Little bits of profundity...
Lately I've written a few little tidbits here and there which I have thought to be quite profound, or at least possibly interesting, or something, and I'm going to collect a few here...
On Discouragement
...a friend showed me a poem by a really good poet (Dylan Thomas, "The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower") and was, for the first time in a long time, completely amazed by someone's poetry. (Poetry is one of my less-touched-on hobbies.) And I said "That makes me want to NEVER write another poem... I will never write anything even close to how amazing that is". And the friend who showed me the poem said "No matter what you do, there will always be someone who is better than you. That should not be a discouragement - that should be an inspiration." The quote's not exact after all these years, but it still makes a world of difference. (Thanks, funkdooby.)
Further study: I do enjoy both reading and writing poetry, though I've not really done either (particularly writing... actually song lyrics count, but I don't write enough of those either) in a very long time. Other poets who have amazed me: Alfred Lord Tennyson ("The Eagle" is the first poem I remember that really hit me, as to how skillfully language could be used, and how it really was artistry when done well...); Leonard Cohen, who has a way of using language as it should not be used, in order to capture and convey things which could not otherwise be put on paper; and Anis Mojgani, who I posted about a while ago.
On Keeping a LiveJournal
I go through little phases of "There's wearing your heart on your sleeve, but this is ridiculous, I'm wearing my whole LIFE on my INTERNET!" but... I've always wanted to keep a diary or journal, and when it's "just for me" I can't keep it going. I'm a Leo, I guess I need an audience.
I also like how it forces me to be more consistent with people... there's no "These friends know these things about me, and these ones don't, etc." - If I wrote it in my LJ then I have no reason NOT to tell everyone... and if I make a conscious decision NOT to put it on my LJ, only then does it become a "secret" of sorts.
And it is interesting to read in retrospect... I've not had time to do that in a while, but one day when I'm bored and lazy I will probably read the whole damn thing... and no doubt it will be surprising at times, and I will find things about myself that I don't like, and realize some things that weren't obvious without that kind of scope, and be able to make some changes and set some new goals.
And finally... I have a very bad memory, particularly for "time"... I generally remember what order things happened in, but I have trouble telling if something was a month ago or a year ago or 5 years ago. So... if necessary I can look up things in my LJ... it's not easy, but I can read a entry and go "No, it was before this!" and read an earlier entry, and so on, and eventually find out that I first met someone on Jan. 15 last year, or that I got this cold over a month ago and should really see a doctor about it, or whatever. ;)
On Being Gay
I knew I was interested in guys since, like, elementary school, but was also interested in girls until even after university... took a long time, slowly changed from "kinda curious about guys" to "liking both" to "mostly interested in guys" to "strictly gay".
Anyways, I never said anything about it to anyone, but people "suspected" I was gay, even though I dated girls, and I got no end of teasing about it, from everyone. To be honest, I don't know how I survived. Only in University when I got online did I meet some other people who were bi and start to be proud of it instead of just live with it.
On Choosing a Name
"Branwyn" is a weird story... when I first got online and needed an online name, even before I was furry, the last good book I'd read was "The Dark Is Rising" by Susan Cooper (one of a series of novels for young adults which is really very good!) and liked the character "Bran"... I'd never heard the name "Bran" before, but I knew and liked the name "Branwyn" (not knowing it was strictly a girl's name) and I assumed that "Bran" was a shortened form... plus "Bran" is just ASKING for jokes about Bran Flakes and Bran Muffins... SO... I chose Branwyn. Anyways, turns out "wyn" means "woman" and "BranWYN" is the FEMALE version of the name... but it was too late at that point. I found out much later than "Bran" also means "raven". So I'm a gay male lion with a name that means "raven women". How's that for a piece of work?
That's all for now...
B.
On Discouragement
...a friend showed me a poem by a really good poet (Dylan Thomas, "The Force That Through the Green Fuse Drives the Flower") and was, for the first time in a long time, completely amazed by someone's poetry. (Poetry is one of my less-touched-on hobbies.) And I said "That makes me want to NEVER write another poem... I will never write anything even close to how amazing that is". And the friend who showed me the poem said "No matter what you do, there will always be someone who is better than you. That should not be a discouragement - that should be an inspiration." The quote's not exact after all these years, but it still makes a world of difference. (Thanks, funkdooby.)
Further study: I do enjoy both reading and writing poetry, though I've not really done either (particularly writing... actually song lyrics count, but I don't write enough of those either) in a very long time. Other poets who have amazed me: Alfred Lord Tennyson ("The Eagle" is the first poem I remember that really hit me, as to how skillfully language could be used, and how it really was artistry when done well...); Leonard Cohen, who has a way of using language as it should not be used, in order to capture and convey things which could not otherwise be put on paper; and Anis Mojgani, who I posted about a while ago.
On Keeping a LiveJournal
I go through little phases of "There's wearing your heart on your sleeve, but this is ridiculous, I'm wearing my whole LIFE on my INTERNET!" but... I've always wanted to keep a diary or journal, and when it's "just for me" I can't keep it going. I'm a Leo, I guess I need an audience.
I also like how it forces me to be more consistent with people... there's no "These friends know these things about me, and these ones don't, etc." - If I wrote it in my LJ then I have no reason NOT to tell everyone... and if I make a conscious decision NOT to put it on my LJ, only then does it become a "secret" of sorts.
And it is interesting to read in retrospect... I've not had time to do that in a while, but one day when I'm bored and lazy I will probably read the whole damn thing... and no doubt it will be surprising at times, and I will find things about myself that I don't like, and realize some things that weren't obvious without that kind of scope, and be able to make some changes and set some new goals.
And finally... I have a very bad memory, particularly for "time"... I generally remember what order things happened in, but I have trouble telling if something was a month ago or a year ago or 5 years ago. So... if necessary I can look up things in my LJ... it's not easy, but I can read a entry and go "No, it was before this!" and read an earlier entry, and so on, and eventually find out that I first met someone on Jan. 15 last year, or that I got this cold over a month ago and should really see a doctor about it, or whatever. ;)
On Being Gay
I knew I was interested in guys since, like, elementary school, but was also interested in girls until even after university... took a long time, slowly changed from "kinda curious about guys" to "liking both" to "mostly interested in guys" to "strictly gay".
Anyways, I never said anything about it to anyone, but people "suspected" I was gay, even though I dated girls, and I got no end of teasing about it, from everyone. To be honest, I don't know how I survived. Only in University when I got online did I meet some other people who were bi and start to be proud of it instead of just live with it.
On Choosing a Name
"Branwyn" is a weird story... when I first got online and needed an online name, even before I was furry, the last good book I'd read was "The Dark Is Rising" by Susan Cooper (one of a series of novels for young adults which is really very good!) and liked the character "Bran"... I'd never heard the name "Bran" before, but I knew and liked the name "Branwyn" (not knowing it was strictly a girl's name) and I assumed that "Bran" was a shortened form... plus "Bran" is just ASKING for jokes about Bran Flakes and Bran Muffins... SO... I chose Branwyn. Anyways, turns out "wyn" means "woman" and "BranWYN" is the FEMALE version of the name... but it was too late at that point. I found out much later than "Bran" also means "raven". So I'm a gay male lion with a name that means "raven women". How's that for a piece of work?
That's all for now...
B.