Up, Down, Back

[mrissa]

The good news is that I didn't take the Yellow Ellipsoids of Death this morning, and I remained sufficiently un-dizzy to breakfast with timprov, then drive into the city, lunch at leisure with dd_b and pameladean, and pick up Hungarian paprika sausage just over the river in St. Paul and other groceries just down the road at Byerly's. Force of will is a beautiful thing.

The bad news is that I was totally wiped out when I got home. I ended up taking a YEoD again because I was coughing more. Also, the book has received pickings and peckings and not a heck of a lot more. So we are back to the "less coughing/more dizzy" stage for this evening and probably tomorrow as well, at least in part. Also I think Some People are going to think I always shake before lunch, because last time I lunched with them (due to not eating soon enough) and I did this time, too (due to being up and about).

So. I'm officially putting Quicksilver on hiatus: lying down and reading is one of the more restful things I can be doing, and everybody even remotely medical keeps telling me to rest. And not wanting to lie down and read because the book will suffocate me in an unwary moment is a bad thing. I don't like setting Quicksilver down, especially because I doubt I will haul it on the plane to GR this weekend, so it'll likely be awhile before I pick it up again. But, y'know, the suffocation thing. Paperbacks for me for a bit longer.

I'm trying to see some people before and between Mark's grandma's party and Michelle and Scott's wedding. I've nearly got plans with C.J. and lydy and Heathah (not concurrently but consecutively, though not in that order), and I might work out plans with Rachel; we'll see. And timprov and I could hang out some more, and markgritter and I have something or 'nother to celebrate together. And the book, the book nags. So maybe another couple dozen words before I go lie down.

Every once in awhile it occurs to me that I don't know how people who aren't smell-oriented navigate their worlds. My hair smells like five different kinds of hugging people. That's a very good thing to go smell while trying to rest and relax and not pop up and write the book more. Much more relaxing than any scented candles or incense I've ever encountered. And much more than whale songs or some color of walls or something.

Comments

Orientations

[shamaneyes.livejournal.com]

I was reading something recently about perceptual orientations, and your recent comment got me thinking. Primary modes of orientation seem to be visual, auditory, emotional, and kinesthetic, with the others like smell and taste usually not as accentuated. I think there are more modes than that, and more subdivisions of them, but it's interesting to wonder and ask how other people perceive the world.

I'm primarily auditory, because I'm more inwardly oriented on abstract thought. I'm hearing and seeing the words as they are spoken and written. This tendency is strong enough that I have to force myself to remember to observe and interact as well.

But I've noticed that the mode changes somewhat if I'm focusing on a different activity, to the point that it can be hard to switch back and forth. Do you ever notice that?

Mack

Re: Orientations

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Hmmmmm. See, very few things are designed for a scent-focused person. So I don't have the same opportunities a "hearer" or "seer" has to totally immerse in an artistic experience of my "best" sense. I sometimes focus enough that it's hard to get my attention, but that seems like a different thing.

One of the things I do notice is that sensory overloads spill over for me. If I'm in a situation where I have to smell something that's just too strong -- not necessarily unpleasant, just too much -- I will feel that lights are too bright, sounds are too loud, etc. shortly after I start feeling scent-overloaded.

Re: Orientations

[shamaneyes.livejournal.com]

No one really knows for sure what attention-deficit problems are, but a common symptom is sensory overloads. I find that when I get more input than my brain can handle, it starts trying to shut down in self-defense. I've learned how to handle this much better than before, but probably the worst is a crowded scene at, say, Wal-Mart, where sounds and sights are both in the overload range. I have found that I can learn to filter them better, because if you're open to everything in the environment, you can't process what is relevant fast enough. You have to pick and choose.

Curiously, I am almost never overwhelmed by auditory data unless I am also trying to do something like take notes. I can have near-perfect recall in the right mental state until I have to switch to transcribing it (which confuses and frustrates me), so my notes tend to be mere placeholders. I can't think fast enough for the recall and total transcription at the same time. I can also handle five different people talking at once in a roleplaying game, and know exactly how to respond to their requests for me as a Storyteller, unless I get emotional about something. On the other hand, I have trouble noticing visual things while doing anything else, like having a conversation or being in deep thought. My biggest problem is absorbing and sorting visual and auditory cues at the same time, to the point that I have to make myself pay attention to the environment, because it's so easy to tune it out.

So I definitely see different circuits and senses as being active in the brain at different times. I think the danger in total immersion of one sense is that while you may want to emphasize one over the other, and may be best at that, you don't want to minimize the others too much. It's like working out, where you don't want to keep favoring your strong muscles by not doing any exercises for the weak ones. The amount of focus for any given sense is going to be easier depending on where you're strongest at, so I do see them as related.

Not sure if all the above is coherent, but I've been thinking about how I use my senses for a while. I found your posts about scent to be very interesting... I actually wonder if I've been underdeveloping the visual senses and overdeveloping the abstract and auditory.

Mack