group dynamics: May 2006 Archives

Someone got engaged last night. No, someone got married? No, someone was already engaged and is going to get married! I ate octopus. I ordered squid. How did that happen? I didn't notice until I was 3/4's done with the dish. It was delicious.

Ten people RSVPed for Hunju's "bridal shower". One didn't show (until karaoke), one didn't RSVP (such nerve!), and two additional people appeared for a total of ... an even dozen celebrants. We followed no customs except our own, so Hunju did not receive any advice on her upcoming life as a married woman. Perhaps we should take up a collection to send her to school?

I've been asked if I have common sense. I've been asked if I'm nuts. I was roasted for considering serious study while visiting Iran: do your comps first and then ENJOY yourself!

Some of the analysis is pretty freaky, for instance, this article from the April 17 edition of The New Yorker.

Here's a blogpost by an American woman in Iran. She made a Request to news agencies covering the Iran nuclear issue back in February.

NOTE: Looks like I'll have to figure out how to wear a hajib.

Well, that was just the last stage in my extended birthday celebration. :-) Little Brother, his ex (?), and his best friend/roommate, treated me at the infamous ABC from midnight to about 2 am. Besides the minus-a-decade mythology (making me 33, ha!), there was the gender-bending conversation in which the Ex-of-Indeterminate Relationship tried to make common cause with me on the basis of us both being women, and Little Brother reeled out a ream of reasons that lumped me in with him and the BF/RM. The Ex-of-IR surrendered quickly in the face of overwhelming evidence. (I'm not sure this was a good thing?!) The list was basically a litany of what people (young men?) with no real life do to pass the time... (ouch!)

Then there was the redemption of Napolean Brandy. Wow.

People who don't do caffeine too often should watch out for McDonald's summer brew. Actually, my favorite teller-promoted-upstairs at my wicked cool small-town bank was just as wired when I was in the bank last week. I don't think Roxy had the coffee excuse then? At any rate, her repartee made my day, and I was happy to get a repeat. :-)

In addition to the kvetching about having teenage children (wasn't it easier when your worst worries were changing diapers and diagnosing tears instead of role shifting and lord-knows-what kinds of experimentation?), we shared some seriousness about how some people connect and know things on different levels or planes. People are in denial about reality, she argued. I was intrigued at the time, but who knew our talk was prelude to things I would read a few hours later? Not a surprise, though, if one accepts the possibility of communication on planes other than language. The irony is that we need language to make sense of these other forms of communication, or, perhaps I should say, we use language to try and make sense of - or dismiss - these other forms of communication.

At any rate, it was a fun and healing connection. Her humor is the packaging for the parts of life that matter most: "Your children are the product of your heart."

Little Brother says he bowled a 167 after I left last night, beating Lava for the second time in a row by only one (1) pin. When Luscious arrived, he looked at the five of us and exclaimed, "This is it?" Was it Anuj who reflected on the implication of how exciting we must be?! I know it was he who described the evening as a requiem. Cata was wearing his "Let's Get Nerdy" t-shirt. I don't know if that's why he copied my score for five frames straight but it's true, frames 3-8 we matched perfectly (even though we didn't always have the same combinations). Then he broke free.

I wrote some note about asking for permission. Lord only knows for what. Oh yeah, I had a 153 again. That's my third time. At least it's an odd number.

A better camera would do this dish invented by Jamie much more justice. It's yummy! :-)

Broughton is visiting and has given me a raft of grief about "overshooting" while driving. If I recall correctly there was the road this morning (two choices, I was trying to time breaks in the flow of oncoming traffic); a driveway into a shop (just drifted a little far ahead); and another turn (somewhere?) as the navigator couldn't decide if I should or should not turn "here".

We speculated on this as a possible personality flaw.

An English irregular verb (!), to overshoot means simply to go too far.

Guilty as charged. :-/

This puts me in dubious company with ecological overshoot (E.O. Wilson has calculated that humanity is currently operating at 120% of earth's sustainable capacity), telecommunications overshoot (transitions that (somehow?) exceed a final value and convective overshoot (dealing with instability, which goes without saying).

know how to enjoy themselves. :-) Whether it's wondering if Justin was drinking Ginger Ale, Hosannah can tolerate some western philosophy, Scotty is bootlegging Coors Lite, Chris is telling someone to "take a chill pill," Michele is showing her tendons, Mario is proclaiming (through a ventriloquist), "I'm not a geologist, I'm a jelly donut," Ryan is describing the complexity of his wife's work, or everyone is wondering how many giggles Evan acquired, these folk have spent some time together and come to enjoy each other's company quite a bit.

I learned about normal faults, reverse faults, thrust faults, and my fault.

Anyway, there's nothing like working on a nuggetized project with uber-qualified folks having a good time!

F - false
E - expectations
A - appear
R - real

From Nowhere to Now Here.

I needed this today! :-)

Yeah. It was just us. Me, Little Brother, and the Nepalese.

We bowled.
We knocked the pins down.
We left.

You lose!