Sociology

Where Does Your Mind Wander To?

Thanks to Bonnie for this link! This 12-question quiz measures how you compare to the average person in terms of daydreaming. Here are my results, which should not exactly be news to anyone who knows me. You spend more time than the average individual ‘lost in thought’ or mind-wandering. You use your mind-wandering time wisely! You spend more time than the average individual planning or problem-solving while daydreaming. You spend more time than the average individual thinking about unresolved issues while mind-wandering (i.e., you are a problem-solver). Your daydreams involve more visual imagery than the average daydreamer. You tend to ‘see’ people, places and events ‘in your head’. Your daydreams are more creative than most. So THAT’S why Katy stares off into space all the time! She’s problem-solving!

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Belize: Day Six

This morning I did not have any adventures planned, yet I got up early anyway. This whole trip I have been getting up before 8 a.m., on my own. I suppose it’s probably largely due to the fact that we have been going to sleep somewhat early (11 p.m. or so). Doc went diving in the morning, along with Brett, Kurt, and Megan. I think that he’s really enjoying it. The divemasters have cancelled the trips to Blue Hole and Glover’s Reef, so all the divers are just staying on the barrier reef this week, which I guess is still probably pretty damn cool. I puttered around this morning taking pictures, and then took the laptop to the lobby so I could upload some of my photos to flickr. Even though I technically have an internet connection while here, I haven’t really been using it as much as I thought I would have. I mean, I know I’ve mentioned getting online for three or four days now, but when you compare it to my normal online schedule (averaging about 70 hours per week, I would say, between work and home), it’s nothing. The connection is slower than molasses in January, but I don’t know that that is necessarily a factor. I have not missed TV at all, I have not once had the urge to make a phone call, and I also haven’t wanted to listen to any music on my iPod. It’s weird how my nearly-total disconnect from the fast-paced hurry hurry world of my normal life, where I constantly attempt to absorb as much audiovisual information as possible, happened so quickly and easily. Maybe that means that when the apocalypse comes, I will survive because I adapt well, and society will value me because I have skills that […]

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welcome to the 1950s

I had a flat tire yesterday. My dad noticed it as he was taking some stuff out to their car — he and Mom were getting ready to drive back to Houston after spending Thanksgiving with us. My spare was also flat, so Dad drove me and the tire to Firestone to get a new one. I spoke to the guy behind the counter, showed him the paperwork from when I bought the tire only 2 years ago, took him out to Dad’s car to retrieve the flat tire, and stood with him while he determined whether it could to be fixed or if I’d need a new one. A few minutes later, he came back to give me the verdict… and he spoke directly to my father the entire time. My father, who up until now had been standing in the background. It’s not like this guy was old enough to have remembered a time before the women’s movement either.

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My new social networking tool

Well, I’ve finally given in. I’ve joined a social network. I’ve been resisting it for years, saying that I don’t need it, that I already have enough friends, that I didn’t want crazy strangers knowing anything about me. I tried mySpace, Friendster, Tribe, and Meetup, and somehow just wasn’t satisfied. Now I’ve found the perfect social networking tool that seems like it was created just for me: isolatr. Join me and be my friend today!

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Podcasts are for extroverts!

Man, I do not know how people create podcasts. I don’t mean technically… That is easy. I mean, how does someone talk for an hour at a time? Or even ten minutes without stopping? I just don’t get it. I guess people do it all the time — teachers, or radio show hosts, for example. If you’re talking about a specific topic that is very important to you, and that you know a lot about, I guess maybe it’s not that hard to do. But for me… I don’t think I could do it. I’m just not that much of a talker. I think that everyone (or maybe just most people) have a constant internal running monologue in their heads… Things that we think about, little rabbit holes our minds wander down, rehashing conversations, making to-do lists, thinking up great ideas, etc. And I think that the people who can podcast successfully are the people who just naturally tend to make that internal monologue external. We all know people who will just talk and talk and talk, vocalizing what seems like every random thought that pops into their heads to anyone who will listen, or often just to themselves when they think no one else is listening. A real stream of consciousness. These people, the extroverts, are successful podcasters. Rereading that, it seems like I’m stating the utterly obvious. Oh well. This “duh” moment was brought to you tonight by my brain after listening to Radio Free Burrito (Wil Wheaton’s podcast). Yes, for those of you who think that name sounds familiar, he was Gordy in Stand By Me and Wesley Crusher on ST:TNG. He still does acting work, but he mostly writes for a living now, and keeps a blog and does podcasts. He is about my age and […]

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