Showing posts with label notes. Show all posts
Showing posts with label notes. Show all posts
Myth #1 � Introverts don�t like to talk.
This is not true. Introverts just don�t talk unless they have something to say. They hate small talk. Get an introvert talking about something they are interested in, and they won�t shut up for days.
Myth #2 � Introverts are shy.
Shyness has nothing to do with being an Introvert. Introverts are not necessarily afraid of people. What they need is a reason to interact. They don�t interact for the sake of interacting. If you want to talk to an Introvert, just start talking. Don�t worry about being polite.
Myth #3 � Introverts are rude.
Introverts often don�t see a reason for beating around the bush with social pleasantries. They want everyone to just be real and honest. Unfortunately, this is not acceptable in most settings, so Introverts can feel a lot of pressure to fit in, which they find exhausting.
Myth #4 � Introverts don�t like people.
On the contrary, Introverts intensely value the few friends they have. They can count their close friends on one hand. If you are lucky enough for an introvert to consider you a friend, you probably have a loyal ally for life. Once you have earned their respect as being a person of substance, you�re in.
Myth #5 � Introverts don�t like to go out in public.
Nonsense. Introverts just don�t like to go out in public FOR AS LONG. They also like to avoid the complications that are involved in public activities. They take in data and experiences very quickly, and as a result, don�t need to be there for long to �get it.� They�re ready to go home, recharge, and process it all. In fact, recharging is absolutely crucial for Introverts.
Myth #6 � Introverts always want to be alone.
Introverts are perfectly comfortable with their own thoughts. They think a lot. They daydream. They like to have problems to work on, puzzles to solve. But they can also get incredibly lonely if they don�t have anyone to share their discoveries with. They crave an authentic and sincere connection with ONE PERSON at a time.
Myth #7 � Introverts are weird.
Introverts are often individualists. They don�t follow the crowd. They�d prefer to be valued for their novel ways of living. They think for themselves and because of that, they often challenge the norm. They don�t make most decisions based on what is popular or trendy.
Myth #8 � Introverts are aloof nerds.
Introverts are people who primarily look inward, paying close attention to their thoughts and emotions. It�s not that they are incapable of paying attention to what is going on around them, it�s just that their inner world is much more stimulating and rewarding to them.
Myth #9 � Introverts don�t know how to relax and have fun.
Introverts typically relax at home or in nature, not in busy public places. Introverts are not thrill seekers and adrenaline junkies. If there is too much talking and noise going on, they shut down. Their brains are too sensitive to the neurotransmitter called Dopamine. Introverts and Extroverts have different dominant neuro-pathways. Just look it up.
Myth #10 � Introverts can fix themselves and become Extroverts.
Introverts cannot �fix themselves� and deserve respect for their natural temperament and contributions to the human race. In fact, one study (Silverman, 1986) showed that the percentage of Introverts increases with IQ.

[source unknown. Anyone?]
When it comes to parts of a book that are inconsequential to the progress of the story, I am a firm believer in skimming. Right now I am in the middle of Charlotte Bronte's Villette which I am enjoying immensely, but by golly does this author like to go off on tangents. They're tricky to spot, too, because they are usually hidden within a scene where our school teacher protagonist, Lucy, is at a museum or watching a play or even IN a play. And since she is our narrator we get detailed descriptions of not only what is going on in her life (this is perfectly good. I like Bronte's writing) but also what is going on in a painting she is gazing upon or a play she is watching or otherwise involved with (like sand in one's bathing suit, this is not so good.) Do you see how this could be a tad confusing? The reader is just getting to know all the relevant characters in the story of THIS book when all of a sudden we are introduced to an entire cast and crew of a stage production with all its pertinent story arcs and plot lines as well. I can't even tell you how long it took me to realize what was going on. Pages and pages went by before I stopped and went back to wherever it was I had *apparently* taken a wrong turn. Nothing was making sense anymore. None of these new people or scenes had anything to do with the previous hundred pages. Huh. It was no wrong turn, it was a stealthy tangent made to appear as part of the story I thought I was reading. I am half way through the book now and have noticed several of these stop-action-describe-at-length-another-story episodes and am fully prepared to skim any more that come my way. Please, authors, be brief when telling us about these diversions in your characters' lives. Your readers will thank you.
Is it not lovely to have books with which one is completely enthralled? I have two on the go right now, one ebook on my phone and one physical book. I love them. The ebook, Villette, I read at 2am when I am wide awake with insomnia, all curled up under the covers traveling to a French country girl's school in 1853. Bliss. And the paper book, The Illegal, I read...whenever I have a chance during daylight hours, which isn't often, but hey. A little bit of rainy weekend or evening reading before bed works too. I've only just started this one and I can already tell it's going to be intense but hopeful.
From where I'm sitting, the rising sun is diffused through a gauzy layer of late autumn mist, the trees are mostly bare except for a few still lit with yellow leaves, and I'm trying for the life of me to understand why changing our clocks is even a thing. This whole practice of moving an hour hand ahead or back with the intent of 'saving time' is such a preposterous idea I can't believe it's had this kind of staying power, so much so that the duration of this absurdity was extended a few years ago. What on earth for, I have no idea. I'd like to see us leave the clocks alone and just enjoy the sunshine and daylight whenever and wherever it happens to be.

On another note, I've discovered (or rediscovered, I should say) the pleasantly cerebral website Brain Pickings as an  antidote to life's inanities. The site has been around a while so there is lots to explore, but I have included some links to get you started.

Bookpickings

Susan Sontag on Storytelling

Mary Oliver on Books
Ugh. After months of hot summertime temperatures goading my sourdough microbes into extraordinary eruptions of feasting, flatulence and procreation, they have now decided that they would rather nap in the cool evenings than give lift to my carefully constructed bread dough.

To wit:


Night Before ^


Next Morning ^

See what I mean? That dough didn't rise overnight, it relaxed. I had to scoop out each floppy mass onto the counter and tighten it up again with a bit of folding, not kneading, but just folding it up on itself to wake it up. A bit of dough yoga, perhaps? The result was only so so as it was the cool temperature of the kitchen that was the real culprit. These divas precious babies needed somewhere warm, so I took them to the only source of heat presently available. 



 First on top, with an upside-down muffin tin so as not to scorch their little bottoms . . .



. . . and then proofing underneath to warm up their tops.

This nonsense went on for three hours until I figured enough was enough. Other than a slight puffing, neither the wheat nor the spelt looked particularly enthusiastic, and if I waited any longer I risked them collapsing when presented with the 450 degree oven that was awaiting them. 




So I'm not really sure if I shouldn't have given it a warming up the night before, or maybe added some more starter in the morning to give it a boost. They weren't exactly dormant, but they also weren't lively. Being in a cool environment is not the same as being in a fridge, apparently. Either way, these doughs should not look so lacklustre.

The end result?


The big holes in the wheat bread is the over-proofing, and the minimal splitting in the spelt loaf is probably the same reason. Not quite sandwich material. Croutons, anyone? 




Not sure where I'm going with any of these: some of them were given to me, and one is from my own bookshelf. Being Mortal is so far winning my attention right now. It's an eye opening read for anyone facing old age either for themselves or through a parent or other loved one. What am I saying? EVERYONE will be confronted with this at some point in their lives. It's quite an important subject in a well written book by world renowned physician and author. He knows of what he speaks.

Alaska is an epically fun weekend read. The fictional story behind it is kind of dated and cheesy, but the rest is packed full of history and geology and other stuff that makes your brain expand with all the knowledge.

The Illegal is one I've not yet picked up but looks like a ripped-from-the-headlines good read.

Onward.

Even though I made it over half way through Jonathan Evison's The Revised Fundamentals of Caregiving, I just couldn't finish it. Ugh. It was predictable, for starters, and also just too . . . oh I don't know . . . trying too hard to be tender but 'real'? It was a forced kind of authentic. I'm usually wary of books with long convoluted titles (The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, anyone?) so Revised Fundamentals must have snuck in under my reading radar. Isn't there a writing rule somewhere that recommends using fewer words whenever possible? A less-is-more kind of thing? I think that should apply to titles as well. The books themselves might be okay, it's just this one wasn't.

Anyway, moving on.

Before Wild, Cheryl Strayed wrote a novel called Torch, an emotionally heavy book about how cancer can wreak havoc on a family. I loved Wild and knew I would be reading everything else this author writes. So here I am reading Torch and loving it so far.