Define this...

It's Monday, Robin is back (!), and I can now blog at work again. Life is good.

Lots of people have had something to say about this whole Pluto mess, and the consensus I see is that demoting Pluto was stupid. They should have at least grandfathered the poor guy into the system and then moved on from there. Considering my earlier post, I guess I agree, but I keep coming back to this definition thing.

The thing is, I like definitions. Rules are comforting. Guidelines give structure, security, consistency and order to chaos. The flip side of that is that I also like definitions and rules because then I can break them, work around them, think out side their box and go beyond them. Yes, I know that's messed up. Before you consider me criminally insane (which you might anyway) let me give you some examples to explain.

When I was a first year teacher I became fascinated by a particular writing style, FanFiction. I became very interested in how I could get kids writing and thought this might be a good vehicle. So I played with lessons on it. Then I got another idea because of an educational program I had seen done by an actor (who shall remain nameless in this story because of his recent press) to get kids excited about Shakespeare, specifically Hamlet. I started making some phone calls and eventually ended up in talks with producers at Paramount studios to do an educational video series based on TV series on the WB. After two years of work the project was canked, but... Once we got going people often expressed surprise that I had gotten as far as I did and the methods which I had employed to get where I was. (Nothing illegal or immoral, just direct phone calls and letters, etc). "You shouldn't have been able to do that!" They would say. My answer was often, "Then I'm glad I didn't know that, but everyone else did. Cuts down on competition."

Further when I come up with a solution outside the box, I look much smarter that I really am and often smarter than those around me. This is a nice perception to perpetuate... Seeing as most of my friends will tell you usually if I am given too much time to myself to think I most often do really stupid things or really stupid and funny things. College and Summer Camp shinaningans all come to mind.

Definitions are also a good thing because they keep me out of trouble. Defined chain of command is a wonderful thing. And based on my earlier statements they also give you a wonderful method to get the better of an annoying boss. BCC on e-mail is wonderful for that and works best with clear chain of commands in place.

So, Pluto, you didn't know you were not a planet, so you pressed on anyway. I think you should get credit for that.