title:      Five Questions Feb 2023
date:       2023-01-30
tags:       journal  phlog  sdf
identifier: 20230130T164607
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Welp, another 5 questions from christyotwisty, I guess that means
this is a habit now.

1. Do you offer advice to close friends who seem to struggle
   (e.g. obsession with unrequited love object, executive
   dysfunction, unhealthful eating or drinking patterns) or
   do you wait for them to solicit advice from you?

I try not to offer advice unsolicited. At a push, if it seems ob-
vious to me that there is an undiagnosed disorder, or just an un-
recognized problem, I might try to remember a story from  my  own
life experience to tell.

The  main  reason  I try not to do the advice thing dates back to
when we were pregnant with Lauren, my  (almost  25  yr  old  now)
firstborn. Folks who were parents had so much advice for us then,
and it was very annoying. With kids particularly, it teaches  you
that  very  rarely  does  your  own life experience offer a large
enough sample size to form the basis of any generalities.

Your life experience is  made  of  great  and  helpful  anecdotes
though, which is the best way to share it. I honestly don't think
anyone truly likes receiving advice.

One last thought on this one: as an adult with ADHD, I can confi-
dently  say that the problem is never that I lack that one killer
strategy. It's all about living with carefully balanced  precari-
ty,  years  of  self-observation and a search for the strange at-
tractors in my personal non-linear system.  And drugs.

2. What is the best view where you live?

I live in Toronto, so there isn't much to look at. The best  view
I've seen is of downtown, from Centre Island.

3. What useful skill would you want a nontech-inclined
   friend to learn? Could be a technical or a life skill.

Learn  to play the drums, or bass guitar. You'll always be in de-
mand.

4. Is there a habit, initiative, or project you'd undertake
   if you had a supportive buddy or partner to join you? Or
   at least volunteer care of your dependents during your
   undertaking? If yes, what is it?

I'd like to think I'd get back to skydiving if I had a friend who
was  into  it and likely to move at a similar pace as me, but I'm
not sure I really want to any more.

A better answer is music. I'd like to  have  a  creative  partner
like  I  did  when  I was a teenager. That might be a young brain
thing though.

TBH I think I just want to stay in my room :)

5. What is your favourite slow cooker recipe, or slow cooker
   recipe repository? ("I don't have one" is a perfectly
   valid response if true, in which case I would ask you to
   name and describe your favourite clock tower)

I don't think I have one :shrug: but I love rice cookers!

I have a soft spot for the clock tower at  the  Sun  Microsystems
campus  I  worked  at  in Santa Clara, CA, back around 2002-2004.
That was a fairly boxy affair, I think 4 or 5 stories tall,  with
a  single  converted  conference  room  on each floor all the way
nearly to the top.

It's an interesting place. It used to be known as the  "Treatment
Building"  belonging  to  "Agnews Insane Asylum", which gave it a
very odd vibe.

I just looked it up and found this excellent run-down:

   https://www.nps.gov/places/agnews-insane-asylum.htm