The Mandelbear's Musings

Yesterday was a pretty good day, despite some setbacks. I got a little "carpentry" done in the morning, making a back-spacer for Colleen's recliner to keep it the right distance from the bookshelves. The necessary 30" looked shockingly far, but was of course exactly right. I had measured it, after all.

Then we went up to San Francisco, to visit the DeYoung Museum, which the YD wants for her art history class. She is, finally, getting interested in going to museums. Naturally, the DeYoung is closed on Mondays, never mind the fact that it's a holiday. Headdesk. Fortunately, the California Academy of Sciences is right next door (ok, across the concourse, but in any case close enough). It turns out that the YD had never been to a planetarium! Never been interested in going, before, but she loved it.

I managed to lose the parking-lot ticket, so it cost $25 for parking. In addition to making me feel particularly stupid for having put the ticket in the same pocket as my phone.

We took Highway 1 down to Half Moon Bay; a pleasant drive that we don't do very often. There's a fish market just after the turn onto 92, where I picked up some ahi tuna, which we had as sashimi for a late lunch when we got home. The guy at the counter also sold me three more chunks, at a reduced price, which I'd been planning to use for dinner. When dinner time came, though, they tasted "off" and didn't smell all that good; I dumped them and made sausages instead.

I spent the rest of the evening kind of zoned out and apathetic, though I did do some more reading in The Language of Emotions. It's fascinating, but difficult, and I can't tell whether it's just my alexithymia making it difficult, or whether it's totally bogus. One of the things I'm having trouble with is her notion of "boundaries", which is absolutely central to to all of the visualization work the book is based on. She actually equates it with "aura". It doesn't seem to be all that closely related to what Wikipedia says about "personal boundaries":

Personal boundaries are guidelines, rules or limits that a person creates to identify for him- or herself what are reasonable, safe and permissible ways for other people to behave around him or her and how he or she will respond when someone steps outside those limits.

... which it also distinguishes from "personal space". And McLaren doesn't. So...

I understand personal space, sort of, I think, but either version of "personal boundaries" seems to be a concept I have trouble grasping. That probably needs to be a full-bore River post at some point.

Yesterday was a good day. I didn't get much done, of course, out of all the things that have been piling up needing attention, but I was happy.

First there was a visit with Colleen; she seemed optimistic, which cheered me. She was also happy to get her Kindle back. I'm glad I got it -- she really loves that thing. It would drive me crazy, but I'm me; it seems almost perfect for her. I'll have to make backups occasionally, though.

Then I went for my walk, along Los Gatos Creek to the park at Campbell Avenue. I haven't been getting enough walks lately. Unlike most walks I deliberately tried not to think too much, but just observe and enjoy the green Spring day. That let me notice that I was happy -- I seem more in touch with my feelings when I'm not thinking.

I stopped at a garage sale on the way back -- they were closing up after a busy morning, and giving away books. I found no less than four that I wanted: The Five Love Languages (Chapman), The Etiquette Edge -- The Unspoken Rules for Business Success (Beverly Langford -- an etiquette book has been recommended as a way of learning about social interaction norms), Legacy -- a step-by-step guide to writing personal history (Linda Spence -- I figure if I'm writing a sort of memoire of the last year...), and the Tao Teh Ching (Lao Tzu, translated by John C. H. Wu -- I'm always interested in reading a new translation of one of my all-time favorites).

After lunch I went to the Computer History Museum with chaoswolf. It's been ages since the two of us went to a museum together; it was a nice father-daughter bonding experience. Fun! Of course, it also made me feel very old, to see things I grew up with behind a "please don't touch the artifacts" sign. The Difference Engine was awesome, even though we missed the demos, which were at 1pm and 2pm. I'll have to go back to see it run.

The Wolfling was able to fill in some of the references in my filksongs: things like magnetic drums, vacuum tubes, teletypes, keypunches, Deep Blue (in an exhibit on computer chess, which she found fascinating), the Cray 1 and the PDP-10. And plugboards. Brings back memories, it does.

The Wolfling bought herself a "Paper Palm" (also known as an analog PDA) and immediately started thinking of making a leather case for it. I realized that carrying around a small stack of Hollerith cards for taking notes and sketching on might be a good conversation-starter, though they may be a little too bulky for every day.

It rained on and off during the afternoon.

After the museum we went to REI, because Chaos had expressed an interest in getting buckles and clips for leatherwork. I picked up a new hat (mine have been disappearing lately) and a purple bandana for Colleen. Took a new route. Got lost a couple of times, but with nobody providing panicky feedback I stayed calm and centered. I actually like exploring when I'm not rushed or sleepy.

We stopped off to visit Colleen on the way home. She'd had an hour and a half of physical therapy, and had come close -- three times! -- to getting out of her wheelchair unassisted.

I was very sleepy in the evening. It occurs to me to wonder whether the fact that I'm sleeping more has anything to do with my improved mood. It would be unfortunate to have to make that trade-off. Can I think about it? I thought depression made you sleep more.

I could get used to days like this. I may have to... :-)