Humor will not be tolerated!! -Portia

I've learned that I need to not stress about my various friendships, they will be just fine-better even- if I stop worrying about what my friends think of me and just be there for them and trust them to be there for me.

Marduk wrote:

Portia wrote:
I think I'm 9 years younger than you. The 100 Hour Board: staffed by 19-year-old twerps since c. 2003.

There's a reason for this, but if you get me started, it will be quite the diatribe.

19-year-olds think they know everything?

Katya wrote:

Marduk wrote:

Portia wrote:
I think I'm 9 years younger than you. The 100 Hour Board: staffed by 19-year-old twerps since c. 2003.

There's a reason for this, but if you get me started, it will be quite the diatribe.

19-year-olds think they know everything?

Seriously, I feel so ridiculous giving advice sometimes, I'm sitting there writing it thinking, "Yeah...I'm 18, take that for what it's worth."

Katya wrote:

Marduk wrote:

Portia wrote:
I think I'm 9 years younger than you. The 100 Hour Board: staffed by 19-year-old twerps since c. 2003. ;)

There's a reason for this, but if you get me started, it will be quite the diatribe.

19-year-olds think they know everything? ;)

I certainly did! And don't sweat it, Zed, only the young have the energy to devote 20+ hours to the board weekly, in my opinion. ;)

Life lesson: don't run on wet pool decks.

My current business life lesson is "what got you here won't get you there."

Before you try to shut down a behavior you don't like, spend some time trying to understand why that behavior is occurring in the first place.

(This is a huge mantra for me with respect to linguistics, because it's at the heart of descriptivism, but I think it applies much more broadly, as well.)

Life is better on nine and a half hours of sleep.

Don't procrastinate and take 3 tests you didn't study for back-to-back, or you will get an A- on the physics multiple choice and be sad.

#nerdcred

Katya wrote:Before you try to shut down a behavior you don't like, spend some time trying to understand why that behavior is occurring in the first place.

Like.
I have this thought a lot with my kids, because the thing they are complaining about at the moment might not be the reason they are complaining in general.

Don't commodify your friends. People are complex.

I started to type out the story behind this, but I think it can be summarized better just by saying: My friend is more than a rockstar, and I am more than a Mormon.

Sometimes (often? always?) you are going to be grateful you didn't get what you asked for. Cliche, but there you go.

One example of this recently is how at work I was super bummed to be getting the four youngest toddlers while by coworker was inheriting the five older ones, all of whom I knew (and liked) better than my younger four. One of my younger four screamed for her first two weeks and was still screaming a couple of hours a day. After one week, it's clear that I'd rather be where I am. And the screamer and I are best friends.

krebscout wrote:For example, Emiliana's recent life lesson is, "Haters gonna hate."

So interestingly, last night I ran into the girl I originally wrote this about. And we actually had a good conversation about crocheting. She'll never be my favorite person to be around (nor I hers, I suspect), but apparently we're going to be able to be in social settings together without extraordinary awkwardness or open ill-will. This makes me happy, cause she's good friends with someone I'm becoming increasingly good friends with.

Don't expect life to be easy or free of trials. The purpose of life is to be a challenge. Trials are a sign that I'm doing well.

I'm learning that I need to develop a thicker skin.

I'm learning that, by nature, I'm really quite lazy. And that life and my moods are very much increased in quality when I can overcome that.

Also, what Katya said. In my kids, in myself. When I can figure out the deeper problem, it's a lot easier to fix.

I made the conscious decision a couple days ago to give up my goals in several aspects of my life and quit caring about them. Since then, I've consistently felt better than I've felt in a very long time. And, surprisingly enough, I feel like I'll be more capable of progressing towards those goals now that I'm not worried about success or failure.

that's very taoist of you... "he who grasps loses"

I feel like a lot of it can be summed up by this.