First Impressions

I went on a ride with Julia on Monday. We rode along Bell McKinnon and back along Richard's trail. Julia was saying that she thinks I'm a creative person, and that she didn't expect me to be, since my job really isn't.

"What do you do?" is one of them questions that follows "Is that an Australian accent?" and the conversation that proceeds. I suppose people ask that question (I ask it too) to make polite conversation. It's not personal, and it tells you a lot about a person.
Or does it? A job is something you do to make money. Knowing what a person does tells you approximately how much money they make. Whether they like their job or not probably has more to do with the people they work with/for.
When people hear the word "computer" or "tech" they think of geeks with greasy hair and thick glasses sat in front of desks in their parents' basements. Or do they just think boring? Compututers are boring - to people that aren't into them, just like listening to anyone jabber on about something you're not into is boring. But computer stuff seems to be different. I suppose one reason is that computers are ONLY about the technical details. I suppose if you're into computers, you are a person with technical aptitudes. Highschool computer science class was probably where "technical aptitude" (or more evidently, the lack of it) became aparent. Anyone can pass any course at the highschool level in the Canadian school system. If you're less inteligent or your brain isn't geared towards the subject, you will have to put in more time, but it's comletely doable. The line between intelligent and less intelligent was wiggly, and blurred by lazy ones and those who wanted to be clever. Effort and intelligence made up the marks, but not in computer science.
It became evident at the introduction of loop structures. With enough help, studying and practise, everyone made it through the IF statement, but people either got loops or they didn't. Computer science isn't something you can learn, no matter how much you practice and study. It isn't about the syntax, it was all about logic. Those with the logic will tell you computer science classes are the fly courses, guarenteed A's. Those without will tell you they were the hardest courses they ever took, and no doubt never got recurssion. The concept of calling a routine from within itself was baffling, and no amount of diagrams scribbled on the overhead projector or analogies would help. Of those that got it, half wondered why they'd never though of doing that before, the other half already had and not realized it. I was one of these - I'd used recurssion a year before to traverse a file structure without thinking about it.
But I don't get the artsy stuff. I can't see what makes something a work of art, while something else that I like just as much is just "good", or maybe not even that. In photography class I understood the ryule of thirds and can successfully put it in to practiise, and focal points, and silver rectangles, but they're just the technicalities. The reason the Mona Lisa is a work of art cannot be a compostition rule, or technical ability. Is it philosophy? Psycology? Isn't everything psycology?
I don't get it. I can't learn it. I don't get art - I'm technical (is it possible to be both?). So, does that mean I'm not creative?
Creative [adj.] - marked by the ability to create
As first year engineers we were required to get a C or above in Engineering Design. This course was a favourite. We worked in "teams" (as the word group implied several indivividuals making a unit, which was somehow not as good as a team) to complete various design tasks. The first was to design on paper a fense post remover, and then move around the room commenting on other teams' design. Each week's 3 hour class had a different open-ended problem to solve, from reducing the risk/effect of forest fires to designing an elevator controller on a bread board. The last project of the term was the "egg mover" project. A raw egg was placed on the floor by the prof, and without touching the egg, we had to get it over a "hurdle" (about like the ones in cyclocross), and we got more points for the closer it came to rest on the circle on the ground 2 meters the other side on the plank. There were catapults, fabric slings attached to the ceiling, robotic vehicles, leaky water counterweights, mouse trap cars that hit bumpers that moved scissors that cut strings that released pendullums, and in the briefing someone asked about the use of corrosive acid. It was like a giant game of Mouse Trap. During this last class, a group of art students passed through (no idea what they were doing on that side of campus), and gave us sideways looks in their Calvin Klein jeans and low cut shirts. They were cool - we had acne.
Coolness impedes creativity.
Why is creativity associated with art?

Distance: 21.9 km
Time: 1:08