While I proceed to utterly and completely go bonkers about something I've been looking forward to for a very long time.
In June, Finding Dory is coming out!!
This Friday we're recording another Big Little Podcast episode about diapers. I'm super excited to be back doing this. Apparently, lots of folks are excited about it, too. We've got some great guests lined up for the panel, some old friends and some new. When I posted about it on Fetlife, lots of people confirmed they'd be attending right away. Some folks I really wanted on shuffled some stuff around and made sure they could be there, too.
I love doing this. I love that other people love it too. Saddle up, everyone! Yeehaw!
It never fails. Each time I watch the movie Peaceful Warrior, I get something good from it. Yesterday I was having a long conversation with a friend, L. about mindfulness, stress, and overthinking, and told her about the scene in the movie where Socrates pushes Dan off the Strawberry River Bridge.
So then I put on the movie and watched the whole damn thing. Which by the way you can too, for free, right here.
PEACEFUL WARRIOR (Sub. Esp) from MASSIMO on Vimeo.
I stumbled across this other scene that really, really got to me. It's at about 1 hour, 33 minutes. I don't want to spoil it for you. If you haven't seen the movie and don't want to watch the whole thing, go ahead and just slide that sucker over, and watch for a few minutes. You'll get the important stuff.
The key thing is this - there's this lesson we've been taught all our lives, practice makes perfect. But actually, that's a lie. The practice isn't about the perfection. It's about the practice itself. We really can't control what happens to us. We have no idea how the story is going to turn out, except for one thing, which is that every story ends. (We all die eventually. Cheery, huh?) It's not the ending that's the good part, it's the whole story.
I saw this in effect in my own life, immediately. I have this particular coding problem I've been banging my face against for days. Out of pride, I've been trying to teach it to myself, with minimal help from professional colleagues. I have this sort of online forum I hang out in where we all gather to exchange information, answer questions, etc. I've been pinging members of the group privately asking for pointers, but trying not to do so in the main public chat. After I watched the movie, I realized I was blocking myself out of pride. I feared showing these folks as a whole, that I wasn't capable, didn't know enough. One of the more senior members of the group took me to task for it, saying that the questions I had asked him really could have benefitted the whole group, so why not ask them publicly?
I did. Two folks stepped out and helped me reason out the thing blocking me from solving my problem. Together the three of us worked it out. And you know what? I loved doing that. Sometimes I forget that what I love about programming is making something out of nothing, wrapping my head around a problem, and without ego or pride, working with others to create something.
Like everything in my life, it's a practice.
This is just wonderful.
This was just after dinner. You should have seen the fancy formal plates out, and the napkins in napkin rings, and all that. Missy went all out. I just wasn't fast enough with the camera, darn it.
Saturday night we had my friend Scott over for dinner. He just got back from a big trip to Rome and Florence, and wanted to share pictures and make us dinner. (Just like the good advice Ray Stanz got in Ghostbusters about when someone asks you if you're a god, when someone you like offers to make you dinner, say yes.)
Missy really wanted to make it special. She tidied up the house and set a really nice table. We went out and picked up a nice dessert, some wine, and some good crusty bread. On his trip, Scott had this awesome dish, a form of spaghetti called Cacio e Pepe that he loved so much that he wanted us to try it. So he brought the goods over for making it, and cooked it. It was great!
I've known Scott just forever. Over dinner we caught up, and retold old stories about funny misadventures from our college days. Some of them I bet Missy had heard before. She laughed anyway. (Retelling stories runs in my family. I've probably written about that in the blog before. Guess what? I'll probably write about it again!)
After dinner we had some excellent key lime pie, and played party games together on our xbox. The whole night was just great. I love having enduring friendships, and getting to season them with new experiences. (As well as shredded cheese and black pepper.)