parameters for success

One of the reasons that video games are popular is that the parameters for success within them are clearly established. In the game Clash of Clans, for example, as long as one player destroys a certain amount of his opponent’s defensive towers and property he is rewarded with trophies, stars, and in-game resources on top of what was gained through raiding. He know that he must wipe out at least fifty percent of the other’s things or kill the opposing town hall in order to be a success. He feels good after a win, and bad after a loss.

In the world outside of video games, however, the parameters of success (and the celebrations and positive feelings that should accompany doing something well) are often lacking. For freelance workers who lack a direct command structure, the success of accomplishing tasks and meeting deadlines is rarely celebrated, acknowledged, or even recognized - even though progress was made. The correct emails are sent on time, but only infrequently do clients issues words of encouragement and praise. The job of the client, after all, is to receive things and pay for them, not soothe egos or boost morale; it’s up to the worker to stay motivated and light of heart.

As kids, our parents (hopefully) praised us when we got something right and helped us to regroup when we didn’t. As adults, however, and especially as orphaned adult freelancers, we bear the twin burdens of establishing the parameters of our own success as well as instituting rituals to regularly acknowledge and properly praise ourselves when we stay on target and get things done. Given our trying economic realities and the supreme value of time, this author recommends that such rituals be kept cheap, short, and simple. A minute or two of quiet reflection during which one imagines putting the completed project in a box and giving it to the recipient, to the sounds of cacophonous fanfare and much rejoicing, is better by far than wading once more into the breach, without pause.

By copying the video-game model of clearly established success, it’s possible for life as a freelancer to be both rewarding and bearable.

americanifesto / 場黑麥 / jpr / urbanartopia / whorphan

courage to trash

For the last couple of weeks, this author has been reopening and sorting through the piles of boxes left behind by his deceased parents. This is the third time he is handling the detritus; the first time was shortly upon becoming an orphan after his father's death, when he had put every loose thing in the house into boxes in preparation for selling the place; and the second time was two years after the old drinker had ceased breathing, when it seemed likely that both of his siblings would acquiesce to jettisoning the property. He is glad that he is going back through the boxes, now, four years later, because he has gained the courage to get rid of stuff that has a bit of sentimental but no great monetary value. A dozen years have passed since his mother died, and he has finally reached a point where he is OK with throwing out most of the trinkets she might have ever touched, most of the papers she might have handle; they have lost the binding pull of grief, the sharp edge of loss. Finally, he is able to differentiate between things that are superfluous and those that really matter, such as her drawings and paintings, her wood-block prints and hand-knitted shawls. Oh, but where to put all this valuable stuff once it has been separated from the chaff and this house is no longer ours? Does it get shoved into a storage locker or into the basement of someone else's house? These are questions for another time. For whatever it's worth , this author has done his part in the painful process, said his goodbyes, and sorted out those few things he would truly like to hold onto; now, it is up to the others to take the time to repeat the sorting process on their own, to look through these trifling treasures, to take what things they want, and to burn or toss the rest. Catharsis lies in letting go, in clearing out the cluttered mind, in saying clearly Yes or No, and dealing with what's left behind. Aho.

mentiri factorem fecit – 場黑麥

on phaltscape-withdrawal and dating | encyclopediamericanifesto

  Modern sociologists look with pity upon the smogrider who attempts after years of absence to re-enter the dating scene while she is suffering from withdrawal from the phaltscape, but you and I shall examine her more favorably. For reasons mechanical, spiritual, or otherwise mysterious, she is not riding smog regularly; thus, she is distressed. With her smog-sled sitting dormant, her hands are less calloused, her cheeks have lost their rosy hue, and cheer has fled her moods. This is not an isolated phenomenon: from the urban cyclist orphaned within the last few years to the gear masher with layers of parents, any person who is kept away from something she loves (such as smogriding the phaltscape) will approach potentially romantic meetings gingerly, and with hesitation.

  The physiological reasons for the smogrider's hesitation are clear – since they no longer bathe regularly in endorphin blasts triggered by rigorous exercise, his brains are cloudy and sluggish; lacking their hard and churning labor, his muscles atrophy, and his limbs twitch and jump about at random. Additionally, his speaking is as difficult to understand as his morals are to justify (which we speculate is caused by changes to the physical make-up of the cerebral cortex triggered by conscious epigenetic manipulation). Compared to the physiological reasons, however, the psychological reasons for the smogrider's romantic inability are less well known. Rumors tell that in the hours leading up to his rendezvous he descends into a period of existential crisis that lessens only long enough for him to scream self-loathing obscenities. Other unconfirmed data show that upon meeting his date, the smogrider panics and bears his soul without compunction (from which point onward no modern girl will give him the sex), and that by the end of the date he is on the brink of total personal despair, his failure all but assured, his time and his money surely wasted.

  Denying someone what they love is a crime both cruel and heartless, but keeping whorphan from him phaltscape reek downright of madness.

  場黑麥 ioanni elymucampus fecit