"are you lonesome tonight"
Dec. 1st, 2006 02:32 pmWhat's Expected Of Us, a rather short story by Ted Chiang. "Specifically, the light flashes one second before you press the button." Chiang's Hugo- and Nebula-winning "Hell Is the Absence of God" is creepy and disturbing and brilliant; this one is no less any of those things despite its brevity.
This Is What Happens When You Let Developers Create UI: "Deep down inside every software developer, there's a budding graphic designer waiting to get out. And if you let that happen, you're in trouble."
Answer left as an exercise for the student: David Moles takes on the SFBC's "most influential books" meme. Of particular note are #11 and 32. His comments on _Timescape_ (49) fit with what I recall of it, as well.
I feel like I should have more to say. Or maybe like I do but am not sure to whom I want to say it. Awhile ago I realised I'd all but forgotten how to be alone. This is darkly amusing in light of how pleased I remain by my lack of roommates. The problem is compounded by never having learned how to meet people and having lost the automatic social outlets (Spiel, other gaming, even classes and work) I had in B'burg. Time and distance and commitments mean that getting together with friends now requires effort and advance planning. I'd known this on some level, of course, but, well. Knowing the path is not walking the path.
My two challenges are to remember the quiet joy of an evening at home by myself, and to expand my social horizons. To make those phone calls and write those emails and determine Things To Do.
This Is What Happens When You Let Developers Create UI: "Deep down inside every software developer, there's a budding graphic designer waiting to get out. And if you let that happen, you're in trouble."
Answer left as an exercise for the student: David Moles takes on the SFBC's "most influential books" meme. Of particular note are #11 and 32. His comments on _Timescape_ (49) fit with what I recall of it, as well.
I feel like I should have more to say. Or maybe like I do but am not sure to whom I want to say it. Awhile ago I realised I'd all but forgotten how to be alone. This is darkly amusing in light of how pleased I remain by my lack of roommates. The problem is compounded by never having learned how to meet people and having lost the automatic social outlets (Spiel, other gaming, even classes and work) I had in B'burg. Time and distance and commitments mean that getting together with friends now requires effort and advance planning. I'd known this on some level, of course, but, well. Knowing the path is not walking the path.
My two challenges are to remember the quiet joy of an evening at home by myself, and to expand my social horizons. To make those phone calls and write those emails and determine Things To Do.