This that and the other thingamig
Jul. 28th, 2023 09:43 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkatIt's been a long week of pushing a boulder up a cliff, while folks throw rocks at me - but I survived it.
Tomorrow, haircut. It's needed, considering it falls well below the shoulders now and is hot, when I don't manage to pull it up - like now.
1. Still obsessing over the latest X-men book - "Hellfire Gala 2023" - and I agree with the person who posted on Xitter - that it is annoying when none of your friends read the X-men (or anyone that I know) - so as a result you can't discuss it with them. At least I can discuss the soap opera with mother. The X-men comics, not so much. It's not that I want people to read it - so much as I want someone who has been reading it to discuss it with? But it's a serial - you can't just pick up an issue. You'd be completely lost.
Oh, my favorite female character is taking back her name - Shadowkat. It is actually Shadowkat - since her name is Kathryn Pryde or Kat. Shadowcat is the misspelling of it. She's a ninja, and it's what her Ninja mentor called her. She can phase in and out of walls, disrupt technology, and is a hacker. Brilliant. Yes, my online name comes from an X-men character. Now, you know - in case you didn't already.
I'm not exactly on Xitter by the way, nor am I exactly off Xitter. I deleted the app from my phone - mainly because I did not want an X on my phone. But I can still access via my phone's browser or my home computer.
I only go on it for Soap Twitter, hold overs from Buffy fandom, Writers/Actors I'm still following, & X-men fandom. But not that often.
2. Read a post recently that resonated with me. It was about being pressured into doing something or liking something that you just don't.
In this case it was Bluegrass music, going to parties, book clubs, etc.
Which I can identify. My days of doing book clubs are pretty much over. I realized a while back that I didn't like being told what to read or having a book thrust on me, or the pressure to finish something that I didn't enjoy, and then having to listen to a bunch of folks singing its praises, when I hated it or vice versa. I did enough reading for work, on my personal time? I want to read for pleasure.
I also got to thinking how often in my life - I've pretended to like something that a new friend, acquaintance, co-worker, etc liked - so that I could get along with them. Or so they'd like me too. I'm not doing that now. Mainly because I don't care any longer. Also it never worked long term. Sooner or later, they catch on - or it becomes apparent that yes, I tried it, gave it a go, but I really don't like it. Weirdly, folks on dream width see the real me - more than anyone else. Partly because I don't feel the need to hide what I like or don't like as much here? Sometimes, I think it's easier to write than to talk - you don't have anyone cutting you off. You can use as many words as you need. You can still get misunderstood, twisted about, taken out of context - regardless. But someone words on a page feel more tangible to me, more real. And with pseudonym? I feel safer?
At any rate this statement from that post resonated..."I think people want us to like or love what they like or love. And they don't understand it when we don't?"
I think this is true. I also think people can be very judgemental about others tastes. And read more into it than there actually is. I don't think most of us know why we dislike things, we just do.
For example? A lot of people I know really dislike Marvel or DC comics. So I don't talk to them about it. While they love talking about Sports, which I couldn't care less about. [I don't know if I did that phrase correctly or not. The phrase "could care less" or "couldn't care less" seems the same to my mind. It honestly can't distinguish between them.)
3. Mother told me about a friend, who she hadn't spoken to in five years, used to live near, and had come to my Dad's funeral. She went on about the woman for a while - about how she was a member of a community board, even became President of it. And how they'd been friendly in the past. That the women's husband loved cars, to such an extent that he collected them and they had a separate garage and layers in it to store them. A beautiful house. Etc.
Then...
Mother: Well, she made the front page of the paper today - turns out she embezzled over $300,000 from her community board.
ME: Whoa.
Mother: I'm wondering if I should reach out to her? Show I care? Or would that come across wrong?
Me: I wouldn't. I mean if you haven't really interacted in five years, and the only time was briefly at Dad's funeral - although I find it odd she came to that. (Some people must like going to funerals?)
Mother: Other people in our old neighborhood didn't.
Me: Well, not everyone likes to go to a funeral - I totally get that. I don't. (I tend to avoid them - at all costs. I hate big events, and despise funerals.)
Mother: So should I?
Me: No -
Mother: Would it come across wrong?
Me: Yes, I think so. I mean put yourself in her shoes - would you want her to reach out? She's probably humiliated and embarrassed. Wouldn't you be?
Mother: Yes. She was a nice person. Very involved with helping others (mother gave specifics but I can't remember them).
Me: Proof that people can be more than one thing. It's why I don't hero worship people - they are complicated, and capable of doing heroic and monsterous acts - often at the same time. I keep seeing it - over and over again. Saw it when I worked in Defender Project - and I remember struggling with it. The world is not black and white or clear cut. It's complicated shades of grey.
4. Lots of singers dying recently (why can't it be evil politicians? Maybe they are just too evil to die? I miss the singers.) Another one bit the dust -
Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles, has died at age 77, the band said on Thursday. Meisner died on Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement.
I'd been listening to Sinead's music most of today.
This was the album I listened to over and over..all morning long:
Feel So Different
Her music kind of seeps into my gut and resonates on a deep almost impossible to understand level. Twenty year old me - adored her.
ME: I adored Sinead's music. Listened to it through most of twenties, had a lot of her albums. Still do listen to it.
Mother: You listen to and own a lot of music, and a lot of different styles.
Me: I like music. Love it actually. It makes me happy.[And every time a fav dies, I download it. My last download was Tina Turner, who died at 83, not as young as Sinead.]
Oh here's a tribute to Tina Turner...
Although my favorite continues to be ..
And mother informed me that Mick Jagger had just turned 81. Apparently he's around her age. I did not know that. I think McCartney is too.
Tomorrow, haircut. It's needed, considering it falls well below the shoulders now and is hot, when I don't manage to pull it up - like now.
1. Still obsessing over the latest X-men book - "Hellfire Gala 2023" - and I agree with the person who posted on Xitter - that it is annoying when none of your friends read the X-men (or anyone that I know) - so as a result you can't discuss it with them. At least I can discuss the soap opera with mother. The X-men comics, not so much. It's not that I want people to read it - so much as I want someone who has been reading it to discuss it with? But it's a serial - you can't just pick up an issue. You'd be completely lost.
Oh, my favorite female character is taking back her name - Shadowkat. It is actually Shadowkat - since her name is Kathryn Pryde or Kat. Shadowcat is the misspelling of it. She's a ninja, and it's what her Ninja mentor called her. She can phase in and out of walls, disrupt technology, and is a hacker. Brilliant. Yes, my online name comes from an X-men character. Now, you know - in case you didn't already.
I'm not exactly on Xitter by the way, nor am I exactly off Xitter. I deleted the app from my phone - mainly because I did not want an X on my phone. But I can still access via my phone's browser or my home computer.
I only go on it for Soap Twitter, hold overs from Buffy fandom, Writers/Actors I'm still following, & X-men fandom. But not that often.
2. Read a post recently that resonated with me. It was about being pressured into doing something or liking something that you just don't.
In this case it was Bluegrass music, going to parties, book clubs, etc.
Which I can identify. My days of doing book clubs are pretty much over. I realized a while back that I didn't like being told what to read or having a book thrust on me, or the pressure to finish something that I didn't enjoy, and then having to listen to a bunch of folks singing its praises, when I hated it or vice versa. I did enough reading for work, on my personal time? I want to read for pleasure.
I also got to thinking how often in my life - I've pretended to like something that a new friend, acquaintance, co-worker, etc liked - so that I could get along with them. Or so they'd like me too. I'm not doing that now. Mainly because I don't care any longer. Also it never worked long term. Sooner or later, they catch on - or it becomes apparent that yes, I tried it, gave it a go, but I really don't like it. Weirdly, folks on dream width see the real me - more than anyone else. Partly because I don't feel the need to hide what I like or don't like as much here? Sometimes, I think it's easier to write than to talk - you don't have anyone cutting you off. You can use as many words as you need. You can still get misunderstood, twisted about, taken out of context - regardless. But someone words on a page feel more tangible to me, more real. And with pseudonym? I feel safer?
At any rate this statement from that post resonated..."I think people want us to like or love what they like or love. And they don't understand it when we don't?"
I think this is true. I also think people can be very judgemental about others tastes. And read more into it than there actually is. I don't think most of us know why we dislike things, we just do.
For example? A lot of people I know really dislike Marvel or DC comics. So I don't talk to them about it. While they love talking about Sports, which I couldn't care less about. [I don't know if I did that phrase correctly or not. The phrase "could care less" or "couldn't care less" seems the same to my mind. It honestly can't distinguish between them.)
3. Mother told me about a friend, who she hadn't spoken to in five years, used to live near, and had come to my Dad's funeral. She went on about the woman for a while - about how she was a member of a community board, even became President of it. And how they'd been friendly in the past. That the women's husband loved cars, to such an extent that he collected them and they had a separate garage and layers in it to store them. A beautiful house. Etc.
Then...
Mother: Well, she made the front page of the paper today - turns out she embezzled over $300,000 from her community board.
ME: Whoa.
Mother: I'm wondering if I should reach out to her? Show I care? Or would that come across wrong?
Me: I wouldn't. I mean if you haven't really interacted in five years, and the only time was briefly at Dad's funeral - although I find it odd she came to that. (Some people must like going to funerals?)
Mother: Other people in our old neighborhood didn't.
Me: Well, not everyone likes to go to a funeral - I totally get that. I don't. (I tend to avoid them - at all costs. I hate big events, and despise funerals.)
Mother: So should I?
Me: No -
Mother: Would it come across wrong?
Me: Yes, I think so. I mean put yourself in her shoes - would you want her to reach out? She's probably humiliated and embarrassed. Wouldn't you be?
Mother: Yes. She was a nice person. Very involved with helping others (mother gave specifics but I can't remember them).
Me: Proof that people can be more than one thing. It's why I don't hero worship people - they are complicated, and capable of doing heroic and monsterous acts - often at the same time. I keep seeing it - over and over again. Saw it when I worked in Defender Project - and I remember struggling with it. The world is not black and white or clear cut. It's complicated shades of grey.
4. Lots of singers dying recently (why can't it be evil politicians? Maybe they are just too evil to die? I miss the singers.) Another one bit the dust -
Randy Meisner, a founding member of the Eagles, has died at age 77, the band said on Thursday. Meisner died on Wednesday night in Los Angeles of complications from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, the Eagles said in a statement.
I'd been listening to Sinead's music most of today.
This was the album I listened to over and over..all morning long:
Feel So Different
Her music kind of seeps into my gut and resonates on a deep almost impossible to understand level. Twenty year old me - adored her.
ME: I adored Sinead's music. Listened to it through most of twenties, had a lot of her albums. Still do listen to it.
Mother: You listen to and own a lot of music, and a lot of different styles.
Me: I like music. Love it actually. It makes me happy.[And every time a fav dies, I download it. My last download was Tina Turner, who died at 83, not as young as Sinead.]
Oh here's a tribute to Tina Turner...
Although my favorite continues to be ..
And mother informed me that Mick Jagger had just turned 81. Apparently he's around her age. I did not know that. I think McCartney is too.
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Date: 2023-07-29 12:33 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2023-07-31 01:34 pm (UTC)