speaks with eyes

is it damaging to let someone's misunderstanding of what you've said go uncorrected? depends on what you mean by damaging, but it's unlikely to ever be a good thing, except in the most mischievous of cases. as wonderful as it might be for your opinion of yourself to be completely independent of what others think of you, humans are too social and capable of abstract thought for this to be the case. if you know someone sees you in a negative light as a consequence of their misunderstanding of something you said or asked, it can weigh you down. this problem is compounded when more people are around to misunderstand what you've said. but the most damaging thing about not correcting their misunderstanding is that it could lead you to become comfortable in keeping your silence when similar situations inevitably occur in the future. on the other hand, there's a limit to how much effort should be expended on correcting a person's misunderstanding. when they think they know what you mean, some people are like stubborn trains unwilling to switch tracks. or it might well be your own fault, your fumbled words which led to their misunderstanding in the first place are now digging the hole deeper in spite of your efforts to do the opposite. and there's a limit to how much people can take. for example, in a classroom where you've asked the prof a question and they've addressed the question they thought you asked but didn't, the rule of thumb is this: if you can't articulate what you meant within 2 back and forth exchanges with the prof, then you deserve to be misunderstood, however unpleasant that might make you feel, especially if the prof believed you were asking about something sickeningly obvious.

it is mid october

just now while walking home from school I was overcome with a strong sense that today was friday. though I normally welcome fridays with open arms, on this occasion I was discouraged because it would mean I'm 48hrs more behind on assignments than I already am. then, after a few seconds, I was relieved to discover that today is wednesday. I save best things for last. this usually is inconsequential in terms of productivity and goes unnoticed by people around me unless they're very observant, and I do it because it's a source of enjoyment. for example, I'll first pick out and eat all the cooked carrot slices in the pasta sauce so that I can enjoy the rest of my dinner without fear of biting down on a gross cooked carrot slice. it doesn't really fucking matter whether I eat all the carrots first or eat everything all together like most people. so here's an example of where my preference to save best things for last is a hindrance. I much prefer textbook analytical problem solving homework to laboratories. the ambiguity of labs and the expressionless face that is the lab report template combine to form a most toxic slurry that I'm forced to drink 3 times a week. textbook homework is assigned 1 week in advance. I can't work on these assignments during the first 6 days because I'm busy procrastinating lab reports. what's happened is, in the interest of saving my textbook homework assignments for last, I don't start them till maybe a day before they're due. this used to work, but doesn't anymore. it's either not enough time or I have a question about something or usually both. it's obvious I have to start my textbook homework soon after it's assigned, even with lab reports weighing on my shoulders, as uncomfortable as that will be. it's going to be like thoroughly mixing the cooked carrot slices with everything. I want to vomit.