5 things meme
Jun. 27th, 2009 10:55 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
pauraque_bkHere's the meme where you ask for 5 words (or lexical items) to discuss. I think I might have done this meme with some of the same lexical items before. But this time is new! ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
idlerat gave me:
Impressionist music
I do love Impressionist music, and I also like a lot of other music of that general period that isn't classed as Impressionist. I fell into it by accident. At my old job I was able to choose my own music to listen to without it being heard by co-workers who didn't like it, so I chose the classical radio station because it seemed less repetitive than the others. (The short playlists of popular music stations really start to grate on me.)
More out of boredom than anything else, I started to check their web site whenever they played a piece I liked, and found they were consistently written in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before this I really knew nothing about classical music periods, so I fumbled around in Wikipedia trying to figure out who these composers were and what I liked about them. That's how I found out that Impressionist was a name given to the type of music I enjoyed, which is interesting because I'm a fan of Impressionist painting too. I guess I would have had a good time in France in the 19th century!
I'm still hardly an expert, but I'm learning. I still listen to the classical station, and I've figured out what some of the other periods and composers sound like. I like to test myself and see if I can guess who the composer is before they announce it, or at least guess a nationality/era.
invented languages
I guess a lot of people decided it was okay to make languages because they saw it in Tolkein; for me it was Ursula Le Guin, even though she doesn't document her languages in the same depth that he did. It wasn't my inspiration to do it -- I always did it -- just my recognition that it was okay. In that way it's like fan fiction to me. It's just a thing I'm naturally inspired to do.
Also it's something I do very much for myself. There are places to share languages, and I use them as a resource, but I usually don't post finished projects. I don't feel a drive to. The process of what I'm doing is what makes me happy, much moreso than with writing stories. Actually writing stories can be very frustrating, whereas even when I'm struggling trying to figure something out in a lang, I don't experience it as frustrating or unpleasant.
The hobby also inspired me to learn a lot about linguistics, which is a wonderful topic that gives me pleasure. I'm not sure why they teach (for example) such advanced math in basic schooling, but no linguistics. And, god, I don't mean "grammar" or sentence diagramming or conversational foreign languages. You know, like Kirk said... phonology! morphology! syntax!
Gilbert & Sullivan
Hm, more music from the late 1800s, though certainly not Impressionist! This came from my mom, who was a big fan of movie musicals and musical theater, including G&S. So I grew up hearing the music. When I was a preteen we started going to Lamplighters shows. I certainly didn't have to be dragged, I loved it. I think my mom was happy to have someone to go with; by that time my dad was long-absent (though I found out later he actually liked G&S too).
I've seen 12 of the 13 extant plays in production, most of them many times. The one I'm missing is Patience, which isn't even THAT obscure, the universe simply conspires against me. When Lamplighters did it last, I was sick, and there was another production during a G&S festival that I missed for other logistical reasons that don't bear explaining. And this season Lamplighters is doing it again... after I leave for Vermont. :(
It's not even that I love Patience so much, it's just irritating! I mean, why have I seen friggin Utopia Limited but not Patience?!
Should I pick a favorite? I think it's too hard. Though I think my favorite actual production was Princess Ida from the Lamplighters in 1995. They were certainly operating with a handicap, because I don't think anyone really likes Princess Ida on the face of it... it's too long, too sexist, too many men in frocks... But damn, they brought the funny. And the singing. I bought the VHS of it. Too bad I don't have a machine capable of playing the tape anymore. I should get that transferred to DVD.
Peter Pettigrew
Orly? Well, I certainly left my mark on the fandom... I don't know that I could write those stories now. I put a lot of myself into Peter, because I saw in him the anguish that I felt being an outcast as a child, and the fear and alienation I often felt as a young(er) adult. Dehumanization... quite literally for him.
When I look back at those stories it's actually startling. Did I write that? There's an emotional mercilessness that I'm not sure I could reproduce. I never thought there was any hope for Peter, not in the sense of healing and becoming happy -- however you want to define those processes. I was also living that, sort of. It wasn't really as bad then as it was in the stories, but at the very least I was mining recent memories for material. I've said it before: I don't really make things up. I'm not good at it.
I still write HP sometimes because the characters are familiar, but I think I've said a polite goodbye to Peter. We grew apart.
East Bay
I can get around other parts of the bay area but I'm more comfortable here. I have a pretty good map of it in my head. I used to live in the city but it's a bit much, I only go there now if I have a specific reason; the buses drive crazy and I always end up going the wrong way on Market Street. I used to work in Marin but I haven't been there in ages now, and I never liked it much. It's very... pretty. People richer than me live there. The peninsula and the south bay are just a PITA to get to or get around. My dad lives in the peninsula, that's the only reason I ever go there.
I am comfortable in and around Berkeley, it seems "just right" in a Goldilocks way. I'm leaving it, of course, and I have no idea if or when I'll be back. But since I've lived here for the better part of 26 years, I'm not likely to forget it.
idlerat gave me:Impressionist music
I do love Impressionist music, and I also like a lot of other music of that general period that isn't classed as Impressionist. I fell into it by accident. At my old job I was able to choose my own music to listen to without it being heard by co-workers who didn't like it, so I chose the classical radio station because it seemed less repetitive than the others. (The short playlists of popular music stations really start to grate on me.)
More out of boredom than anything else, I started to check their web site whenever they played a piece I liked, and found they were consistently written in the late 1800s and early 1900s. Before this I really knew nothing about classical music periods, so I fumbled around in Wikipedia trying to figure out who these composers were and what I liked about them. That's how I found out that Impressionist was a name given to the type of music I enjoyed, which is interesting because I'm a fan of Impressionist painting too. I guess I would have had a good time in France in the 19th century!
I'm still hardly an expert, but I'm learning. I still listen to the classical station, and I've figured out what some of the other periods and composers sound like. I like to test myself and see if I can guess who the composer is before they announce it, or at least guess a nationality/era.
invented languages
I guess a lot of people decided it was okay to make languages because they saw it in Tolkein; for me it was Ursula Le Guin, even though she doesn't document her languages in the same depth that he did. It wasn't my inspiration to do it -- I always did it -- just my recognition that it was okay. In that way it's like fan fiction to me. It's just a thing I'm naturally inspired to do.
Also it's something I do very much for myself. There are places to share languages, and I use them as a resource, but I usually don't post finished projects. I don't feel a drive to. The process of what I'm doing is what makes me happy, much moreso than with writing stories. Actually writing stories can be very frustrating, whereas even when I'm struggling trying to figure something out in a lang, I don't experience it as frustrating or unpleasant.
The hobby also inspired me to learn a lot about linguistics, which is a wonderful topic that gives me pleasure. I'm not sure why they teach (for example) such advanced math in basic schooling, but no linguistics. And, god, I don't mean "grammar" or sentence diagramming or conversational foreign languages. You know, like Kirk said... phonology! morphology! syntax!
Gilbert & Sullivan
Hm, more music from the late 1800s, though certainly not Impressionist! This came from my mom, who was a big fan of movie musicals and musical theater, including G&S. So I grew up hearing the music. When I was a preteen we started going to Lamplighters shows. I certainly didn't have to be dragged, I loved it. I think my mom was happy to have someone to go with; by that time my dad was long-absent (though I found out later he actually liked G&S too).
I've seen 12 of the 13 extant plays in production, most of them many times. The one I'm missing is Patience, which isn't even THAT obscure, the universe simply conspires against me. When Lamplighters did it last, I was sick, and there was another production during a G&S festival that I missed for other logistical reasons that don't bear explaining. And this season Lamplighters is doing it again... after I leave for Vermont. :(
It's not even that I love Patience so much, it's just irritating! I mean, why have I seen friggin Utopia Limited but not Patience?!
Should I pick a favorite? I think it's too hard. Though I think my favorite actual production was Princess Ida from the Lamplighters in 1995. They were certainly operating with a handicap, because I don't think anyone really likes Princess Ida on the face of it... it's too long, too sexist, too many men in frocks... But damn, they brought the funny. And the singing. I bought the VHS of it. Too bad I don't have a machine capable of playing the tape anymore. I should get that transferred to DVD.
Peter Pettigrew
Orly? Well, I certainly left my mark on the fandom... I don't know that I could write those stories now. I put a lot of myself into Peter, because I saw in him the anguish that I felt being an outcast as a child, and the fear and alienation I often felt as a young(er) adult. Dehumanization... quite literally for him.
When I look back at those stories it's actually startling. Did I write that? There's an emotional mercilessness that I'm not sure I could reproduce. I never thought there was any hope for Peter, not in the sense of healing and becoming happy -- however you want to define those processes. I was also living that, sort of. It wasn't really as bad then as it was in the stories, but at the very least I was mining recent memories for material. I've said it before: I don't really make things up. I'm not good at it.
I still write HP sometimes because the characters are familiar, but I think I've said a polite goodbye to Peter. We grew apart.
East Bay
I can get around other parts of the bay area but I'm more comfortable here. I have a pretty good map of it in my head. I used to live in the city but it's a bit much, I only go there now if I have a specific reason; the buses drive crazy and I always end up going the wrong way on Market Street. I used to work in Marin but I haven't been there in ages now, and I never liked it much. It's very... pretty. People richer than me live there. The peninsula and the south bay are just a PITA to get to or get around. My dad lives in the peninsula, that's the only reason I ever go there.
I am comfortable in and around Berkeley, it seems "just right" in a Goldilocks way. I'm leaving it, of course, and I have no idea if or when I'll be back. But since I've lived here for the better part of 26 years, I'm not likely to forget it.
