not-quite-an-open-thread

[lagilman]

Phrase that came up during Word War yesterday: "The more you learn, the more interesting your lessons become."

Discuss.





Also: has anyone else had the experience of a kitten's black whiskers falling out and being replaced by white ones? Is Pandora joining me in finally going silver?

Comments

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

sorry, no. mine came preinstalled with white whiskers.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

As did Marcus (also a tuxedo). Aoki, I don't think a tortie with stunted growth is a good comp on this one. She's still got her black whiskers, but she's also topping the scales at 6 pounds at age 5 and I think black whiskers are normal on a tortie.

[terri-osborne.livejournal.com]

Marcus does, however, have the occasional white hair sprouting in his black coat these days. He is, of course, much put out by this.

[lagilman]

Pandora started with a mix of black and white whiskers. The black ones are falling out though, and the new ones seem to be mostly white.

Odd.

[wedschilde.livejournal.com]

my other blacks remained black. motlow our japanese spotted tabby did switch out every once in a while.

[egret17.livejournal.com]

Whoa. Nope, not familiar with that. Mine have all black... so far.

[corvidophile.livejournal.com]

don't have a cat, but my pug maggie has black whiskers and now has a single white one (replacing one of the ones above her eye). we call it her antennae to contact the mother ship. beepbeepdabeep!

[ilvack.livejournal.com]

My cat went silver after a couple of years. I think he still has at least one black whisker on him, but I don't want to get too close less I find myself shredded.

As far as the thread...I think it's all in how you take it. I first read this as meaning "The more your lessons teach, the more interesting your lessons become." If that's the case, I'd disagree. I've had far too many mind numbing experiences in school to make me agree with that statement.

But, if I take it as "The more you learn in life, the more interesting your lessons become." I get a whole new appreciation for that line. Growing up as a farm boy, I hated everything there was about farming. I had seen enough cotton stalks in my day where I knew they all looked the same. It was hot, grueling work, and all I cared about was getting it done so I could go home.

Then I went out and viewed the world. I lived in Olympia, WA for five years. I'm convinced that Olympia is the exact opposite of my little home town in Louisiana. I lived, I learned, and I avoided all things plant oriented.

Moving back home was a blow to me, and going back on the farm even worse. But now I find a sense of caring that I didn't have when I was younger. Since I understand the value of money I can feel what it's like to spend $100,000 in one month on nothing but chemicals in the hopes that they -may- help your weed problem. I know the value of a hard days work, so I get that feeling of pride when I march in, tired and covered in a thin layer of old dust, after a 12 hour work day in the 105 degree Hell of summer.

I still dislike having to do all of this, but I can't help but find some kind of joy in it. Life has given me places of reference that I can apply to my lessons, which in turn make my lessons more interesting.

And now, I stop my ramble, for I stopped making sense at around sentence two.

[lagilman]

Much more the latter, yes. The more you learn, the more your understanding grows, the more you can get from further lessons. A nice tie-in to "'Write what you know' doesn't mean write less, it means learn more."

[smoemeth.livejournal.com]

Orange Cat has one lone black whisker ... it's very funny. He's 13 and that black one is still black as ever.

[rovanda.livejournal.com]

Is that "interesting" as in "May you live in interesting times?" (that ancient and renowned curse) Because I could go along with that. The more I think I know, the more likely I am to push my limits and get in over my head :-p

[lagilman]

That's a good extrapolation of it, too :-)

How else do we learn, after all? Hearing someone else tell us something only goes so far...

[rovanda.livejournal.com]

True, true... I tend to become the default local helpdesk wherever I work, just because I make so many mistakes when I start that I then know how to fix all the easy ones :)

[javacatz.livejournal.com]

We've collected lost whiskers from all our kitties over the years. At some point, the new whiskers do grow in white, silver or grey. How soon or how much change depends on the cat. :-)

[roseaponi.livejournal.com]

I've been rereading books that I didn't like much when I was 14, but had hoarded anyway because they were books. Over a decade and a degree in English later, they are much better books!

I was a very advanced reader at 14, but there are some things I was incapable of appreciating then. I think that's the key behind the lessons getting more interesting - the more you know, the more you can appreciate, and that makes yet more room to learn more things, etc. ad infinitum.

I hope this means that when I'm old, I'll turn into the quirky and wise variety of old lady, and not the bitter hypochondriac type that seems to run in my family.

[martianmooncrab.livejournal.com]

Newt had a couple of white whiskers to break up his all black look, two on each side, he was pretty darn spiffy with that touch.

[mmegaera.livejournal.com]

I have an orange cat (see icon) who developed one black whisker at about age ten. Don't know if that's a useful datapoint.

[mevennen.livejournal.com]

I once was given a badge at a convention which read 'Oh No, Not Another Learning Experience.'

If there really is reincarnation, I suspect this sums me up.

[misofuhni.livejournal.com]

Feline aspect--

Mine isn't there yet. My kids still think that finding a black whisker is very cool. Then again, I think my feline is no more than 4 years old.

"The more you learn, the more interesting your lessons become."

Sure. You have to try to integrate the new knowledge with your current knowledge and figure out which is correct or corrupt. You have to think more, thereby making it more interesting.