the 366 meme, part fourteen: April 1-7
Apr. 7th, 2020 03:52 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
castironApr 1: Nobody really likes to be the victim of cruel hoax, but how do you feel about good-natured pranks that don’t cause harm? If the subject of the prank is able to genuinely laugh at it (genuinely, not "I have to be polite about this so people don't ostracize me for being a spoilsport"), then I'm fine with it.
I actually did an April Fool's joke this year -- fun with the "Show Custom Dialog" function in Filemaker. When coworkers logged in, the database said, "Hi! I know I don't talk to you often except to say 'okay, I sent that email' or 'no, you can't do that', so I just wanted to say this: I really like working with you. / Also, sorry I deleted everything you entered yesterday. / April Fool's! I didn't delete anything. But not April Fool's for liking working with you. I really do."
Apr 2: It’s Peanut Butter and Jelly day! What’s your favorite flavor of jelly or jam? Strawberry.
Apr 3: What’s one thing that you can do better than anyone you know? Um. I know a lot of people, so I can't think of anything I do better than *all* of them. Unless I go for something very specific. Wrangle my employer's in-house database? Sure, I'm better at that than anyone I know; there are lots of people who are better at Filemaker, but not a lot of people who combine Filemaker knowledge with knowledge of our internal procedures.
One of these productivity/motivational pundits said in one of his books that because businesses can now find someone anywhere in the world to do a given job, you need to strive to be the best in the world at something. And that was my book-meets-library-return-at-speed moment. There is no individual ability or subject I'm so good at that I can hope to become the best in the world; excellent and highly skilled, sure, but best? Not when a thousand other people can do the same thing well too. (And that's if it's a really niche skill; for anything broader, there's more likely a million people, or more.) There may be some combination of skills plus specialized local knowledge that makes me the person best at a job (or makes me the best after I've been doing it for a couple of years), but single skill? Nope.
Apr 4: What picture is the wallpaper on the device you’re using right now? One of the default images, a blue splotch.
Apr 5: What is the first thing that you notice when meeting someone new? General build and coloring, unless they're wearing a really distinctive article of clothing.
Apr 6: You have to sing karaoke. What song do you pick? If the machine had every song in existence, Saari Aalto's "Monsters" or Alan Doyle's "My Kingdom" (even though I can't quite hit the lowest couple of notes if I stay in the right octave). If I'm limited to songs that've actually been popular in the US at some point, The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" or Survivor's "The Search Is Over".
I've rarely done karaoke, which surprises me because I love to sing and am perfectly happy to sing badly in front of an audience. My most treasured karaoke experience was singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" while seven months pregnant with my youngest.
Apr 7: If you could keep only five possessions, what would they be? A covering garment, underthings, and socks and shoes would use up all my possession slots, so that'd be it. If we assume non-clothing possessions...Does a set of interchangable knitting needles count as one possession? iPod loaded with my entire ebook library, plus a charger? Am I provided a bunk, or do I have to use a possession slot for a bed?
If I repose this question as "What five non-essential possessions would you take on the spaceship to Beta Colony, knowing that you can get all essential life needs and new non-essentials there and having had all your data sent by tight-beam already?" then I'd say my Golding spindle with the owl and tree design, my grandmother's oak leaf tray, my Katherine Boynton "Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down" mug, the agate pendant that my college friend gave me, and my childhood stuffed toy White Dog.
I actually did an April Fool's joke this year -- fun with the "Show Custom Dialog" function in Filemaker. When coworkers logged in, the database said, "Hi! I know I don't talk to you often except to say 'okay, I sent that email' or 'no, you can't do that', so I just wanted to say this: I really like working with you. / Also, sorry I deleted everything you entered yesterday. / April Fool's! I didn't delete anything. But not April Fool's for liking working with you. I really do."
Apr 2: It’s Peanut Butter and Jelly day! What’s your favorite flavor of jelly or jam? Strawberry.
Apr 3: What’s one thing that you can do better than anyone you know? Um. I know a lot of people, so I can't think of anything I do better than *all* of them. Unless I go for something very specific. Wrangle my employer's in-house database? Sure, I'm better at that than anyone I know; there are lots of people who are better at Filemaker, but not a lot of people who combine Filemaker knowledge with knowledge of our internal procedures.
One of these productivity/motivational pundits said in one of his books that because businesses can now find someone anywhere in the world to do a given job, you need to strive to be the best in the world at something. And that was my book-meets-library-return-at-speed moment. There is no individual ability or subject I'm so good at that I can hope to become the best in the world; excellent and highly skilled, sure, but best? Not when a thousand other people can do the same thing well too. (And that's if it's a really niche skill; for anything broader, there's more likely a million people, or more.) There may be some combination of skills plus specialized local knowledge that makes me the person best at a job (or makes me the best after I've been doing it for a couple of years), but single skill? Nope.
Apr 4: What picture is the wallpaper on the device you’re using right now? One of the default images, a blue splotch.
Apr 5: What is the first thing that you notice when meeting someone new? General build and coloring, unless they're wearing a really distinctive article of clothing.
Apr 6: You have to sing karaoke. What song do you pick? If the machine had every song in existence, Saari Aalto's "Monsters" or Alan Doyle's "My Kingdom" (even though I can't quite hit the lowest couple of notes if I stay in the right octave). If I'm limited to songs that've actually been popular in the US at some point, The Clash's "Rock the Casbah" or Survivor's "The Search Is Over".
I've rarely done karaoke, which surprises me because I love to sing and am perfectly happy to sing badly in front of an audience. My most treasured karaoke experience was singing "I've Got You Under My Skin" while seven months pregnant with my youngest.
Apr 7: If you could keep only five possessions, what would they be? A covering garment, underthings, and socks and shoes would use up all my possession slots, so that'd be it. If we assume non-clothing possessions...Does a set of interchangable knitting needles count as one possession? iPod loaded with my entire ebook library, plus a charger? Am I provided a bunk, or do I have to use a possession slot for a bed?
If I repose this question as "What five non-essential possessions would you take on the spaceship to Beta Colony, knowing that you can get all essential life needs and new non-essentials there and having had all your data sent by tight-beam already?" then I'd say my Golding spindle with the owl and tree design, my grandmother's oak leaf tray, my Katherine Boynton "Don't Let the Turkeys Get You Down" mug, the agate pendant that my college friend gave me, and my childhood stuffed toy White Dog.
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-08 09:45 am (UTC)Whenever I see a question like this I am reminded of an advert I saw in Denmark in about 1999 for a loan company, in which an ascetic figure explained that the secret of happiness was to own only 7 things as he did (including "a shoe, another shoe, a small bowl"), and that was fine, because everything else he got with his credit card. It was one of those things that stick in the mind!
(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-08 09:47 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2020-04-12 10:16 pm (UTC)