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

on frequent simplification

During the course of my writing, I often work myself into a lather while exploring the apparent evils of this particular group or while expounding upon the virtues of one idea or the other. This, dear reader, is a dangerous trend. This, my friend, is something I shall endeavor to do less of, in future. The writer who over-simplifies issues of any type nearly always proves to be a holier-than-thou, fly-in-my-soup cocksucker with no more of an idea how to solve the situations he sees as problems than the smart and talented motherfuckers who – due to position, wealth, or access – actually can; my ideas and notions are, to judge by my readership statistics, old, tired, worn, full of redundant or faulty reasoning, and flat out lame; my frequent use of personal opinions violates the fundamental rules contained in The Elements of Style, Strunk and White's ultimate and indispensable writer's handbook. (I am tempted, at times, as I sit here struggling for syntax in this cold but sunny room, to increase the level of fire and brimstone and really start head-hunting for easy pickings, unless I am doing that already, in which case I am not surprised that few people spend time to read the fruits of my labor, which are as close to beating dead horses as one can get without showering afterward.)

Perhaps it is out of laziness, perhaps it is due to my inability to see the Big Picture, but, mostly, I find that when I write on these sites I stick to simplification; they make for quick and juicy arguments, for high-fructose vituperations that so closely resemble candy-floss as to make a body's sweet tooth twinge. It is likely that I need to step away from these blogs for a spell, to take a week off in honor of the first fall frost in order to give my brains' writing centers a break after working them continuously since last December. (Upon review, it appears as if I have been posting six days a week for the past ten months, now, a streak I dare not break for fear of shaking the foundations of my fledgling sanity.)

I don't think I nor any other simpleton writing today could avoid using simplification for too long, since writing in specifics would be akin to trying to condense all of mankind's knowledge and knowing into a Complete Theory of the Entire Universe, a task for which only a few living people are equipped with the necessary patience, genius, and understanding. (I am not one of these people.) To cut down on frequent simplification seems a good place to start if I hope to improve the quality of my writing's content, however, let alone if I want to inject a shred of rational analysis or positive thinking into my daily word-smithing. And so, I say, begone, ye foul generalization! Out with you, simplified thinking! Welcome in, old man Compassion; make yourself at home on the couch next to lady Moderation; stay a while, oh humble hubris, in this whorphan's cluttered and sad excuse for a functional mind. Oh, what great fun it is to be alive. Mahalo.

© mentiri factorem fecit (場黑麥)

netbook vs. tablet

Tablet computers seem to be selling well, but they are inferior to the now-nearly-extinct netbook. Limiting and limited in design, the tablet appears to be intended for use by the casual peruser of internet data, not by the individual for whom writing is a way of life. Useful perhaps to a housewife chasing toddlers (who might need to put aside her computer at a moment's notice without first powering it down), or to field-operators needing a quick glance at technical specifications (without having to wait for a laptop to spin up), the tablet is intended to be held with one hand and operated with the other, and to run one program at a time. Tablets must be propped up against something or against a separately-sold propping-up-gadget should the user desire to look comfortably at the screen or to type out a message with all ten of her fingers, whereas the netbook has a built-in, adjustable screen that can swivel to and stay at any of more than ninety degrees of articulation. Unlike the netbook, tablets do not have depressible keys or physical keyboards, which makes it harder to write upon them comfortably, a problem which tablet-makers are trying to fix by adding retractable keyboards to their design (a move that all-but obviates the supposedly revolutionary keyboard-less tablet design). While perhaps more portable and thinner than the netbook, the tablet requires the user to carry around add-on gadgets in order to make it usable, whereas the netbook is a complete and fully developed package that is more than capable of doing anything one would need to do on the interwebs. The netbook, with its clam-shell design, automatically protects the glass screen when it is folded against the keyboard upon closing, compared to the tablet, which again requires the user to carry around a separately-sold (but arguably far more customizable) screen cover.

In summary, the tablet is for people who like to buy and to carry around a sack full of add-ons in order to make their tablets usable, whereas the netbook user's computer is a compete, compact package of vast utility. Tablets are for casual and affluent consumers self-enslaved to the candy-floss joys of conspicuous consumption, but writers, being a frugal and cunning breed, prefer the netbook.

場黑麥 ioanni elymucampus fecit