What do you do just for yourself?

[Anonymous]

Wow, I thought only geeky guys like me like Terry Pratchett and HitchHiker's Guide and similar.  Its good to know some geeky girls like it too!     I'm not sure about that Marmoset stuff.  Sounds too dark and gooey for me.  Besides, fermented foods seem to disagree with me.  Anyone else have that?  Cheese, alcohol, nuts (mold), black beans, hoisin, soy suace?

Hey Longtire -- You think Marmite's dark and gooey? Ever read Mervyn Peake?     or H.P. Lovecraft?    

Gormenghastly,  

[Stormchild Guesting]

oh foo, that was me about the Peake & Lovecraft, I forgot to sign in.

Stormchild

[longtire]

Hi Stormchild!  I've read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft.  I love the way he can take something mundane and make it spooky.  I've never read any Peake.

[Stormchild]

Hi Stormchild!  I've read a lot of H.P. Lovecraft.  I love the way he can take something mundane and make it spooky.  I've never read any Peake.

My all time favorite Lovecraft quote: from "The Dream-Quest of Unknown Kadath"

"Carter was there to greet them, and the sight of shapely, wholesome cats was indeed good for his eyes after the things he had seen and walked with in the abyss."

Amen, amen, amen. And shapely, wholesome dogs, too.

[sleepyhead]

not, too fond of Lovecraft myself, like some of his stories, find others boooriiing. Love Peter Straub though, and Stephen King. Guess I like horror so much, 'cause it helps me deal with the horror of my life. The pain and fear are expressed somehow. I have always been a book junkie and believe that is what saved me. I saw how people could be when they were not Ns, learned that there was another way of life. Anyone have the same experience?

[Stormchild Guesting]

I saw how people could be when they were not Ns, learned that there was another way of life. Anyone have the same experience?

Oh yes oh yes oh yes

Exactly what I love about Pratchett - he sees people as they are, warts and all, and loves them anyway. Easy to do when you're rich as Paul McCartney and can love from a distance without fear of damage I suppose.

Reading Peake is a real slog for me... I started on Lovecraft at the same age that I discovered E.A. Poe, so it was a natural fit and I still enjoy him. My dad had the Gormenghast trilogy around at the same time as the Ring trilogy. I loved Tolkien, kept getting mired in Peake, try after try.

Second thought: Forget loving from a distance without fear of damage. I care a lot about you guys, and that does give you power to hurt me. Even just on a screen, with pixels. I guess without vulnerability it isn't love of any kind.

[Portia]

Okay this is just for me. Sometimes even though the sun shines and the birds sing, it does seem pointless. Is that depression or just sadness or just seeing things as they really are? Anyway I don’t want to hurt anyone and yes, Stormchild, we can feel hurt through pixels, just as we can feel compassion and love through pixels. It’s odd.

I haven’t felt hurt through anything I’ve read today and I hope I haven’t hurt. And tomorrow will be different again. Hope you’re okay Stormchild and if you are hurt in any way (are you?), well, maybe a different interpretation or something will help. I don’t know! Today I have little interpretation at my disposal so I’m going to ‘do’ harmless stuff and not think. Not thinking can be good too I guess! I’m starting to feel ‘better’ already….

In a nod to Sleepyhead, “when I grow up I’ll be stable”

[Stormchild]

Hi Portia

Sometimes it just means you need a bit of a change. Sit in the sun and have cheese toast with Marmite ; be with the creatures living around you. Sun, good warm tastes, life, peace. You like spiders I think? If so, I hope you see big gorgeous orb webs shining in the sun today, and technicolor weavers displayed like jewels at the center of them. [If it's warm enough where you are yet.] Beautiful things!

Not hurt by any pixels on this board anywhere, ma'am    
Did see some nasty bullying of a newbie on another board recently, and had a devil of a time figuring out if I should do anything about it and if so what. Was it just that I have bad boundaries? I finally decided no, not just that, also that I want to be in a civil environment, so I PM'd the newbie with words of encouragement. I'm still working on the right words for the bully. There will be some.

Sleepy, I am SO sorry you got a troll attack on THIS board! Ugh!

[sleepyhead]

Portia: Put on some Garbage, crank the volume up really loud and dance your legs off. Works for me.

Stormchild: I wasn't the one getting attacked, but it was still pretty scary. Made me find the courage to post though, so every cloud and so on...

[Stormchild Guesting]

Hey, had a happy thought to share... just sent Sleepy a thank you note for something... realized how neat it is that we are all over the world and yet in each other's kitchens at the same time      

Anyone read Ursula leGuin? Remember the 'ansible' - a device for communicating instantly across light years?

We have one of those. This is it. Is that cool, or what?

Yeah, I'm happy today. You guys help. A lot. God bless you,

Storm

[Anonymous]

Hey Stormy,
Ever read any Jack Vance? The Demon Princes for instance. He wrote a short story called "Lifeboat" that I have reread about ten times. A master of the language.

God bless

mudpuppy

[Stormchild Guesting]

Oh, my favorite Vance is a real oldie... "The Moon Moth"! But I haven't read him as extensively as I'd like. Thanks mudpup, now I have a good reason to hit the used bookstores over the weekend! Never read "Lifeboat". Gonna go looking for it.        It'll cheer me up between rounds of Trapped in the Mirror.

[mudpuppy]

Stormy,
You are a woman of infinite wit and sagacity, as Jeeves would say.
I love "The Moon Moth." I used to have it in an anthology, don't know where it went.
The only place I ever saw 'lifeboat' was an old anthology from the seventies. Good luck.

mud

[mum]

Portia: (haven't figured out the quote thing):
 "When the sun is shining and the birds are singing....seems pointless."
I don't think it's depression or sadness but as you said...the way things are.  You aren't saying it's awful.  You aren't saying it feels bad.  You are just wondering about the point of it all, right?
What you said made me think of things my favorite teacher, Pema Chodron has to say.  It's about "groundlessness", and when I read it, I was reminded of days as a child contemplating the universe, people, nature, time (boy, I did that a lot), this state of "being" and sometimes (not depressingly, mind you) coming to the conclusion that it could very well be pointless, but it's ok even if it is.
"Impermanence becomes vivid in the present moment; so do compassion and wonder and courage.  And so does fear.  In fact, anyone who stands on the edge of the unknown, fully in the present without reference point, experiences groundlessness.  That's when our understanding goes deeper, when we find that the present moment is a pretty vulnerable place and that this can be completely unnerving and completely tender at the same time." (from the book "When Things Fall Apart")

[2cents]

Great thread.   If you guys like Jack Vance and Ursula Le Guin you might want to try Robin Hobb/Megan Lindholm (same author/different names/styles.)