Sorry all you 1984 fans, I kind of punked out last week as I had this stubbed out already. I just kind of gave up in the middle of the week. I thought about doing this Monday, but I thought I would get too out of cycle. So here we are.

In this chapter, we have Julia and Winston taking up a more permanent residence at the antique store where Winston bought his diary and paperweight. My grandfather would have said ‘playing house’ or ‘shacking up’ because it is not really fully committed (of course circumstance has a lot to do with it). The old term ‘flop house’ might be a better description.

Up until now, I would have said that everything in the book has been plausible, how the characters would act given the situation. This seems clearly to be a mistake. No longer is there an only meet at one location twice strategy, this is the place that they will make their stand. It is interesting how the mind works because when I wrote my notes on this, I had written successful risk taking leads to more risk taking as one of today’s concepts from the chapter.

Last night as I was thinking about what I was going to write I had forgotten I had written the above and I thought my concept was going to be delusion becomes reality. In many ways, the two statements are saying the same thing with two different twists. The words in the book didn’t change but my analysis and view did. I suspect that it is influenced by environmental factors.

As we wander way off the path today, I will say that the project I am working on for my job is making many of the same mistakes I have seen other failed projects make. I am not at the right level to influence, nor do I have the social capital to get close. When I do talk at the level that I am at, I am told that it not my concern. As an aside, I am OK with it as I understand my position but I am simultaneously frustrated because I know where this is leading.

Consequently, my outlook on the chapter has changed since I first wrote the notes. No longer am I cautiously optimistic that Winston and Julia are living happily ever after, they have made a Type 1 Error. Because I have read the book before, euphemistically I was in no mood to beat around the bush with what was happening in the story.

End Your Programming Routine: For a little while, there was a podcast for the Gambler 500 which was supposed to explain how to get involved in the event. What it turned out to be was more of the philosophy of the people that started the event and by proxy understanding them would lead the listener on how to participate. They ended every show with ‘ABG’ (Always be Gambling) which is supposed to mean always live by your values.

This is a light chapter in terms of story and concepts. I don’t think that it takes a lot of analysis or relational stories to get across that Winston and Julia are now in dangerous territory because of complacency. Instead, I would say understand that there is always bias in interpretation of the data, know and understand yours.