COFFEE HOUSE HABITUE ARE USUALLY VERY INTERESTING

Blog number 452 ******** 27 December 2010

My son Kartr has a teenage female friend that he met in her mom's coffee house. She claims to be a black belt karate expert. Kartr found out that she wasn't much good at it and asked why her teacher - whom she describes as a ninja, hasn't taught her to stretch correctly and she said that the teacher has thirty kids to teach, so he hasn't had time yet. Kartr told her that he could teach her in five minutes and does she call the guy a ninja because he disappears when needed for teaching?

She once mentioned that she meditated and Kartr found out that what she meant by mediation was to focus on something interesting - like some people "meditate" by sailing or fishing or walking in the woods. When he told her he meant real meditation where you focus on something and don't let the mind wander willy nilly like it does when you sail or fish or walk in the woods, she wasn't interested.

Today he told me that he gave the ninja chick a Starbucks card which she promptly lost, then later found in her pocket. He told her not to feel bad - that the pre-frontal lobe does not fully mature to the early 20's so that type of scatterbrain behavior is normal for teens.

Her 20 year old female coworker said, "cite your source," so Kartr went and found on his computer that,

"The Prefrontal Cortex is a part of the brain up in the forehead that acts as a "censoring" system. When you want something, but having it RIGHT NOW is not a good idea, the prefrontal cortex kicks in and controls your behavior.

In children, the prefrontal cortex is immature and doesn't fully mature until around age 25, although most of the maturation is done by age 15-16. This is why teenagers tend to be a bit...headstrong at times."

When he went to offer her the source she said, "the time has passed to when I was interested in that." e.g. HER PREFRONTAL LOBE HAD NOT FULLY MATURED AS HE HAD JUST EXPLAINED TO HER!

He said that another guy wanted to interrupt his drawing, saying that he needed an artist for his book Kartr told him bluntly that he doesn't talk about his drawing.

The reason Kartr doesn't talk about his drawings is that he'd rather draw than talk about it, and the people who ask about it are not really interested anyhow. He knows from experience that they just want to talk to him so that they can then turn the conversation around to them and their artistic abilities and interests.

He said he thought about this problem with people like that and decided to have some cards made up that say, "Thank you for showing interest in my work. However, if I am talking, that means I'm not drawing. I have a $50 fee to pull me away from my work if you have something serious to discuss."
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On Judge Judy yesterday, a young female witness came into the courtroom wearing a very short skirt. Judge Judy looked at her and asked her if she went to church.

The girl replied, "No. I'm a Christian."