Interview Meme: Questions from ShantaK
Five Questions from shantak
1. Do you have songs that make you dance every time you hear them?
That make me dance? Mmm, not quite. That make me want to dance? Absolutely. Some songs even come with specific choreography. The soundtrack for Dirty Dancing is one that my dance instructor used for our warmups, and those songs still bring me straight back to the particular sequence we always used.
A certain kind of club music makes me want to dance - it's the kind my sister divasm likes to listen to a lot.
Waltzes make me want to dance.
And then, also, songs about water make me want to close my eyes and sway.
2. I know you would like children, have you thought of names?
I have, but I haven't settled on anything.
I love my sister's name, but she was horrified when I mentioned the thought of naming a daughter after her, so I probably won't do that. For a boy, I like the name Keegan, which is the name of the little boy I used to babysit (who must be an adult by now, Whoah...), but I've since used it for RPG characters, so I probably won't use it either.
Ultimately, I think I'll have to wait until I'm actually pregnant and the baby has quickened enough that the father and I can start to have a sense of the soul that's actually going to be born. At that point, the name chosen has some chance of being applicable to the child that will be born. If I chose now all by myself, it wouldn't be fair, would it?
3. Do you have thoughts on a specialty for psychology? Or are you going to wait and see?
I'm going to wait and see, because I have too many ideas for specialties, and I don't actually know what's the best idea for me, both in terms of my abilities, and in terms of being able to handle the job environment.
I have lots of ideas, and I'm going to leave the door open. But since I'm intending to pursue a a Masters of Marriage and Family Counseling, that much is clear. I'm not in the program yet, so it's possible the plan could change, and what I do with it or what details I focus on within that framework remains to be seen.
I think ultimately I'm headed for being a one-on-one or relationships counselor who is understanding of paganism and polyamory and other such alternatives.
I suspect I may take up other jobs on the way. One thing I imagine is being a Jr. High or High School counselor and dealing with the rejected kids. I have grandiose fantasies of being able to stop the next "Columbine" because I actually understand geeks.
I also kind of like the idea of specializing in child/developmental psych, but I don't think I can do that with a Masters - I think I'd have to get a PhD. Even so, the idea of using psych to help make educational toys that are really interesting, and open ended sounds like fun. That would intersect with my interest in Industrial Design, perhaps? When I was a teenager I would critique playgrounds for their intellectual value from a kid's perspective. I've gotten rather disappointed at how playgrounds, in being made safer, have effectively been dumbed down as well. Digging into making them safe but still challenging sounds like fun, and would be a cross-section with my other interest of architecture.
4. Do you have any special craft projects currently on hold?
The most prominent is that I'm halfway through a crown for Oxun, and that's completely shelved right now. But of course, at any given time, I'm halfway through at least a handful of necklaces - that is, I have the materials selected and set aside, but either the exact design isn't coming together, or I'm missing a particular material, or some other such issue. I've got materials set aside for necklaces for Freya, Freyr, Frigga, Oya, and a Ghede necklace that fell apart still needs reconstructing. I have most of an Odin necklace is in the works. The Odin necklace in question is in active hold, in that it's still percolating and hasn't dropped off my radar at all, and the Hella necklace is almost ready, so I consider it not actually on hold at all - I'm just waiting for the right time to put it all together, which I expect will be within the next week or two. The others are on long-term hold until something clicks and brings them back onto my radar, and it's time to make it.
Of course, there are countless projects for which I have designs but no materials set aside. I don't even count those as started enough to be on hold. For example, I have an Ossain design that I won't even touch until I'm prepared for the research involved. It involves making all the materials from scratch - even the string and if necessary the needle - with appropriate materials gathered by hand as much as possible. The creation of the necklace itself would necessarily include lessons in what materials to use, how to identify them, where to gather them, how to gather them, and how to use them. No small feat. The idea dropped on my head several years ago, and I'm intrigued, but not at all ready for that kind of project right now.
5. How is your relationship with the various aspects of Death going?
Pretty well, I suppose. I've been doing a lot of casual Ghede meditation, which inevitably touches on the Barons and Brigittes as well. I've been chatting with others, comparing notes, and otherwise plugging along. I've been collecting bones for an oracle, and pondering the significance of headwashing.
I'm working on a necklace for Hela - She's very enigmatic to me, but I seem to have made some important connections, and gotten important confirmations, so that's good. She's so quiet to me, and yet when I look back, the handful of times She's directly touched my life in the past several years have always been highly significant. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's clear I'm not "Hella Called" - or wasn't a few years ago, anyway. But I don't know if that's just that I was going into it for the wrong reasons, or into the wrong context, or if it was bad timing, or if this stuff now is sufficiently secondary or even tertiary, and therefore does not constitute "calling". I dunno. I'm not really worried, but I'm very curious.
I haven't heard anything from any of my dead relatives recently. Uncle Tom has probably moved just far enough away. I wouldn't want to interfere with that process. He's got his own stuff to do. Grandpa Howie never made a peep in my direction after he died, but apparently made himself known to a couple of my other relatives. I guess I'm not his choice of messenger - or else he didn't feel that I needed him. Or perhaps it's generational, and each generation talks to the next, unless there's nobody left to talk to in that generation. I don't know. No, that doesn't work, Alice is my Great Aunt. Alice is quiet, but Alice is always quiet unless there's a very good reason not to be, and no other way to get through. I should get her a bottle of sherry sometime. My other Disir only talk to me when I go seek them out, and I've heard nothing at all from my male ancestors (that is, those who died before I was born).
--Ember--
1. Do you have songs that make you dance every time you hear them?
That make me dance? Mmm, not quite. That make me want to dance? Absolutely. Some songs even come with specific choreography. The soundtrack for Dirty Dancing is one that my dance instructor used for our warmups, and those songs still bring me straight back to the particular sequence we always used.
A certain kind of club music makes me want to dance - it's the kind my sister divasm likes to listen to a lot.
Waltzes make me want to dance.
And then, also, songs about water make me want to close my eyes and sway.
2. I know you would like children, have you thought of names?
I have, but I haven't settled on anything.
I love my sister's name, but she was horrified when I mentioned the thought of naming a daughter after her, so I probably won't do that. For a boy, I like the name Keegan, which is the name of the little boy I used to babysit (who must be an adult by now, Whoah...), but I've since used it for RPG characters, so I probably won't use it either.
Ultimately, I think I'll have to wait until I'm actually pregnant and the baby has quickened enough that the father and I can start to have a sense of the soul that's actually going to be born. At that point, the name chosen has some chance of being applicable to the child that will be born. If I chose now all by myself, it wouldn't be fair, would it?
3. Do you have thoughts on a specialty for psychology? Or are you going to wait and see?
I'm going to wait and see, because I have too many ideas for specialties, and I don't actually know what's the best idea for me, both in terms of my abilities, and in terms of being able to handle the job environment.
I have lots of ideas, and I'm going to leave the door open. But since I'm intending to pursue a a Masters of Marriage and Family Counseling, that much is clear. I'm not in the program yet, so it's possible the plan could change, and what I do with it or what details I focus on within that framework remains to be seen.
I think ultimately I'm headed for being a one-on-one or relationships counselor who is understanding of paganism and polyamory and other such alternatives.
I suspect I may take up other jobs on the way. One thing I imagine is being a Jr. High or High School counselor and dealing with the rejected kids. I have grandiose fantasies of being able to stop the next "Columbine" because I actually understand geeks.
I also kind of like the idea of specializing in child/developmental psych, but I don't think I can do that with a Masters - I think I'd have to get a PhD. Even so, the idea of using psych to help make educational toys that are really interesting, and open ended sounds like fun. That would intersect with my interest in Industrial Design, perhaps? When I was a teenager I would critique playgrounds for their intellectual value from a kid's perspective. I've gotten rather disappointed at how playgrounds, in being made safer, have effectively been dumbed down as well. Digging into making them safe but still challenging sounds like fun, and would be a cross-section with my other interest of architecture.
4. Do you have any special craft projects currently on hold?
The most prominent is that I'm halfway through a crown for Oxun, and that's completely shelved right now. But of course, at any given time, I'm halfway through at least a handful of necklaces - that is, I have the materials selected and set aside, but either the exact design isn't coming together, or I'm missing a particular material, or some other such issue. I've got materials set aside for necklaces for Freya, Freyr, Frigga, Oya, and a Ghede necklace that fell apart still needs reconstructing. I have most of an Odin necklace is in the works. The Odin necklace in question is in active hold, in that it's still percolating and hasn't dropped off my radar at all, and the Hella necklace is almost ready, so I consider it not actually on hold at all - I'm just waiting for the right time to put it all together, which I expect will be within the next week or two. The others are on long-term hold until something clicks and brings them back onto my radar, and it's time to make it.
Of course, there are countless projects for which I have designs but no materials set aside. I don't even count those as started enough to be on hold. For example, I have an Ossain design that I won't even touch until I'm prepared for the research involved. It involves making all the materials from scratch - even the string and if necessary the needle - with appropriate materials gathered by hand as much as possible. The creation of the necklace itself would necessarily include lessons in what materials to use, how to identify them, where to gather them, how to gather them, and how to use them. No small feat. The idea dropped on my head several years ago, and I'm intrigued, but not at all ready for that kind of project right now.
5. How is your relationship with the various aspects of Death going?
Pretty well, I suppose. I've been doing a lot of casual Ghede meditation, which inevitably touches on the Barons and Brigittes as well. I've been chatting with others, comparing notes, and otherwise plugging along. I've been collecting bones for an oracle, and pondering the significance of headwashing.
I'm working on a necklace for Hela - She's very enigmatic to me, but I seem to have made some important connections, and gotten important confirmations, so that's good. She's so quiet to me, and yet when I look back, the handful of times She's directly touched my life in the past several years have always been highly significant. I'm not sure what to make of it. It's clear I'm not "Hella Called" - or wasn't a few years ago, anyway. But I don't know if that's just that I was going into it for the wrong reasons, or into the wrong context, or if it was bad timing, or if this stuff now is sufficiently secondary or even tertiary, and therefore does not constitute "calling". I dunno. I'm not really worried, but I'm very curious.
I haven't heard anything from any of my dead relatives recently. Uncle Tom has probably moved just far enough away. I wouldn't want to interfere with that process. He's got his own stuff to do. Grandpa Howie never made a peep in my direction after he died, but apparently made himself known to a couple of my other relatives. I guess I'm not his choice of messenger - or else he didn't feel that I needed him. Or perhaps it's generational, and each generation talks to the next, unless there's nobody left to talk to in that generation. I don't know. No, that doesn't work, Alice is my Great Aunt. Alice is quiet, but Alice is always quiet unless there's a very good reason not to be, and no other way to get through. I should get her a bottle of sherry sometime. My other Disir only talk to me when I go seek them out, and I've heard nothing at all from my male ancestors (that is, those who died before I was born).
--Ember--