Now days all the money is in the hands of (trusted?) institutions like the people who made these lovely computers, these corporations had to find ways to reward consumers with cheap transferable premiums. Interestingly this has come in the form of things even more ephemeral than paper credit. Social Media, Massive Public Domain and of course that infinitely renewable resource of "INFORMATION."
In Human Relations, and now in "Games Theory" a Social Currency translates into "Cred." In society we are always required to have to account for ourselves. Who are you? What do you do? Who do you know? And probably the most important and difficult, "What can you do for me?" A good reference is hard to come by.
Probably the most interesting and problematic element of being the "Pro" Psychic, is networking. Who should we trust? Word of mouth is hard to come by. I find using the web to network too much like buying a "pig in a poke." The poke in this case is a crate that you can't see into. I am always amazed at how quickly people are willing to turn over control to their computers when it comes to networking. I find that although it has become a preferred platform for business, it still seems pointlessly slow and inefficient. I find this especially trying when it comes to promoting marketable skills. It's never, "What can you do?" Instead it's always "Who gave you my number?" Self promotion in a society that is dominated by "Authoritation by Proxy," means that networking always comes down to getting "Cred" through someone else's authority.
As I'm always doing social searches, (Heart Hunting) my job also makes me the "Yenta," (Matchmaker.) People are always trying to get me to tell them what to do and what's going to happen. How I am going to help them get what they believe is supposed to be their destiny. Most of this is nothing more than matching a person's interests to their actual abilities. Realism is everything. A good reading is just like the right music. (Timing is everything.)
I got a new laptop to replace my ten year old Mac which has sensitive math files that wouldn't have survived the newer Operating Systems. So I got to go through the culture shock of the web all over again, for the third time now. First in "94" in college, then again in "2003" and now finally last year. I went straight to you tube to listen to the music I had loved and I haven't left the music part of you tube yet. But when it came to new music, I wasn't finding anything I liked. I also hate ballads. My training partner thinks I'm full of beans for loving musical complexity. I am always searching and finding some new stuff that I like.
Finding music with the complex elegant song structure that had spoiled me back in the "50's" "60's" "70's" "80's" and "90's" has been an appetite hard to satisfy. In this auto tune, dub step, droning sound file endless tape loop, is marketed to the homogenized popular cultures of today. Nothing has really changed. So, just like with dating, I go on looking, asking friends, checking comment pages with similar interests and tastes. The amount of time that it takes to evolve personal tastes and experience is, just like dating, a potentially lifelong pursuit. I've had the privilege of an extensive liberal arts education and advanced musical training. I'm spoiled when it comes to all of the performance arts.
Beyond tastes, beyond genera, beyond milieu are the chops, skills and proofs of what it takes to get ahead, to be the best, to be current with the "Right Stuff." When it comes to playing the "Game," do you have the necessary "Social Currency?" Are You Flush? Are you able to invest and spend your Social Capital?
