Prison Cell Layout

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Whoa.  That wasn't what I expected.  I'm going to have to think about that for a bit.

Well, it's just an analogy.  None of you bastards want to hear about my REAL toilet.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Um... what's in the toilet?

Why, that is THE STAINLESS STEEL BOWL OF MISSED OPPORTUNITY!  And inside - because these prisons take FOREVER to get a plumber in to unclog that shit - is ~ 35-40 years of things I COULDA done and things I SHOULDA done IF ONLY I'D HAD MY FUCKING HEAD ON STRAIGHT AT THE TIME.  I could tell you loads and loads of stories, but you already know what I mean, right?  The girl that got away, the job you wanted, the thing you wanted to do with your life, but you HAD TO BE REALISTIC.

The difference is, in MY cell, they don't go down the drain.  They just pile up til the bowl looks like an ice cream sundae, one of those 6 scoop monsters, and those missed opportunities just STARE AT ME every day.

Wait til you hear about THE LUMPY COT MATTRESS OF CRINGETASTIC MOMENTS.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

So basically, any model of the mind that tries to describe itself physically, or even in discreet parts, is no good for you?

Sorry if that's putting words in your mouth.

What models do work for you, in that you can make sense of them?

A model that attempts to overlay actual (but non-tangible) function onto material parts does not work for me. A model that describes actual physical/tangible function I have no problems with.

For example, say you wanted to describe a flavor as a chair. You say, "The legs are four main flavors: salty, sweet, bitter, and sour. These support the seat, which is a rich earthy note..." and so on. At this point you have completely lost me, because I am trying to map flavors to a fucking chair.

See, I'm the other way around.  The bit LMNO was warning about.  I'll take the map and make all manner of connections until there is no resemblance to the territory anymore.

That probably actually makes you very good when it comes to dealing with uncertainties. I imagine it is especially helpful in both engineering and maintenance, where you need to be able to deal with a lot of "what ifs".

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Um... what's in the toilet?

Why, that is THE STAINLESS STEEL BOWL OF MISSED OPPORTUNITY!  And inside - because these prisons take FOREVER to get a plumber in to unclog that shit - is ~ 35-40 years of things I COULDA done and things I SHOULDA done IF ONLY I'D HAD MY FUCKING HEAD ON STRAIGHT AT THE TIME.  I could tell you loads and loads of stories, but you already know what I mean, right?  The girl that got away, the job you wanted, the thing you wanted to do with your life, but you HAD TO BE REALISTIC.

The difference is, in MY cell, they don't go down the drain.  They just pile up til the bowl looks like an ice cream sundae, one of those 6 scoop monsters, and those missed opportunities just STARE AT ME every day.

Wait til you hear about THE LUMPY COT MATTRESS OF CRINGETASTIC MOMENTS.

OH GOD. I have enough of those of my own.

[Junkenstein]

Um... what's in the toilet?

Why, that is THE STAINLESS STEEL BOWL OF MISSED OPPORTUNITY!  And inside - because these prisons take FOREVER to get a plumber in to unclog that shit - is ~ 35-40 years of things I COULDA done and things I SHOULDA done IF ONLY I'D HAD MY FUCKING HEAD ON STRAIGHT AT THE TIME.  I could tell you loads and loads of stories, but you already know what I mean, right?  The girl that got away, the job you wanted, the thing you wanted to do with your life, but you HAD TO BE REALISTIC.

The difference is, in MY cell, they don't go down the drain.  They just pile up til the bowl looks like an ice cream sundae, one of those 6 scoop monsters, and those missed opportunities just STARE AT ME every day.

[Junkenstein]

Hang on, how do you brew prison wine with a full shitter?

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hang on, how do you brew prison wine with a full shitter?

hoohoohaha.


Tell you when I get back.  I have to go to Keelin's school.  The vice-principal has made an appointment, where he expects be to be surprised and outraged at her behavior.  Back soon.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hang on, how do you brew prison wine with a full shitter?

hoohoohaha.


Tell you when I get back.  I have to go to Keelin's school.  The vice-principal has made an appointment, where he expects be to be surprised and outraged at her behavior.  Back soon.

Oh this'll be good. I imagine you have a similar relationship with Keelin's school administration as I  have with my kids'; which is that after the first couple of times they really try to avoid ever calling me in.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

Hang on, how do you brew prison wine with a full shitter?

hoohoohaha.


Tell you when I get back.  I have to go to Keelin's school.  The vice-principal has made an appointment, where he expects be to be surprised and outraged at her behavior.  Back soon.

Oh this'll be good. I imagine you have a similar relationship with Keelin's school administration as I  have with my kids'; which is that after the first couple of times they really try to avoid ever calling me in.

I thought that would be the case.  15 minutes meeting, + 10 minute round trip.  She was sick this month, and missed quite a bit of time (9 days in the 1st 30 CALENDAR days of school).  All absences excused...The VP though it was bullshit that it was even an issue, given that she had a medical excuse (Dr's note) for the time.  However, state law requires that she miss no more than 10% of a semester, and she's sitting right at 10% if she doesn't miss another day.

If she misses more days, it's POSSIBLE (though not likely) that she could lose credit for the semester. 

He did say that he considered her a role model for the younger kids at the school, based on her behavior (biped) and her habits (straight edge without the label, basically).

So, pleasant surprises all around.

[Cramulus]

for me, the guts of the black iron prison metaphor is that it's about recognizing your self limitations.

a big part of that is identity, this narrow idea of who you are
    the perceived-self carries heavy baggage like tastes, preferences, your precious little aversions

     and those things lead to you omitting things from your thoughts


what I like best about the metaphor is that it puts the self in control. You are responsible for all that stuff in your cell - you can't blame the system or your peers or your poor upbringing for those limitations, you made them yourself. And if you want to get past them, you can't wait for other things to change, or for somebody to save you, or for your prison term to end --- you have to grab a sledgehammer and bust out of the cell.

I think it's a useful exercise to think about your own "cell" and what kinds of things in your control are acting as limitations. But there's probably no common diagram or floormap - in my own prison breaks, sometimes the cell walls are tastes, sometimes they are laziness, sometimes they are ego... every prison is unique, and every prison break is unique.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

Hang on, how do you brew prison wine with a full shitter?

hoohoohaha.


Tell you when I get back.  I have to go to Keelin's school.  The vice-principal has made an appointment, where he expects be to be surprised and outraged at her behavior.  Back soon.

Oh this'll be good. I imagine you have a similar relationship with Keelin's school administration as I  have with my kids'; which is that after the first couple of times they really try to avoid ever calling me in.

I thought that would be the case.  15 minutes meeting, + 10 minute round trip.  She was sick this month, and missed quite a bit of time (9 days in the 1st 30 CALENDAR days of school).  All absences excused...The VP though it was bullshit that it was even an issue, given that she had a medical excuse (Dr's note) for the time.  However, state law requires that she miss no more than 10% of a semester, and she's sitting right at 10% if she doesn't miss another day.

If she misses more days, it's POSSIBLE (though not likely) that she could lose credit for the semester. 

He did say that he considered her a role model for the younger kids at the school, based on her behavior (biped) and her habits (straight edge without the label, basically).

So, pleasant surprises all around.

Aw that's awesome!

I hope she either doesn't miss any more or they let her do a make-up project or two.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

For me, rather than "bars" or "bricks", I tend to see each unwanted issue, as it were, as a room in my prison. Like, oh crap, I recently found a room labeled Control Freak! Do I want to break out of that completely? Actually it seems like it's part of the reason I'm able to balance so much at once. Maybe I want to look at the parts of the room that I like, such as "scheduling time for homework" and "always knowing what's in my bank account", and repurpose that room as my Resource Management room, throwing out the crap like "obsessing about what I did wrong in my relationship" and "trying to make him like me" and then integrating it back into my prison suite.

[Cainad (dec.)]

For me, rather than "bars" or "bricks", I tend to see each unwanted issue, as it were, as a room in my prison. Like, oh crap, I recently found a room labeled Control Freak! Do I want to break out of that completely? Actually it seems like it's part of the reason I'm able to balance so much at once. Maybe I want to look at the parts of the room that I like, such as "scheduling time for homework" and "always knowing what's in my bank account", and repurpose that room as my Resource Management room, throwing out the crap like "obsessing about what I did wrong in my relationship" and "trying to make him like me" and then integrating it back into my prison suite.

Multiple rooms for a prisoner?

Sounds like you're SOFT ON CRIME and don't believe in GETTING TOUGH with these criminals.

[Mesozoic Mister Nigel]

For me, rather than "bars" or "bricks", I tend to see each unwanted issue, as it were, as a room in my prison. Like, oh crap, I recently found a room labeled Control Freak! Do I want to break out of that completely? Actually it seems like it's part of the reason I'm able to balance so much at once. Maybe I want to look at the parts of the room that I like, such as "scheduling time for homework" and "always knowing what's in my bank account", and repurpose that room as my Resource Management room, throwing out the crap like "obsessing about what I did wrong in my relationship" and "trying to make him like me" and then integrating it back into my prison suite.

Multiple rooms for a prisoner?

Sounds like you're SOFT ON CRIME and don't believe in GETTING TOUGH with these criminals.

Yeah the metaphor starts to kind of break down there. Maybe it's not so much a prison as maybe a hostage situation.

[The Good Reverend Roger]

My cell is HUGE.

Ocean on each side, the Rio Grande to the South, and some iron curtain nation to the North.