Sherry K. Shaw <ten### [at] aolcom> wrote:
> I have a Big Giant Truckload of OCD going on and that imprecision is 
> _precisely_ what bothers me.
> 

I paint also, oils, acrylics, Sumi-e, watercolor...and I always, precisely
to scale, sketch the design of what I will paint in advance within a graph
paper sketch book.

Then when transferring to canvas I utilize techniques I picked up in
drafting classes to replicate the design exactly down to the limit of
precision of my measuring instruments. This takes a while.

When actually painting I ensure my lines are of exact width, unwavering in
shape be it curved or straight, and enforce some overarching algorithmic
relationship between the colors, positions and etc..

> OCD and I are old friends.  We have reached an agreement.  Whenever I 
> find myself starting to count, I instead start to sing (preferably 
> subvocally, out of consideration for the rest of the world).  I don't 
> REALLY know how many steps it is from the front door of my house to the 
> driver's door of my car, because that would be creepy.*

I do not manifest it as such, but instead as a visceral disgust for any
imprecision originating with myself in works to which I dedicate and amount
of time and effort. 

I hate paper and paperwork, can tolerate only mild to moderate
disorganization unless priorities prevent rectification of such or would
otherwise be disadvantageous.

> But deliberate imprecision...???  When precision is readily available...???
> 

And easy to achieve.

> The human fingertip makes a really crappy mouse cursor.  It doesn't have 
> a hotspot marked, and it obscures the point of contact just as a basic 
> factor of its structure.  And there's a keyboard with a number pad on it 
> RIGHT THERE...

YES! That!

> So.....one million bonus points to whoever remembers the name of that 
> Asimov story about the little genius boy who could do simple arithmetic 
> without a calculator, since I think it sort of applies to this issue.
> 

I haven't read that one, but will look out for it.

Since 2013 (for sci-fi) I have read the entire Foundation series, all of
the Dune books, The Wheel of Time, The Dark Tower series ...nearly all of
the works by the following (some specific listed series only): David Brin,
Stephen Baxter, Terry Pratchett, Greg Egan, Peter f Hamilton, Ian Douglas,
Arthur C Clarke, Gregory Benford, Alastair Reynolds, Vernor Vinge, Larry
Niven, Robert Charles Wilson, Kevin J Anderson (specifically the Saga of
the Seven Suns and its extension), Michael McCloskey, Jerry Pournelle, Iain
M Banks, Dan Simmons, H.P. Lovecraft, Clark Ashton Smith, Willian Hope
Hodgeson....I have a list of others I am burning through currently but I am
not done with their works, so they don't go on this list yet.

If you haven't read these folks and can tolerate world-views and political
thought potentially in diametric opposition to your own and still enjoy the
content (such was the case with me), check them all out. Peter F Hamilton
is one of the best in my opinion, but they are all good in different ways.

I can't sleep much and so read books, journal papers or write code instead.
I might as well better myself.

> --Sherry Shaw
> 
> * 43, unless I park funny.  OH, GACK!  "The ants go marching one by one, 
> hurrah, hurrah.  The ants go marching one by one, hurrah, hurrah..."
>

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