= In praise of enthusiasm =

On the heels of my last (lighthearted) ranting post, I've made
a resolution:

	Write more about what I like, less about what I don't.

Where did this come from?

So I'm currently reading John "Prince of Puke" Water's book
_Carsick_.  Ostensibly it's about a cross-country hitchhiking
trip he made for the express purpose of writing the book.
But the format is unique being divided into three parts:

	1. The best that could happen

	2. The worst that could happen

	3. The actual trip

The first two parts are completely fictional novellas of the
best and worst possible road trips as imagined by Waters.

I've finished the first two parts and I really enjoyed "the best"
and did not enjoy "the worst."	The contrast was stark, and yet
both were fantasies sprung from the same mind.	It got me thinking
about what made me enjoy one so much and dislike the other.

I think it comes down to enthusiasm.  There's something
wonderfully infectious about enthusiasm and enthusiasts.

For example, John Water's fantasy about the *best* road trip is
lovingly filled with the movies, music, people and other things
that he likes.	It's a very personal collection and completely
unique to John Waters.	But it's told with such energy and
enthusiasm and humor that you can't help but to be swept up into
the fantasy.  It's infectious.

(Also, it made me laugh out loud.)

The worst road trip, however, is truly the opposite.  To the point
where it's downright unpleasant to read (including references
to a "true crime" event I wish I could unknow).  And though it's
told with the same energy, it can't compare in enjoyment to the
first part.  It's opposite, but not equal.


It's not the content

Now I really enjoy the Horror genre.  Books, movies, video
games, and even music.	Good horror satisfies all sorts of
base and primitive things in our brains.  It can also be funny,
exhilirating, and even cathartic.

That's enthusiast horror.

It shows a distorted, warped view of the world and says, "look
at how awful this is," while somehow also saying, "look at all
of this evil and isn't it...*awesome*!"

It can even be bleak as hell and still have that enthusiasm:
by being well made, well conceived, well realized.

I know Water's "worst trip" was intended as entertainment, too.
But I think he was also just as straight-from-the-heart about
his fears and dislikes as he was about his interests and likes.
And so I think in a lot of ways, we really do experience Water's
actual nightmare by reading it.  And it's kinda not fun in the
way that an actual nightmare is not fun.

Okay....where are you going with this Ratty McRatterson?

One more tangent and then let's see if I can turn this into a
coherent thought.


Enthusiasts

I really enjoy starting new hobbies.  I've gotten a lot better
about not spending money on them, and I've gotten a *lot*
better about not starting and abandoning them half-finished,
but I *still* get jazzed about new stuff all the time.	I'm a
natural-born enthusiast.

I get that fire and my vision closes in and I just can't get
enough of that new thing: astronomy, robotics, tools, operating
systems, books, art, or a new programming language.

And where does that enthusiasm come from and what keeps it fueled?
That's easy: other enthusiasts!

I see people who have a deep love of something that brings them
great pleasure and my ears perk up.  I start reading about that
thing - reading blog entries and forum posts.  And I see all of
these people happily chatting back and forth about this thing
and look at how much they love it!

My sympathetic system activates and I get swept up in the
excitement!

I like being around people who have passionate interests.  I don't
have to share the interest, I just want to see the passion.
That passion has an energy and it gives people a dimension that
*nothing* else can replace - not even charm.

Now contrast this with the person who is defined more by the
things they don't like...

Give me the enthusiast!


What I want to do about it

So this got me to thinking about how we write about the things
we care about.

I'm an opinionated person.  I think it's *good* to have opinions.

(Mind you, it's just as important to be open to new ideas and
be capable of changing your mind and forming *new* opinions when
the old ones no longer fit.  But that's a whole different topic!)

My opinions come in two flavors: (1) things I like and (2)
things I don't like.  I suppose you could call these "positive"
and "negative" opinions.  Often they're two sides of a coin (I
like THIS, which is the oppose of THAT, which I don't like) and
sometimes they don't have an opposite mate (I like THIS. period. I
don't like THAT. period.)

Let's take Gopher as an example.  I like Gopher a *lot*.  I could
list some virtues:

	1. Low resource usage

	2. Tons of text content just a click away

	3. Emphasis on prose

	4. Unique constraints foster creativity (ASCII art)

	5. Slow response cycle (if any) seems to promote
	high-quality conversations

	6. Link mechanism enforces content type - you know what
	you're about to load on your computer

The opposite of this list would be just as easy to write, a list
of negative things Gopher *doesn't have*.  (A "double-negative"
list, if you will.)  In fact, it took a concious effort *not*
to write that list!

I'll give a few examples just so we're on the same page:

	1. No megs and megs of bloated crap

	2. No malicious adware tracking

But the double-negative list isn't really about Gopher, is it?

No, it's actually a dig at the Web.

And even though it feels cathartic to rant about the state
of the web and fly into ecstacies of dark energy and shoot it
from my fingers into my mechanical keyboard like a Sith Lord
ejaculating force lightning, it isn't going to instill a sense
of my positive enthusiasm, is it?  It's not really going to win
over any Gopher converts.

Same with my choice of operating systems and text editor.
Every system has problems, but only *some* systems have people
who *love them so much* that they will shout that love from
the rooftops!

I think I'd like to be one of those people.

I want to be an enthusiast.

So I'm going to make an effort, from now on, to concentrate on
what I *like* and put my energy into that.  I'm not looking
to convert anybody to anything, but I *do* think that's how
that happens.  Enthusiasm is infectious.


			    *	*   *

Community notes:

Thanks a ton to Logout for adding me to the Bongusta! phlog
aggregator.  Manually-curated content has no equal and I feel
honored to be on the list!

By the way, I'm not making judgements about anybody's phlog posts
with *this one*.  I'm no saint and I still enjoy a good rant!
Also, I have serious doubts about being able to stick to what
I've written above.  Only time will tell. :-)