Since It's Getting Cold (or It Should Be)here In The Northern Hemisphere, I Thought I'd Post Some Wintry

Since it's getting cold (or it should be) here in the Northern Hemisphere, I thought I'd post some wintry songs as we approach Christmas.

This one is an electronic take on the winter style. It doesn't seem to me like it would work that well, but the result is actually one of my favorite chilly songs.

From the Shatter Official Videogame Soundtrack.

I never knew that a song could actually be described as "lush."

From the Sonic Rush 3 OST.

Authority

Let me clear up a common misconception:

Being in a position of authority DOES NOT mean that you are always right. It means that you have proven yourself to be less wrong than the rest of us on a regular basis, and that we trust you with responsibilities where being wrong can be hazardous.

Authority is a position of power, yes, but it comes with a price: making sure we stay organized and don't fail. Since failure could possibly mean death, we expect you to be right most of the time. Just because we expect it of you, however, does not mean you are right automatically.

If you are wrong - and, being human, you will be wrong - it is our responsibility to show you. You will be called out because of it in front of everyone you have influence over, and it is your responsibility to say "I'm sorry," rather than "you're all wrong and I'm right." In fact, if you say such a thing, or show it by your actions, we will probably remove you from your position of power, because we can't trust you to be less wrong than the rest of us anymore.

Yet with all this responsibility packed into this job description, authority is still a highly sought-after position of pride and power instead of humility (for God knows why). The humility part of it keeps you level-headed so you don't make rash decisions that are most likely wrong.

I'm not trying to say that you can't afford to be wrong. What I am trying to say is that you shouldn't expect to be right. Keep your head in the game so we don't have to deal with you being wrong and arrogant.

There's a fine line between simply stating your opinion and outright complaining: it's the repetition.

I'm okay with people stating their opinions around me, even if those opinions don't line up with mine. In fact, I encourage it; it brings to my mind arguments that I've never heard before, so I can defend or refute them and strengthen my position. I don't usually argue my point with them directly (in fact, I usually think of my arguments at two o'clock that night), but in the future I can defend my own standpoint.

The trouble comes when someone has an opinion that they're not afraid to let everyone know of... every time the topic comes up. It doesn't matter if it's a topic of conversation, a person that walks by, or a commercial on TV, they'll bring it up again. EVERY. TIME. I hear the same points argued so often that I begin to wonder if this person actually WANTS someone to prove them wrong. My mind starts to drift when this occurs (since I've heard it all already), so when this happened just recently I found an interesting parallel to this situation.

Remember when we were kids (if you're not still) and we complained a lot? We would keep saying the same thing over and over, and our parents would get sick and tired of hearing us and either spank us or cave in and buy the toy. However it ended up, we were expecting some sort of action as a response. It wasn't always what we wanted it to be, but we wanted something to come of our work.

It's very easy to argue that we were just stating our opinion, but it was the repetition that made it complaining.

Of course, nothing's actually changed. People just complain about different things in a more "socially acceptable" way. Even the expected response is still there. What I don't understand is what response people are expecting. I mean, what do you expect me to do? Agree with you? Argue with you? Because I can't change it for you. Either way, though, I'll get tired of you defending your position for the umpteenth time. I actually like talking about different things than we did yesterday. But that's just my opinion.

Point is (and this is a lesson for me too), if that commercial comes up again, resist the urge to state your opinion, because everyone in the room already knows.

Unwilling introvert

Would you believe me if I said I was an introvert, but not by choice?

I know it sounds crazy - at least it does to me - but it's really true. I enjoy being with other people, but it's draining.

Most of the time us introverts are the way we are because taking thoughts and making them into words on the fly requires energy. Most of us don't even realize it; we're just turned off by the idea of being around others. We'll rationalize it by saying that people are stupid or that we're not good at socializing - or maybe that we don't know why at all - but the real, subconscious reason is that it's work.

In my case, I love hearing people's stories. "Life is about the stories," my dad always says, and I completely agree. There's something about someone's tale of woe or laughter that captures my attention and makes me wonder what happens next. (In case you're wondering by this point, yes, I'm a hit with older folk.) I also think that in-person conversation is the best way to communicate with someone, but I'm not so sure why I think that yet.

So whenever I work up the energy, I try to strike up conversations with people. People I know, people I don't know, doesn't matter much to me. Everyone has a story. And I have a couple of my own that I share, if I'm feeling especially energetic. Sometimes we come up with stories of our own, of worldwide power outages and the apocalypse following or covering the Earth with (2^32 - 1) CRTs displaying a single Linux computer. And I love every moment of it!...

...until I run out of energy.

If I don't have the energy, I avoid people at all cost. I duck down into my room and listen to music alone until I recover enough energy to at least get through the rest of the day's socializing - because people are a part of everyday life, and I have to deal with them to get my food and get through classes. And also because sometimes people just start talking to me whether I want them to or not, which can be devastating if I don't have the energy to deal with it. If this gets really bad, I lash out at people or shrink away in the corner until I get the alone time I need.

My real problem with all of this is that my social energy is almost constantly at a low level. Very rarely do I have enough energy to feel confident speaking with people. And it recovers so slowly that I need a day or so to prepare enough energy for an hour. It's really sad, because I enjoy being around people and would love to have more of the energy I need to do so.

At least it doesn't take energy for me to think - apparently that's a thing with some people.

If you see a light at the end of the tunnel... better hope it's not a train.

My dad