Have had a stomach ache for days now, and Thanksgiving dinner gives me a great opportunity to bellyache about it and chalk it up to being s-o-o full. It’s the kind of thing where full and hungry and grouchy all at once, but fear not — I suspect the grouchiness is a pre-existing condition.
Anyway, it’s probably nothing a little coffee and a sammich won’t take care of.
I ran into a couple of people at the Black Friday sale, once I did wrest my bad self off the couch for the last time. Good stuff. I was just window-shopping anyway. First, I would rather pay more than deal with herds of primates. Second, I’ll do my shopping online on Cyber Monday.
I thought I saw a fellow whom I know from back when, and whom I also know is back in the area visiting mutual peeps. I considered telling him, conversationally, that I didn’t have much to say to him. It’s complicated. But I never much liked him, and so the shock value is probably very little. There’s no bad blood, except that he trashed a podcast that a mutual friend and I worked on, and (gave it a snarky, nasty review on iTunes). I still view it as an act of grafitti by somebody who never built anything, and owns nothing. Not that those are strictly true, that’s just how it feels. Wow. I finally figured out, through writing this, what was probably bothering me about him.
Which brings me, oddly enough, back to Ricochet. I am a big fan of Gavin deBecker’s book The Gift of Fear, in which he praises the evolved super-intelligence of instinct and emotion. So when some folks at Ricochet insist that I justify things, and I don’t feel that they need justification, but rather feel that my mysteriously offended sensibility is probably telling me something valid, well, I resent the interrogation. And it is quite the inquisition that the non-snooty face over there. I have a post on this in draft, titled The Conceit of Logic. I should polish that up.
Anyway, it wasn’t him, which rendered the execution moot, but it is things like this which have taught me to respect my instincts above the geometric logic of others. People can convince themselves of anything, and they typically do this by clearing their social space of challenges — by attempting to convince you.
It is a great day, I’m enjoying my sammich and coffee, and I will pick my son up from his after-school tutoring in a little bit.
Seriously. Avoid the crowds. Shop online. The real deals are coming on Monday.
If you are eating food from Starbucks and pondering the insular arrogance of the Ricochet intelligentsia you deserve an upset stomach and I hope you get well soon.
Ah, you have a point. “Starbucks” and “food” should never be in the same sentence. Starbucks makes formidable coffee, though expensive (Dunkin Donuts is about as good and lots cheaper), but their “food” is strictly yuppie.
S/Q, Hawk! I read somewhere recently that: “A [bellyaching] sailor is a happy sailor.” (-:
Heh, YUP.
They do “Black Friday” in Japan?!
Ah, but the food here is different. How about a plain old ham and cheese sammich. You see that thing in the picture?
Not an organic post-modern critical race chicken theory egg in sight.
They do at the Navy Exchange!
Don’t mean to go all formal on you but if you’re having stomach problems and live in Japan, you should see a gastroenterologist. The rate of stomach CA is substantially higher in Japan than here.
Naah. Nobody gets cancer here. They just “die of old age”. Keeps the stats looking pretty.
This sounds like what Jonathan Haidt talks about. I’ve watched many of his videos on YouTube, and finally brought his book a few days ago. The Righteous Mind.
He says that we all have intuitions first. Then we work out how to support them.
I shall have to check it out. Indeed, sounds right up my alley. In fact, I believe that I have nearly gotten it from Audible. Well, well, well, guess who has four tokens available?
I liked this comment JJ but would only argue that many of our “intuitions” have been validated by reality which makes them facts, no? :)
Yes, but not before validation.
—
“I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.
The reason why, I cannot tell.
But this I know, and know full well:
I do not like thee, Doctor Fell.”
—
I have always loved this looming, monstrous, defiant children’s rhyme.
I’m sure that is correct, Liz. As I read through the book, I’ll update with what Dr. Haidt says about that. The truth is the truth regardless of intuitions.
In fact, it was in my wish list. Will start later this morning — it’s 0330 here now :-)
Hit the rack/sack, beloved Admin!