Problem Solving @ MindSay

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Dixie currently feels:

 Depressed

 

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Blog #40

Problem ALMOST Solved

 

 

I bloody hate Mondays.

There's really no fucking point in going into college for just one sodding lesson.

One sodding HOUR, practically.

 

But either way.

Ash watched the trailer first draft on Saturday.

Shelly made out that she proper hated it, but she just didn't like the order of the clips.

Sarah watched it today and identified what the problem was - the speed.

It's currently far too slow to be a slasher horror. It's also a bit TOO revealing.

So yes, in this case - less IS more.

 

I shall be sorting this problem later.

 

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I bought myself an XL bacon double sandwich from Burger King and a pack of Kinder snack bars from B&M - got the 64 home, then sat on the sofa and chilled out, eating my nosh and watching Spongebob.

 

I got the urge to play Donkey Konga 2.

I finished off the whole of Chimp duet mode - then finished all but one song on Chimp beat-mix.

There's only ONE song I can't get gold DK on. It's PISSING ME OFF.

 

I returned to Resident Evil shortly after.

I have a save point just outside the first battle with Tyrant. I can't be arsed with him at the moment, he can taste my magnum later.

 

In other news, I've decided not to waste my life away with Neopets.

I'm not going on it again - to ever accomplish anything on that game, you have to dedicate at least 4 hours a day for two years.

Can't be arsed, to be honest.

 

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Shelly rang me later on. We talked for a few hours, then she got a phone call on the house phone.

Her nana's died - I feel so bad for her. She cried on her phone for about 10 minutes and nearly gave herself a panic attack. I had to calm her down as best as I could, trying to help her relax enough to be able to breathe normally again.

 

I know how that is. It's not easy being a manic depressive asthmatic. When one cries, one cannot breathe.

 

So it looks like I'm spending the day with Ash tomorrow.

...Even though I feel really fucking weird towards her at the moment.

 

She's on MSN, I've let her know about Shelly, and also that there's things I need to talk to her about.

I don't want to upset her though... It's about time she knew the truth about how I feel about her and how her hostility makes me feel...

 

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And I'm also in a dilemma - do I go to Southend... Do I miss off a few Photography lessons, miss seeing Ash and comforting Shelly, having to lie to Aunty Betty about how my life is going and share a room with my nana... Having to see my nana upset after her sister's funeral and leave grandad here on his own...

 

Or do I go to Southend to see Aunty Betty and Uncle Roy?

 

...Jesus Christ, talk about outweighing reasons.

She was my first, and even though I'm away a lot, she's often on my mind, and I find myself thinking, "I should tell her this, she would love to see this, or I wonder what she'd do if she was here?" With all the good things being said about me, all the things I'd been enjoying lately, the things I am now looking forward to, what I was the most thankful for, just between her and I, was that because of her I got off to a good start.

 

I saw her look me over when I drove up and saw it in her eyes. She looked around and sized everything up . . . then she stepped away rather than face me and stood with only her shoulder towards me. I'd have to step up and give her some attention to bring her around. She was mine, but she wasn't about to throw herself at me.

 

"Hi Honey"  I walked up and put my hand on her shoulder. She let out a breath. Then after a well timed pause, she turned and looked at me with those big brown eyes that said  . . . "Hi Honey yourself!"

 

The sorrel mare acted like she hadn't noticed me until just then, slowly turned her head to me, mumbled something, and then pushed her head at me looking for her halter. I wasn't quite forgiven yet, but no need to stand on principle too long, it was only mid-morning on a cool clear day, breezes and she wanted desperately to get back and see if the world was like she left it. She fidgeted as I tacked her up and once I was mounted, she bowed her neck, wanting me to get-the-hell settled so we could go. She asked for some slack so I relaxed the rein and she stepped out on a trot, hitting the canter when the path opened up. No tactician could read a landscape better. She was off the bridle path shortly, turned sharply onto a switchback, up an incline and we were headed out looking for higher ridges.

 

With the sorrel mare there were no behavior problems to overcome, nothing to teach her. The rides were fun and pleasurable, and that's what everyone wants when they think about horse riding. That was exactly the point that Rita had made earlier, when we talked about taking on more clients. As we sat and talked, I made notes, she broke apart a Hershey's milk chocolate bar with almonds, sipped a Coke. I don't have that much of a sweet tooth, but every time I watch her work over a Hershey's bar, I get this sudden urge that I ought to have one.

 

"Let me see" Rita held out her hand to read what I'd been writing down. She read each item while her hand reached for another piece of the chocolate bar, or her Coke. "Okay, you're starting to get it all sorted out."

"Well thank you"

"You want be able to ride a horse safely and enjoy it. So . . . either the horse will need some training, or . . . the clients will need to know how to handle a horse, or both. That's it."  She was very happy, explaining it to me, until she realized she was out of chocolate.

"Then I'll  . . . "

"Then . . . you can keep up with basic health care, nutrition . . . I can show you a thing or two about feet. I need to introduce you to the Vet . . .  She was looking to see if there was any stray chocolate she'd missed . . . but you get the idea."

"Yeah, I thought about it and started a list . . . "

"Good idea . . . things like loading and trailering . . . well, you know." She was happy that I was sorting it all out. "What about a schedule for clients? You're going to have some riding, some training."

 

"I thought about that. Michelle's pool guy and I were talking and he sets his clients on a once a week, or twice a week schedule, then if there's something special to do he schedules it between regular visits. If I schedule the riding like that, then the ones I need to spend more time with, I work with in between, it works out.

 

"Perfect. See, I told you, you'd sort it out  . . . "   She said, and smiled at me that things were going so well.

 

It was a couple of hours, and two very high vistas later that I coaxed the mare back towards the stable. She compromised and we took an indirect route back that brought us to a ledge that we could see all the way back. She has a habit of going right to the edge to look and I have mixed feelings whether or not she's doing that just to feel my knees tighten. I gave her a minute or two and then without any further coaxing she turned and we came down and finally back to the bridle path and home.

 

"I can always tell when she's been out on a date with you."   Karen walked up to the corral as I dismounted and held the mare for a short drink of water.

"Out on a date?"

"Oh yeah. We don't take her out like you two go, and when you've been here, she's all frisky, she's not so stubborn or set in her ways."

"Hmmm."

"Women are like that when they get a little attention . . . or rode hard . . . " She laughed. "I think it'd break her heart if you didn't show up. Any white truck that pulls up here she comes over to see if it's you. I've never seen anything like it . . . What do you think? Can she go again, just around the path, maybe up that far hill?"

"Sure. She didn't really want to come in just yet. Just use my tack, and give her a few minutes to cool off and get a drink."

"You go visit with Paul, we'll have dinner later. I think it's time we got another one. This was what we had in mind, enjoying just riding, and we want to ride together."

 

My mom was a natural problem solver and nothing frustrated her more than when I was a kid and I'd just shrug my shoulders . . . She'd ask me how I was going to figure things out and I didn't think, just shrug my shoulders. She made it perfectly clear that wasn't going be good enough. If I didn't know, fine, but I had to figure out a way. Take my time, but figure it out, and she'd show me how to take what I knew, or how to think it through and come up with maybe not the answer, but a way to work one out.

 

My dad was different, in that he learned by doing and seeing what worked, until something did. Once he figured it out, then it became a tool he would rely on to apply to the next problem. He taught me what he knew worked, and worked best for the things and situations he had been through. But he wasn't the analytical thinker my mom was. I think she adored him for that. That he didn't know what to do sometimes, he'd get stuck. But he was faithful and he had heart and kept at it.

 

While Karen got ready to go riding. I slipped the bit out of the sorrel mare's mouth, and rubbed her muzzle while she took sips of water, and we talked a little nonsense. Karen returned, and without any help from me, adjusted the tack and expertly slipped the bit into her mouth and mounted.

 

"See Ranny, I know what to do now, and, the right way to do it, instead of just keeping after it until we're all done . . . or all done-in . . . It helps to be able to see something and know if it's right or wrong doesn't it?"

 

Karen took the slack out of the rein and turned through the gate. Just before she picked up to the trot, the sorrel mare stretched out her neck and swung her head around to me and looked.

 

 

 

 

I am past the seventh decade of life in America, and I have done all the conventionally right things: I went to public schools, served in the military, graduated from two universities, and have been gainfully employed all of my adult life, contributing to the federal treasury during all of those years. I have also been a close observer of Congressional action for more than half a century, even having worked on Capitol Hill as a senatorial staffer for a short time. And I have come away with one salient observation—The Congress has not solved or even ameliorated a single social problem it has addressed, many numerous times. The consequence, of course, is that many Americans have lost all confidence in their government.

 

In December of 2006, just 11% of American voters give the outgoing Congress good or excellent marks. Voter dissatisfaction with Congress is apparent.  Just 14% says that Congress has passed legislation that improved the quality of American life, and sixty-one percent says Congress hasn’t done a thing to improve the lives of most Americans. Fifty-one percent, says serious Congressional action addressing important problems is not likely, and seventy-four percent believes that most members of Congress are more interested in advancing their own careers than helping people. In 2005, a Rasmussen Reports survey found that Americans were more likely to trust a used-car salesman than a member of Congress. Not a pretty picture, is it?

 

More than 50% of registered voters have voted in national elections only eleven times in the last 23 elections (almost half a century), and in eight of those elections, fewer than 40 % have voted.

 

The conclusions are obvious—democracy in America is a failure. Our Congressional representatives do not govern with the consent of the people. In reality, our democracy is nominal; in reality we are governed by an oligarchy of special interests.

 

The amount of money contributed by special interests to politicians and spent on lobbying them is obscene. No congressman admits to being corrupted by this money, but the people are not fooled. They know what classical wisdom has taught— Beneficium accipere libertatem est vendere! (To accept a favor is to sell freedom.) They know that, “Where large sums of money are concerned, it is advisable to trust nobody.” And although Congressmen deny that their votes have been bought, we all remember Emerson’s, “What you do speaks so loudly that I cannot hear what you say.”

 

There is one absolutely irrefutable proof of this corruption: No Congressman exhibits any shame for the low esteem  in which the Congress stands in the minds of the people.  And surely, this corruption has played a huge role in the Congress’ inability to solve the social problems it has attempted to address. But it is not the sole reason.

 

Legislatures in America are dominated by lawyers, often mediocre lawyers. In addition to the fact that the legal profession has never had a pristine reputation for either a devotion to the truth or justice, the American legal system is adversarial in nature. Lawyers are not taught to seek the truth or even seek justice. Prosecutors seek convictions and defense attorneys seek the best outcome for their clients that they can get, regardless of whether the defendant is guilty or not. Consequently this adversity is not conducive to searching for the truth or solutions to social problems. Legislators adopt points of view that they seek to enact into law for the benefit of those groups whose point of view they represent. Just as in a courtroom, these legislators become advocates of special interests. The good of the country or of the people is replaced by the good of the interests the legislators represent, and although legislators are nominally representatives of their constituents, in reality they are mere mouthpieces for those whose money put them in office.

 

Furthermore, the adversarial aspect of our legal system causes legal educators to emphasize the techniques of winning, and misrepresentation of the truth is one of those techniques. Logic, on the other hand, is not a core part of a legal education; neither is problem solving. It would be interesting to know how many members of Congress have ever heard of, no less know, Descartes’ Rules for the Direction of the Mind or his Discourse on Method. The mere fact that the Congress produces legislation hundreds of pages long is irrefutable proof that Congressmen lack this problem-solving knowledge. No one, no Congressman or anyone else, can read a proposed piece of legislation hundreds of pages long and be certain that what was stated on an earlier page has not been altered or even contradicted on a later page. The result is legislation that is, for the most part, ineffective.

 

So our democracy is a sham, the Congress does not govern with the consent of the people, and Congressmen do not represent the people who are their constituents. The government envisioned by our Founding Fathers has been corrupted and, given the people who are attracted to legislatures, most likely beyond reform. What is often referred to as a Great and Noble Experiment has become an Ignoble Cabal, and history will not view us kindly.

©2007, John Kozy, Jr.

the way that i see it is that there are two ways to solve a problem... the first way is to take the problem as it is right now, retrace the steps of how it has become a problem and solve them each one by one to squish the problem into a little piece of goo that can be thrown out with the morning coffee grinds...

the second way is to see what exactly is causing the problem and cut out the source, so that it lays there and bleeds out all over the place... all that is left there is the clean up from what the problem caused, and of course, the mess that you made fixing it...

both these ways are adequate at solving problems, and none are can be more successful than the other... success of solving the problem is based on the solver's skill and commitment... sometimes one way is better than the other, and sometimes instrumenting both is necessary... (isn't it nice how i end my sentences with "..."?)

ok say you have a problem that has been long in effect, and has disrupted different parts of your life equally... say, depression... its a problem that won't just leave... there is no definite source... (for most cases...) the depression damages different aspects of your life... maybe starting with something simple like you not cooking your own food, or being a little bit more lazy... then that escalates to you not cleaning, on to you not not caring about how things are, on to not caring how others are, on to you not caring about how you are... dot dot dot... and so on... or exchangeable for whatever... you know, a progressive kind of thing... This is where the retracing your steps method comes in... You'll want to follow back step by step all the things that you have been missing out on, starting from the most recent, which is most likely the most important thing the problem has interfered with... from there you want to take it slowly, to solve each new sub-problem the main one has cause... after fixing all those small things, the big deal isn't so big after all...

right so you met Alex (an interchangeable girl/boy name, so use whatever gender you see appropriate...) and they are nice... they do everything right, or at least acceptable... blah blah, time goes by and you see that this person is causing you some problems, distracting you from your dreams, goals, whatever... it is obvious that Alex is the one causing the discomfort here, but being as you are "addicted" to Alex it is hard to let them go... you know, Alex is always there to tell you everything is alright, Alex comforts you, Alex becomes an obession, more than a relationship... Alex continues on his/her path and still leads you on, still, lingering in your mind is that you know Alex is not good... to solve this problem the best way is to remove Alex, the source of the pain here... with Alex gone it will be possible to continue on with your life and to smile easier and breath easier... but to cut such a chain, there has got to be consequences... you KNOW that things will be better, so you must endure the initial pain to live to see the new found freedom with that source of discomfort gone... of course this is interchangeable with many things, or addictions... drugs, friends, jobs... you know... whatever you know is the source of the problem...

It is often hard to drop a problem, and even harder to retrace the steps and recover day by day... these are essential to you continuing on as a happy person and they must be addressed... you are not alone in your choice to solve your problem, you have true friends and God to help you along your path to recovery... do not be afraid to admit that you can't handle it alone... And most importantly address the problem to yourself and God... those two are your most important allies through any quest!

Thank you, for those who have read this, your comments are welcome, and to all a good night... and a Happy New Year! WOOO!!!!

>.)