The Chat Thread

[ibanezmonster]

Bad news: I'm getting $2,000 less in Pell Grant money this year

Good news: The discovery of FAFSA4Caster, a FAFSA calculator on the official FAFSA website that I've just tested and is nearly dead on based on what I've experienced so far. Messing around with it, I've picked up two important tips:

1. if I have decent savings, never report them, as they are optional. If you choose not to disclose your assets/savings, they assigned an assumed amount, which will be lower than your true savings, meaning you get more money.

2. work less, but don't not work at all, unless you are almost done with school and think you can do it responsibly. Somehow my adjusted gross income was $18,000, which I completely don't understand, when I only take home maybe $7-8,000 a year. This was $6,000 AGI more than last time and is the EXACT reason why I'm receiving $2,000 less this year (my take home pay is nearly identical each year, though, at ~$7-8,000). I'd imagine working less might help reduce AGI, though I'll have to find out a few more tips. This would actually be a positive thing, because if I work 5 hours less a week, it would be more encouraging to study more- if you're a student, you should be studying, not working, after all.

The reason why not working at all won't be beneficial is that there is a cap for financial aid, and it will mean more of it would be loan money.

[ibanezmonster]

23 Signs You're an Introvert
I believe all 23 are true... scarily accurate...

[Karl Henning]

Marry, methought Olympus shook 

[Beorn]

I seem to be drifting back toward serious music, otherwise I have not much in common with you fellows. 

[Karl Henning]

Well, you know, one drifts here a while, then drifts there a while . . . .

[Beorn]

Well, you know, one drifts here a while, then drifts there a while . . . .

I get your drift. 

[DavidW]

23 Signs You're an Introvert
I believe all 23 are true... scarily accurate...

Actually it's a terrible article.  Like fortune cookies they outline things that are least partially true for most people.  Anyone looking for validation finds it.

[Karl Henning]

I get your drift. 

Where the while things are

[ibanezmonster]

Actually it's a terrible article.  Like fortune cookies they outline things that are least partially true for most people.  Anyone looking for validation finds it.

Except I'm usually looking for it to be wrong, and surprisingly, it is extremely accurate for me. Maybe not 100%, but nearly all of it is.

[ibanezmonster]

You are most probably in depression, dear. Introvert/extravert distinction is, simply put, after a hard day's work which would you prefer(more frequently than the other) to feel re-charged, go to a party and have fun socialising or be alone or with a very close couple of friends?

Alone. On days off, I'll hang out with friends. I don't get why people (especially my age) like parties, and I don't go to them.
What makes me depressed is being around other people too much. It's fun for a bit if it's close friends, but then it kind of gets to where it feels like you're wasting your time not accomplishing anything.

[Beorn]

Alone. On days off, I'll hang out with friends. I don't get why people (especially my age) like parties, and I don't go to them.
What makes me depressed is being around other people too much. It's fun for a bit if it's close friends, but then it kind of gets to where it feels like you're wasting your time not accomplishing anything.

Yes, parties are a waste of time. I agree.

Now, if anyone would like a song title, I just came up with one you may use: "Hookah and Some Hooch". You're welcome.

[ibanezmonster]

Yes, parties are a waste of time. I agree.

Now, if anyone would like a song title, I just came up with one you may use: "Hookah and Some Hooch". You're welcome.

That's not a real song title?   

[Beorn]

That's not a real song title?   

It is now. Go for it. Write the tune and lyrics.

[Beorn]

"...we're here on Earth to fart around." -- Kurt Vonnegut

[Opus106]

Actually it's a terrible article.  Like fortune cookies they outline things that are least partially true for most people.  Anyone looking for validation finds it.

My thoughts, exactly. Just because it links to a couple of research papers doesn't make it a scientifically sound evaluation. And even if it is, I don't see how it helps to have a label attached to you, as if it somehow justifies your existence and behaviour; a license to (be) chill, as it were. (Pardon the pun.)

[ibanezmonster]

Not sure what makes you assume I'm depressed in general; it's pretty simple, when I'm at work and forced to interact with random strangers I have nothing in common with, I'm miserable. When I'm off, I'm actually pretty happy. 

I talked to a counselor once a couple years ago, and there is nothing they can do, because they can't get you another job.

[kishnevi]

It's also useful to remember that the common usage of introvert/extrovert is not the one Jung originally assigned to those terms.  For him, they described the focus of awareness--inward looking introversion and outward looking extroversion.   How one actually relates to people, in the sense of this article, was not a determinant. 

I've taken a couple of those online "determine your type" tests;  I always come out 100% introverted.  Going by them,  I can safely take myself off to a mountain cave for the rest of my life and be happy.    Which is in truth not correct.  I once spent a four day period completely housebound, no visitors and at best a phone call a day.  The circumstances were not of the best--I had just come home from the hospital after fracturing my pelvis in a fall, and my mother was spending the last week of several months in hospitals and nursing homes as a consequence of falling and breaking her hip--but by the end of the four days I was completely and totally depressed--which disappeared instantly when a human being showed up and I found myself chattering away.  Mind you, this was a total stranger--the driver from the service chosen by the insurance company to take me to a doctor's appointment, since I couldn't drive while the fracture was healing--but the simple appearance of another human was all the antidote I needed.

Not sure what makes you assume I'm depressed in general; it's pretty simple, when I'm at work and forced to interact with random strangers I have nothing in common with, I'm miserable. When I'm off, I'm actually pretty happy. 

I talked to a counselor once a couple years ago, and there is nothing they can do, because they can't get you another job.

I think Annie may be more correct than you realize.  I have a similar job, and while I don't exactly enjoy it, and I'm always tired from it at the end of the day and need that period alone to recharge,  dealing with random strangers doesn't make me miserable.  (Dealing with bosses and fellow employees, of course,  is another thing!  But that's the case with any job.)

[ibanezmonster]

It's also useful to remember that the common usage of introvert/extrovert is not the one Jung originally assigned to those terms.  For him, they described the focus of awareness--inward looking introversion and outward looking extroversion.   How one actually relates to people, in the sense of this article, was not a determinant. 

Though a really interesting point is the flow of dialogue- I'm constantly thinking and solving problems in my mind, so people interrupting that just to be the 20th person to comment that the weather is hot (really?) is irritating. Inward-looking, maybe...

I've taken a couple of those online "determine your type" tests;  I always come out 100% introverted.  Going by them,  I can safely take myself off to a mountain cave for the rest of my life and be happy.    Which is in truth not correct.  I once spent a four day period completely housebound, no visitors and at best a phone call a day.  The circumstances were not of the best--I had just come home from the hospital after fracturing my pelvis in a fall, and my mother was spending the last week of several months in hospitals and nursing homes as a consequence of falling and breaking her hip--but by the end of the four days I was completely and totally depressed--which disappeared instantly when a human being showed up and I found myself chattering away.  Mind you, this was a total stranger--the driver from the service chosen by the insurance company to take me to a doctor's appointment, since I couldn't drive while the fracture was healing--but the simple appearance of another human was all the antidote I needed.

Those were unusual circumstances; would be interesting to see if it would be different being home alone for a few days doing nothing but listening to music, reading, etc. while healthy. Not sure about you, but for me, being home alone for a few days, no work, no school, have been some of the best days of the last 6 years for me (even when I was sick). I will admit, though, that some of the best days of my life have been spent with certain friends when I was younger.

I think Annie may be more correct than you realize.  I have a similar job, and while I don't exactly enjoy it, and I'm always tired from it at the end of the day and need that period alone to recharge,  dealing with random strangers doesn't make me miserable.  (Dealing with bosses and fellow employees, of course,  is another thing!  But that's the case with any job.)

Luckily, I'm isolated from the managers. Everyone tells me I don't want to work inside with them, since it's just a total mess and I don't even want to know what's going on.

OK. My mistake, dear, I shouldn't have made an assumption. I hope you enjoy your life more.

Thanks for the concern, though. By "depressed," I'm assuming you mean something like clinical depression, like feeling down all the time, and never having any spark or inspiration or anything like that. I still experience that, so I don't think I'm clinically depressed. Miserable quite a bit because of work and school, yes.

[Karl Henning]

The 1964 Western The Outrage, which starred Paul Newman, Claire Bloom, Edward G. Robinson, and William Shatner, was a remake of Rashomon, with Kurosawa acknowledged for the screenplay.

I had no idea.

[TheGSMoeller]

http://www.youtube.com/v/gSedE5sU3uc