revving up for new starts :)

Both proposals are written, edited, proofed, and dropped off for printing. Thanks to archway for her help with graphics.... 15 color copies of each should be ready by lunchtime. Meanwhile, I'm going to get 5-6 hours of sleep (yay!) and then write and print the budgets and cover sheets for each.

Otherwise... I did go to my skating lesson tonight, and began working on one-footed spins. Then went to the final S&P in Hayward, with patgreene, where I was the final guest to go, on the last night there. I will miss their view from the hot tub, granted... ;)

18 years of trying to create machines with self-care skills...

And... today was my 18th anniversary working at NASA-Ames... 12/7/87, with a then-freshly-minted Ph.D in robotics.

(grumble)

Constant interruptions every 20 minutes... I just want to find a place to hide to sleep.

Good news tidbits...

While I'm scrambling to finish the cover forms for two proposals... a pleasant interruption from my parents.

- My father just got word that he's been accepted into an experimental study treatment program for his usually-terminal IPF lung condition, after a year of trying :D

- My mother had her gallbladder removed last Friday (didn't tell her kids or anyone, as usual... sigh) but is recovering well, without the complications that cyan_blue has had to experience, and

- the football team of one of my universities (Georgia Tech) will be playing in a minor bowl game here in the SF Bay area (Emerald Bowl ?) on 12/29. I'll be back and intend to go. If anyone else local wants to tailgate, let me know...

Communication styles

I'm a US Southerner, both by nurture and preference in speech patterns. Communicating in Japan, even with few words, often feels more natural somehow than with New Yorkers... the flow and mutual consideration of the former seem intuitive, while the latter often seems brash and noisy and prone to attempts to dominate in conversation.

[minor deviation from current personal experiment]
On top of culture, growing up I was a low-status, weird geeky kid who was the butt of harassment and frequent physical violence from groups of other kids... I learned to try to get my message across conversationally while giving those around me as little excuse as possible to take offense. Anything perceived as assertive on my part would generate teasing and putdowns at best, getting beaten-up or stoned (hit with big rocks, not drugs) again at worst. So on top of the cultural norms, I learned to exceed them...
[end deviation]

So, in person, I'm generally coming from Pleasant, Believed, Understood, Remembered (PBUR) in all person-to-person communications. Understood is in a distant third place. I go to lengths to structure in-person conversation so to minimize the possibility of conflict, or at least to leave a face-saving way out for the other person(s). Maintaining the interpersonal relationship is far more important to me than the passing, temporal content of whatever I happen to be saying at the moment.

For me, speech stressing Understood is limited to lecturing others, as in teaching a class or giving a presentation. Other communication forms, particularly some impersonal, online forms, may also find me in a neutral balance.

Someone in a group using Understood will often come across to me as pushy or blunt, or as attempting to impose their preferences, running over everyone else's... often, I'll get wary or defensive when that form of speech is used. But I'll try to avoid conflict at my annoyance at their use of a direct, aggressive style, instead trying to smile and ignore or placate it.