Tag: words

the wends– n. the frustration that you’re not enjoying an experience as much as you should, which prompts you to try plugging in various through combinations to trigger anything more intense than roaring static, as if your heart had been inadvertently demagnetized by a surge of expectations.

That is quite a definition. I don’t know if I experience the wends often, or not to that extent, but I do sometimes look at an experience that everyone around me seems to be enjoying. Or many people I know are enjoying.

And I’m not. Or not much.

Sometimes this is music, where lots of people like something I don’t. Maybe it’s a place or experience.

Maybe it’s me.

I try to step back and think about what other people see, or why they like it. Maybe that is the wends.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

alazia– n. the fear that you’re no longer able to change..

I don’t have alazia. I’m always thinking I change, sometimes even when I don’t want to. Certainly my body continues to change as I age, which is very hard to take.

I do get set in ways, but I’m also willing to change and try new things. Not too often, or maybe not often, but I drive different routes, I notice different things and try new restaurants or experiences, I go to new places, I work differently and experiment to see if I can find something that works better, I like better, etc.

I live a DevOps life, experimenting and learning.

And changing

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

1202– n. the tipping point when your brain becomes so overwhelmed with tasks you need to do, you feel too guilty to put anything off until later, prioritizing every little thing at the top of the list, leaving you immobilized.

Not quite a word, but still a fun concept. Do you get so overwhelmed you prioritize everything on the list? Are you immobilized?

I don’t and I’m not. I don’t get 1202.

I go get overwhelmed, but I still can add things to my list, or lists. Things to learn, things to fix, etc. Often, however, I’m not immobilized here, even if I prioritize some things. What I might do if I’m overwhelmed is either buckle down and do one thing, or give up and do something completely different.

FWIW, this comes from the lunar descent of Apollo 11 where the 1202 alarm was the one the computer set off when there was too much data to process.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows

rubatosis– n. the unsettling awareness of your own heartbeat, whose tenuous muscular throbbing feels less like a metronome than a nervous ditty your heart is tapping to itself, as if you casually remind the outside world, I’m here, I’m here.

I practice yoga, breathing, and often my heart and breath are calm. My resting heart rate is about 51bpm across the last year. In general, even during some exercise, I don’t think or hear my heart.

However.

There are times when it’s pounding, and at weird times. I might wake up, and my heart isn’t racing, with the rate still in the 70s, but I can literally hear the pounding in my ears. I can feel it in my chest, like it’s letting me know that it’s there.

It’s rubatosis and it’s annoying at night since the noise sometimes stops me from falling back asleep quickly.

From the Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows