Generalized updates/rants

Item 1:

people on Magic WorkStation are either jerks or crazy. Why the rage? why the incompetence? I am not exaggerating when I say that the reason these people play this game at all is as an outlet for an unhealthy addiction to rage. I have been cussed out, yelled at, the internet equivalent of spat upon, etc. for nothing more than playing a game slightly differently than someone else! Heaven forfend! I've been scoffed at for being a child. How on earth would that have been deduced? From my excellent use of the English language, my civility, and my tendency to avoid arguments with people who randomly scream at me with their capslock permanently activated? Well, shucks! If youth is looked down upon, and the reason they think I'm a youth is my ability to hold a normal conversation in complete sentences and even *gasp* demonstrate common courtesy over the internet, then youth sounds fine to me. The fact that I don't really qualify as a youth, that I'm not ignorant about the game I'm playing, that I'm (if I dare say it my own self) a relatively intelligent, fully capable person in my own right doesn't seem to translate well across the internet. So how about we try this on for size:

Please, if you decide that you need an outlet for your rage, go punch a cop in the face or something. You'll feel better after a sound thrashing, because you'll have something actually worth being slightly upset about. I'll feel better because you'll have been soundly clubbed and promptly imprisoned. Everyone wins, and you don't end up the subject of a rant!

Item 2: Work is actually going pretty well! I was initially worried by my baby steps, surrounded by people who have more experience than I do. Today I consciously improved upon several of my problem areas (which, if you'd like a list, include things like not actually ever looking at people, hovering around behind the lectern like a vulture, being ever-so-gently mocking of the fact that I have to drop my employer's name in every lecture I give, summarily characterizing questions as "easy" in situations where a student might get them wrong, and a condition I think I'll call "whiteboard dyslexia.") After trying to improve, I actually did. In fact, I did a really bang up job; my constructive criticism became, instead of extremely broad guidelines (fix everything you're bad at), very picky single areas for improvement (a good thing to do on this question is 'x'). This is wonderful. It means I'm in the general neighborhood I need to be in.

I'll outline some of the things I do to prepare at a later date. (No confidential or proprietary information will be revealed.)

Item 3: Somehow, everyone I meet is being characterized and categorized in terms of people I know from Tulsa. My boss reminds me of Andrew, a coworker reminds me of a perfect cross between Raine and Dirk, a TV show character reminds me of Paul, etc. While alarming, I have also been very interested to see that these snap characterizations quite often hold true! I need to either meet some new archetypes, get to know these people better so the comparisons don't throw me for a loop, or potentially write a groundbreaking book about how there are, in fact, only about two dozen actual personalities in the world.

Item 4: Kitties are growing fast. They climb alarmingly well.