Hypography Confessional

[TheBigDog]

This is a space for confessing things that are on your mind. No penance, no retribution. Just a place to bare your soul and feel the healing power of honesty.

I'll start it off...

I feel like my posting has been shallow lately. I have been taking the lazy way instead of the thoughtful way in many cases cracking jokes instead of adding value. I am going to bump up my expectations of myself to get back on track.

And I feel somehow deceptive when I post here sometimes. I have never gotten further than a high school diploma, which I failed to get on the first effort. I thought I was smarter than I really was, and had to go to adult school to complete my graduation requirements. I never spent a day in college. What I know I either learned in elementary, middle and high school, or have learned independently over the course of my life. I bring this up because it became a topic at work recently, and it is something that I need to deal with at some point to continue professional advancement. I have never been fond of school, and I am not certain how well I would do at it if I were to return. It is weird to talk about because those who know me just assume that I have some sort of degree, either from my professional position, or from my manner.

I don't like to mention it normally because I fear that it taints the way people consider my intellectual contributions. But I guess I am comfortable enough around here now to let it float out there. Knowing the fine folks around here I am not worried about being discounted out of hand for the formality of what doesn't hang on my wall.

Anyone else have something weighing on them that they would like to exorcise?

Bill

[orbsycli]

Don't worry about it,
You fooled me

Just look at the ways we can learn, nowadays (looks over at hypography, who's levitating by buddha)

When I find something I need to confess I will definately come here,
right now nothing comes to mind
except strange, strange murmurs
from the walls?

[orbsycli]

p.s. It's Exercise
(can't help but correct people on their spelling)

[CraigD]

Ooh! I always thought of a confessional as a ultra-private little cell containing you and a sworn-to-secrecy priest – nearly the exact opposite of a public internet forum! But if TBD dares bare his soul, how can I not follow suit?

I feel my hypography behavior is uncomfortably close to that of Coberst’s "untrained birddog", chasing after every available opportunity to awe my internet friends with my amazing powers of basic algebra and search engine use. (um… if you fail to exercise humility in a confession, do you have to confess again, or is there some sort of exemption?) I believe my true strength, however great of small it may be, lies in tenaciously – and usually solitarily – attacking a single problem until it yields something of value. This is dull stuff, however, and unlikely to garner praise, so, like a junky putting the search for his next fix, I chase after fun and ego-stroking.

Like TBD, most people believe I’ve completed more formal education than I have. I completed a BS in Math in 1982, but by 1986 was working so extensively in information technology (computers) that I began forgetting most of it, so that now, I need to review for tens of hours before attempting any but the most basic calculus, statistics, or analysis.

Though I love Math, and love studying and doing it, I must confess that only through the greatest of conceits can I call myself a mathematician. All told including high school, college, and after, I have studied it seriously for the equivalent of about 6 years.

I’ve been some form of professional computer programmer since 1976, and have spent about 50,000 hours at it. Professional IT is neither math nor science, but a trade, making me, in all honesty, an experienced and accomplished tradesperson, much analogous to a carpenter (but with less calloused hands).

This is all just background, and pretty unremarkable at that. I haven’t gotten to a really grievous sin yet, so here goes…

Though my favorite hobby (other than chasing after praise) is looking for a Really Big Thing in Math. Having found a Couple of Interesting Little Things in Math as a student, and having received praise for them, I’ve continued to think this hobby is Really Important. However, as I’ve already confessed, I’m not really a mathematician – the likelihood of me stumbling on a RBTiM through my hobbywork is very small.

Much of IT is politics – convincing people who don’t know what is good for them that they should do what a knowledgeable person – you - know is good for them. I am really a “technologist” – one who has, IMO (and in the opinion of various people who put my in positions to make such decisions), a strong practical grasp of technology, and a good sense of where it should go. Like many Math enthusiasts, however, I don’t like politics. So, I don’t labor to steer technology in the direction my experience – and some rigorous work – tells me it should go.

Knowing one’s right vocation, and refusing it is, I pretty sure, a serious sin. Forgive me … (the religious analogy breaks down for me here).

[Tormod]

I'l be briefer than CraigD and TBD (these guys jabber too much ).

I have never taken a science class in my life, except "Dinosaurs and Extinction" for required science credit and "Acoustics 101" for my music degree.

I planned on becoming a musician but when I started high school I switched to social sciences and business. It's a move I don't regret too much because I shared most classes with a very good friend and I had a great time. However, there was no hard science anywhere (well, frankly, there was some biology and chemistry in the first year, but we're talking high school level - if anything it told me this is not for me).

However, I've always been a fan of space and space exploration, cosmology, and astronomy. But I'm still more of a reader than a doer: I have peeked through a telescope exactly twice (to see the passages of Venus and Mercury in front of the Sun).

I have read some 150 books on more or less "popular" science, everything from Carl Sagan to John Barrow and heavy cosmology, to biographies, history, and philosophy of science. I have reviewed about 100 of these on national radio.

So I am not a scientist and have no plans on becoming one. It is not for me.

Oh, and the confessional: I post too much here. I tend to stay out the heavy discussions these days due to the heat and a lot of other things on my mind. I have fought my fights and are sort of surfing the hypowaves.

Ooops, another jabberer.

[Michaelangelica]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

T
I have never gotten further than a high school diploma,
Bill

Isn't that what Einstein had too?

You don't need qualifications you need to know how to read.

One of my really great lecturers in psychology was told he was too dumb to stay at school and left at 15
He did a trade;
enjoyed that
Did his matriculation;
enjoyed that
Did some teacher training;
enjoyed that
Did a degree;
liked that
Did an MA;
liked that
Did a PHD;
blitzed that.
I met him as Professor of Psychology; a great guy, one of the best, because he had been there.

[Tarantism]

i confess that i over-analize sometimes. though i have recently broken (or at least decreased) that habit. of course, over-analization is relative, and we must consider many aspects of life before entering such a discussion

[ronthepon]

Originally Posted by Tarantism

i confess that i over-analize sometimes. though i have recently broken (or at least decreased) that habit. of course, over-analization is relative, and we must consider many aspects of life before entering such a discussion

What's there to confess in that?

It's good to overanalyse at times.

[TheBigDog]

Originally Posted by orbsycli

p.s. It's Exercise
(can't help but correct people on their spelling)

Originally Posted by dictionary.com

ex·or·cise
To expel (an evil spirit) by or as if by incantation, command, or prayer.
To free from evil spirits or malign influences.

Mmmm hmmm....

Bill

[infamous]

Originally Posted by TheBigDog

Mmmm hmmm....

Bill

Maybe Orby didn't see the movie, 'The Exorcist' ? Ohhh well, I guess one can't see them all, can they?? As to my confessions; I only finished 2 years of college after which I decided to start my own business. So my credentials are also lacking in this department. Besides having an interest in science from my earliest years, I am also an irrepressible romantic, loving poetry and old movies. The vicarious experience I receive from indulging in these often causes me to weep, sometimes with tears of joy and at other times, tears of empathy...........................Infy