Another week done. I seem to be fully recovered from last week's adventure, and have moved on to being tired from more recent adventures. Most recently, I woke up at 5am on Monday morning, anxious about this week's Reading the Research, and proceeded to not be able to sleep afterwards.
That kind of underlines to me how important it is to get these things done ahead of time, as I had indeed left it 'til pretty much the last minute. I've been tired since, unhelped by the fact that I didn't sleep that well the last two nights, too. Your brain keeps track of how well you've slept for the last two weeks, so I'll likely experience diminishing tiredness as the week goes on.
Fortunately there shouldn't be anything super exciting this week beyond a couple things: the monthly Autism Support of Kent County support group meeting, and a trip to the movies with some friends. The former is a pretty informal event I try to attend each month, but I missed last month for some reason. Possibly because it was on my monthaversary. Possibly because I was dead tired and wound up from the moving process. Either way, no one's going to hold it against me that I missed it.
The movie outing is a bit less usual, and will unfortunately involve staying up a lot later than I would normally... but the company is good, the movie is supposed to be good, and I'm starting to learn that experiencing something with people, when it's still new to everyone, is an experience that cannot be replicated.
It seems silly, in retrospect, but for a long time I assumed that beta testers and early adopters were just strange people that didn't want to wait for the bugs to be worked out of those products before jumping in. Which is flatly foolish, if that's all there is to the story. If a video game or a new product breaks and damage ensues, it's generally your own fault for rushing in and not waiting for the bugs to be worked out of the design. If you beta-test a new microwave, and the microwave melts your otherwise microwave-safe dishes, the company is unlikely to give you new dishes. So then you have ruined dishes, sadness, and a fancy microwave that might not ever stop melting your dishes.
But that's not actually the whole story. Yes, those damages can ensue, but especially with something big, like the latest expansion of a popular video game, there's also a shared experience component that can make you feel pretty good, and builds comradery between those in that experience. Especially if some suffering is involved.
I'm a cautious person by nature, and for most of my life, I tended not to hit the midnight releases of movies, or jump headfirst into a new video game. This saved me a lot of sleep as well as money... but it also deprived me of that commonality of experience. By the time I'd manage to see the latest movie or try that video game, the bugs or technical difficulties had been worked out, but I was already aware of the major pitfalls of the movie (because spoilers and movie reviewers), or far behind everyone else in the video game.
So at this point I'm striking a balance between caution and trying new things as they're available. Mostly, I'm choosing the new things carefully, I suppose. Trying the latest gadgets and gizmos? Not so much. Buying the next expansion of the video game Chris and I play together, and possibly staying up late to play it together when it releases? Maybe. Going to see a new movie at midnight? Sure, I suppose.
In other news, I might end up with slightly more responsibility after this evening... The condominium association our house is in has a meeting at the nearest public library, and I have an invitation from the board president to join the board itself. I'll probably do it... it's usually best to have some input on the area you live in, after all. And it doesn't sound like it's going to be too much work. Just a meeting every couple months. And it doesn't sound like the people are too argumentative, so that's nice at least.
That kind of underlines to me how important it is to get these things done ahead of time, as I had indeed left it 'til pretty much the last minute. I've been tired since, unhelped by the fact that I didn't sleep that well the last two nights, too. Your brain keeps track of how well you've slept for the last two weeks, so I'll likely experience diminishing tiredness as the week goes on.
Fortunately there shouldn't be anything super exciting this week beyond a couple things: the monthly Autism Support of Kent County support group meeting, and a trip to the movies with some friends. The former is a pretty informal event I try to attend each month, but I missed last month for some reason. Possibly because it was on my monthaversary. Possibly because I was dead tired and wound up from the moving process. Either way, no one's going to hold it against me that I missed it.
The movie outing is a bit less usual, and will unfortunately involve staying up a lot later than I would normally... but the company is good, the movie is supposed to be good, and I'm starting to learn that experiencing something with people, when it's still new to everyone, is an experience that cannot be replicated.
It seems silly, in retrospect, but for a long time I assumed that beta testers and early adopters were just strange people that didn't want to wait for the bugs to be worked out of those products before jumping in. Which is flatly foolish, if that's all there is to the story. If a video game or a new product breaks and damage ensues, it's generally your own fault for rushing in and not waiting for the bugs to be worked out of the design. If you beta-test a new microwave, and the microwave melts your otherwise microwave-safe dishes, the company is unlikely to give you new dishes. So then you have ruined dishes, sadness, and a fancy microwave that might not ever stop melting your dishes.
But that's not actually the whole story. Yes, those damages can ensue, but especially with something big, like the latest expansion of a popular video game, there's also a shared experience component that can make you feel pretty good, and builds comradery between those in that experience. Especially if some suffering is involved.
I'm a cautious person by nature, and for most of my life, I tended not to hit the midnight releases of movies, or jump headfirst into a new video game. This saved me a lot of sleep as well as money... but it also deprived me of that commonality of experience. By the time I'd manage to see the latest movie or try that video game, the bugs or technical difficulties had been worked out, but I was already aware of the major pitfalls of the movie (because spoilers and movie reviewers), or far behind everyone else in the video game.
So at this point I'm striking a balance between caution and trying new things as they're available. Mostly, I'm choosing the new things carefully, I suppose. Trying the latest gadgets and gizmos? Not so much. Buying the next expansion of the video game Chris and I play together, and possibly staying up late to play it together when it releases? Maybe. Going to see a new movie at midnight? Sure, I suppose.
In other news, I might end up with slightly more responsibility after this evening... The condominium association our house is in has a meeting at the nearest public library, and I have an invitation from the board president to join the board itself. I'll probably do it... it's usually best to have some input on the area you live in, after all. And it doesn't sound like it's going to be too much work. Just a meeting every couple months. And it doesn't sound like the people are too argumentative, so that's nice at least.
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