Welp, let’s tell my last post to suck it because last week I had a 19 hour workday. There’s something about wrapping up and going “Oh hey, I’m 5 hours away from a 24 hour work day.”
Thank the union and capitalist gods for overtime I guess.
But more importantly, FOOD:
I learned how to deep fry. Or rather, I explored how to deep fry. Anyone who can make soup, can deep fry. The difference is boiling something in lipids vs water. And I like taking a creative and an experimental approach, for example wings. Are fried wings really better than baking? (The answer is yes.) But what if you combine the two, and bake and then flash fry wings? Turns out that’s even better than fried, unless you’re eating the chicken as soon as it’s cool enough. And are hot wings better than bbq? (Answer, only sometimes) How about onion rings? Can you use greek yogurt a batter ingredient? (answer, fuck yeah) Can you fry any meat? (answer, yes) Is fish, steak, chicken or pork most enchanced by deep frying? (answer, yes)
And to offset all the unhealth of 9 pounds of chicken, 2 lb of steak, cod and flounder, pork chops, battered tofu, and fucking onions, I’ve also been making a bone broth and then pouring that over purple cabbage, garlic, green onions and ginger.
Purple cabbage bleeds. It bleeds into what young-me decided was the cutest hair color. You just let it soak, and if you pour the boil over the cabbage into a purple container and glance at it every 30 seconds, the color diffusion is more hypnotic and transformative than any ole lava lamp. I even put beets on the bottom because beets are healthy and make the gradient even more dramatic.
And then I’ve been craving that cabbage stuff the most. Don’t know why, but I don’t question something that my gut says is healthy (that’s a pon) so I’ve been making that daily. Except after last friday, the 19 hour day.
Came home and passed out.
Left this mixture out. Sealed.
Came out the next morning after crashing for 14 hours.
I’m gross and have no problem eating almost any food that’s been out for half a day. FDA guidelines can kiss my ass, there’re starving wallabies out there so who am I to waste food.
But I grabbed the container and immediately realized something questionable.
Jaidree; omg is that bubbling?
Me: Uh *shakes* yeah
Jaidree: OMG WHY IS IT BUBBLING
Me: *shakes more, mesmerized by the production of gas bubbles from within a liquid mass* Um
Jaidree: OMG DID YOU FERMENT CABBAGE
Me: Oh. Yeah seems like it *opens lid* Hey is that sauerkraut?
Jaidree: *sniffs* OMG THAT DEFIITELY HAS A SAUERKRAUT SMELL TO IT
Me: Hm. *reseals lid and googles how to make sauerkraut*
And yes, it turns out that with the exception of bone broth (which you can also ferment, even though I have no idea why one would) that with the amount of salt in that sucker that yes, I have followed a recipe for sauerkraut. So obviously, I left that out for days more, and even though you’re supposed to let it sit for weeks I got impatient and ate half yesterday.
It’s amazing to me when feed doesn’t rot, but instead transforms into something else. And I’m the type of weirdo who loves kraut. And now I’m the type of weirdo who can say he loves his own kraut.
And that’s how I happily discovered how to kraut. I can’t imagine how many great food recipes are happy accidents, but this is one for me.
Anyway, I’m still learning a lot from my job. There is a part of me that feels like I’m settling for mediocrity and giving up on certain dreams, but there’s a bigger part of me that thinks that’s almost entirely and patently false. I took a bargain by trying to have visions turned into traditionally published novels and part of that was that after a few years of trying hard I can apply myself in an office and try later, and that’s exactly what I’m doing. I’m certainly proud more than any other feeling about being able to report in to where I do. I have a great manager, I’m part of a great and talented team, and things like say, social security and JPMC have taught me you can not take either of those things for granted.
SSA taught me that politics can overwhelm a sense of team because to me, there, the club mentality was that ownership is more of a risk than anything. To me, that was why government agencies don’t have people driven to tackle a backlog as much as get their hours in. (And if I have to express that that’s my opinion based on my experience, kiss my butt, cause that’s certainly what I experienced, hard.) JPMC taught me that a team’s manager when they need to feel like the most succesful and most recognized individual that games will be had. I can elaborate on that but think people should elaborate on that for themselves if needed — because smart people playing games can make others’ heads spin. That’s obvious.
You know why I think emotional intelligence is such an important factor in a workplace environment? Why I think it correlates with so many people who are high functioning in professional industries? Because it aligns their output with their motivations in the most adaptive way. Emotional intelligence is knowing when you are not entitled to simply get what you want, as much as creating a plan to earn something and make that clear to others what you hope to earn and get them on board. Emotional intelligence lets you know if you have such an impoverished ego that you need to misconstrue others’ intentions. Emotional intelligence lets you do more than feel threatened by others good work, and want to attack others’ poor work. Emotional intelligence helps predict appropriateness and (others’) sincerity, and take pleasure in playing as part of a greater whole, let’s you take pride and caution in withdrawing from a questionable one, and real joy out of earned success.
Maybe when AI and robots really make pure skill specialization an even bigger factor in professional industry success, then maybe the merit of pure skill will make someone a cut out for being an industrial top dog, but until then, I do think emotional intelligence is at least as important as IQ and skill in anything involving collaboration. And obviously, a person can’t pick one of the three.
So with that, I’m going to end this rant with this:
Some amazing skills are learned through taking things slowly and painfully first. Rhythm management games for example — no one learns to be great at one by jumping in at 600 bpm immediately — they develop a background of built reflexes first. It says a lot when a person has the patience to make themselves learn, and the drive and ambition to acclimate and build. One reason I love the example of vidya games.
But this is where logical people become interesting. And this too is my (correct) opinion: there’s a huge difference between a logical conclusion and an opinion. *cough* Opinionated rationale time:
I think more often than not, logical people had painful childhoods. Not to say traumatized, poor poor victim childhoods it’s just, kids are pain in the ass, impulsive, wonderful but silly creatures. Sure some kids have that verve and were gifted with the charisma and impulses that made them appealing then. I’m thinking, a good portion of those who experienced the immediate benefit of charisma may also carry the logic to retroactively analyze why their impulses kicked butt and keep evolving those — got to be a great benefit, but that’s not the group I’m focusing on. I want to focus on the nerds who ultimately prove that nerds rule.
I think coldly logical kids are probably not immediately liked. Rather than hindsight, the ones that build on caution and foresight might not want to jump in to interact. People who intuit through logic more probably function like introverts because, holy fuck it’s overwhelming to calculate the array of reactions other people can have to almost anything. This makes for reserved kids. And of course a cold, reserved kid is going to become a target for silly dumb kids.
But my point is how often these kids become extraordinarily cool adults. It’s a trial learning to go from a standard difficulty to an expert one. But logical kids driven to become experts in their own version of cool? They become extraordinary. Their reflexes, the way their gut speaks and informs on what they think is cool? Makes them badasses in their 30’s. And this is why I think nerds rule. I think reflection is a huge factor in adaption and evolving, and some simply won’t do this as much, or as well. That’s going to carry a cost.
Basically, folks who are illogical and loud are their own biggest obstacle. Sometimes folks with this combination might be fun, sure, and I’m sure like anyone they’re capable of demonstrating great virtues, but they’ll have a hard time feeling like a validated, excellent person. So if I had to choose groups to bank on for some reason, I think logical kids who have experienced challenging childhoods can grow into some of the most outstanding adults.
Now it’s time for a loud opinion: Cool nerds can make the best leaders.
Eric is the Best 