Con't the Conversation

I am going to be in dialogue with this piece from a past posting from late last month:

So, I was reading about a Knight, who traveled around Europe seeking to defend her honor. And I also have read about the Orient, the Far East, through a book that I picked up, but then abandoned it like finding an empty house at a dead end street. If you knew that there was an empty house, and you had no reason to go inside, you would turn and walk away. Would you not? If you have searched all of its rooms and found them to be worthless, then you should leave before you become a person without any reason at all. So, I stopped reading my Japanese book, and went on from there.

    When given a section of fiction writing, I like to try to understand the character's motives by looking at what or who they associate with. However, this would be autobiographical, so consider the Knight from the Canterbury Tales instead. He traveled around Europe seeking to defend her honor, which is found in the prologue that introduces him among all of the other pilgrims. So, he is a traveler with other companions on his way to Canterbury. At this point, I would like to say that historical awareness of the surrounding events would be helpful but not necessary, so that you don't have to stop reading just to look up where all the places are in relation to what Chaucer is saying. 

    So there is the disconnect between the significant social events that historians inquire into and the significant literary works that critics duke themselves over with. This disconnect or better yet the categorization of these two methods is important because some people confuse these things to their own shame. There is overlap but I need to continue to beat the dead horse, until things start to make sense for you. And from that let's consider why the author stopped reading his Japanese book, since that conclusion does not seem to follow from the above. The answer is that there was a literary reference that set up the ordinary ending. How boring, right?

Prince Hal against Falstaff aka Fight at the London Bridge

    I started off this Spring by wanting to read John Donne, but I was over with him, until I found a copy of the Canterbury Tales, which I bought with credit at a local bookstore. But I then noticed that I had additional credit, so I looked at the cheap bargains and got a Sudoku puzzle book as well as a Russian dictionary for English users, who I happen to be one of. And I used English all my life but I thought that Russian would be a good choice, since it's a bit different than English. So, I got this Oxford Russian English dictionary, which I have used as a reference to learn this foreign language that is spoken in Russia among other countries. So, Donne led to Russian but then I got this Henry IV part I play that I would like to talk about now with those who enjoy English as a foreign language.

    So, Henry IV part I is the store edition, which I bought because if I wanted to get the expensive edition, then I would sink into the tale instead of telling you what the play is about, but I only have read about a few scenes so far, and could not tell you the entire plot or any detailed descriptions of the characters. In fact, there are sources dedicated to just one character, for example, where the author takes you through a play of Shakespeare's by explaining just one character as the basis of the entire play. For example, Hamlet: Poet Unlimited by Harold Bloom comes to mind, but I am sure that there are others out there, if you are interested in following your favorite characters around Shakespeare's plays. So, Falstaff is a good example, since he appears in several of his plays such the Merry Wives of Windsor, which I have never seen a performance of. So, Bloom is still a looming presence here as I discourse Henry IV part I, which I have gotten recently on store credit.

    Thus, I would like to introduce into my conclusion an element that I did not yet write about: Prince Hal, who takes the opposite way of acting compared to Falstaff. Whereas Falstaff is a fat old knight, who gets into mischief; Hal is a young price, who has a bad reputation that he uses to his advantage by poking fun at the knight. So, Falstaff is the dominating presence, who seeks to make Hal into one of his own by absorbing whatever he says and then returning that back into his own advantage. So, the audience is with Falstaff but Hal acts as a counter measure against the excesses of the fat old knight of Eastcheap. So, I had to fit in Hal to explain the importance of Falstaff, who has seemed to have won the contest before I even picked up the copy of the play at my local bookstore.

the French Connection

A few coworkers from the outside have raise their questions about this confused post from Feb.:

     There were a few animals that met in a man-made house. The snake, the rabbit, the ox, and the monkey talked about the impact of the natural disaster. The snake said that he would prevent another disaster like the first. The rabbit suggested that she might be a victim if another one happened. The ox saw that there was no way that another one will happen. And the monkey agreed with the alert ox.

    The rabbit was then upset with the monkey because he was abrupt. The rabbit began to shed her fur, which fell in clumps and made the rabbit worry even more. She made comments about her shedding and the ox decided to ignore them. The rabbit turned to the ox and the snake started to slither away. The ox made irrational noises, which could be heard from the outside. They then ended the meeting.

    It is painfully obvious that the rabbit is at the center of attention because all of the other animals just ignore the complain of the rabbit. Now, does that rabbit have a ‘Real World’ counterpart to the character in the story? No, since fiction disguises all personal identities, the rabbit is without any 'Real World' counterpart whatsoever. If you thought that the snake, the ox, or the monkey cared at all about her, then you seemed concerned about something that should not concern you at all.

   So, was it right for the rest of zoo animals to leave the rabbit in the state that she was in? Once the rabbit expressed her feelings that she might be a victim of the natural disaster, then that was exactly when all of the other barn animals left her because they had nothing to say to her. Notice, that she was left alone in the house and that no disaster happened. Maybe you should ask yourself, "what is not being said here?" So, the 'meaning' is learning how to look outside of one's man-made house, but that answer won't solve your 'Real World' issue now, won't it?

An Interview with Puffin

Vytautas: What is ASMR? I decided to ask an actual ASMRtist what’s it like being apart of a community, where users can listen to soft sounds with the intention to escape the demands of daily life, if only for a drief 10-15 mins. One such creator of ASMR on YouTube has her own channel and goes by the moniker Puffin, who does not show the upper part of her face for some reason. O Puffin, why is it that you do not reveal your face on any of your YouTube videos?

Puffin: I hide my face for both employment reasons and potential harassment. I am in the phase of my life where job searching and finding a career is extremely important, and I wouldn't want my channel to get in the way of that. Unfortunately, to people who are unfamiliar with ASMR, it can come off as a fetish or sexual, which is not my intention in the slightest. I imagine that employers and hiring managers would be among those that are unfamiliar. And if my real name or identity were to be attached to my channel, then I’d fear that it would have negative consequences. Additionally, with Jellybean's harassment story (as well as many other ASMRtists, who have faced the same thing), it just adds to the list of reasons to try and remain as private as possible.   

Vytautas: That’s understandable. I, for instance, have my own nickname that I use for an online identity. I guess, if you are famous in the ‘real life’, you wouldn’t have to worry about leaking your identity to the public, since then everyone would respect you. But for those of us trying to get a handle on finding a career, these ‘fake names’ can be a life saver. So, I first got into ASMR by watching Jellybean, but when I watched Frivvi, I was like, Wow!. So, I was wondering, have you had the chance to watch her?

Puffin: I started watching Frivvi quite a while ago. And I remember the first video that I saw of her was one of her Tascam "Tingle Party" assortments, which I immediately fell in love with! She has a great presence and I feel that she comes off as very genuine. She was one of the main ASMRtists whose videos helped me, when my anxiety skyrocketed in college. Now that I have begun my own channel, I often look to her as an inspiration. I am not a big fan of fancy sets and role-plays. So, I love that her videos are very straightforward and that she sticks to creating things that she enjoys.

Vytautas: Yes, the first video that made me ‘tingle’, which could be described as the funny feeling you have in the back of your head, when you feel that you have accomplished something, was when Frivvi was listing to Bilile Eilish, who reminds me of Meg Myers for some reason, and just being silly which kept me glued to my iPhone. So, is there a reason that you chose the name Puffin?

Puffin: I chose the name Puffin because I honestly just like the word. :) It has a comforting sound like the word pillow. Other than that, I find puffins to be adorable! I would categorize birds in general as my favorite ‘animal’, as I've owned and raised many of them throughout my life. Puffins just stuck out to me because they're cute, quite unique, as well as having a great name.

Vytautas: Great! I also happen to follow you on Twitter, since it is only natural to find you there. I noticed a few posts concerning World of Warcraft (WoW), which, I guess, is still all the rage these days. Care to elaborate on that?

Puffin: I do love WoW! I play the game casually these days. However, I used to raid quite a lot about a year ago. Currently, I play the game to collect items and just prepare for the upcoming expansion. I guess you could say that I used to be a power gamer, but now I became a role-player. I have every class at max level, but I mostly enjoy playing melee classes and healers, my current favorite being the Paladin. I can heal, melee dps, or tank depending on my mood. The versatility is great!

Vytautas: I believe it has about 15 years ago when I played Ultima Online (UO), where I was a similar type of character but not as noble as a Paladin, since I became a part of the Chaotic Clan on the Catskills shard, where Tronage and his wife would hold tournaments and monster hunts every few weeks or so. And eventually, I have shared a house with the murderous brigand, Xenox, or a name like that. So, I was a Paladin-like but I did not wander the streets of Trinsic seeking to feed the hungry, you know? Anyways, how’s life without Frivvi putting out regular ASMR videos? 

Puffin: Frivvi's absence is very unfortunate, but I'd glad she's taking time to grieve rather than just continue pumping out videos when her heart isn't into it. Since the person she lost was involved in the ASMR community, I can see why she needed to take her mind off from her videos for a while. If things ever go south in my real life (assuming they aren't related to ASMR or my channel), I would try to continue as best as I could, as I find filming therapeutic.

Vytautas: Well, thanks for taking the time to interview with me. Hope all goes well with your own ASMR output.

Those who speak when they should instead be

    What is ASMR?  You might have seen people tap away on tables, or they might have whistled, while they played Frisbee in your neighbor's yard. All of these activities show that those persons, who have expressed such outbursts, wanted to release their nervous energy through those common habits that you see through your daily life. So, ASMR is the feeling you get when you have the same intention as your nervous partner.  I say nervous, not that they cannot settle down, but rather for those whose intentions are to express an ASMR towards their listener, they would want to generate such sounds by being distracted from their surroundings. Where can one find ASMR?

    These intentional sounds are usually published through media found in app stores or websites where such media is housed. You could find all sorts of activities, where there are artists who focus intently on one particular aspect such as eating or drinking. These are the noises that should relax you, if you trust the artist and basically stop thinking, so that you are under the control of the artists who preform ASMR, an acronym meaning you feel good inside after someone makes some soothing noises. The resistance comes in when what you are experiencing is outside of the range of decorum.

    Training to experience responses from those who are willing to focus all of their energy on generating audio to put you to sleep, so that you are no longer racing with psychobabble, but rather are being treated as a patient under the care of a physician is hard because you need to focus on being in a meditative state of being, which requires some practice. But the best way is to just to watch and learn as you discover not methods, but rather the intention to trust those ASMR artists.

Student of Bloom

The following was taken from a madman's diary and edited for the sake of sanity:

    You have Hamlet, who is change incarnate, while Falstaff is the Blessing, so all other characters are manifestations of these two characters. That is, all other personages from Shakespeare can be explained from these two characters. So you have all other characters that are explained from Hamlet and Falstaff. You would find evidence of the above from the plays/ poems of Shakespeare. So if you have Iago, who is willing to put Othello to death because he was not a true military personage. Iago changes his stance towards Othello because of his relationship to Desdemona, who leaves behind a piece of cloth, which Iago uses to frame her for her infidelity. So Iago can be discussed in terms of Hamlet.

a Crash Course in Business Analysis

    Those who pay bills would like to think that those who have positions of power got there because of their lack of talent. To put it another way, within a business setting, those who have the experience are hated by those who think differently than others. On the one hand, it would seem that business leaders got to where they are through hard work and dedication, but on the other, maybe it was just being at the right place and the right time using their connections to get to where they currently are at.

    For example, if you were given the task to listen to the concerns of those bill-payers who would rather be the invoice-givers, then you would respond by saying, look, I understand your concern to make me want to pay my invoice, but here is another way of looking at it: I would loose out on the deal, while you'll just keep your comfortable seat with all of them lights on. So, the work environment makes it easier for that invoice-giver to stay in power, while the bill-payer has to suffer the beeps that are thrown into the ears of the innocent by means of a communication device.

    Thus, those of us who are familiar with the work environment can see the problems that the bill-payers go through, while maintaining that the invoice-givers are not the problem but the solution 'cause they provide the documents for those who insist that they are losing out somehow. Perhaps if they are so good at paying bills, they can look around them to see what their bill paying has accomplished. That way the invoice-givers don't have to use their phones to seek them out.

Against Open Ground Ditches

    There is a point were the one true sentence cannot suffice, since it does not describe the environment of a given area. A description such as, the water flows on the floor, when the green light turns on, does not help, even if you are in a situation, where an event such as that happened because it lacks 'reference'. The description has 'sense', but you are unsure of the 'reference' that is being made. A lot of people mistake 'context' for 'reference', which is fine in normal talk, but if you want to have precision, then we have to investigate the matter with 'sense' and 'reference'. And note that '*' = 'concept', which is an equivalence between the 'concept' and the 'universal set' within single quotation marks.

    This is an analytical distinction that is outside of a situational context, so let's first deal with 'context' and 'reference'. Is there a difference between the two? 'Context' refers to a type of 'reference' within a textual situation, while 'reference' is about how 'sense' works within a given environment, which is given meaning by those who have at least some understanding of that particular environment.  Let's call these persons interpreters who give meaning to their environment. They require both 'sense' and 'reference' to understand their environment, which is where they are located. And when the interpreters come to a text, they need both 'sense' and 'reference' to understand the 'context'. So, the context is like an environment, where there are things like settings, characters, and meta-text that give shape to the way the interpreter makes 'sense' of her surroundings.

   To finish up, there is no way that she, who has a sense of an environment, whether it be textual or geographical, will understand anything without a 'reference', which is a type of 'context', if the environment be textual or an environment, where the 'reference' is geographical. So these distinctions will help you see the 'meaning' within your environment by giving you a 'reference', which is useful for understanding life-situations, where the 'context' is just one part of the whole. So, the 'reference' will pull together with the 'sense' to make them both meaningful within an environment.

    However, I have purposely left 'environment' without the single quotation marks up to this point because I don't want to think conceptually about the 'environment' at this time. Maybe I will write about that issue some other day. So, there is a difference between 'context' and 'reference', and I have told you why the issue with 'sense' and 'reference' is important. They bring together the 'meaning' for the interpreters, who themselves would be put into quotes, but I need to learn how to stop. (ha!) Have good a day!