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Trying to Understand
So there's this thing I've been musing over for the past couple of days, on and off. It's the major drive for me keeping an online journal at all, and I think I've recognized it in others as well. What's really brought it to mind is finding a place to download episodes of Good Eats. (When is this coming out on DVD? Is it already? Anyone?) Alton Brown seems to know this urge well, it's almost what he preaches.
What I'm talking about is something I've taken to calling 'documentation of process', although that is a rather cumbersome name. I'm just not sure there's a word for what I'm thinking of, so I'm going to try to explain the concept I'm thinking of here.
What I'm talking about is the idea that you can document the process of doing something, and that this can be more informative than just explaining how you did it. It's talking about why you do a thing a certain way, as opposed to merely explaining the method you use to do it. It's, to take the Good Eats example, explaining why you'd blend a single ingredient alone in a mixer for a while before adding the others, as opposed to simply saying you should and leaving it at that.
In other words, it's providing more information, and I can't help but see that as a good thing, but most books on doing things don't seem to take Why into account. Cookbooks, in particular, are happier giving you directions rather than a map.
This is how I try to write my journal. I try to give an impression of what I'm thinking instead of what I'm doing. When I do go into what I'm doing, I try to wrap my ideas around it and make them clear, if I don't just come out and say it. I post thoughts more often than deeds, because I find them more interesting. A map to my day, instead of a list of ingredients.
This is also the reason I -read- online journals. I like to know the way people think. It's important to me, because the human mind is incredibly mysterious and, if you'll excuse me getting exceptionally pretentious, I think we as a people are in a unique position here in the FUTU... uh, modern era. We have a massive outpouring of information, people telling their inner thoughts and feelings to the world. I feel oddly responsible to GATHER that information. I need to try to assemble some idea of how people think, and reading their thoughts, or at least their written thoughts, seems a logical step in that direction.
Now, the problem is that I don't feel like I understand people any better yet, but that's because I keep hitting people I don't understand the ideas of. If I can just understand the ideals of one more person, agree with them or not, I'm a little closer to embracing the rest of the world and making myself a more complete person.
Which, y'know, I can't help but feel is a good thing.
...Now, do I claim to understand MYSELF? Er, no. Sorry. I wish I did, but that's another part of the writing, probing my feelings, memories, and moods for a common thread and trying to get a perspective by leaving the moment written down and gazing back at it.
Here's hoping it works out.
What I'm talking about is something I've taken to calling 'documentation of process', although that is a rather cumbersome name. I'm just not sure there's a word for what I'm thinking of, so I'm going to try to explain the concept I'm thinking of here.
What I'm talking about is the idea that you can document the process of doing something, and that this can be more informative than just explaining how you did it. It's talking about why you do a thing a certain way, as opposed to merely explaining the method you use to do it. It's, to take the Good Eats example, explaining why you'd blend a single ingredient alone in a mixer for a while before adding the others, as opposed to simply saying you should and leaving it at that.
In other words, it's providing more information, and I can't help but see that as a good thing, but most books on doing things don't seem to take Why into account. Cookbooks, in particular, are happier giving you directions rather than a map.
This is how I try to write my journal. I try to give an impression of what I'm thinking instead of what I'm doing. When I do go into what I'm doing, I try to wrap my ideas around it and make them clear, if I don't just come out and say it. I post thoughts more often than deeds, because I find them more interesting. A map to my day, instead of a list of ingredients.
This is also the reason I -read- online journals. I like to know the way people think. It's important to me, because the human mind is incredibly mysterious and, if you'll excuse me getting exceptionally pretentious, I think we as a people are in a unique position here in the FUTU... uh, modern era. We have a massive outpouring of information, people telling their inner thoughts and feelings to the world. I feel oddly responsible to GATHER that information. I need to try to assemble some idea of how people think, and reading their thoughts, or at least their written thoughts, seems a logical step in that direction.
Now, the problem is that I don't feel like I understand people any better yet, but that's because I keep hitting people I don't understand the ideas of. If I can just understand the ideals of one more person, agree with them or not, I'm a little closer to embracing the rest of the world and making myself a more complete person.
Which, y'know, I can't help but feel is a good thing.
...Now, do I claim to understand MYSELF? Er, no. Sorry. I wish I did, but that's another part of the writing, probing my feelings, memories, and moods for a common thread and trying to get a perspective by leaving the moment written down and gazing back at it.
Here's hoping it works out.