On Tuesday I gave a short lunch seminar at the University of Sussex about my world model. In case you are new to my blog, you can read all about it in The Oil Drum:
The next day I met a Mexican woman on the street, that had attended my talk and was all enthusiastic about it. She'd like to use it to develop a course for policy-makers and teach them about systems thinking. It's something she's been working on for a while, her ideas so far were revolving around increasing economic growth and using a well-known model for a firm, but she's very aware of sustainability issues and she was delighted to know there are alternative models. We met for a talk on Thursday evening, but I made the mistake of inviting the Mad Scientist to it as well... and he completely dominated all the talk time, as he often does. Luckily, she was more impressed than annoyed by him, there are some decent chances that he'll provide some good contacts for her, and we'll meet again. If this works out, it could be a turning point for my model.
On Tuesday evening I went to a joint meeting of Transition Brighton and Transition Lewes. It reminded me vividly of what happened when I was a little girl with my cousin, a month older than me. The family kept comparing these two smart girls of the same age, telling both of us that the other was an example of perfection. When we met, we realised to our common relief that the other wasn't like the idealized picture we were given. Transition Brighton kept believing that Lewes had some magic recipe to do everything well, and Transition Lewes was in awe of the Big Boys. It transpired that both are a small bunch of people doing their best and with very little clue of whether they're doing right. A welcome dose of reality, that could be a turning point towards realistic views.
On a personal level, Thursday and Friday was the trial for my ex. I got the feeling that my ex was at his best (couldn't see him because I was a witness myself and not allowed to see the proceedings until after I had said my bits). The video was complete, and it showed how he was quoting: "The police have an anonymous letter that says..." before the alleged threat. I also did quite well myself, I think. We won't know until Monday, after the judge does the summing up and the jury decide. This is definitely the time when things will turn for him one way or another.
Finally, this weekend there's been a training course on Transition. I didn't go to the course, mostly on the grounds that they don't have much to teach me. This doesn't go well in some quarters (I'm sure they think privately: "The arrogant bitch!") But it's the truth, what do they expect to tell me that I haven't figured out so far? Certainly nothing about facts, and little about techniques to get more people involved. I've always had the attitude that I'd rather learn from the masters, and nobody in the Transition Network is a master of persuasion as far as I can tell. But there will be a dinner with the trainers this evening and I'm definitely talking with them. Making contact is always a good thing, especially if you are seeing people eye to eye, and not in an environment where you are implicitly accepting that they're better than you. We'll see how this turns out.
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