"it's never the chocolate, it's always you"

[kensuguro]

"it's never the chocolate, it's always you"... some strong words from my pastry instructor. I was piping out some decorative patterns on the plate with melted chocolate in a piping bag. The bag itself was set on top of the oven to keep it warm and melted, but as time progressed, the chocolate got warmer and softer. So naturally, later on in the night, when I start piping the patterns, chocolate drips everywhere and I can't squeeze too hard or it comes out too fast, making the lines thick and uneven.

Apparently, we were using very high quality, expensive chocolate to do the patterns so the chocolate could do no wrong. If something went wrong, it was all my fault. I said, "yes chef, sorry chef", and thought to myself as I swallowed any other excuses for messing up the plate... well, it is kind of true. When I was playing clarinet, if something was difficult to control, I had to adjust. On a piano, the only "adjustable" part was me, unless the tuning was messed up. It's been a while since I've had to hold myself to these physical constraints, but with physical objects, there are limits. And there are also workarounds. And knowing the workarounds.. knowing how to adjust dynamically and respond to the situation meant technique and control.

Obviously, these are not foreign concepts.. but somewhere along the line of virtualizing everything and making everything adjustable and customizable... did our ability to adjust devolve into relying on total control and the complete reliance on a dynamic context that would adjust to our wrong doings rather than the other way around?

[garyb]

yes.

[dante]

Its not just the chocolate, its not just you. Its the relationship between the two. Relatively speaking. But yes realising a balance between the chocolates limitations and your own limitations improves that relationship.

Does having a motorbike mean we forget to walk ? To a degree but not entirely. I hear Japan has a fantastic public transport system. Does that mean we forget how to drive ? Well, that might be good.

[garyb]

"a bad craftsman blames his tools."

"don't watch the tool, watch the man behind it."

"Ganbare!"

[Nestor]

Going a little bit farther, and getting to the botton of it all, let say:

To be or not to be, that is the question!

[garyb]

there are reasons and there are excuses.

growing up means learning to live without excuses. i still need to grow up.

the reasons that the chocolate became too runny are one thing.
there's no excuse for a professional to have problems.

since you're learning Ken, there shouldn't be any penalty or anything but as the chef, it's your fault not the chocolate's.

fun, fun! i'm sure you'll be an excellent chef.

[Nestor]

If we were to live our lives without justifying it all with self-lies and excuses, that would cause much pain in the first place, but then, peace and understanding would be the outcome in our society. I am definitely and willingly ready to pay this price, and am also still growing up.

[kensuguro]

”growing up means learning to live without excuses. i still need to grow up.”

Now there's a line worth its weight in gold.

[kensuguro]

If we were to live our lives without justifying it all with self-lies and excuses, that would cause much pain in the first place, but then, peace and understanding would be the outcome in our society. I am definitely and willingly ready to pay this price, and am also still growing up.

Yup, "no pain no gain" seems to be an over simplification, but collectively we must all share the price. Definitely a strong generalization from the chocolate anecdote, but yes, I think this viewpoint holds true for understanding, peace, and other "common" goods. What makes the game even more interesting is the restriction that not one person, or a single minority group can afford the price due partially to power not being distributed to the appropriate places. Thus further increasing the cost and requiring even more people to share the price. But using people's abilities to pay this price (not specifically for peace but for common goods = commonwealth in general) can be strongly tied to the definition of "work", which can be used to formulate and design how corporations function. I'm working on attempt #2 at building a corporation around this concept, but it's still in its infancy. We'll see how it goes. And yes.. if it fails, it's not the corporation, it's me.

Like Gary pointed out, this is the whole professional accountability thing. You get a job, you make it happen regardless of all the complexities and problems the task ma entail because ultimately, you are responsible for the outcome. You might not have total control over every aspect of the task, but even within limited bounds, it is your duty as a professional to exploit all that is available and to make it happen. If it doesn't happen, guess what, it's me or you that's out of a job. Not the chocolate.