Interests meme, gacked from zebra_bunny

Nov 16, 2007 01:16

If you comment on this entry, I'll pick seven interests from your user profile. Then, you post an entry in your lj with a blurb about each: what they are, why you list them as interests, etc. Here's what I wrote about seven of my interests, picked by zebra_bunny.


1)Angst - Hehe, well, I have my share of it, that's for sure. To me, angst means a particular kind of anxiety. Some anxieties are related to particular problems in our lives that come and go. But when I think of angst, I think of the particular anxieties that always seem to keep surfacing for a particular person, the ones that never quite go away.

To me, angst also implies not only anxiety, but brooding obsessively about one's anxiety, and one's emotions in general. Although everyone has anxiety sometimes, what distinguishes an angsty person is the way that they can't seem to stop analyzing and brooding over their anxieties.

Neko and I often joke about our weakness for stories about "angsty guys." There's just something about characters with a passionate, brooding nature that I can't help but find, well, sexy ;) I love reading stories about angsty characters because it's a relief to vicariously experience someone else's angst instead of my own. I often feel sick of my own angst. Not surprisingly, my story ideas tend to have lots of angst. Now if I could just get over my angst for long enough to actually write them …

A side note: angst is definitely different from having an anxiety disorder or depression, and I would never claim to understand what it's like to have a mood disorder or any other kind of mental illness.

2)Berets - I started wearing berets all the time when I had bald spots from alopecia. Alopecia is an immune disorder in which the immune system attacks the hair follicles. Fortunately, my bald spots have grown back in, for now, but berets have sort of become my trademark, so I still wear them all the time. I have about half a dozen berets of various colours, including a bright pink one. I love berets because they're artsy-looking. Nothing says "starving artist" like a beret ;)

I also associate berets with my D&D character, Zeldan. Beth told me she pictured him with a beret because I always wore one to D&D, and ever since, I always picture him wearing a beret. He just seems like the kind of guy who would wear one. The "Ché Guevara" look fits him ;)

3)Dealing with Dragons - Dealing with Dragons is an awesome fantasy novel for kids by Patricia C. Wrede. The main character is Princess Cimorene, who is kidnapped by a dragon, subsequently decides she likes working for the dragon, and sends away the princes who try to "rescue" her. There are more books in the series, but I haven't read them all yet. Patrica C. Wrede's writing has a terrific tongue-in-cheek style that's very fun to read.

4)High Weirdness - In my opinion, the people who aren't afraid of being "weird" are often the most interesting people. I really appreciate having awesome friends who aren't afraid to show their weirdness, and who help me to feel less self-conscious and take myself less seriously with their spontaneity.

5)Shounen Ai - "Shounen Ai" literally means "boys' love" in Japanese, specifically homosexual love. Thanks to reading shounen ai manga, I've developed a bit of a weakness for gay romance ;)

The term shounen ai is a bit complicated, since it can technically refer to gay romance between men in any form, but is often used to refer to the specific genre of boys' love stories written mainly by and for women, characterized by "pretty boys" ("bishounen" in Japanese), angst, and an emphasis on "cuteness." I myself use the term both ways.

Right now, my favourite shounen ai couple are Nesshin and Shinwa from the online comic Skyfall. There's just something about stories about angsty guys in love with each other that I can't help but find adorable. And sexy ;)

That being said, I know that shounen ai isn't everyone's cup of tea, so I would never try to force it on anyone.

6)The ethics of belief - I'm very interested in the issue of what is the most ethical way to choose what to believe and what not to believe. Personally, I tend to lean strongly toward scientific empiricism, because I believe it's the best defense we have against people manipulating the truth for selfish reasons, or out of fear. On the other hand, I recognize that there is a place for believing in ideas we don't have empirical evidence for, and for letting those beliefs be real enough to affect our lives. In fact, we can't avoid doing this every day.

I don't claim to have the answer to this question, but I'm very interested in the different ways people deal with it. I don't believe that there is one right answer for everyone. I do have thoughts about what are better and worse approaches to thinking about the ethics of belief, but I don't have space for them here ;) I'll probably write an entry about it later.

7)The philosophy of religion - In general, I consider myself much more scientific than religious, but I'm very interested in learning about why people hold the religious beliefs they do, and how they justify them from a philosophical point of view. As I've said, I don't believe that there's a set of religious beliefs that is "right" for everyone, but I do think that there are better and worse ways of approaching religious questions, and I really enjoy philosophical debates about religious questions.

I'm especially interested in Eastern religions, because they seem to directly address the kinds of questions I'm most interested in, like how to overcome my terror of the idea that I'm stuck inside my own mind until I die. I'll post an entry later about some of my interests in religious philosophy.

interests, meme

Previous post Next post
Up