaying game going on the evening, but despite my advertisement on the house mailing list, everyone kept disappearing. Ah well. I should probably get a more explicit sign-up thing for a game or something. I also started reading a book on microeconomics.
Sundays are "human capital days", where people are encouraged to hold presentations and workshops about the things they're good at and teach those to others. Today it looks there won't be very many presentations, though they will be some. Apparently not everybody had been aware of the fact that we should be presenting our mindmaps today, so that got pushed off tomorrow. I got into a conversation with Justin about various things I could start working on, including taking charge of the Peter Platzer Book Project which has kinda gotten frozen due to various reasons. We also briefly discussed co-writing Less Wrong posts and maybe some academic papers. The academic papers thing would be cool, as that was kinda what I was hoping I could get to do here. (Also, having some published papers would help me graduate faster, as I could just try offering them to our professors as my Master's thesis.)
I've always had myself pegged down as an introvert, but some days back Anna suggested that I might actually be a shy extrovert. Being here, I'm beginning to suspect that might be the case. It feels great to be here, where there are constantly people around me. I know I'm going to feel really lonely when I finally get back home where that isn't the case. Previously I thought I couldn't live anywhere other than Finland, but were it not for the inconvenience of only having a limited-time visa, the thought of staying here indefinitely (with only the occasional visits to home) might not be unappealing at all.
Thanks to everyone who hit me with a cluebat after the angstiness in my last post. It's probably true that I probably have ridiculously high standards for myself, and I'm now trying to reorient myself to be more reasonable towards myself. Reading this discussion between CronoDAS and PJ Eby has also helped me to better understand some of the mechanisms in my brain that are holding me back with pointless guilt about not being perfect. I'll also make that one of My Big Projects Here (TM).
Alicorn: You mean your character is going to be an undead megacorporation?
Steve Rayhawk: Yeah. Though only undead in an economic sense, all the employees are still alive.
Alicorn: So you're going to be the CEO of the corporation?
Steve Rayhawk: No, the whole corporation. I'll only communicate via press releases.
-- Alicorn and Steve discussing an awesome-sounding game of The Extraordinary Adventures of Baron Munchausen, which unfortunately didn't get played yet.
Steve had this fascinating way of applying the concept of "undead" to real life. First, in economics, an undead corporation is one that's employing e.g. outdated business models and would usually go bankrupt, but is still being kept "alive" via protectionist measures. Moving the metaphor into the domain of epistemology, an undead belief system is based on incorrect beliefs that should really die out, but are kept alive because of various personal reasons. (E.g. a creationist who refuses to accept the evidence for evolution.)
On Friday, I wrote a new blog post, did some of the exercises from Anna's math workshop, and finished my mindmap (which isn't really a mindmap). I was intending to discuss with Anna my issues about not knowing what I should be doing here , but she was out of the house and will only be coming back today.
Saturdays are reserved for relaxation. We all went to an Indian buffet place which has good although spicy food, I played several games of Go with various people, and helped Jasen make some boffer swords. Then I tried to beat up Jasen with my sword, mostly getting beaten up in the process. I also tried to get some kind of storytelling or roleplaying game going on the evening, but despite my advertisement on the house mailing list, everyone kept disappearing. Ah well. I should probably get a more explicit sign-up thing for a game or something. I also started reading a book on microeconomics.
Sundays are "human capital days", where people are encouraged to hold presentations and workshops about the things they're good at and teach those to others. Today it looks there won't be very many presentations, though they will be some. Apparently not everybody had been aware of the fact that we should be presenting our mindmaps today, so that got pushed off tomorrow. I got into a conversation with Justin about various things I could start working on, including taking charge of the Peter Platzer Book Project which has kinda gotten frozen due to various reasons. We also briefly discussed co-writing Less Wrong posts and maybe some academic papers. The academic papers thing would be cool, as that was kinda what I was hoping I could get to do here. (Also, having some published papers would help me graduate faster, as I could just try offering them to our professors as my Master's thesis.)
I've always had myself pegged down as an introvert, but some days back Anna suggested that I might actually be a shy extrovert. Being here, I'm beginning to suspect that might be the case. It feels great to be here, where there are constantly people around me. I know I'm going to feel really lonely when I finally get back home where that isn't the case. Previously I thought I couldn't live anywhere other than Finland, but were it not for the inconvenience of only having a limited-time visa, the thought of staying here indefinitely (with only the occasional visits to home) might not be unappealing at all.
Thanks to everyone who hit me with a cluebat after the angstiness in my last post. It's probably true that I probably have ridiculously high standards for myself, and I'm now trying to reorient myself to be more reasonable towards myself. Reading this discussion between CronoDAS and PJ Eby has also helped me to better understand some of the mechanisms in my brain that are holding me back with pointless guilt about not being perfect. I'll also make that one of My Big Projects Here (TM).
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Of course some hobbies offer the good stuff up to a point (such as the anime community in Finland, thanks to so many interesting and great people) but it's not quite the same.
I love how the project over there sounds like. It's a bit too scientific for my own taste, but the idea of an environment where you're encouraged to be productive and active in your own terms (of course with some guidelines and deadlines incorporated into the day to keep you from slacking off) and with the chance to learn more about the world, yourself and the subjects taught there sounds awesome. And to top it off, sharing it with like minded people is paradise.
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Introvert might like to refuse some invitation he would actually like, because he feels that it would bee too much just now. That he has to have a certain amount of social energy in storage to handle social situations.
Extrovert might come home tired due to lack of sleep but still feels relaxed and energetic.
Pathologically extrovert (like me) goes crazy after 1-2 days of "quality time just for yourself". That's why I have succesfully managed to avoid this kind of lifestyle :)
I am not sure, that every extrovert would be happy living in a shared flat. Intovert people might be better for respecting other peoples privacy, which helps through the rough times. Because in all longer relationship (also with roommates) you have certain phases: pink and fluffy, eye-opener, stability and then normal ups and downs.
I think you are now sharing quite an ideal community. There are new people moving in all the time so there are new contacts and situation stays alive. Like in the one long "honeymoon" -phase. And all people share the same basic interest. It must be lot of fun. Enjoy!
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Yeah, that's probably the main thing. This has been kind of changing for me - in the past, I used to definitely be drained after social situations and need several days to recharge, but here it doesn't seem like that. Or it's just this particular crowd that's easy to be around with, without them being energy-draining. I'm not sure.
I'll definitely enjoy, thanks. :)
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-(Kevin on Less Wrong)
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