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Jul. 24th, 2013 10:41 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
shadowkat1. Downstairs neighbor kindly removed the bookshelf from the hallway and some of his shoes - making it easier for me to get by - so I did not break my neck hurrying down the steps to get the Fresh Direct delivery. They almost left on me. Had to hollar at them from the stoop.
It's rather funny actually - and in a nutshell why I despise getting deliveries. (No buzzer that lets people in. I'd give anything for a buzzer. )
2. Got my bootzguard cover today. It is a weatherproof cover for a cam walker boot.
Go to the site to see it. I tried to include it in the post and it took over my journal. Ack. Ack. My eyes, my eyes. Delete. Delete. So sorry.
I got mine in Queen Anne, because I think Inferno is ugly. Also, I won't wear sandals or flip flops - because I have to walk the equivalent of a mile in the thing including steps, over uneven pavement. The last thing I need to do is injure the other foot. Fashion or coolness be damned. Besides I think the covers look silly. I got it for weather resistance - because I was afraid of putting a trash bag over the boot - resulting in me slipping and breaking my neck.
3. I rather liked this post by Will Wheaten about Girl Geeks. Of course I'm a geek. But for a long time I didn't define myself as one - because I was told to be a geek you had to :
* Be a computer nerd or into computers (I can figure out computers, know my way around multiple databases, but have 0 patience for the network stuff. I do know the lingo though. Mainly because I know a lot of computer geeks).
* Not a fan of gadgets (although own four or five...but nothing fancy.)
* Not a scientist or science major (did take psychology in school though)
* While I did briefly play Dungeons and Dragons and watched others play it, I wasn't really into it - me and role-playing games never quite clicked. Unless I created the story and the roles from scratch, which I'm not sure is the same thing and only did it when I was a little kid with my best friend.
* Never went or felt inclined to go to a fan or comic convention (am allergic to crowds and hate dressing up for things, standing in line, and convention centers not to mention lectures, thought Renaissance Faire's were bad enough).
* Don't like getting autographs and meeting celebrities, actors, writers, directors in person. I find it humiliating. I don't understand how people can fawn over someone like that. Remember going to a celeb party once with a few online friends, and two of us spent the whole time in a corner, people watching, sipping drinks, and avoiding direct interaction with the crowds around the celebrities. Again I found the whole thing to be incredibly awkward. This goes back a very long ways...when I was a kid, we got to meet the actors after we saw a play, and....well, something must have happened, because the memory makes me cringe. The play was ruined, because I met them. Later, same thing happened when we went to see Batman and Robin in person - ruined the show for us. And again much later when I saw plays in London. I'm always disappointed and embarrassed.
I've thought about it...and I think my difficulty with the whole meeting actors/directors/artists/famous people in person - is the uneven playing field. You know more about them than they do about you. Also they are putting on an act. They can't let down their guard with you. It's painfully awkward. Only works when you have no idea who they are. Which has happened, I've met actors that I didn't recognize or know who they were until hours later, after they left. Because I have lousy facial recognition skills. That has worked much better.
-----------------------------------------
So all this begs the question? How am I a geek? I think like one. I've become obsessed with things. I remember facts, figures, small details, with an almost encyclopedic ability on the things I'm obsessed with. I'm intellectually curious about a whole host of topics. I'm creative, written fanfic, meta, and created my own fantasy worlds. I created a planet with various creatures, and futuristic devices, including cars, an internet, and advanced communications for a sci-fi novel that I wrote back when I was 22 years of age. In my teens I wrote fantasy and adventure tales.
And I'm into science fiction. Adore science, even if I suck at it. It fascinates me.
Favorite camp growing up was science camp. Also, I've read and collected comic books and graphic novels for 20 years.
Always have my nose in a book. Have been called "socially awkward". But really who isn't?
Depends on the situation. Didn't like the games most people played, preferred to create my own adventure games. I tend to live in my head a lot.
Movies and tv shows that I was obsessed with include Battle Star Galatica (both versions),
Babylon 5, Star Wars, I've watched all the Star Treks, Doctor Who, Terminator, Farscape,
Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Lost, Battle of the Planets, Kimba, Raiders of the Lost Arc...
So yes, am a geek. Not a nerd. And definitely not a dork. ;-)
4. On the Wed reading meme...working my way through Eloisa Jame's Essex Sisters series.
On the 3rd Book - or rather the second, I read the last one first, and it is still by far the most charming and entertaining. Kiss Me, Annabell is okay but not as subversive as the last one. The writer is playing it safe, and it shows in the Amazon and Good Reads reviews - people like this one the best. Most romance readers are like most mystery readers I've seen...they like paint-by-numbers fiction. They also have this bizarre view that fiction must be realistic. Apparently they don't know that is an oxymoron? If you want realism, read "non-fiction", preferably with footnotes, endnotes, and reliable sources.
Otherwise...
I think this must be a post-modern sensibility? This need for realism in art. Art that acts like a mirror or photograph of our reality. Doesn't just reflect, so much as is a complete representation, like someone taking a picture. As an artist, I always considered photographs to be somewhat bland. Not showing the emotion or the flavor of the event. Just a snap-shot of it. There's not interpretation. Your interpretation is blocked by the lense of the camera.
But it turns out that one can play with photographs and manipulate them - so that in a way it is no different than drawing or painting a picture, you are just doing it with light and in some respects computer graphics. So even the camera doesn't reflect what is real, but rather a representation of our perception of reality.
So why this preoccupation with reality? Why do people want believable stories and realism?
Right now...I sort of don't. Reality can get tiring after a bit, be nice to take a break from it.
It's rather funny actually - and in a nutshell why I despise getting deliveries. (No buzzer that lets people in. I'd give anything for a buzzer. )
2. Got my bootzguard cover today. It is a weatherproof cover for a cam walker boot.
Go to the site to see it. I tried to include it in the post and it took over my journal. Ack. Ack. My eyes, my eyes. Delete. Delete. So sorry.
I got mine in Queen Anne, because I think Inferno is ugly. Also, I won't wear sandals or flip flops - because I have to walk the equivalent of a mile in the thing including steps, over uneven pavement. The last thing I need to do is injure the other foot. Fashion or coolness be damned. Besides I think the covers look silly. I got it for weather resistance - because I was afraid of putting a trash bag over the boot - resulting in me slipping and breaking my neck.
3. I rather liked this post by Will Wheaten about Girl Geeks. Of course I'm a geek. But for a long time I didn't define myself as one - because I was told to be a geek you had to :
* Be a computer nerd or into computers (I can figure out computers, know my way around multiple databases, but have 0 patience for the network stuff. I do know the lingo though. Mainly because I know a lot of computer geeks).
* Not a fan of gadgets (although own four or five...but nothing fancy.)
* Not a scientist or science major (did take psychology in school though)
* While I did briefly play Dungeons and Dragons and watched others play it, I wasn't really into it - me and role-playing games never quite clicked. Unless I created the story and the roles from scratch, which I'm not sure is the same thing and only did it when I was a little kid with my best friend.
* Never went or felt inclined to go to a fan or comic convention (am allergic to crowds and hate dressing up for things, standing in line, and convention centers not to mention lectures, thought Renaissance Faire's were bad enough).
* Don't like getting autographs and meeting celebrities, actors, writers, directors in person. I find it humiliating. I don't understand how people can fawn over someone like that. Remember going to a celeb party once with a few online friends, and two of us spent the whole time in a corner, people watching, sipping drinks, and avoiding direct interaction with the crowds around the celebrities. Again I found the whole thing to be incredibly awkward. This goes back a very long ways...when I was a kid, we got to meet the actors after we saw a play, and....well, something must have happened, because the memory makes me cringe. The play was ruined, because I met them. Later, same thing happened when we went to see Batman and Robin in person - ruined the show for us. And again much later when I saw plays in London. I'm always disappointed and embarrassed.
I've thought about it...and I think my difficulty with the whole meeting actors/directors/artists/famous people in person - is the uneven playing field. You know more about them than they do about you. Also they are putting on an act. They can't let down their guard with you. It's painfully awkward. Only works when you have no idea who they are. Which has happened, I've met actors that I didn't recognize or know who they were until hours later, after they left. Because I have lousy facial recognition skills. That has worked much better.
-----------------------------------------
So all this begs the question? How am I a geek? I think like one. I've become obsessed with things. I remember facts, figures, small details, with an almost encyclopedic ability on the things I'm obsessed with. I'm intellectually curious about a whole host of topics. I'm creative, written fanfic, meta, and created my own fantasy worlds. I created a planet with various creatures, and futuristic devices, including cars, an internet, and advanced communications for a sci-fi novel that I wrote back when I was 22 years of age. In my teens I wrote fantasy and adventure tales.
And I'm into science fiction. Adore science, even if I suck at it. It fascinates me.
Favorite camp growing up was science camp. Also, I've read and collected comic books and graphic novels for 20 years.
Always have my nose in a book. Have been called "socially awkward". But really who isn't?
Depends on the situation. Didn't like the games most people played, preferred to create my own adventure games. I tend to live in my head a lot.
Movies and tv shows that I was obsessed with include Battle Star Galatica (both versions),
Babylon 5, Star Wars, I've watched all the Star Treks, Doctor Who, Terminator, Farscape,
Buffy, Angel, Firefly, Lost, Battle of the Planets, Kimba, Raiders of the Lost Arc...
So yes, am a geek. Not a nerd. And definitely not a dork. ;-)
4. On the Wed reading meme...working my way through Eloisa Jame's Essex Sisters series.
On the 3rd Book - or rather the second, I read the last one first, and it is still by far the most charming and entertaining. Kiss Me, Annabell is okay but not as subversive as the last one. The writer is playing it safe, and it shows in the Amazon and Good Reads reviews - people like this one the best. Most romance readers are like most mystery readers I've seen...they like paint-by-numbers fiction. They also have this bizarre view that fiction must be realistic. Apparently they don't know that is an oxymoron? If you want realism, read "non-fiction", preferably with footnotes, endnotes, and reliable sources.
Otherwise...
I think this must be a post-modern sensibility? This need for realism in art. Art that acts like a mirror or photograph of our reality. Doesn't just reflect, so much as is a complete representation, like someone taking a picture. As an artist, I always considered photographs to be somewhat bland. Not showing the emotion or the flavor of the event. Just a snap-shot of it. There's not interpretation. Your interpretation is blocked by the lense of the camera.
But it turns out that one can play with photographs and manipulate them - so that in a way it is no different than drawing or painting a picture, you are just doing it with light and in some respects computer graphics. So even the camera doesn't reflect what is real, but rather a representation of our perception of reality.
So why this preoccupation with reality? Why do people want believable stories and realism?
Right now...I sort of don't. Reality can get tiring after a bit, be nice to take a break from it.