Jim Henderson escreveu:
> On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:25:58 -0300, nemesis wrote:
> 
>> Excellent point.  Instant gratification it is.  A side-effect of living
>> in a consumerist society I believe.  Kinda like a perpetual hunger...
> 
> Yep.  And I think most people are susceptible to it - heck, I know it's 
> the reason I haven't picked up my violin in several years (well, that and 
> I need about $400 of work done on it) - I'd have to work to get the 
> skills back and wouldn't be able to play the stuff I was playing when I 
> stopped.  Doing scales is no fun, but it would be a necessary part of 
> starting up again.

I bought an Yamaha digital grand piano out of pure desire, but rarely I 
find either time or motivation to play it.  My interests are always 
shifting circularly, sometimes more on programming, more on povving, 
others on videogaming, music... it was so much easier concentrating on 
one thing alone when you didn't know any other way or it wasn't readily 
available... :P

-- 
a game sig: http://tinyurl.com/d3rxz9

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On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 15:23:44 -0300, nemesis wrote:

> Jim Henderson escreveu:
>> On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 14:25:58 -0300, nemesis wrote:
>> 
>>> Excellent point.  Instant gratification it is.  A side-effect of
>>> living in a consumerist society I believe.  Kinda like a perpetual
>>> hunger...
>> 
>> Yep.  And I think most people are susceptible to it - heck, I know it's
>> the reason I haven't picked up my violin in several years (well, that
>> and I need about $400 of work done on it) - I'd have to work to get the
>> skills back and wouldn't be able to play the stuff I was playing when I
>> stopped.  Doing scales is no fun, but it would be a necessary part of
>> starting up again.
> 
> I bought an Yamaha digital grand piano out of pure desire, but rarely I
> find either time or motivation to play it.  My interests are always
> shifting circularly, sometimes more on programming, more on povving,
> others on videogaming, music... it was so much easier concentrating on
> one thing alone when you didn't know any other way or it wasn't readily
> available... :P

I know that feeling.  I seem to shift interests in that sort of fashion 
as well - lately it's been less tweakage on my Linux systems and more 
just loafing around.  I'm trying to get the motivation to start going to 
the gym again (haven't been in a couple months as I've not felt well - 
not really ill, just not really feeling well IYKWIM).

Jim

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>> My hypothesis: I'm actually not very intelligent at all.
> 
> That would be incorrect.  Many intelligent people don't see how stupid 
> most people are.

Perhaps. I don't have any way to verify or refute this one. ;-)

>> Basically I'm the sort of sad loser who will spend 4 hours trying to 
>> work out something, when normal people would give up and go do 
>> something productive. 
> 
> You mean, they'd give up because they can't do it, and go off and do 
> something they're not too stupid to do.

They can't do it?

Or they just don't *want* to do it?

I suspect that if they bothered to try, they probably could. And most of 
them could do it a lot better than me without nearly as much effort as 
it takes for me.

I can't prove that of course. That's what makes it a hypothesis.

>> while any healthy individual would go find something more entertaining.
> 
> Nonsense. You were entertaining yourself, which is more than what most 
> people are capable of.

Maybe.

>> In a directly related mannar, I'm beginning to realise that I'm not 
>> actually very good at playing music either. 
> 
> Condoleezza Rice was recently on an interview I saw. She said she wanted 
> to play the concert piano when she was young. When she was 15 or so, she 
> went somewhere and saw 8-year-olds sight-reading music and playing it 
> better than she could after months of practice. So she figured she'd 
> need a different career.
> 
> I don't think she made a bad choice.

Well, maybe. I think we're all in agreement that my life choices thus 
far pretty much suck.

> If you enjoy it, then you're good enough at it. I played music for years 
> in school, and I hated it. Be happy you've found something you can enjoy 
> practicing even if you aren't a natural at it.
> 
>> haven't mastered it yet.
> 
> So? :-)

That's what I'm saying. To a talented musicial, this isn't that hard. 
Which fairly clearly demonstrates that I'm not a talented musician.

-- 
http://blog.orphi.me.uk/
http://www.zazzle.com/MathematicalOrchid*

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On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:50:34 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> Well, maybe. I think we're all in agreement that my life choices thus
> far pretty much suck.

Not here.  Stop running yourself down.

Jim

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On Wed, 10 Jun 2009 19:50:34 +0100, Orchid XP v8 wrote:

> That's what I'm saying. To a talented musicial, this isn't that hard.
> Which fairly clearly demonstrates that I'm not a talented musician.

Wrong.  To a talented musician, you're someone who's learning.  We all 
are always learning, just at different points on the path.

Stop running yourself down.

Jim

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On 10-6-2009 20:12, Shay wrote:
> Invisible wrote:
>> Lots of people seem to think I'm a really clever guy.

Are they?

> So you're asking if being able to do mathy/techy stuff makes you 
> *really* clever. Maybe. I do know some guys with poor math and language 
> skills who have incredible aptitude for achieving what they want in life.
> 
> I'll agree with you that in a way you are dumb because you don't seem 
> very happy. From what I can tell, you are an extreme extrovert who isn't 
> very effective at getting what he wants from people. A "smart" extrovert 
> would have a good sense of how to please/manipulate/whatever the people 
> around him.
> 
> Organ playing without aptitude and mastery of unpopular programming 
> languages are dead ends - especially socially. A lot of people spend 
> their time on dead-end paths. Are they dumb, or do they just enjoy being 
> there? I'll have to examine that question more closely next time I find 
> myself there.

They might be dead ends in itself. That does not mean they have no 
effect personally or socially. Examples: I had latin in highschool. Do I 
use that? (almost) never. Could I have used that time more productive? 
very likely. Did it help me in my further career? yes How? I haven't got 
the foggiest idea.
Same with reading Dijkstra, guarded commands are even more obscure than 
Haskell. Yet I think I am a better programmer now *and* I am still doing 
that for a living after 20 years.
What choices have made me socially to what I am (a very friendly person 
IRL and perhaps sometimes a little bit annoying on line) is harder to 
express on line, I guess.

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On 10-6-2009 18:40, Darren New wrote:
> Mueen Nawaz wrote:
>>     Because they usually hang around smart people. Classic case: A 
>> smart graduate student feeling he's worthless.
> 
> That too. I often mentioned how dumb some people were, and my wife never 
> believed me. It wasn't until we got to where we were buying something 
> for $12, with 60% off, and the lady at the register with the calculator 
> couldn't figure out whether to charge us $5 or $7 that my wife finally 
> twigged that there really are people who aren't too bright.

A friend of mine paid her lunch today with a €20 note. On the cash 
register it said she would get €2016,xx back. The girl behind the 
counter was smart unfortunately enough not to give that :(

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> They can't do it?

Usually "can't".  You know how often you go "That's insane! That can't 
possibly work! It's impossible!"   Well, lots of people think that about a 
lot of things.

> I suspect that if they bothered to try, they probably could.

I think you're mistaken about a lot of it.

> That's what I'm saying. To a talented musicial, this isn't that hard. 
> Which fairly clearly demonstrates that I'm not a talented musician.

That's OK. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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Orchid XP v8 wrote:
> Well, maybe. I think we're all in agreement that my life choices thus 
> far pretty much suck.

Have you ever been in jail?  Have you ever accidentally injured someone to 
the extent they'll never get better?  Have you ever been involuntarily 
committed to an insane asylum?  Have you ever been homeless, eating out of 
trashcans?

Don't run yourself down.

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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nemesis wrote:
> simply in awe with the piano from a very early age 

Oh, and Mozart's first few symphonies were awful, too. :-)

-- 
   Darren New, San Diego CA, USA (PST)
   Insanity is a small city on the western
   border of the State of Mind.

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