I am an enormously self-critical person. If I’m going out to a party, or having dinner, or even just giving a presentation, I’m constantly playing back my speech and my actions in my head to see where I went wrong. It sounds like two awful television sports announcers who follow me around only to trash whatever I think or do or say.

DICK: And here comes Matthew, shuffling into the presentation arena, sporting a wrinkled button-down and black slacks with ugly shoes. He clearly wants to make an impression, Bob.

BOB: Right you are, Dick, though I’m not sure what kind of impression that will be.

DICK: The meeting has now started, and look at this! Matt is waving his arms around, trying to provide emphasis to his explanations! Has he lost control of his limbs?!.

BOB: He’d better rein in his enthusiasm here or he’ll be mistaken for someone who is suffering a seizure.

DICK: Let’s listen in.

MATTHEW: …So here’s why we might want to consider using SOLID principles in our everyday coding…

DICK: Did you hear that, Bob? All of those conditional words! “Might want to consider,” wow! Could he be any less decisive?

BOB: I don’t know, Dick, but obviously he doesn’t know either.

I’m really hard on myself. I know this, and I accept it. I’m not sure if this is because I expect better or worse of me, but I do know that it leads to some really interesting conversations, during at least one of which I actually yelled at my own brain and startled the hell out of my dog.

#musings #machine learning #learning