The Life Experience ~ Spring '09

[bloodyrosemccoy]

What I Learned Since The Spring Equinox

• My sister thinks my lack of desire for a mate is weird.
• “Anhedonia” is the medical term for an inability to feel joy.
• Wasps are the god damn SUPERVILLAINS of nature. Now, I knew that some wasps were disgusting monstrous horror-movie-inspirations from the very depths of your worst nightmares, but I didn’t realize the sheer variety of horrifying parasitic atrocities they’d commit against trees, grass, spiders, butterflies, and beetles.*
• Wyoming and Colorado state laws require you to move to the left lane when you see someone on the shoulder.
• While Star Trek TOS is almost entirely made up of homoerotic moments, the winner of all the episodes I’ve seen was “Mirror, Mirror.”
• Octavia Butler is even more rocking than I was led to believe. Took me way too long to find one of her books.
• Mark Hamill can do three different crazy laughs.
• Bill O’Reilly writes kids’ books. I didn’t need to know that.
• When stroked, alligators can be sedated. They also make a hilarious warnk sound before they do.
• Delayed Sleep Phase Syndrome perfectly describes my bedtime habits, and is in fact very, very difficult to treat. Take that, people who think I’m just not trying!
• It’s almost nice to find out you have a “disorder,” because at least you know you’re not a one-of-a-kind freak.
• In the world of my aunt, dark wizards and lawyers are apparently always hovering around little old ladies just waiting for them to have heart attacks. That’s why it’s imperative that it be kept secret from everyone, including, preferably, most of the little old lady’s children.
• Your hips have to be forward for front stance in tae kwon do. I’ve been doing it wrong for years.
• Even one stellar job interview doesn’t guarantee you the job.
• There’s a really nice section of Salt Lake City off on the other side of Downtown that I never knew existed—and which I should keep in mind for whenever I want to actually move out.
• I am not the only person in the world who thinks Strunk & White were full of shit! Yay!
• Bad movies based on good books touch a serious nerve in people.
• Uhura’s first name is Nyota.
• Arc flash is an ionization of the air around an electrical system with sufficient voltage and no grounding. It’s an impressive and unfortunate cause of death among electricians.
• Wire-wrap jewelry is pretty straightforward in its basics, but mastering it is less easy.
• There is such a thing as an antidepressant that works without making me fall down
• The life of a Mormon missionary is even more regimented and awful that I could have imagined. You’re never even supposed to be out of sight of your partner. I realize this is probably in order to keep missionaries out of mischief, but that doesn’t make me feel any better.

*I am of the strict mammalian opinion that being eaten from the outside in is fair, and the proper sequence of events is 1. Kill, 2. then eat. If that happens to me I’m bummed but figure, well, fair play. But eating alive, and/or from the inside out, is definitely a foul.

Comments

[padparadscha.livejournal.com]

Actually, I am so with you on the partner thing. I would be fine going through life with someone around, but I think the thing is it's not a big concern for me. And I'd prefer a comfortable friendship to real romance.

Not sure if that's what you meant, but it's a distinction for me.

[westrider.livejournal.com]

I wouldn't complain about having a romantic element, but what I really want is someone who keeps pushing me to do my best and supporting me in that, and for whom I do the same.

There are a couple of Characters in The Legacy of Gird*, by Elizabeth Moon (I think they come in during the second book, Liar's Oath, but they might show up at the end of Surrender None), who pretty much perfectly show what I'm talking about in the purely platonic case. Sandtiger and Del from Jennifer Roberson's Sword Dancer series exemplify what I'd be looking for in a romance pretty much.

That said, I've gotten pretty used to being alone, and am most of the time more or less OK with the fact I'm going to be alone for the foreseeable future. I don't particularly like doing things that involve leaving my apartment, rather dislike meeting new people, and am entirely mystified by how people become more than friends.

* Not Elizabeth Moon's best, by a long shot, but still a very good couple of books. If you haven't read her stuff, you should check some of it out. She's one of my favorite authors right now.