I've seen my learning curve as having extremely slow acceleration but an extremely high top speed. In recent memory, the gears have shifted and I get the impression of an internal equilibrium, balanced like a spinning top. As long as that top is in constant motion, it'll continue to be balanced. So I mustn't stop. You know those little AI experiments, where you get a programmed rat to find cheese in a maze, and the first time it is a dumbass. Second time around, same maze, improved memory, it does better. Third time might be noticeably snappier, and so on.
I'm learning through experiments. A lot of trial-and-error, a lot more trial though. I have an awkwardness that comes with some conversations, not knowing what to say. I don't wish to offend (not most of the time, anyway), and my mind sees so many connexions but I don't want want to lead the person I'm having a dialog with into a confusing cloudburst of imagery. Thus, my natural reaction in those cases is to listen and ask more questions. Sometimes I don't do very much talking at all, but when it rains, it pours.
Second Life?should I start italicizing??provides a safe, and largely nonthreatening atmosphere for these types of personal experiments. I don't always hit the target on the mark, but when I do, it's lethal, and when I don't, the failures are part of a sum total of the whole experience. There's an old joke about jazz improv, that if you slip on a note, repeat it in the context of the musical phrase again and again, and before you know it, you've got a new ditty to riff on and it's no longer a mistake. Who's to say, anyway? You hold a?mirror up to the sun at different angles, you see changing angles, changing colors. There's a whole spectrum, and I believe many things can be right and wrong at the same time, or not at the same time but what served a purpose in one era is obsolete in the next age.
I've been considering good pets lately. A good pet often means being a good companion, and animals can't "talk" like humans can but they can just be there, to cuddle and hold, or in the case of fish, just to look at and admire until such time that nourishment and other maintenance is required. Pets are just there, as much a fixture of your home as a TV set or bed, except therein lies a disconnect, because unless you were going to get really surreal, you don't watch your pet like a TV (although you may watch your pet on TV) and pets (aka companion animals) may lie in bed with you, but they are not your slumber utility. Sometimes, you just have to be there and they'll feel good. And lick your hand. Or whatever.