Comment on Bacchante WIP by cwicseolfor
Aw, sorry x.X I get really bad about the rambling when I haven't had a good thoughtful conversation in the real world for a while. I prefer when death-figures have female ties, myself, I'm just getting into a back-and-forth with someone else about that - it's the whole blood/ fertility/ birth-mortality thing. In a lot of ways, we're more OF the world than men; the female is what makes and unmakes, and the male is what is made and unmade. I would like to hear more about this fantasy novel ^-^ And as for the openness and honesty of so much of old mythos when compared to the modern - I just did a ton of writing on that this morning over at my Lj. Tell me if you're curious, I'll summarize - 'cause like most of my blog it's basically a small textbook as written by a magpie attempting weakly to control the impulse to leap on EVERY SHINY TANGENT AVAILABLE. It goes on FOREVER because there's always something new catching the light. (Sorry to steal the magpie - they suit me quite well now and then. ^-^ Especially intellectually speaking - possibly clever, but with such a short attention span....)
I didn't mean to imply that you would imply otherwise ^-^ I just get carried away in talking about it, because the experience is so ridiculously cool. If I ever get you into a mask, I hope you'll end up persuaded otherwise re: the magic of it - you sound almost as if you don't think you could pull it off, which would be ridiculous as you have far too much going on in your head to be capable of being too dull, which is the only trait I don't know that I could incorporate into a mask intended for you. If I was misunderstanding that paragraph and it was just more along the lines of preference of standard persona, good ^-^ And by the way, going on your gallery photos, and your self-proclaimed height, you might actually do quite well with something grand and mystical, but that's just the hands talking, no need to mind 'em. They've been clamoring for a chance to try a green lady, but I want them to do a proper Dionysos or similar first, on special request from the maskmaker's boyfriend...
I didn't mean to imply that you would imply otherwise ^-^ I just get carried away in talking about it, because the experience is so ridiculously cool. If I ever get you into a mask, I hope you'll end up persuaded otherwise re: the magic of it - you sound almost as if you don't think you could pull it off, which would be ridiculous as you have far too much going on in your head to be capable of being too dull, which is the only trait I don't know that I could incorporate into a mask intended for you. If I was misunderstanding that paragraph and it was just more along the lines of preference of standard persona, good ^-^ And by the way, going on your gallery photos, and your self-proclaimed height, you might actually do quite well with something grand and mystical, but that's just the hands talking, no need to mind 'em. They've been clamoring for a chance to try a green lady, but I want them to do a proper Dionysos or similar first, on special request from the maskmaker's boyfriend...
It's not like I'm the first to use the magpie ref, steal away 
I always thought it was a hint of ADHD, but I like the idea of shiny thing/concept/idea better. Oh, look...
I don't even remember how many retellings I got into that book attempt, maybe a half dozen. If you're ever feeling bored note me your email and I'll send oneAnd no argument with the death having female ties. It gives a good symmetry as you pointed out. I've always kind of wondered why it doesn't seem to crop up much in the cultures of the people of the book... I think I've ref'd Persephone several times in various marginally related craft projects and poems. (Oh, digression, have you read the poet A.E. Stallings? If not, look her up. Good both modern and mythology based poetry. Some quite stunning) Also, I have this odd fascination with the Kali/Gauri contrast. I'm honestly not so hot with Indian mythology, I sometimes have issues following it. I'd love to hear about the lj rant, send me a synopsis or a link! I don't really use lj, couldn't tell you my last post, have it mostly because a friend bullied me into it years ago. I wasn't complaining about the length, more about the fact that I felt unequal to making a coherent reply. Obviously, coherence isn't exactly a strength of mine.
Oh god (we'll go with a pagan one!) it's a damn pain to do long responses with the stupid trojan attacks. I'm hoping the pc guys will make these stop!
And yeah, you read me right. It's like hearing about going to China, fasinating without really being able to imagine doing it myself. (I think I might have nabbed that analogy from somewhere, but beats me where at this point.) Closest I can tink of is my hunt for new glasses that I like, effect and persona-wise what image to project. (Plus glasses and mask, not such a good mix!) But that's like a mask you wear all the time, and some people forget there's a face behind it. Okay, so that metaphor falls a bit flat. Hrm. I toy with it in my dolls to some extent, though can't imagine your patience in crafting. All those attached vines and leaves all in one piece still doesn't seem possible. Like you made a mobius strip. To steal the roleplaying terminology I feel rather hopelessly mundane. Nothing against your magic. I certainly have no '
reference for standard persona' as you put it. Come on, it's DA. Who here goes for standard? Awesome term, btw. Very elegant yet thesis sounding. And promise, if I ever can swing the cost, I am going to pester you for a greenwoman mask. Recurrance of life and death theme again. Plus, hey, misericord and medieval artisanal inspirations, bonus!
So is he going to be Dionysus to your Bacchante then? Or will you lead him about by the nose?
Boy, did I totally hijack your comments page yet?
I always thought it was a hint of ADHD, but I like the idea of shiny thing/concept/idea better. Oh, look...I don't even remember how many retellings I got into that book attempt, maybe a half dozen. If you're ever feeling bored note me your email and I'll send one
And no argument with the death having female ties. It gives a good symmetry as you pointed out. I've always kind of wondered why it doesn't seem to crop up much in the cultures of the people of the book... I think I've ref'd Persephone several times in various marginally related craft projects and poems. (Oh, digression, have you read the poet A.E. Stallings? If not, look her up. Good both modern and mythology based poetry. Some quite stunning) Also, I have this odd fascination with the Kali/Gauri contrast. I'm honestly not so hot with Indian mythology, I sometimes have issues following it. I'd love to hear about the lj rant, send me a synopsis or a link! I don't really use lj, couldn't tell you my last post, have it mostly because a friend bullied me into it years ago. I wasn't complaining about the length, more about the fact that I felt unequal to making a coherent reply. Obviously, coherence isn't exactly a strength of mine.Oh god (we'll go with a pagan one!) it's a damn pain to do long responses with the stupid trojan attacks. I'm hoping the pc guys will make these stop!
And yeah, you read me right. It's like hearing about going to China, fasinating without really being able to imagine doing it myself. (I think I might have nabbed that analogy from somewhere, but beats me where at this point.) Closest I can tink of is my hunt for new glasses that I like, effect and persona-wise what image to project. (Plus glasses and mask, not such a good mix!) But that's like a mask you wear all the time, and some people forget there's a face behind it. Okay, so that metaphor falls a bit flat. Hrm. I toy with it in my dolls to some extent, though can't imagine your patience in crafting. All those attached vines and leaves all in one piece still doesn't seem possible. Like you made a mobius strip. To steal the roleplaying terminology I feel rather hopelessly mundane. Nothing against your magic. I certainly have no '
reference for standard persona' as you put it. Come on, it's DA. Who here goes for standard? Awesome term, btw. Very elegant yet thesis sounding. And promise, if I ever can swing the cost, I am going to pester you for a greenwoman mask. Recurrance of life and death theme again. Plus, hey, misericord and medieval artisanal inspirations, bonus!So is he going to be Dionysus to your Bacchante then? Or will you lead him about by the nose?
Boy, did I totally hijack your comments page yet?
GAH! I read that line about "hearing about going to China," and I remembered hearing that, that it was a really sympathetic female character talking in a modern-day setting about how "falling in love was like going to China," and my boyfriend and I struggled for HALF AN HOUR trying to place the reference before I realized that it was Mary Malone from Amber Spyglass. X.x
You oughta post your story to your scraps or something, sometimes discussion sparks new ideas. I think death ceases to be feminine because of the nature of monotheism - you can't have any personification of it in official matters. If it were personified, it'd assuredly be female - probably Eve's daughter, given it was she who went and screwed everything up. ::eyeroll::
The short version of the Lj ramble: I talk about a movie for a while, then get distracted and start going off on Tolkien's Monsters & Critics lecture on Beowulf, which very prominently features slightly self-conscious sympathizing on part of a devout Catholic with the Norse perspective on the world: everything's going to be destroyed, nothing's gonna survive, everything will be as if it never was, and yet that that makes it no less worthy. That's a pretty unChristian idea. And yet it resonated deeply with this Catholic professor - arguably, I'd say, cause Christianity never really deals with the losses in life - instead it just says "but everything'll be fine after you die." It probably makes more sense in the long form; just so you know, I have a spoileriffic movie review in the middle, behind a cut, so don't click on that. I get around to Tolkien after the cut text.
Referring to the "preference for standard persona," I mean one's usual expressed identity. I've known a scant few people who, when I asked them about Halloween or similar events they didn't participate in, told me they didn't have any desire to dress up like somebody else, because they didn't aspire to be anybody else.
I know what you mean about the glasses thing - and it very much is the same sort of issue. The image you project is the version of yourself that people react to. But a lot of the draw of masquerade to me is in the refutation of the constraints of that projected self-image, set in a social context; if you can't express everything of who and what you are in your day to day attire, say 'cause henna is seen as unprofessional, it can be cathartic to go all out and wear an inner self on the outside in public. (It's probably why so many of our festivals began to involve elaborate costuming in conjunction with relaxed social sanctioning.) Also, like Mary's "China", it's one of those things that can't be experienced vicariously, that doesn't really click in your head until it happens to you, and for some it can present an opportunity to learn about oneself.
Sometimes, though, it's more than just a matter of being able to wear what you want to school or work - some people internalize a very limited projected image as WHO YOU ARE FUNDAMENTALLY AS A PERSON, and that gets REALLY frustrating for some of us - myself included. It's a little unfair to find it aggravating - with a lot of people, they only see you under certain circumstances, and they're only going on the information they have - but there's also something somewhat offensive about the idea that to do something superficially different (like wear a different article of clothing) violates their entire idea of who you are. The clear disconnect is in that they're demonstrating that they believe themselves to be well-acquainted with you at the exact same moment that they prove that they aren't - and it can come off as distinctly presumptuous. A few people will catch themselves and rephrase it; some people are sort of naive in their bearing so that it's experienced as an innocent misunderstanding. But generally it's annoying, and some will make it come off as incredibly insulting, with the overall message: "I didn't know you had a life beyond your interactions with me."
What patience I can put into vines and leaves I can't wrap my head around when applied to needle and thread - I'd get fed up before I got half the doll done and leave it. Like most things, it's not so much one's patience as what one enjoys enough to stretch that patience into a finished work. Sorry about the computer virus - that's miserable, fortunately I haven't had to deal with it on my own machine... yet. And don't ever worry about length of writing - if you've gotten all the way down here you can't have missed just how megalithic my text walls tend to be - just fear what you might incur when you provide so much matter for discussion to someone as verbose as myself. ^-^
You oughta post your story to your scraps or something, sometimes discussion sparks new ideas. I think death ceases to be feminine because of the nature of monotheism - you can't have any personification of it in official matters. If it were personified, it'd assuredly be female - probably Eve's daughter, given it was she who went and screwed everything up. ::eyeroll::
The short version of the Lj ramble: I talk about a movie for a while, then get distracted and start going off on Tolkien's Monsters & Critics lecture on Beowulf, which very prominently features slightly self-conscious sympathizing on part of a devout Catholic with the Norse perspective on the world: everything's going to be destroyed, nothing's gonna survive, everything will be as if it never was, and yet that that makes it no less worthy. That's a pretty unChristian idea. And yet it resonated deeply with this Catholic professor - arguably, I'd say, cause Christianity never really deals with the losses in life - instead it just says "but everything'll be fine after you die." It probably makes more sense in the long form; just so you know, I have a spoileriffic movie review in the middle, behind a cut, so don't click on that. I get around to Tolkien after the cut text.
Referring to the "preference for standard persona," I mean one's usual expressed identity. I've known a scant few people who, when I asked them about Halloween or similar events they didn't participate in, told me they didn't have any desire to dress up like somebody else, because they didn't aspire to be anybody else.
I know what you mean about the glasses thing - and it very much is the same sort of issue. The image you project is the version of yourself that people react to. But a lot of the draw of masquerade to me is in the refutation of the constraints of that projected self-image, set in a social context; if you can't express everything of who and what you are in your day to day attire, say 'cause henna is seen as unprofessional, it can be cathartic to go all out and wear an inner self on the outside in public. (It's probably why so many of our festivals began to involve elaborate costuming in conjunction with relaxed social sanctioning.) Also, like Mary's "China", it's one of those things that can't be experienced vicariously, that doesn't really click in your head until it happens to you, and for some it can present an opportunity to learn about oneself.
Sometimes, though, it's more than just a matter of being able to wear what you want to school or work - some people internalize a very limited projected image as WHO YOU ARE FUNDAMENTALLY AS A PERSON, and that gets REALLY frustrating for some of us - myself included. It's a little unfair to find it aggravating - with a lot of people, they only see you under certain circumstances, and they're only going on the information they have - but there's also something somewhat offensive about the idea that to do something superficially different (like wear a different article of clothing) violates their entire idea of who you are. The clear disconnect is in that they're demonstrating that they believe themselves to be well-acquainted with you at the exact same moment that they prove that they aren't - and it can come off as distinctly presumptuous. A few people will catch themselves and rephrase it; some people are sort of naive in their bearing so that it's experienced as an innocent misunderstanding. But generally it's annoying, and some will make it come off as incredibly insulting, with the overall message: "I didn't know you had a life beyond your interactions with me."
What patience I can put into vines and leaves I can't wrap my head around when applied to needle and thread - I'd get fed up before I got half the doll done and leave it. Like most things, it's not so much one's patience as what one enjoys enough to stretch that patience into a finished work. Sorry about the computer virus - that's miserable, fortunately I haven't had to deal with it on my own machine... yet. And don't ever worry about length of writing - if you've gotten all the way down here you can't have missed just how megalithic my text walls tend to be - just fear what you might incur when you provide so much matter for discussion to someone as verbose as myself. ^-^
First, if I ever get up the guts/ get drunk enough to go to grad school for comp lit, I want you as my advisor!
Second, thanks to you and your boyfriend. I felt awful using that quote while going braindead on where it was from. Possibly ironic, or at least pathetic, that I forgot, since I'm trying to reread Milton before rereading His Dark Materials. I remembered it was in a discussion on love, because it made me think 'I don't know if I've ever really been in love, or was just deluding myself.' It's amazing how literature can screw you up
Third, I'll have to think about posting the stories. I'm not sure if i should just close my eyes and do it, or if I should reread them first, do a bit of a polish, and then debate. As I've explained to someone else, to be posting my writing is like I'd imagine a public striptease, I'm mortified to show off all my fatty or jiggly bits!
Did I tell you to read The Magician's Book yet? Our talk has been going on for so long I forgot what I remember to say and what I forgot. Follow?
Oh, and the other random interjection, you ought to look into
contest. I think it'd be so up your alley. It's driving me nuts, because I don't have any one thing I identify with all the time. Well, magpies a bit But still. So I've done all this pondering, I can't even commit to elements or colors. And people wonder why I've no interest in getting a tattoo. *sigh* But worth a look on your part, since identity is so key to your thought process and crafting.
I think I'm going to send your lj link to a friend if you don't mind. She was in my Lewis/Tolkien class as well as ancient near eastern religion and I think she's enjoy your take on pagan vs christian psychology. She once told me I'd make a great pagan except for the whole belief thing... There's something niggling in the back of my head, a little of your analysis reminds me of the Greek take on the world and the idea of hope being a double edged blade. It's there, but not formed yet. If I'm pondering this at three in the morning I'm going to hunt you down
I love Halloween, don't dress up as anything too exciting- generally vampire or dryad or random wench. Though I did say the hell with it and go as a 'makeup artist' once after getting flack for going as Esmerelda. Funny, the people I've known who didn't do it, stayed out for religious reasons, not due to having one solid persona. I myself can't imagine going through a day without wondering what it'd be like to be someone else. (I'm not sure that's healthy, but hey...)
Oh, and after the anxiety of debating between mildly trendy blue glasses that would be a bit of a change for me (that and I like the color blue, not brown, but I think of myself as an earth elemental type and mildly woodsy, and worry blue might be a bit showy and airy and watery, which I certainly am not...), and more professional brown, nobody has even noticed that I've gotten new frames. *facepalm* Still not sure if I like them, mind, since the blue doesn't seem to o so well when I wear green and puts me off on my occasional dryad theme days, but I think the apathy is settling in.
I work retail, so that disconnect is inherent in my job to some extent. I think people don't get that I do exist even when I'm not helping them find a book. One of two of my regulars seem thrilled to run into me out of work, others have a bit of a what are you doing here attitude. Like you said, presumptuous. Another sort of odd but oddly similar thing is the perception of artists. Do you ever get people who look at you, and look at your work, then feel the need to reconfirm that you made it? It seems like some people picture all artisan types in bohemian dress of some sort, and to look mostly off the rack just doesn't josh with their conception.
I think what the mask thing, and Elly's contest, inadvertantly set off is the realization that I don't know who I am, and that the disconnect between work and life seems to be creeping in on me from the oddest angles. So yeah, maybe I'm going nuts, and I certainly didn't mean to do so on your comments. But you're such a good talker
Second, thanks to you and your boyfriend. I felt awful using that quote while going braindead on where it was from. Possibly ironic, or at least pathetic, that I forgot, since I'm trying to reread Milton before rereading His Dark Materials. I remembered it was in a discussion on love, because it made me think 'I don't know if I've ever really been in love, or was just deluding myself.' It's amazing how literature can screw you up
Third, I'll have to think about posting the stories. I'm not sure if i should just close my eyes and do it, or if I should reread them first, do a bit of a polish, and then debate. As I've explained to someone else, to be posting my writing is like I'd imagine a public striptease, I'm mortified to show off all my fatty or jiggly bits!
Did I tell you to read The Magician's Book yet? Our talk has been going on for so long I forgot what I remember to say and what I forgot. Follow?
Oh, and the other random interjection, you ought to look into
contest. I think it'd be so up your alley. It's driving me nuts, because I don't have any one thing I identify with all the time. Well, magpies a bit But still. So I've done all this pondering, I can't even commit to elements or colors. And people wonder why I've no interest in getting a tattoo. *sigh* But worth a look on your part, since identity is so key to your thought process and crafting.I think I'm going to send your lj link to a friend if you don't mind. She was in my Lewis/Tolkien class as well as ancient near eastern religion and I think she's enjoy your take on pagan vs christian psychology. She once told me I'd make a great pagan except for the whole belief thing... There's something niggling in the back of my head, a little of your analysis reminds me of the Greek take on the world and the idea of hope being a double edged blade. It's there, but not formed yet. If I'm pondering this at three in the morning I'm going to hunt you down
I love Halloween, don't dress up as anything too exciting- generally vampire or dryad or random wench. Though I did say the hell with it and go as a 'makeup artist' once after getting flack for going as Esmerelda. Funny, the people I've known who didn't do it, stayed out for religious reasons, not due to having one solid persona. I myself can't imagine going through a day without wondering what it'd be like to be someone else. (I'm not sure that's healthy, but hey...)
Oh, and after the anxiety of debating between mildly trendy blue glasses that would be a bit of a change for me (that and I like the color blue, not brown, but I think of myself as an earth elemental type and mildly woodsy, and worry blue might be a bit showy and airy and watery, which I certainly am not...), and more professional brown, nobody has even noticed that I've gotten new frames. *facepalm* Still not sure if I like them, mind, since the blue doesn't seem to o so well when I wear green and puts me off on my occasional dryad theme days, but I think the apathy is settling in.
I work retail, so that disconnect is inherent in my job to some extent. I think people don't get that I do exist even when I'm not helping them find a book. One of two of my regulars seem thrilled to run into me out of work, others have a bit of a what are you doing here attitude. Like you said, presumptuous. Another sort of odd but oddly similar thing is the perception of artists. Do you ever get people who look at you, and look at your work, then feel the need to reconfirm that you made it? It seems like some people picture all artisan types in bohemian dress of some sort, and to look mostly off the rack just doesn't josh with their conception.
I think what the mask thing, and Elly's contest, inadvertantly set off is the realization that I don't know who I am, and that the disconnect between work and life seems to be creeping in on me from the oddest angles. So yeah, maybe I'm going nuts, and I certainly didn't mean to do so on your comments. But you're such a good talker
I realized I never got back to Halloween, which makes this an even more meandering reply than intended, but here goes - I had a good friend - an artist, even - who just didn't dig costume. She never saw the appeal in dressing up as someone or something else. If she wore a costume, it was always for humor value. Myself, I've done fairly non-specific dark-looking things since adolescence, as since then I've had an outlet for "light" costumes in the form of faire, and I've had one massively elaborate costume planned out (the black lace project I was rambling about a couple years back, something I still plan to do.) This last year my plans fell through, largely due to exhaustion, and I wound up assembling a rather generic gypsy from bits and pieces of other costumes in the two hours before the party (that's right - not even a mask.) Horrifyingly drab compared to previous years, but it looked good, especially after snatching my boyfriend's costume (which consisted pretty well solely of a top hat) and dovetailed into one of our party games quite well.
Lastly, are you quite sure you don't know who you are? You clearly have a lot of self to be unsure of. If "the disconnect between work and life" refers to the person you have to be to be employable vs. your private self, and that's a contributing factor, I could follow that completely; I'd argue that unfortunately we're not really permitted to integrate all those things at once, but have to show each face by turns, and the result can sometimes be that none of those faces feels genuine. If I'm wrong on that, clarification might assist. But if you're really feeling lost, I'd go look through your own gallery, and maybe reread a handful of those stories you're wary of posting - sometimes that sort of tangible evidence can really remind you of what you're made up of, and it tends to be a pretty positive, affirming sort of reminder. In any case, you're not going nuts, but if you were you'd be welcome to do it in the comment boards, 'cause I really don't know what else they're here for. And as you seem nearly dead-set on feeling guilty for the use of this one, does it help that I plan to post up a probably-complete version of the Bacchante under another deviation? This page'll be relegated to the ranks of the rest of the WIPs, where people only come poke and look when they either really like the theoretically-finished version or disapprove of my paint scheme ^-^
Lastly, are you quite sure you don't know who you are? You clearly have a lot of self to be unsure of. If "the disconnect between work and life" refers to the person you have to be to be employable vs. your private self, and that's a contributing factor, I could follow that completely; I'd argue that unfortunately we're not really permitted to integrate all those things at once, but have to show each face by turns, and the result can sometimes be that none of those faces feels genuine. If I'm wrong on that, clarification might assist. But if you're really feeling lost, I'd go look through your own gallery, and maybe reread a handful of those stories you're wary of posting - sometimes that sort of tangible evidence can really remind you of what you're made up of, and it tends to be a pretty positive, affirming sort of reminder. In any case, you're not going nuts, but if you were you'd be welcome to do it in the comment boards, 'cause I really don't know what else they're here for. And as you seem nearly dead-set on feeling guilty for the use of this one, does it help that I plan to post up a probably-complete version of the Bacchante under another deviation? This page'll be relegated to the ranks of the rest of the WIPs, where people only come poke and look when they either really like the theoretically-finished version or disapprove of my paint scheme ^-^
You do have me a bit worried over the coloring myself, seeing as I love this piece so much 'as is'
I still can't imagine someone not wanting to dress up, especially an artist. Totally alien mindset! I've more costume ideas/wants that I'd ever have places to wear 'em...
You got the facet thing pretty much dead on. Especially about the genuine part. I think it's just becoming an effort to remind myself of that. (Which is stupid really, I'm a jeweler, thinking in facets should be natural to me. Hrmm... possible project concept there...) I have to smile at work, so I find myself doing it to strangers when I get off-no terrible thing, I know. But it doesn't feel honest. And an honest smile can light up a day. Besides the pay and the attitudes that's why I'm dying to get out. But I feel like I've already made myself unemployable since I never get callbacks on resumes. Welll, not so much now, lots of people are in that boat now...
I still can't imagine someone not wanting to dress up, especially an artist. Totally alien mindset! I've more costume ideas/wants that I'd ever have places to wear 'em...
You got the facet thing pretty much dead on. Especially about the genuine part. I think it's just becoming an effort to remind myself of that. (Which is stupid really, I'm a jeweler, thinking in facets should be natural to me. Hrmm... possible project concept there...) I have to smile at work, so I find myself doing it to strangers when I get off-no terrible thing, I know. But it doesn't feel honest. And an honest smile can light up a day. Besides the pay and the attitudes that's why I'm dying to get out. But I feel like I've already made myself unemployable since I never get callbacks on resumes. Welll, not so much now, lots of people are in that boat now...
As far as coloring the Bacchante, I've only done the leaves, and I'll leave the rest alone, as it's the original, and thus will belong to me until the end of time or until I become desperate, whichever shows up first. I can do what I want with it.
Costumes: Yes yes yes. Oh, WHY have we gone and eliminated most of the good masquing festivals...
Poke me if the jewelry project gets going, as that sounds marvellous. I've itched for a while to do a mask pendant a la ~phee-adornments' work, if not so FLAWLESS, with a dual face, so it might be at least a little more than usually reflective of my personality. It wouldn't really be anything new or unusual for me, I've made a handful of polymer pendants over the years, as I'm unpierced and have a bad habit of destroying bracelets, so rings and pendants (fidget jewelry) is as much as I tend to wear. I just haven't had time to sit down and DO it. It'll probably be of a seelie/ unseelie bent...
How on earth could you be considered unemployable if you can dislike your job and hold it when there are people who'd line around the corner to take your place? Though I sort of wonder if you list your extracurriculars somewhere - being a jeweler is something they may not see everyday - it may prove more memorable. I've considered it for my own, as it's not like I have a lot of work history I can flaunt, and if I'm to take up space, at least I can be interesting about it.
The dishonesty of moods grates after a while - and it's our half of the species that has to put up with it, no matter where we work or how. We're everywhere expected to be social facilitators. Retail just magnifies it. The only thing I've ever had available to respond to that sort of situation with was to analyze the situation and see it from the perspective that I was being paid to lie to people; the best way to lie is to convince yourself that it's all true, find a way to see it as truth. So take whatever pleasures you can in the job - have SOMETHING to smile about and let the customers think that you're doing it at them; else, take a cue from our dear Lyra Silvertongue and take pleasure directly in the action of spinning the lie of pleasure. Were I not concerned about coming off as slightly evil and more than slightly manipulative, I'd say you're basically courting your customers, and that you can come out the other side of the transaction with increased social credit while only bringing them to feel more comfortable - win-win. The honest smile you get once they've found what they were looking for is just an extra perk.
I've also found that you can recover a lot of your identity's figurative proprioception just by going back and doing something, a hobby, you haven't had or made time for in a while, preferably but not necessarily something that requires being in absolute top form to do well. The emotional stimulus is familiar and tends to work out in its usual fashion, very literally making you feel 'like your old self again'.
Costumes: Yes yes yes. Oh, WHY have we gone and eliminated most of the good masquing festivals...
Poke me if the jewelry project gets going, as that sounds marvellous. I've itched for a while to do a mask pendant a la ~phee-adornments' work, if not so FLAWLESS, with a dual face, so it might be at least a little more than usually reflective of my personality. It wouldn't really be anything new or unusual for me, I've made a handful of polymer pendants over the years, as I'm unpierced and have a bad habit of destroying bracelets, so rings and pendants (fidget jewelry) is as much as I tend to wear. I just haven't had time to sit down and DO it. It'll probably be of a seelie/ unseelie bent...
How on earth could you be considered unemployable if you can dislike your job and hold it when there are people who'd line around the corner to take your place? Though I sort of wonder if you list your extracurriculars somewhere - being a jeweler is something they may not see everyday - it may prove more memorable. I've considered it for my own, as it's not like I have a lot of work history I can flaunt, and if I'm to take up space, at least I can be interesting about it.
The dishonesty of moods grates after a while - and it's our half of the species that has to put up with it, no matter where we work or how. We're everywhere expected to be social facilitators. Retail just magnifies it. The only thing I've ever had available to respond to that sort of situation with was to analyze the situation and see it from the perspective that I was being paid to lie to people; the best way to lie is to convince yourself that it's all true, find a way to see it as truth. So take whatever pleasures you can in the job - have SOMETHING to smile about and let the customers think that you're doing it at them; else, take a cue from our dear Lyra Silvertongue and take pleasure directly in the action of spinning the lie of pleasure. Were I not concerned about coming off as slightly evil and more than slightly manipulative, I'd say you're basically courting your customers, and that you can come out the other side of the transaction with increased social credit while only bringing them to feel more comfortable - win-win. The honest smile you get once they've found what they were looking for is just an extra perk.
I've also found that you can recover a lot of your identity's figurative proprioception just by going back and doing something, a hobby, you haven't had or made time for in a while, preferably but not necessarily something that requires being in absolute top form to do well. The emotional stimulus is familiar and tends to work out in its usual fashion, very literally making you feel 'like your old self again'.
Oh, I think you should mention your art on your resume. It's rare, and might give you a good jumping off point for conversations in interviews where you can wow them with your breadth of knowledge I do have mine at the bottom of my resume, I mention the wirework and glasswork as well as quilting. I figure givent he chance I can argue they give a great deal of practice in planning, attention to detail, patience, and thinking outside the box. I'm lucky to have a job, I know. I just want one that would pay the bills enough to move out! (Or go back to school!)
I'll ponder on the facets jewelry, I keep thinking of Buffy and the quote about Janus- something like god of light and dark, order and chaos, crunchy and creamy...
I had a friend point out once that I couldn't be as awful a roleplayer as I thought (and have been told) since I managed to convince people I want to help them I've never been good at courting either, but it's an interesting POV.
You're right on that last bit. I kind of got roped last minute into a craft show, so I'm going to slip back into embroidering for awhile. If nothing else, though frantic, I hope maybe doing a show will be a new type of networkign opportunity.
I do have mine at the bottom of my resume, I mention the wirework and glasswork as well as quilting. I figure givent he chance I can argue they give a great deal of practice in planning, attention to detail, patience, and thinking outside the box. I'm lucky to have a job, I know. I just want one that would pay the bills enough to move out! (Or go back to school!)I'll ponder on the facets jewelry, I keep thinking of Buffy and the quote about Janus- something like god of light and dark, order and chaos, crunchy and creamy...
I had a friend point out once that I couldn't be as awful a roleplayer as I thought (and have been told) since I managed to convince people I want to help them
I've never been good at courting either, but it's an interesting POV.You're right on that last bit. I kind of got roped last minute into a craft show, so I'm going to slip back into embroidering for awhile. If nothing else, though frantic, I hope maybe doing a show will be a new type of networkign opportunity.
I'll look into the book. I like books. I may even have the time to read before long...
I don't have any idea what I'd do for =Ellygator's contest; I can't settle on one sort of symbolism. Which is precisely why whenever I've had to choose a static identifier for myself it's been something of a cheat - e.g. cwicseolfor, the ever-mutable. I also know precisely what you mean about tattoos; I love them, they're gorgeous, and I'll never have one, precisely because it'd prevent me doing something else later. Henna, however, is a close friend of mine ^-^ It's actually been a real pain not being able to settle on a mark, so I selected the most abstracted of my masks, the one who seems mid-shift, melting and unsettled. I have no ability to commit to anything for more than a day. Caprice doesn't boil down very well.
Yet you're very right - I'm very captivated by identity, and I wonder why. I've never really yearned for it the way American culture dictates young people ought - I always felt rather the opposite, that I had entirely too much identity to go and express it all at once. I also follow you about the glasses conflict; e.g. I really like brilliant colors that I should both NEVER WEAR due to complexion clash and that don't match anything else I own. I have a scarf I bought in China - an extreme, violent red somewhere between arterial blood and alizarin crimson - that I can only wear with black because there's nothing that could stand up to it. I prefer earth tones, things that wouldn't look too jarring in the Texas chaparral-and-cedar woods I spent so much of my childhood in, but the COLOR in this thing's so saturated it's positively trippy to look at. It's not who I am, but someone I certainly wish I could be. As a kid (and often now) I'd wish I had the sort of rich cinnamon skintone a few of my friends had, and the flawlessly straight black hair of the attendant at my nursery, so I could wear the brilliant shades they did. Since my teens, spice vermilion and gold has always been a very dangerous combination. Even if it didn't make me look anemic, it doesn't remotely suit the rest of my earthy, olive-green, soft-brown, cardinal-red-is-here-on-provision, plum-is-an-excursion, this-is-who-I'll-be-during-the-day wardrobe and persona. Distinctly awkward. Also, if you plan to keep your current self-style intact, the worst thing to do is go live in a foreign country long enough to absorb the style. I came back with a slate-blue denim jacket with an 80s-huge collar and massive belt at the hem situated around one's RIBS. It's so everything I tend not towards. Yet I love the damned thing, despite having nothing to wear with it, nor even any idea what would look good with it. The complement would be BRONZE, for chrissakes.
You're dead in the middle of the storm when it comes to retail. Really (oh, how I try to avoid the tangents, and they come up anyway), much of the trouble people have in conceiving that we all equally have, y'know, lives, is rooted in the fact that we see so many people everyday. You can only really relate to so many as people before your brain overloads; there was some research done on this that suggested the number was in the vicinity of 150. I think it derives from an evolutionary history of small tribes, personally, but that's rather beside the point; outside of that circle of roughly 150 we stop filling in the gaps with "person" and start accepting fairly flat images of people. Some of us are just less imaginative than others, and don't realize that there is indeed an unknown beyond our own perception.
Re: the artist thing - I've gotten the exact same reaction, but never experienced it in that way. I never felt that people had a hard time seeing me as an artist, probably because all of my life I've been seen as something of an oddity: three feet of hair, delicately built, and feminine, with a loud mouth, no interest in fashion, and a tendency to tromp around in army boots in the woods. Weirdness made the art less incongruous, almost as if it relieved people to find out I liked to draw, as if that explained away all my eccentricities. So when I got that reaction I usually assumed it had more to do with my age, the same way some of my teachers did double takes at certain things I'd say in class or hand in in writing - children under a certain age are presumed simply not to have much capacity for abstract thought and I didn't fit their schema. (Take that, Piaget. I never liked him anyway.) I never had much of an artist "type" in my head - though perhaps I've been a little inoculated by the amount of time I've spent in conversation with artists of all types at ren faires; I mean, look at any of these guys. I've met a lot of conservatively-dressed, middle-aged, office-appropriate artists, and a great many inked and dyed every chemical shade with more hardware than your average toolkit (I live within two hours of Austin, after all.)
In any case, I think I've spent little enough of my time looking off-the-rack that people kind of expect a little of the weirdness, and I've always been the highly immature type to enjoy teasing with further contradiction. E.g., certain groups of men will try and broadly schematize the women they're interested in, so as to better figure out how to be impressive. If they catch you bunching up your long cotton skirt to rescue a spider from your shrieking classmates, they'll say something about how they always thought vegetarianism was a higher moral path and wish they had the willpower to stick with it (yes, I've gotten this multiple times, and while one sounded sincere, with most it tends to have a greasy feel of falsehood which is badly exacerbated by the appeal to morality.) For me, puerile and always thrilled to confuse someone into rethinking a situation, this was always the cue to brace against impending laughter, carefully look into their face with a little of the same falsity, wide-eyed artlessness, and state that I've never really subscribed to that morality, and took a nice fat buck last year. And then go to take Arachne's little daughter outside, where I could laugh freely. It's terribly childish, but oh, there's just nothing like deflating the combined presumptuousness of stereotyping a real human girl, and then using such a phony line to try to appeal to the imagined stereotype.
I don't have any idea what I'd do for =Ellygator's contest; I can't settle on one sort of symbolism. Which is precisely why whenever I've had to choose a static identifier for myself it's been something of a cheat - e.g. cwicseolfor, the ever-mutable. I also know precisely what you mean about tattoos; I love them, they're gorgeous, and I'll never have one, precisely because it'd prevent me doing something else later. Henna, however, is a close friend of mine ^-^ It's actually been a real pain not being able to settle on a mark, so I selected the most abstracted of my masks, the one who seems mid-shift, melting and unsettled. I have no ability to commit to anything for more than a day. Caprice doesn't boil down very well.
Yet you're very right - I'm very captivated by identity, and I wonder why. I've never really yearned for it the way American culture dictates young people ought - I always felt rather the opposite, that I had entirely too much identity to go and express it all at once. I also follow you about the glasses conflict; e.g. I really like brilliant colors that I should both NEVER WEAR due to complexion clash and that don't match anything else I own. I have a scarf I bought in China - an extreme, violent red somewhere between arterial blood and alizarin crimson - that I can only wear with black because there's nothing that could stand up to it. I prefer earth tones, things that wouldn't look too jarring in the Texas chaparral-and-cedar woods I spent so much of my childhood in, but the COLOR in this thing's so saturated it's positively trippy to look at. It's not who I am, but someone I certainly wish I could be. As a kid (and often now) I'd wish I had the sort of rich cinnamon skintone a few of my friends had, and the flawlessly straight black hair of the attendant at my nursery, so I could wear the brilliant shades they did. Since my teens, spice vermilion and gold has always been a very dangerous combination. Even if it didn't make me look anemic, it doesn't remotely suit the rest of my earthy, olive-green, soft-brown, cardinal-red-is-here-on-provision, plum-is-an-excursion, this-is-who-I'll-be-during-the-day wardrobe and persona. Distinctly awkward. Also, if you plan to keep your current self-style intact, the worst thing to do is go live in a foreign country long enough to absorb the style. I came back with a slate-blue denim jacket with an 80s-huge collar and massive belt at the hem situated around one's RIBS. It's so everything I tend not towards. Yet I love the damned thing, despite having nothing to wear with it, nor even any idea what would look good with it. The complement would be BRONZE, for chrissakes.
You're dead in the middle of the storm when it comes to retail. Really (oh, how I try to avoid the tangents, and they come up anyway), much of the trouble people have in conceiving that we all equally have, y'know, lives, is rooted in the fact that we see so many people everyday. You can only really relate to so many as people before your brain overloads; there was some research done on this that suggested the number was in the vicinity of 150. I think it derives from an evolutionary history of small tribes, personally, but that's rather beside the point; outside of that circle of roughly 150 we stop filling in the gaps with "person" and start accepting fairly flat images of people. Some of us are just less imaginative than others, and don't realize that there is indeed an unknown beyond our own perception.
Re: the artist thing - I've gotten the exact same reaction, but never experienced it in that way. I never felt that people had a hard time seeing me as an artist, probably because all of my life I've been seen as something of an oddity: three feet of hair, delicately built, and feminine, with a loud mouth, no interest in fashion, and a tendency to tromp around in army boots in the woods. Weirdness made the art less incongruous, almost as if it relieved people to find out I liked to draw, as if that explained away all my eccentricities. So when I got that reaction I usually assumed it had more to do with my age, the same way some of my teachers did double takes at certain things I'd say in class or hand in in writing - children under a certain age are presumed simply not to have much capacity for abstract thought and I didn't fit their schema. (Take that, Piaget. I never liked him anyway.) I never had much of an artist "type" in my head - though perhaps I've been a little inoculated by the amount of time I've spent in conversation with artists of all types at ren faires; I mean, look at any of these guys. I've met a lot of conservatively-dressed, middle-aged, office-appropriate artists, and a great many inked and dyed every chemical shade with more hardware than your average toolkit (I live within two hours of Austin, after all.)
In any case, I think I've spent little enough of my time looking off-the-rack that people kind of expect a little of the weirdness, and I've always been the highly immature type to enjoy teasing with further contradiction. E.g., certain groups of men will try and broadly schematize the women they're interested in, so as to better figure out how to be impressive. If they catch you bunching up your long cotton skirt to rescue a spider from your shrieking classmates, they'll say something about how they always thought vegetarianism was a higher moral path and wish they had the willpower to stick with it (yes, I've gotten this multiple times, and while one sounded sincere, with most it tends to have a greasy feel of falsehood which is badly exacerbated by the appeal to morality.) For me, puerile and always thrilled to confuse someone into rethinking a situation, this was always the cue to brace against impending laughter, carefully look into their face with a little of the same falsity, wide-eyed artlessness, and state that I've never really subscribed to that morality, and took a nice fat buck last year. And then go to take Arachne's little daughter outside, where I could laugh freely. It's terribly childish, but oh, there's just nothing like deflating the combined presumptuousness of stereotyping a real human girl, and then using such a phony line to try to appeal to the imagined stereotype.
Hey, many thanks. I think I like your fluidity of identity thing. Looking at self as a spectrum rather than a collection of points.
What can I say, not being deilcate though yes, occasionally nervous of spiders when they're large and under my bed or any size and on me in the shower..., I've not been subjected to that hypocricy in that situation. I'll take that as a plus I suppose. And I can't condemn the childish response either. If I get a male customer who presumes I only read chick lit I'll haul out the big boys. The hell if I ever read them. I've no interest in Proust, and I'm not big on physics, but ask me for a rec for your girlfriend 'because you're a girl' and that's what you get.
I've traveled abroad, never lived there though. And yes, I too have brought back things I can't figure out how to wear. A lovely vibrant blue scarf from England because I saw scarves on everyone and loved the look. Can't quite figure it out though. Hrm, scarves from Paris too. Apparently that's my main travel weakspot... Oh, and a black lace parasol from Belgium, what the hell do you wear that with?!
What can I say, not being deilcate though yes, occasionally nervous of spiders when they're large and under my bed or any size and on me in the shower..., I've not been subjected to that hypocricy in that situation. I'll take that as a plus I suppose. And I can't condemn the childish response either. If I get a male customer who presumes I only read chick lit I'll haul out the big boys. The hell if I ever read them. I've no interest in Proust, and I'm not big on physics, but ask me for a rec for your girlfriend 'because you're a girl' and that's what you get.
I've traveled abroad, never lived there though. And yes, I too have brought back things I can't figure out how to wear. A lovely vibrant blue scarf from England because I saw scarves on everyone and loved the look. Can't quite figure it out though. Hrm, scarves from Paris too. Apparently that's my main travel weakspot... Oh, and a black lace parasol from Belgium, what the hell do you wear that with?!
I should probably be responding to these in the opposite order, but I saw the bit about the parasol.... When I was in China, another foreign student told me "They hate the rain here almost as much as they hate the sun." Everybody (well, women) goes around with an umbrella out all the time. It's marvellous. I got back and every now and then I'll do it and damn the consequences. It's not even an unusual umbrella - just one I bought my second day in the country for $3 (too much) that got me through the tail end of monsoon season. The answer to vibrant colors in my case was to wear with black and my hair up, so I'm all black and white and comparatively dull hair with a bright crimson scarf like blood at my neck. Sometimes with a little lipcolor so I don't look ENTIRELY dead (or like a Twi-hard, which is becoming a hazard, especially among friends who know I like fantasy but don't have any real exposure to fantasy itself.) With your coloration you could almost certainly get away with anything blue; the parasol goes with anything you want it to, but particularly gloves and heels.
Oh, I jump at spiders when they're ON me, unless they're jumpers themselves (which I adore and have kept and fed as pets); I usually don't react much as long as they're on clothing, though, and don't sport a prominent abdomen with spindly conical legs like a lot of the really nasty ones, black widows included. No big fan of anything with a fiddle pattern either, and I admit freely I used a trashcan to trap and rerelease the juvenile tarantula my roommate once found outside our dorm, as that's no bite you ever want... but I love 'em. And yeah, pretty much anytime you can claim you haven't been exposed to a brand of hypocrisy, it's a blessing. Although in this case I wouldn't even call it hypocrisy, as where I've experienced it it's usually conscious deceit. I've seen actual veggie girls get it too, in one case from a guy who then turned around and admitted the falsehood to me, the token hunter, 'cause I must just love killin' them animals and think him less of a man for not lovin' it too. (Growl, flex.)
I've done the same thing as you have with books with movies, and given the chance, video games. That's not to say they're bad recommendations, or even ill-intentioned, 'cause I usually like the stereotypically-male-audience item myself, but you'd have to be thick to miss the sarcasm... The exception is in the case of well-meaning parents, as there's no sense in punishing the kid for their (parent's, usu. father's) lack of circumspection. (I suspect that this may be how I wound up with a pink pocketknife.)
Oh, I jump at spiders when they're ON me, unless they're jumpers themselves (which I adore and have kept and fed as pets); I usually don't react much as long as they're on clothing, though, and don't sport a prominent abdomen with spindly conical legs like a lot of the really nasty ones, black widows included. No big fan of anything with a fiddle pattern either, and I admit freely I used a trashcan to trap and rerelease the juvenile tarantula my roommate once found outside our dorm, as that's no bite you ever want... but I love 'em. And yeah, pretty much anytime you can claim you haven't been exposed to a brand of hypocrisy, it's a blessing. Although in this case I wouldn't even call it hypocrisy, as where I've experienced it it's usually conscious deceit. I've seen actual veggie girls get it too, in one case from a guy who then turned around and admitted the falsehood to me, the token hunter, 'cause I must just love killin' them animals and think him less of a man for not lovin' it too. (Growl, flex.)
I've done the same thing as you have with books with movies, and given the chance, video games. That's not to say they're bad recommendations, or even ill-intentioned, 'cause I usually like the stereotypically-male-audience item myself, but you'd have to be thick to miss the sarcasm... The exception is in the case of well-meaning parents, as there's no sense in punishing the kid for their (parent's, usu. father's) lack of circumspection. (I suspect that this may be how I wound up with a pink pocketknife.)
Okay, I think I'd make a necklace out of that pocketknife, because that's too funny.
Tarantula?! Em, I think I'm glad I'm up north... Though I did take great joy in recuing my premed roomie from the big bad spiders. (She could watch a surgery that would have me heaving and then jumped on a chair for spiders. Never could get my head around that.)
Like you, I don't generally suggest things I dislike unless I honestly think that individual would really like them (think Da Vinci Code or Twilight. Not my cuppa, but I'm odd woman out on those.) SO no, not bad recs most of the time, just highly sarcastic. Come to me well intentioned and polite and I'll chat for ages to sort out just the perfect thing.
Tarantula?! Em, I think I'm glad I'm up north... Though I did take great joy in recuing my premed roomie from the big bad spiders. (She could watch a surgery that would have me heaving and then jumped on a chair for spiders. Never could get my head around that.)
Like you, I don't generally suggest things I dislike unless I honestly think that individual would really like them (think Da Vinci Code or Twilight. Not my cuppa, but I'm odd woman out on those.) SO no, not bad recs most of the time, just highly sarcastic. Come to me well intentioned and polite and I'll chat for ages to sort out just the perfect thing.
(I so shouldn't be here. You provide too much conversation for the good of my grades. As goes my mental health, however... In any case I'm going to break this into separate replies arbitrarily, 'cause the posts are getting too long to read without much scrolling, due to the formatting.)
I'd hardly be fit as anyone's advisor - as it is I'm putting off grad school until I have some of my undergrad debt paid off. I'm actually kind of afraid I won't ever go back to school; inertia's a powerful force and the money will always be an offputting part of things. There's going to be a lot of professional downside to my having a basic degree. Another part of me sort of nudges the nervous bit and says "This from the girl who STILL gets called the walking encyclopedia? Not following the path expected of you isn't going to change the contents of your head, and you know better than anyone that when you're not forced to study you only study more." Then it adds, smirking, that I'm a contrary bitch.
I have tremendous respect for your patience - I did already, but to reread Milton?? In my (admittedly largely blocked-out) memory, he was a tremendous talent, as I'd never seen anyone make such grand themes and vivid subject matter so ploddingly dull. Great ideas, admittedly, and he opened up a whole genre with Lucifer as a multifaceted character and everything, but I kept finding myself sneaking off through the textbook to Byron or Issa or Beowulf when we were supposed to be reading Paradise Lost. I sympathized greatly with the author, just as I do with much of Pullman's indulgently written frustration with the church, but Milton never had mulefa parroting "Watahyoo?" and giggling at each other. (By far my favorite part of the whole trilogy.)
Re: publishing writings... I'm absolutely the same way, much shyer than with my masks, which is why despite never quite getting over the feeling of writing my little bit on 'Mistletoe' that it's cowering in Scraps. As goes public striptease, people are generally most interested in the fatty jiggly bits ^-^ Fortunately, writing, which has more to do with who we are as people, doesn't usually attract the same sort of gawking crowds, and the internet shifting to accommodate whatever appears on it, it's not like you have to stand on the street corner. My personal journal gets very little traffic, and I don't really plan to stick the personal parts of my website on equal footing with the mask gallery - it'll be taking a distinct backseat.
...I'll come back to the rest of this in another reply 'cause I think the next paragraph'll take a while...
I'd hardly be fit as anyone's advisor - as it is I'm putting off grad school until I have some of my undergrad debt paid off. I'm actually kind of afraid I won't ever go back to school; inertia's a powerful force and the money will always be an offputting part of things. There's going to be a lot of professional downside to my having a basic degree. Another part of me sort of nudges the nervous bit and says "This from the girl who STILL gets called the walking encyclopedia? Not following the path expected of you isn't going to change the contents of your head, and you know better than anyone that when you're not forced to study you only study more." Then it adds, smirking, that I'm a contrary bitch.
I have tremendous respect for your patience - I did already, but to reread Milton?? In my (admittedly largely blocked-out) memory, he was a tremendous talent, as I'd never seen anyone make such grand themes and vivid subject matter so ploddingly dull. Great ideas, admittedly, and he opened up a whole genre with Lucifer as a multifaceted character and everything, but I kept finding myself sneaking off through the textbook to Byron or Issa or Beowulf when we were supposed to be reading Paradise Lost. I sympathized greatly with the author, just as I do with much of Pullman's indulgently written frustration with the church, but Milton never had mulefa parroting "Watahyoo?" and giggling at each other. (By far my favorite part of the whole trilogy.)
Re: publishing writings... I'm absolutely the same way, much shyer than with my masks, which is why despite never quite getting over the feeling of writing my little bit on 'Mistletoe' that it's cowering in Scraps. As goes public striptease, people are generally most interested in the fatty jiggly bits ^-^ Fortunately, writing, which has more to do with who we are as people, doesn't usually attract the same sort of gawking crowds, and the internet shifting to accommodate whatever appears on it, it's not like you have to stand on the street corner. My personal journal gets very little traffic, and I don't really plan to stick the personal parts of my website on equal footing with the mask gallery - it'll be taking a distinct backseat.
...I'll come back to the rest of this in another reply 'cause I think the next paragraph'll take a while...
(short for grade's sake )
What were you thinking of studying in grad school? You've such a wide range of knowledge when we chat I can't quite decide which way you'd be heading.
A hint for grad school, don't put it off too long. I put it off 5 years already, now my (actually rather good) GRE scores are expired and I don't think I'll ever make it.
I'll have to try to check out your scraps myself, I did post one of my super short mood pieces.
I think I like Pullman, because, yes I get where he's coming from and honestly I feel it's a mindset I don't run into very often, and also because like Gaiman, I find his independant situations give me a new way to look at things I havent' digested. Like the China thing I remembered but blanked on where I got it. It's such a lovely summary of not knowing when such a feeling is hard to explain to yourself, let along someone else. I read too much into fantasy and scifi I mean, I find the new Dr Who (besides mostly well written and acted and hugely entertaining) has a few good snippets on living a good life sans religion/withou expectation of reward. That little vein running through keeps me returning, even after they got rid of my favorite Doctor and I was crushed
Okay, so not so short, but by our current standards...
)What were you thinking of studying in grad school? You've such a wide range of knowledge when we chat I can't quite decide which way you'd be heading.
A hint for grad school, don't put it off too long. I put it off 5 years already, now my (actually rather good) GRE scores are expired and I don't think I'll ever make it.
I'll have to try to check out your scraps myself, I did post one of my super short mood pieces.
I think I like Pullman, because, yes I get where he's coming from and honestly I feel it's a mindset I don't run into very often, and also because like Gaiman, I find his independant situations give me a new way to look at things I havent' digested. Like the China thing I remembered but blanked on where I got it. It's such a lovely summary of not knowing when such a feeling is hard to explain to yourself, let along someone else. I read too much into fantasy and scifi
I mean, I find the new Dr Who (besides mostly well written and acted and hugely entertaining) has a few good snippets on living a good life sans religion/withou expectation of reward. That little vein running through keeps me returning, even after they got rid of my favorite Doctor and I was crushed Okay, so not so short, but by our current standards...
Re: chat direction: HA. Yeah. I know. Neither do I. X.x Chinese major, sociology minor, concentrations in psych and anthro and Chinese studies, and lots of little bits of this and that. Less history than one might expect, more of a love of hard sciences than my college career might put across, and a serious infatuation with language. Thus - I have no earthly idea, and it may actually be good that I don't have the opportunity yet.
Ooh! Mood pieces! Something I can relate to! Yay!
What'd'ya mean about not running into Pullman's mindset often? His frustration with the Church, for example? I grew up in the bible belt, where any Catholics falling short of the Inquisition look positively MODERATE, but where the local churches DO have a horrifying lot of political sway and ARE very much bent on control, so... where that mindset isn't already, the ground is plenty fertile for it to emerge. There are lots of opportunities for strife when the world is painted in stark black and white. Also tends to create some very sweet pagan communities; ostracism can make a person appreciate kindness on a new level. As far as mistaken identities go, standing in a comparative religion aisle in a used bookshop with long hair can lead to such questions from strangers as "Are you a shaman?" Apparently the guy used to be a baptist preacher.
Aww. I've watched a little Dr. Who now and then (series are a problem for me, so I tend to avoid them... and what a commitment THAT one would be), but not enough to know the individual Doctors very well. I did quite like the guy in the werewolf episode from no more than a couple years back (and man... that may be the nicest screen werewolf I've ever seen, certainly the best CG effort. Why aren't there more GOOD werewolf movies??? ...Can you tell why I pursued the episode now?) Eccelston I mostly know as "that guy ~jupiterknight007 rightly identified as the IDEAL character actor for Ganondorf were Zelda ever brought to the big screen in English."
Ooh! Mood pieces! Something I can relate to! Yay!
What'd'ya mean about not running into Pullman's mindset often? His frustration with the Church, for example? I grew up in the bible belt, where any Catholics falling short of the Inquisition look positively MODERATE, but where the local churches DO have a horrifying lot of political sway and ARE very much bent on control, so... where that mindset isn't already, the ground is plenty fertile for it to emerge. There are lots of opportunities for strife when the world is painted in stark black and white. Also tends to create some very sweet pagan communities; ostracism can make a person appreciate kindness on a new level. As far as mistaken identities go, standing in a comparative religion aisle in a used bookshop with long hair can lead to such questions from strangers as "Are you a shaman?" Apparently the guy used to be a baptist preacher.
Aww. I've watched a little Dr. Who now and then (series are a problem for me, so I tend to avoid them... and what a commitment THAT one would be), but not enough to know the individual Doctors very well. I did quite like the guy in the werewolf episode from no more than a couple years back (and man... that may be the nicest screen werewolf I've ever seen, certainly the best CG effort. Why aren't there more GOOD werewolf movies??? ...Can you tell why I pursued the episode now?) Eccelston I mostly know as "that guy ~jupiterknight007 rightly identified as the IDEAL character actor for Ganondorf were Zelda ever brought to the big screen in English."
That is a damn impressive list. Not sure how useful, but since I'm not so hot with languages it knocks my socks off
About Pullman, around here it seems like criticizing any religion besides Islam and extreme Mormonism could be a hanging crime. Thankfully most of the religious people are moderate, but you still feel the political sway. So sometimes it seems like there's no one else screaming out of sheer frustration. Today is easter, we were open short hours. I had coworkers complaining about/makign fun of people and wondering what they were doing here when there were egg hunts to be had. They looked at me like I was an alien when I pointed out that maybe they weren't Christian. It's not like my coworkers are at all a religious bunch, yet they keep forgetting there are other religions out there. Let alone the concept of no religion, which I think blows their minds a bit.
About Who, it was Eccleston that I adored, he was just so damn good. (Never played Zelda, so I can't put in a vote there. It's a pity he's been in so many bad movies, because I can watch and say yeah, he rocks, but god who wrote that script?!) Not that the newer guy, Tennant, isn't. (A corner of me hopes against hope the BBC makes a better version of Neverwhere with him as the main character...) Just there was something about the intensity he played with. Yeah. I don't normally do series either, but one of my regulars asked me for two years if I'd seen it after I told him I used to watch the old one with my dad. So I got them out of the library and got hooked. I think I went throught he first two seasons in a month.
And I agree on the werewolf (that's Tennant, the newer soon to die now one) I had coniptions over how bad the HP one was- I call it the nakedmolereat werewolf- how come a B level scifi show can create a better cgi wolf, than say, a multi million dollar movie series? I'll admit, I don't really know of any good werewolf movies, so thinking of a few is more than me....
About Pullman, around here it seems like criticizing any religion besides Islam and extreme Mormonism could be a hanging crime. Thankfully most of the religious people are moderate, but you still feel the political sway. So sometimes it seems like there's no one else screaming out of sheer frustration. Today is easter, we were open short hours. I had coworkers complaining about/makign fun of people and wondering what they were doing here when there were egg hunts to be had. They looked at me like I was an alien when I pointed out that maybe they weren't Christian. It's not like my coworkers are at all a religious bunch, yet they keep forgetting there are other religions out there. Let alone the concept of no religion, which I think blows their minds a bit.
About Who, it was Eccleston that I adored, he was just so damn good. (Never played Zelda, so I can't put in a vote there. It's a pity he's been in so many bad movies, because I can watch and say yeah, he rocks, but god who wrote that script?!) Not that the newer guy, Tennant, isn't. (A corner of me hopes against hope the BBC makes a better version of Neverwhere with him as the main character...) Just there was something about the intensity he played with. Yeah. I don't normally do series either, but one of my regulars asked me for two years if I'd seen it after I told him I used to watch the old one with my dad. So I got them out of the library and got hooked. I think I went throught he first two seasons in a month.
And I agree on the werewolf (that's Tennant, the newer soon to die now one) I had coniptions over how bad the HP one was- I call it the nakedmolereat werewolf- how come a B level scifi show can create a better cgi wolf, than say, a multi million dollar movie series? I'll admit, I don't really know of any good werewolf movies, so thinking of a few is more than me....