Subjectivity of Quality

by superambitioussoup

(Note about try number 2: 😦 So, I was also thinking along the same lines as Alfred and wanted to try my ice breaker game on my dormmates. Unfortunately, given how over the year, house meeting has turned into more of a get some free food and leave, I didn’t even get to explain my game this last Thursday…maybe I should have probably work more on publicity…or be more assertive next time…or not stuff my face with Chipotle…and with that, let’s talk about the reading)

What really got me was Nachmanovitch’s idea of resonance. I could never really explain why I sometimes would feel strongly about some art piece or some word at some moment in time, but “resonance with an inner truth” seems to hit it spot on. We can recognize quality because quality resonates with us.

Then I was thinking about subjectivity. Something which I believe to be quality might be junk in say…Saif’s eyes, but I think Nachmanovitch sort of brings this up with ambiguity. He goes on to describe how being true to oneself helps us get closer to a “collective consciousness.” Now is this collective the “human” collective (human as opposed to animals and plants)? If so, then this suggests there is a common ideal of what is quality, thus going against the subjective idea that I had of quality. In the same paragraph though, he mentions resonance with an “inner” truth which suggests a more subjective ideal of quality….not sure what to make of it…thoughts anyone…

Improv and Analytical Problem Solving

by superambitioussoup

(Without a reading, I totally forgot about this…)

This weekend, I attended a workshop entitled “Analytical Problem Solving” one of the six-sessions in the program called “Engineering Futures,” a program hosted by Tau Beta Pi to try to teach engineers soft-skills and to prepare them for the work environment.

This session dealt primarily with brainstorming. As you can imagine, brainstorming goes hand in hand with spontaneity, accepting the ideas that are thrown out, and just going with those ideas to see where it takes you.

I just wanted to share with you a great example that the session-leader presented which shows just how going even with silly ideas can lead to successful moments:

 

“Get a bear up there”

A company dealing with power lines in the Northwest was having problems with ice building up on the power lines and bringing the power lines down. So the company decided to get all of its employees (whatever their position may be) into a huge room for a big brainstorming session for solutions to this problem. Once everyone was in the large room, the brainstorming leader presented the problem to the employees and ask for suggestions.

Now, note that not everyone was serious about this problem. The lower “ranking” individuals didn’t understand why they even had to be here. So,  one employee shouted out, “just get a bear up there and have it shake the ice off the lines”

There were laughs of course, but the brainstorming leader went with it, and responded by asking the employees now “How do we get the bear up to the power lines?”

Now if getting everyone into this stuffy room wasn’t enough to create discontent, going with such a silly idea surely got even more people wanting to leave. So another employee shouted out, “That’s easy. Just put some jars of honey on top of the poles.”

Laughter ensued. More people wanted to leave. And the brainstorming leader kept going. “So how do we get the jars of honey on top of the poles.”

Yet another employee said “The CEO has a helicopter. Let’s just use that.”

“So we are going to use the CEO’s helicopter to put jars of honey on top of poles to attract bears to shake ice off of our power lines?”

Then a miraculous thing happened. A nurse in the back of the room said, “When I was in the Navy, I noticed that whenever a helicopter was coming down to land, the force of the air being sucked down by the propellers was so great that it could knock people off of their feet. Maybe we can just fly helicopters around the power lines and the force would be enough to shake the ice off.”

Now I am sure the brainstorming went on and the nurse’s idea was noted on some big white board along with other ideas that was generated that day.

But you know what, days later, the company flew helicopters around the more troublesome areas where they were having problems…so from a silly idea came one that saved the company money. EPIC WIN!

Do It Live! – Epic Fail

by superambitioussoup

[Note: Only got through the first of the “Spontaneity “‘s by the time of this post ]

Man, talk about dropping what you had planned when you are about to lead a game.

 

THE DAY BEFORE:  Standing in front of the mirror, I thought about the various twists that I could add to the game, including stressing the communication aspect (everyone else mimicking the person acting if they know what he/she is doing) and celebrating failure (all those who didn’t get it before the person guess it should give a big “OH!”).

 

“D-DAY”: I was nervous as usual as I was waiting for the people to show up. I saw a few people, but figured I should wait for the coordinator to show up before popping up randomly…I waited…it was getting late…I wanted to play the game…

So I just decided I was going to DO IT LIVE. It started off good enough. Though I didn’t use any of the lines/actions that I had rehearsed the day before, I felt confident. I wasn’t mumbling. People were laughing. It was GREAT…until the cars showed up and I had only gone through the introduction…FAIL They had to go ( and I wasn’t about to go with them and hang around for an hour or two while they watched the show) so my game ended there.

 

SPONTANEITY CONNECTION: So though there will be an Attempt #2 within two weeks, reflecting on what happened made me think about what little I had read of Johnstone’s Spontaneity.

I want to note now that my actual first idea after I saw the group walk out was “Finally. I can go over there and start playing my game” but I held myself back. (Walking up to strangers? WHAT!?!) I found it interesting though that when pressured by the situation, I went with my first idea anyways and just threw myself in there. To me it was PSYCHOTIC to walk up to a group of strangers and start playing a game. But after going through with the first of my first ideas, the rest of my interaction with the group seemed like a series of first ideas:

1) In presenting the game, I didn’t remember what I had practiced. I just presented the rules.

2) I provided an example using the fact that I saw among the group someone that took a calligraphy workshop with me.

*3) I got interrupted a number of times. (the second of which I was in limbo between remaining respectful while wanting to continue my game…which I noticed drew a laugh from the participants)

 

I think that in my first attempt at presenting my game to a random group, what Merrily mentioned in class once is really applicable and a theme I found in “Spontaneity”: with a little structure, one can actually be more spontaneous. The student mentioned in “Spontaneity” who questioned the book had the book as a jumping platform off which he annoyed his teacher. The anti-semtitic remarks were replies to factoids suggesting contrary ideas. I had my practice (both in class and the day before) that gave me a better idea of what to say but did not dictate it.

And though I felt confident in presenting, I was still nervous. I felt it was the nervous energy combined with the situation and signs that I read off of the expressions of the players involved that prompted a rush of first ideas and made me grab at the first ones that I could formulate.

Careful What You Say

by superambitioussoup

Indeed, I should have been careful what I said on Monday. “Hit me baby one more time” It was honestly the first thing that came to mind (why couldn’t I have chosen something simple like “Para-para-paradise”).

And that is what I have generally viewed improv as: saying the first thing that comes to mind and just working with it. But Johnstone sheds new light on just how deep the rabbit hole goes (again the first thing that came to me mind) when it comes to speaking. It is interesting the connection he makes between what you say and the resulting “statuses” that it assigns to the parties involved. I never really gave thought to such  ramifications of what I said. I just wanted to convey an idea. I wanted to respond. Of course, I am careful not to be intentionally demeaning in what I say but I was always focused on the content of what I said, not the possible implications. I just have to be extra careful now I guess.

(Man, this improv thing is getting deep. )

Improv Your Way Out

by superambitioussoup

Scene work has been a blast so far (and Savannah’s spin on it was a lot fun), but I never saw the parallels between being a “good” partner on stage and being able to get out of awkward situations until after this week’s reading.

Goffman goes into great detail about how an individual can present him or herself to others and the tango of unspoken ideas that result from this interaction. Depending on what happens though, it is very natural for things to turn awkward.

Fortunately for us improvisers, we have the arsenal to avoid such moments. We have built up trust and a willingness to accept others’ ideas, and thus we avoid the second guessing/or the “sizing up” that may occur when an individual walks on stage. We work towards a common scene and reinforce it with our actions, thus practicing the “tact” that Goffman speaks of and helping to build a “working consensus.”

Yet, as Goffman also rightly points out, those awkward situations are often what is funny. And I’ve noticed that even in our own scene work, those moments awkward moments readily surface as the scene progresses. So, though we have worked towards avoiding awkward moments between us as improvisers, we still turn to those awkward moments while on stage because it just feels natural…

“I Like…” or “Act it Out” or “Mimic Me” or “Can You Guess?”

by superambitioussoup

Thank you all for participating in my game. I hope you all enjoyed it（even though we already know each other…technically…). I realize it might have been hard to hear me. I apologize. I sort of planned out what I was going to say, but when I saw our of your faces looking at me, all that planning just went out the window. I had all of these ideas that I wanted to get out…but I couldn’t say them fast enough.

In any case, I really appreciate the suggestions, and I will try to incorporate them when I test it out on an outside group. Please feel free to leave more comments about and/or suggestions on the game. You could even comment with the same suggestion you had in class just so I don’t forget. (I get the feeling that the group that I will try it on will not be as open to the game as you all were…nor will they be able to match Sarah’s impeccable timing.)

(Just for my own benefit: If you do decide to leave a comment, if you don’t mind, could you leave your name and one of the actions you did…it would really help me finally pair name with face…yes I am still having trouble doing that…)

Thanks again.

Improv to a Better Sex Life

by superambitioussoup

(Side note: I bet you stop to read this blog because there was the word “sex” in the title…shame on you…)

I am of course not talking about improv in the bedroom (though that would probably lead to a better sex life too). I am instead referencing a line from the reading that really caught me off guard. “Turning toward is the basis of emotional connection, romance, passion, and a good sex life.”

Sure, Gottman was talking about a married couple, but I see his “turning toward” as really just an alliteration for our “listening.” I mean, his elaboration on “turning toward” just encompasses acknowledging your partner, trusting your partner, and letting your partner in. But isn’t that really what we been working on so far in class with our “partners”.

In fact, given that Gottman started with a three-line scene just like we did in class last time, I bet he really was writing about improv partner work, but changed last minute to talking about married couples to get his book to sell…Okay, admittedly, that might be a bit of a stretch. Still, whether we are talking about a successive marriage or a successive improv show, I think common to both is this willingness to listen to the other person and to let go of power every once in a while.

Then I got thinking…good improvisers are great at reading/listening to other people/especially their partner…good improvisers then are really able to “turn toward” their partner…good improvisers have a great sex life…man, I am so glad I am taking this improv class.

Eight Year Olds: 1 Educated Adults: 0

by superambitioussoup

Being an adult sure has its perks, but, the more I think about it, wouldn’t being a kid again for a week, or maybe even day, be great?

Reading Johnstone’s “Notes On Myself” reassured me of my goal for this class to “become a kid again,” however ironic it may be to take a class to learn how to unlearn.Of course, after last class, I realize I don’t want to be just any kid. Truth be told, children can be really mean to each other. I imagine that if we “threw” two kids up on stage, we would have ended up with a very similar situation that we saw in the video at the beginning of last class: one kid has one idea and wouldn’t listen to the other kid.

So, I revise my goal. I want to be a kid that plays well with others. I want to be an imaginative kid that listens.

Based on the increased touchy-feely level of last class though,  I would also like to be really observant and attentive…sort of like the Kid-Jeopardy-Champion Thomas Horn in the new movie “Extremely Loud.” Interesting. So, I guess my goal then for this class is to become a child genius?!?!

…I have to think about this some more…

Liberation for One Engineer

by superambitioussoup

Gamer Voice: “TOTALLY AWESOME”

THE GOOD: That pretty much sums up this evening.* With a little “Whose Line is it Anyways?” to get things rolling, I felt at home. Even though I was asked to speak (me speak in public?!?!), after a few more laughs and many more EPIC FAILS, in the end, today was a liberating experience.

THE NOT SO GOOD: But there is still work to be done. Even by the end of class, I still felt held back by the reservations that Saif(?) briefly mentioned. I am still not ready to let my inner child out just yet. I can only hope that with the great support that I saw today, I can break out of this shell that has long defined the stereotypical Asian male engineer. (…one small step for an engineer…one giant leap for engineers of the world…unfortunately, Saif beat me to it…)

*This excludes the hiccup in the reflections in the end. If my right sidekick is reading this right now, I apologize profusely. I will try to be more observant next time. I also apologize for forgetting your name. If it makes you feel better, I forgot all the other names too…sorry