tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.comments2023-05-13T08:35:11.517+01:00Intermittently RationalKatherinehttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comBlogger268125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-31631637268212119362010-10-12T13:48:24.904+01:002010-10-12T13:48:24.904+01:00Thank you both! Hopefully, I'll have it set u...Thank you both! Hopefully, I'll have it set up by next week - trying to productively while away my unemployed time. <br /><br />Hope you're both doing well today and all the best. . .Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-19118764629209280202010-10-11T11:05:16.252+01:002010-10-11T11:05:16.252+01:00Thankyou too for all your fascinating posts. I'...Thankyou too for all your fascinating posts. I'm so glad you have found your way to recovery. I hope very much that you continue to blog. I for sure am looking forward to your new blog. All the best. xJustinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842822409756870766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-62750630750199607282010-10-09T12:47:04.990+01:002010-10-09T12:47:04.990+01:00I'm so pleased so hear how well you are doing ...I'm so pleased so hear how well you are doing and I will absolutely read your new blog! xRuby Tuesdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682289336899810638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-55652499022208888092010-08-31T13:34:54.658+01:002010-08-31T13:34:54.658+01:00Excellent suggestion ... and I find that gentle mo...Excellent suggestion ... and I find that gentle movement (like restful yoga, slow stretches, soft and loose dancing) can get my body *just* worked up enough to realize it's tired. That wee bit of exertion sometimes breaks the spell of can't-sleep exhaustion, moving me into a desire to lie down, breathe deeply, and close my eyes ...<br /><br />At all times, if I can't sleep, a warm bath with certain scents (lavender, melissa, pine, sandalwood ... whatever "grabs" my nose at the time) and some candles does the trick ...<br /><br />I've also become, through many years of chronic insomnia, more accepting of it ... I don't freak myself out any more if I lose a night's sleep. There are so many glitches and natural processes going on in my body right now, including menopause, that I figure I'll sleep when my body says SLEEP. Half the battle is won if I don't get myself into a lather ...Jaliyahttps://www.blogger.com/profile/02868006713291780694noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-75852621151843041752010-08-27T01:30:05.941+01:002010-08-27T01:30:05.941+01:00That's so what I fear, too: running up the sta...That's so what I fear, too: running up the stairs to the fourth floor at 4.55pm, it would be in my case. I want very, very badly not to do that.<br /><br />Of course, if I want to succeed in not doing that, I should leave the blogging alone! Yikes. <br /><br />Hope the insomnia isn't plaguing you at the moment, either!Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-29913083864203028732010-08-27T01:24:34.526+01:002010-08-27T01:24:34.526+01:00I did entirely fail to think about the caretaking ...I did entirely fail to think about the caretaking aspect of a potential relationship - thank you for pointing that out. I think that's quite a reasonable thing to consider. Thinking about it this right now, I'm realising how much my own fears about this have dissipated over the past couple of years.<br /><br />It seems to me that one has the risk of an alteration into a caregiver/convalescent relationship in any relationship; the difference comes in because the risk of needing a caregiver is more known if one has a long-term illness. Thinking about it now - and I want to say very clearly that my perspective on it now is very different from what it was - it feels like something to be considered intelligently but not enough of a reason to decide not to try to have a relationship ever (unless one just doesn't want to, which is a sufficient reason in itself). It seems like a good reason not to be in a relationship with some specific people - not everyone is good at it - but not a reason to avoid a relationship in general. For one thing, no one ever knows when they're going to be hit by a bus or contract meningitis or fall down the stairs, so the potential for needing a caregiver is always present in any individual. For another, if the situation were reversed, I would not be put off. <br /><br />It can go horribly wrong, I grant you, but I wonder whether the caretaker/convalescent dynamic is a sufficient causal explanation. I really understand why this worries you, though. I'm not entirely sure why it doesn't worry me very much anymore - I'm going to have to have a think about this.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-64615418758215962502010-08-27T01:07:21.628+01:002010-08-27T01:07:21.628+01:00yes i try this one and sometimes it works and othe...yes i try this one and sometimes it works and other times it doesn't. There are times when my anxiety is so acute that any amount of stillness would seem to increase the volume and no matter what, I can't - or just haven't mastered the technique to quiet it. I think there's alot to be said for simply resting your body and mind in the absense of sleep. There's nothing worse and more exhausting than tense, fitful sleep. <br />Anyway, I'm glad insomnia isn't a problem for you at the moment and good luck with the all night dissertaion vigil. It reminds me of mine when i stayed up a borrowing my brother's computer on the other side of London and then cycling into uni at break neck speed in the morning to hand in about 30 seconds before the deadline (and even then, at 75 pages, i hadn't quite concluded).<br />I think I slept very well after that, and I hope you do the same. xJustinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842822409756870766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-89213232000690048032010-08-27T00:58:17.262+01:002010-08-27T00:58:17.262+01:00I wouldn't say you're muddling at all. Ne...I wouldn't say you're muddling at all. Neurotypical, as I use it here, is definitely a historically contingent definition. The most efficient way to define it would probably be to say that neurotypical persons are persons about whom know one has yet noticed anything extreme - be it intelligence or irritability or mood or speech/language or what have you that's to do with neural processes. Non-neurotypical persons are persons who have been noted as extreme in any direction - e.g. very smart, selectively mute, extremely anxious, anhedonic, hyper-sensitive, colour blind or what have you. It is entirely a relative and slippery thing but that doesn't make it unreal, in my opinion, because of the criterion that it must be noticed. Whether it refers to some constant or not is too difficult to say and I would hesitate to project it back into history because persons who existed in the past had other methods of describing what seem to be similar phenomena - it's just that some of those ways of description, such as demonic possession (to take the common example), don't mean much scientifically. But I'm not trying to make a timeless claim and it's quite right to question whether I am or not.<br /><br />And yes, depending on the nature or presentation of the non-neurotypical-ness of any two individuals, two non-neurotypical individuals could quite possibly have more effort to put in than a neurotypical person and a non-neurotypical person. It would depend on whether the aspects of non-neurotypical-ness were mutually comprehensible in an immediate way or not. <br /><br />Still have 12 days til the official birthday; just celebrating early before half of my university friends scatter to the four winds. Thank you for the birthday wishes! I'm looking forward to my new decade.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-47524710117211296572010-08-26T21:39:15.498+01:002010-08-26T21:39:15.498+01:00Re: 1. I have considered myself damaged goods, but...Re: 1. I have considered myself damaged goods, but I think of it in a bit of a different way. It isn't, to me, so much about adjusting to someone else's way of thinking, but who is more likely to fall to pieces. As a mentalist, if I am with a "normal", the obvious answer seems that I am the one who is more likely to fall to pieces and need the other to help scoop me up and put me back together. Yes, I would be there and available if the other fell to pieces, but that is less likely. It is also more likely that, in the event that the other falls to pieces, I will be no help because I am also in pieces, than vice versa. It seems unfair of me to agree to a relationship that could quite possibly turn more into a convalescent/caretaker relationship. I do often feel this way with friends I already have, that they support me far more often than I support them, simply because I have occasion to require support more frequently. <br /><br />But I'm terrified of anything to do with dating, so none of this becomes a major player on that front.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-71743960926043166342010-08-26T21:22:47.848+01:002010-08-26T21:22:47.848+01:00re. 1) I'm still puzzling over the dichotomy h...re. 1) I'm still puzzling over the dichotomy here. Would a neurotypical person be some sort of ideal form as hypothecised by scientists, clinicians and say, social scientists to which each individual approximates to a greater or lesser degree, and if so what consistent criteria would it be based on? Would these criteria shift in accordance with environmental/historical parameters? (I think I'm just questioning the notion of a neuro-typical person. Does such exist?)<br />Couldn't it also be the case that a non-neurotypical person defined on these terms may have similar or less work to do in a relationship with a neurotypical person than another non-neurotyical person because they have more simularities on other grounds ( e.g. political persuasions, hobbies, family or class backgrounds) than the differences narrowly defined by neuro-psychology (call it what you will)? <br />I'm probably getting in a muddle here already. I'm not a philosopher. Besides, I think you resolved the dilemma at the end on much clearer terms!<br />I like the music by the way. I'm yet to watch the dance group!!<br />Happy birthday too. Is it today? tomorrow? very soon? Have a wonderful day whichever. xJustinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14842822409756870766noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-65270028271743556492010-08-19T21:05:09.929+01:002010-08-19T21:05:09.929+01:00Premise 4 is the most questionable one, I think, b...Premise 4 is the most questionable one, I think, but I sure did have fun putting it together.Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-86304271461589590292010-08-07T13:43:22.782+01:002010-08-07T13:43:22.782+01:00Maybe it's flyezes? As in, "there iz a l...Maybe it's flyezes? As in, "there iz a lot of house flyezes in ma kitchen"? ;)<br /><br />It's always the multiple instances of the same mistake that get me. I can let go of one mistake pretty easily but when multiple people make the same or a very similar mistake in a short period of time, I find it hard not to pick up the blue pencil!Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-90433114127784761442010-08-06T20:11:49.718+01:002010-08-06T20:11:49.718+01:00oh dear. I relate: facebook should have an option ...oh dear. I relate: facebook should have an option for correcting errors in other people's comments. I think I was happier in a time where I was less confronted with stupidity... (miaow!)<br /><br />xRuby Tuesdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682289336899810638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-75771101250246689552010-08-06T15:29:47.434+01:002010-08-06T15:29:47.434+01:00Surely everyone knows it's actually spelled fl...Surely everyone knows it's actually spelled <i>flize</i>...or is is <i>flyze</i>? ;o)Aethelreadtheunreadhttp://aethelreadtheunread.wordpress.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-29212051752779328982010-07-24T01:03:55.489+01:002010-07-24T01:03:55.489+01:00@notpollyanna
"My biggest problem tends to b...@notpollyanna<br /><br />"My biggest problem tends to be that I can be overly pithy and not explain things fully enough for people who are not inside my head."<br /><br />I have that issue, too. Or I'll realise that I need to explain but get frustrated trying to do it because it feels (not always but sometimes) tedious.<br /><br />@Aethelread<br /><br />It's nice to hear from another person that it's not unreasonable for me to be upset! Thank you.<br /><br />@both of you and everyone in general<br /><br />Happily, I seem to have got through the experience. Yay! I didn't get as much finished as I hoped but I did write one section I was rather pleased with - the writing was rather indifferent but I'm pleased with the example I came up with trying to explain what I mean by saying that psychiatric diagnosis is or at least can be logically equivocal. Personally quite pleased with the way the argument for the whole paper is developing and developing indigestion as I think this which means that I'm worried. See, this is the root of the problem, perhaps - I feel like I can no longer trust my own judgement when it comes to my academic writing. Ha! I was quite pleased with the paper I talked about in the above post, too. I'll bet that is it. I really hate it when I have to enter into situations that are known to me but which don't make sense to me. If it's unknown and doesn't make sense, it can be confusing but it doesn't distress me in the same way. Academic writing is definitely a situation which is known to me - I've done lots of it - but of course if I can't trust my own judgement, then how can I make sense of it? Especially considering how solitary an endeavour it is. If I feel that I can't tell whether any given sentence is a good sentence or not, then how am I to make all the needed sentences? Making sentences requires making decisions and without criteria, one cannot make decisions. One cannot make decisions if one doubts one's own judgement, either.<br /><br />I'd lay money that that's the root of it. Hurray! I love puzzling these things out.<br /><br />This is going to be a post length comment - I think I have post draft typing + exhaustion correlated, um, as they say, diarrhea* of the mouth. Or perhaps of the keyboard.<br /><br />* I know that's spelt different in British but it's the one spelling difference I've never been consistently able to master. There's an extra 'o' in it somewhere. But where?Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-73428584883942353522010-07-21T16:40:51.992+01:002010-07-21T16:40:51.992+01:00That professor sounds like a prize idiot, quite fr...That professor sounds like a prize idiot, quite frankly. It seems like you've already got it quite well worked out on an intellectual level but, for what it's worth, you're right to realise that you were in the right and she was in the wrong. I'm actually quite angry on your behalf - as your teacher she had a duty of pastoral care towards you, and even if she felt justified in heavily criticising your work, she should still have had a care for your well-being in the way she did it.<br /><br />In terms of writer's block, if I'm up against a deadline then, like you, I just try to grit my teeth and keep writing. I find that re-reading the section I'm working on fairly frequently can be quite a big help, in that it helps to build up a head of steam that I can use to push me through the next couple of sentences. Occasionally, if I'm really badly blocked, I'll skip ahead to the next stage of the argument and write that before coming back to fill in the gaps - i find it easier to write something if i know both where it's come from and where it's going to.<br /><br />I hope you find a way through the stresses and strains that you have ahead of you - but i'm also sure you will. :o)<br /><br />Take care,<br />A.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-2754987144121331732010-07-21T16:24:48.354+01:002010-07-21T16:24:48.354+01:00I haven't had an experience quite so awful wit...I haven't had an experience quite so awful with writing for school, but I'll offer what I do anyway. I just write. I turn off spell check and grammar check (because I can't not go back and fix every little thing if I see those red and green underlines). I write even if it is utter crap and I know that I am going to delete most of it. I think that the primary benefit of this is that I'm turning over my thoughts in my head and organizing them in different ways and eventually I find a useful way of arranging them that will help me with the overall paper (as opposed to all the writing that I end up deleting). Sometimes I write a bunch of different outlines, brainstorming how to organize my ideas, which is more formal than writing crap. Sometimes I talk to myself, explaining my ideas and refuting possible arguments, which is less formal. <br /><br />Now that I've written that, I realize it is all about organization, which tends to be where I get stuck (though not really an area where my writing struggles). But all of those methods also help me suss out more evidence/examples, it helps me see where I need more evidence/examples, it helps me balance things out and decide what to exclude. <br /><br />My biggest problem tends to be that I can be overly pithy and not explain things fully enough for people who are not inside my head. But it is hard for me to figure out what it is that needs more explanation sometimes.Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-45228971515889712042010-07-07T22:27:34.604+01:002010-07-07T22:27:34.604+01:00Thanks Kate! I actually do feel better by now. W...Thanks Kate! I actually do feel better by now. Women are still confusing but I am less personally confused by a particular woman than I was this morning and thus I feel more sanguine about life. <br /><br />Still didn't get any work done, though. Ah, well, what else is tomorrow (and tomorrow and tomorrow) for? Bother. :)<br /><br />Hope things pick up for you, too!Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-13209691018055595722010-07-07T16:43:38.773+01:002010-07-07T16:43:38.773+01:00So sorry to hear you're feeling downcast and d...So sorry to hear you're feeling downcast and dejected. July so far hasn't been the easiest month for me either. I hope things improve for you and that you will soon be able to move on with a bold smile.<br />Take care.<br />KAnonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-21514487407363364572010-06-29T23:24:21.158+01:002010-06-29T23:24:21.158+01:00Well, I've been here off and on since 1995 (to...Well, I've been here off and on since 1995 (to be strictly accurate) but these invites are really due to the champagne-socialist university I go to. One of the current Labour leadership candidates is an alumnus and we've got a lot of would-be future Labour PMs/MPs/similar in the phil/econ/govt departments. I promise to stay here and use my networking powers for the good! Had a nice robust discussion yesterday about the Mental Health Act 2007 with the son of the MP who was in charge of it - have to start somewhere...<br /><br />Labour may have spewed anti-immigrant rhetoric but they did at least lay out a clear, more or less transparent system. It is a system that made it really, really hard to immigrate from outside the EU but it is at least relatively fair in that if you qualify, you qualify. The ConDems - well, if you qualify, you might get a visa or not depending on arbitrary timing or not, maybe, but any kind of an actually clear or specific answer or process will not be given. They may well eliminate my next visa category for next year but at least they're not changing the rules in the middle of the game for me. <br /><br />So glad I can stay, too! My networking connections in the US aren't nearly as good! Promise I'll pay my taxes in full and on time, too :)Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-28385170053843300242010-06-29T13:39:00.146+01:002010-06-29T13:39:00.146+01:00So...let me get this straight. You've been in...So...let me get this straight. You've been in the country less than a year and you've already scored an invitation to Parliament. I've been here for 37 years and I've yet to get closer than the public gallery. Clearly I need to work on my networking skills. :o)<br /><br />The anti-immigrant stuff coming out of the government is infuriating me. It's so obviously a stunt decided to distract attention from the real causes of the problems we have. It's not as though it's something that's new to the coalition though - Labour were delighting in anti-immigrant rhetoric for years.<br /><br />Anyway, i'm glad to hear you won't be having a problem. :o)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-58903558655544170032010-06-29T11:51:23.149+01:002010-06-29T11:51:23.149+01:00Thank you both!Thank you both!Katherinehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03040402805274505304noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-75437386024880945012010-06-23T12:40:28.572+01:002010-06-23T12:40:28.572+01:00Ah, freeedom from exams always was one of the grea...Ah, freeedom from exams always was one of the great all-time feelings!<br /><br />I, too, am looking forward to reading about what you've learned. :o)Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-83931929358148093212010-06-22T20:03:08.806+01:002010-06-22T20:03:08.806+01:00Big well done on getting through your exams! I am ...Big well done on getting through your exams! I am looking forward to hearing what you've been learning xRuby Tuesdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682289336899810638noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-487968932471390827.post-67750787196337543682010-06-14T21:18:38.708+01:002010-06-14T21:18:38.708+01:00Yay! Congratulations for getting through them and ...Yay! Congratulations for getting through them and make sure that you treat yourself to lots of jolly nice things xRuby Tuesdayhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/17682289336899810638noreply@blogger.com