No earthquake here, but we are having major lake effect snow. It's still daylight, and you can't see a car coming on the road out front until you see the headlights. Total whiteout. The kids got let out early, thank god, because apparently we're getting between 3-5 inches an hour, and it's already been snowing like this for two hours.

We already had a good sixteen inches on the ground, too.

::sobs::

Jeebus.

I need to drive up to CalArts and get some contract stuff done for the class I'm teaching this semester. Have I left the house yet? No. Am I motivated to leave the house? No.

Gah! I need to get this shit done.

Go forth and get shit! Done!

I mean, I don't LIKE small talk -- in a huge violent way -- but I *can* do it. I just vastly prefer not to. That doesn't make me an Aspie.

I guess I don't really know what is meant by "small talk". I like talking about things that other people might not think is important (say, what my boss did over the weekend) because I like hearing about people's lives.

I think small talk is talk that occurs not at all for the information shared, but for the social benefits of having conversation.

I don't think I would mind small talk if I were better at it. I should get a book or something. But if the other person is good at it, I'm fine. I can follow along merrily.

Small talk is just social lubrication. The ability to maintain the conversation as a social gesture rather than talking about shit that's of mutual interest.

I think this may be my problem with it (as in why I kind of suck at it) - I'm self-conscious about the fact that it's not actually interesting, anything I'm saying or listening to. But I really don't think about it that much. I just soldier on through it when necessary.

Oh, my. My last prof has a lot of energy.

Edit: Of course, the last time I thought that after the first class, the prof ended up becoming my favorite prof ever.