For those of you who follow L5R continuity, here's my most concise advice for dealing with me:

Less Dragon. Less Phoenix. Less Crane. More Crab.

And of course, in 12Fold terms, that's "Less Mercurian, More Martian." How much do YOU think tigers like being caged and analysed? Even when they deserved it? At least have the decency to roar and bop our noses a little. :)

@LexYeen And actually, for that matter, reflective listening is probably a good approach too. "Huh, Kin. I dunno, that sounds kinda... militant/paranoid/crusty/unfair to me. Huh, I wonder, what if maybe you..." seems to work pretty well, though admittedly it's probably real tone-dependent and I could see many ways it could be screwed up tbh. n.n;

I mean, tigers and zebras are still fundamentally pains in the ass. n.n;

@LexYeen But yeah, I REALLY REALLY REALLY like to feel like I'm invited to the academic seminar on whether I'm full of shit or not, especially if people laugh at (or in any way shape or form acknowledge) my opening joke. ^___^; Being invited to speculate on the question, "Is Kin full of shit?", instead of feeling like I'm just the caged exhibit, can be very comforting, especially if it's an informal round table. Wine and cheese preferred.

@LexYeen I think people in general tend to underestimate how interested I am in that question, how full of shit I am. ^_____^

Come to think of it, I think a lot of my annoyance to the Brad Goodman approach is that it tends to feel like an assumption that I DON'T ALREADY KNOW DAMN WELL I'VE GONE BARKING MAD FOR A BIT BECAUSE MY NEURAL SOUP HAS GONE OFF AGAIN.