I've not got a lot to say today, really. I've a deadline, and I'm working. That's generally not terribly exciting. The rewrites are going well. My subconscious is talking which is great. For example, I've a character whose spectacles kept reflecting the light and hiding his eyes. I've found it's good to pay attention to these things. So, I stopped, gave that some thought, and that was when it occurred to me that the character in question is blind. He's older--in his 50s. (He has cataracts.) Going back, it's a wonderful detail that explains a number of things and adds to the world building. This is an eighteenth century world, after all. It deepens the character and makes everything even more interesting. I love that shit. I just do. It's also another way of demonstrating a subtle distinction between the kainen and humans that no one has noticed so far. Mwhahahaha! [cough]
In other news, it's becoming apparent that I may be hypoglycemic. I'm not a fan of diets. While eating more vegetable-oriented meals is reasonable and (as I see it) taking care of oneself as is increasing one's physical activity, I've never been big on hyper-focusing on the details of food. I'll walk and go to martial arts class, and for some reason I'm okay logging that. But food? Pffft! Now, I'm journaling what I eat because of the migraines. FFS, it's so fucking tedious. I can't even. My body keeps attempting coups, damn it. Body, why do you hate me? Why? Anyway...back to work. Must grab some protein first, but... working, working, working.
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"Our lives are not our own. We are bound to others. Past and present. And by each crime and every kindness we birth our future."--Cloud Atlas
I used to shy away from confrontation. Bullied throughout my school life[1], I'd trained myself to bite my tongue, freeze, and turn away. It was best to be invisible. I knew that didn't work for me. I was a geek girl who wanted to be a Jedi knight or a member of the Round Table. It took my college D&D group to allow me to see the potential in myself. Terrified, I changed via baby steps. The first one being: it's okay to be afraid. Fear doesn't make you a coward. It makes you smart. Being afraid and facing the confrontation anyway makes you courageous. Without the fear, there can be no courage. That was important because I lived in a near constant state of panic. From role-playing knights, I went to fencing. My first attempts were awful experiences. I quit. Bookish, I've never been much of an athlete. Plus...men. Aggressive men. When I hit the inevitable wall while working my way through college the first time, I turned back to gaming for my self-esteem. Then my life took a turn for the worse. The PTSD became unmanageable. My therapist said I needed structure in my life, discipline. I took Kendo. It was miraculous. From the moment the shinai hit my hands the panic stopped. That was when I learned another important distinction. I learned that self-discipline isn't self-punishment.[2] The root word for discipline is disciple, and a disciple is someone who follows a belief system. That was a mind-bender. I became a Feminist and a Humanist. As a result, I started learning how to debate. It was during that time I learned another important distinction about confrontation: pick your battles because if you don't, you can get yourself into trouble.[3] I went back to college. I needed a PT credit. I took Fencing. The Fencing line was well-defined. It was a safe place. And that was the first time I felt comfortable in my own skin--the first time I felt comfortable with confrontation. I bloomed. I even placed fourth in the Men's tournament. To this day, it's the only sports trophy I own.
So, yesterday I came upon the following story: Mind Control, Subliminal Messages and the Brainwashing of America. Oh my gosh! So much dire! Yeah, except during my years of psychology study we went over the concept of subliminal advertising and the fact of the matter is...dire it is not. You see, the affects aren't consistent nor are they reliable. To explain, read this: Subliminal Messages: Do They Really Work? There's some great stuff there. Mind you, it's despicable to target marketing at nine-month old children, but largely, I think the marketing industry is creating more problems for itself than it's solving by doing so. You see, the human brain is quite plastic. It adapts--rapidly so. Targeting children with ads changes their response marketing. They grow more cynical. (Millennials respond less to TV advertisements, for example. They also require more sources to convince them.) I'm sure the research is correct regarding the affects on young children's sleep patterns and so on. But I'm not so sure that it's as dire as that first article makes it sound. In case you didn't watch the video--there are a few of them in the second article and they're all fun, but here's the significant one. It's about the Judas Priest court case:
The take away here is that the human brain is designed to recognize patterns--even patterns that don't exist. That's how conspiracy theories are born.
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