going_around_being_supportive epitome of incomprehensibility In my vernacular, adding "going around" to "doing/being something" emphasizes the continuous or prolonged nature of an action. "I'm not exactly going around being supportive" was my thought when I failed to convince my brother to log back in to his Gaelic lesson. The problem I wrote about in "zones" got resolved; he didn't have to attend a class at 4:30 AM, but wrote to the teacher in Scotland and was reassigned to the 10 AM (EST) Monday tutorial. Only he got nervous and closed the app, wailing about being nervous. The first thing I said to him was "don't be nervous," which is where I wasn't "going around being supportive." I meant to be, but it's not much use to tell someone not to be nervous. What I should have done was used Dad's strategy and get him to talk about something else. I almost did that by accident; I got in front of the screen in my fleecy snowflake-patterned pajamas, at which he expressed alarm that the video was still on; it wasn't, but the potential embarrassment of me appearing to his classmates with childish PJs drove his other nervousness to the periphery. Only it didn't last. He was stuck in a nervous loop - I had to take a shower - Dad was out with the dog - Mom was still asleep - and so no real-time Gaelic lesson got done. 240212 ... e_o_i This Monday he logged into the live class. Still, he castigated himself afterwards for being too shy to turn on the video. "Hey, but you did it," I said. "I mean went to the class." Captain_Obvious for the emotional uplift! We are trying! 240306 what's it to you? who go blather from