Interviews, and grokking for beginners

Today I have one of those interviews everyone hates. I sent a resume to an anonymous post office box at our local newspaper a month and a half ago, and now I am expected to show up in their office and impress them into paying me a lot of money. On the surface it actually sounds a little on the lurid side - going to an unknown place to meet a man whose name I don't know in hopes that he will give me money. Hmm.

I don't even know what sort of position he has in mind. This is getting worse, so I think I will move on. I really am not a prostitute. I'm a desktop publisher. I think it's just the job-hunting that makes me feel like a prostitute.

Grokking. Most of my close friends know what grokking is. In case you are not one of those people, you will also find a definition for grokking in Heinlein's Stranger in a Strange Land, which is probably my favorite book of all time. To grok something is to completely involve yourself with it, to drink it in, touch it, smell it, and feel it with your spirit until you understand it as well as you understand yourself. In a way, grokking is living. I like to think of it as living at an increased level of appreciation for life. For example, everyone in my hometown of Lansing will see at least one tree at least one time per day. Most of them will ignore it entirely. Some of them will be vaguely annoyed by the leaves and limbs it drops. Others will lounge in the shade of the tree, mow around it, hang lights on it, or climb into its branches. To grok a tree would mean to open up your senses, your identity, and your soul and try to become the tree, just for an instant. I know a tree is a bizarre example, but it works for other things, too, even people. I don't think it's possible to ever fully grok things in this lifetime, but I do find it exhilerating to try.

So why would I call my journal "Grokking"?

A lot of the things I write about are things that I am trying to better understand. Other subjects might be helping me to better understand myself, or my friends. The goal of the whole thing is to grok the whole world fully and deeply.

And the goal of the journal is to chip away at the whole world, one little peice at a time.