Confession Tuesday-- Introverts edition

Dear Reader:

It's been one rejection letter, three episodes of Shrinking on Apple TV,  another week writing poems for the Grind ( if you don't know what that is just ask me), Numerous excruciating starts to new poems, 7 days worth feeling in the grip of darkness, and One week since my last Confession.

Let me start dear reader by saying that I am troubled.  Do you know what singularity is?  No, not that one. Singularity has to do with AI. As in artificial intelligence. Singularity is when parity is achieved between humans and AI.  For some, this is an outstanding achievement. We've made a new life form that replicates what humans can do. 

It can write your thesis. Draft a court brief, create art, write music, etc. Of course, to do this tons of data has to be fed into the system so for example, it can duplicate brush strokes, or know the general parameters needed to prepare a given legal document. 

In the example of art, for instance, there is a class-action suit already against a company that has an AI art generator. It has collected samples over the years of a couple of artists, Suddenly, it offered a subscription in which you could use the site to access their AI feature and create artwork. Suddenly, all of the pieces of the artwork uploaded on the site were making them money, but not the artists whose work they used. They get nadda. Nothing. Zilch.

I confess that I find this very disturbing. And what about people turning in college work done by AI?  I see the ethical and economic pitfalls of this as frightening.  But I will just leave this here for now. 

Writers are solitary people. Many are introverts. Many of us will write for example "dark poetry" and people, often friends will ask why do you do that?  It comes. with the territory. It's not that I don't write anything uplifting or joyous, it is just sometimes we are lost in a web of darkness in our life. I'm trying to work my way through one such week or more. It's not. that I don't try to write pieces that are not dark, it is more like I am just not really feeling good about the positive stuff that comes out during such periods. 

I ran across the quote pictured above this week and I have to confess it seemed to strike a chord with me. Loneliness to the point, your shadow has left you in the dark. It's not a good place to be. for very long. Even if you are an introvert.

Speaking of introverts, I saw an article today that while it has been a long-held belief that businesses prefer to hire extroverts, there is a growing trend by many businesses to take a second look at what introverts bring to the workplace. The thought process of introverts is different from extroverts. For one thing, Introverts have thicker gray matter in the frontal lobe. There appears more brain activity in this area. Introverts can often stay in pursuit of a solution to a problem more than extroverts.  It's an interesting nuance between the two.

Color my mind this week as that of curiosity. 

I hope everyone has a joyous week and will see you soon. I promise I will be writing more on here again. My goal is twice a week. 

Very best to you all -

Michael 

Confession Tuesday Loneliness Edition

It’s Confession Tuesday – hurry, I’m off to the confessional. 

Dear Reader, it’s been… it’s been. Oh. crap I don’t know how long since my last Tuesday Confession.

Writing is said to be a rather solitary activity. It is true and sometimes that presents itself as an act of deprivation… a self-denial of social interaction for some periods of time. I confess it can lead to the loneliness that sometimes creeps up on you and you feel overcome by it all at once. I suppose it is a bit like the frog in the pan of water on the stove that you slowly keep turning up until it is too late.

Today has been like a lot of days lately. I realize that expectations aren’t anything but expectations. Or if they are anything else, then they are often preludes to disappointments. I confess that I had expectations and I confess I was disappointed.

It should come as no surprise that I would experience disappointment. I’m a writer after all. It goes with the territory. If you can’t take rejection, then you are in the wrong business. I confess that I expect that in my writing, but not so much outside of it.

I confess I’ve had a string of days that were difficult and have left me feeling low.

Have been experiencing some eye issues in my right eye. Need to get in to see the eye doctor and see how bad it is and what can be done. The problem is mostly that it is blurry and makes reading frustrating and that takes me back to the days before I had cataract surgery. I must confess that this has been both worrisome and frustrating.

I confess that my birthday writing pen is a joy to write with. Smooth and well-balanced. Lightweight, and I love the color.

My iPhone case is looking pretty raggedy, and I need a new one. At some point, it will happen. I’m particular, I like this case and it was really good for some time. I confess to liking the Apple cases – the white silicone.

In the I feel so stupid Department:  I confess I have downloaded a writing program and have tinkered with it now for a few days now, and honestly, there are parts of it I don't get. Some of the drop-down menus do nothing. I can't put anything on the calendar. Color me stupid. 

I have tried to stay off Google as best I can because it has so many articles on Elon Musk. I confess I believe he is Trump’s twin. I feel he is arrogant, and narcissistic to be fair. For all the talk about his wealth, he has some of the worst public business image issues.  I also am so tired of seeing all his coverage on social media. Tons of it rolling in.

I hope that your day was a good one and the remainder of your week as well. Until next time be safe and write or read lots.