LJ Idol: Intro
Oh, hi! I'm Suzi, nice to meet you. You're with the Idol group, right? Good, good...there have been a few of you through here lately so I've had some practice giving the tour.
Let's just go up the stairs here...Ah, be careful...
Do you need any help getting over that last step? I know at first 8 feet high seems like a lot but once you get to know things around here you won't even notice it anymore. Just grab my hand...there we go.
Okay, I'm sure the first thing you're noticing is the color in here! I love rich colors. Unfortunately I can't decorate my *real* house with these deep shades of green and purple and grey, but in here I don't have to lose my deposit when I paint the walls, hahaha. Oh, the carpet? Yes, it is real grass!
If you look down this hallway to the right you'll see the aviary and my small nursery (right now I don't have much in there except stuffed animals and favorite foods -- one day, maybe!). Straight ahead is the library and the backyard is out the door there, and the halls to our left lead to the game room, the study, and the living room! We'll go that way first and then loop around.
Just this way please...Oh, that staircase? Upstairs is Andrew's room, but he's sleeping right now and I think you'll meet him another time.
Okay, our first stop is the game room! A shame it's so close to the study, isn't it? Haha! Well, this is where I keep all my gaming knowledge, routines, pleasures, and goals. I keep the guilt portion in the study. As you can see, I'm a big World of Warcraft player -- there's my priest and my shaman, and my warlock is there in the corner pouting (I don't pay much attention to her). On the wall here are strategies and formulas and maps, as well as some good conversations and hard-to-forget drama. Those little portraits are of the friends I've made over the course of the last two years in the game (ignore the ones with the Sharpie scribbles...sometimes I'm not too good at housecleaning the social stuff) This chest of drawers has all the goals I'm working towards right now. As you can see by the calendar in the back I haven't been playing as much lately.
The desk in the front here is where I've been keeping my Battletech/MechWarrior stuff, since my roommates and I have gotten really interested in the universe again. Oh, her? She's Petra -- my new roleplaying character for our Battletech campaign. I don't know her too well yet, but I think we're going to be very close.
This closet in the back is pretty big when you open it, but I don't go in there too often. That's where I keep all my other games. Morrowind, Thief, all my love for word games and scrabble and flash games, and anything else I can't think of off the top of my head. I keep it all back here where I can find it when I need it, but the majority of this room is WoW and that Battletech desk.
Okay, ready to move on? The next door over here is the study. Oh, yeah, the academic section is all dusty and marked off right now with yellow tape, but I plan on reopening it sometime within the next year if things go well. I still sneak over and steal old papers and study strategies from there sometimes, but really things have been kind of lax lately. On our side of the line, feel free to examine my work table right here. I JUST built this a week ago when I got a new job at a bookstore, so it's still a bit messy. I need to sand it down and organize it, since they gave me a lot to learn at once. Luckily I keep these things pretty much in order as I learn them so this room should be clean very soon!
Under a floorboard here is the box of guilt. It's pretty full. I don't pay too much attention to it, but now and then it overflows.
The last room in this wing is the living room. Here is where I keep all my interactions and feelings about other people. It has four sections. This half of the room, where we're standing, is where I keep internet friendships, and that is further divided into "casual" and "close." No offense, but we'll be staying in the "internet casual" quadrant for now. The second half, across from us, is real-life relationships, and it's also divided into "casual" and "close." Notice how there's a lot more stuff in the "internet-close" section than the "real-life-close"? I don't always like it, but such is the way this room works. Most of the people and stuff in "real-life-close" is older and more stable, though, so I guess that makes up for something.
The plaques on the walls represent people who I don't talk to anymore, but think about sometimes. I'm sure as I get older I'll have to extend the ceiling to fit them all.
Back into the foyer, if you don't mind. Next we're going to the aviary and the nursery. Follow me?
The aviary is perhaps the oldest, biggest, and most colorful room in here. Watch where you stand, you don't want to get pooped on. Can you hear me? Yes, it's pretty noisy in here, haha. This is where I keep everything I know and love about birds -- their noise, their intelligence, their beauty -- as well as my feelings and hopes, and any analogies and symbols, that birds instill in me. It's arranged chronologically, and they all fly in their memory area.
On the far side, about 50 from here, are my earliest memories and ideas of birds. The parakeet who died in my hand, the parrots I had my picture taken with in Hawaii, my first stuffed birds taking flight. In the middle is Buddy, my family's African Grey who died after a long struggle with nerve damage. He is always happy here, with an endless supply of toast and new songs to learn. With him are many drawings I've done of birds. Right up front here is Casey, who is hopefully coming to live with me and my roommates after Thanksgiving. Don't worry, in here he never bites: this is how he will be after he gets out of that house where nobody loves him. Also around us in the front are all the birds I've met at the National Aviary here in Pittsburgh, a place that inspires me regularly to keep birds a passion of mine.
Do you mind if I bring Casey along? If you're afraid of him, I'll keep him away from you. He loves the nursery, though.
The nursery is also a place filled with birds: my stuffed bird collection. I have about 40 in real life, but in this room are all the stuffed birds I've seen but haven't been able to buy. Unlike in the aviary, these birds do not fly; they are happy to hide in the massive caves made of blankets. Andrew spends a lot of time here, too.
Along the wall are childhood memories that don't have a place in the other rooms.
I also keep my huge refridgerator in here. I LOVE food, to the point where I joke with Andrew about how it's more important than anything else at a given moment. This particular fridge it filled with all my favorite foods -- pasta, olive oil, tomatoes, various soups, quesadillas, special pastries, pesto, many salty things, dark chocolate, raspberries, and thousands of avocados in various forms. I retreat here similarly to when I want my stuffed birds or the comfort of warmth.
This small dresser in the back -- yes, very small, only about a foot high -- is where I keep my hopes and wishes for a future family. Though it's small right now, it is a seed that will grow.
The last place on our list is the library. Follow me past the aviary again and out into the foyer, then we'll make a right.
My library is small and cozy but filled with things. This is where I keep any knowledge that isn't bird, gaming, or food related. All my academic knowledge is here -- the study is where things are processed and used, and it may be in disrepair, but my knowledge is always available to me here. My psychology books, the fiction I've read, my opinions, memories of places I've been and things I've seen without my personal feelings (those are kept in the nursery) -- anything! It's all here, all accessible and kept clean. I also do a lot of writing here, where I can get up and grab anything I need. You'll notice the colors here are rich browns and gleaming whites, heavy wood and shining bone.
Come with me past the dinosaur books and my review of House of Leaves to get to the backyard.
I keep all my bad habits out here (at least, the ones who aren't stuffed in the guilt box), as well as music. It's always raining here, ranging from a fine light mist with the sun shining through, to torrential downpours during which I love to sit on the porch and read. Right now we're in one of those hopeful, light mist kind of rains. I've never seen a rainbow here, though.
The music I keep here is scattered in the grass, in clumps. Since the ground is always wet, the music sinks in over time unless I'm pulling it up to listen and love regularly. Music I particularly enjoy I keep in the branches of my trees -- big wet willow trees with dripping chimes of hot pink flowers that look all the richer against grey skies. Songs and notes hang like pollen and burst noise into the air. Right now I have a whole tree of The Mountain Goats.
The bad habits that live here you probably can't see very easily. They hide in the wedges of the fence or under rocks and come out at the worst times. Look! Over there is nailbiting -- he hasn't been so happy lately, and either spends all his time hiding or languidly hanging around the porch, bugging me. Other habits that pop up often are can't-look-people-in-the-eye, forget-to-put-dishes-away (she's a rascal), don't-want-to-do-laundry (him too), and biting-the-inside-of-cheeks.
Against the fence opposite of us is my beehive.
Okay! Well that's about everything (except, like I said, Andrew's room, but he's still asleep). Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you found the place agreeable. I do try!
I'll take you to the front door. See? Look at that, the 8 foot drop is only 3 feet now. Bye!
Let's just go up the stairs here...Ah, be careful...
Do you need any help getting over that last step? I know at first 8 feet high seems like a lot but once you get to know things around here you won't even notice it anymore. Just grab my hand...there we go.
Okay, I'm sure the first thing you're noticing is the color in here! I love rich colors. Unfortunately I can't decorate my *real* house with these deep shades of green and purple and grey, but in here I don't have to lose my deposit when I paint the walls, hahaha. Oh, the carpet? Yes, it is real grass!
If you look down this hallway to the right you'll see the aviary and my small nursery (right now I don't have much in there except stuffed animals and favorite foods -- one day, maybe!). Straight ahead is the library and the backyard is out the door there, and the halls to our left lead to the game room, the study, and the living room! We'll go that way first and then loop around.
Just this way please...Oh, that staircase? Upstairs is Andrew's room, but he's sleeping right now and I think you'll meet him another time.
Okay, our first stop is the game room! A shame it's so close to the study, isn't it? Haha! Well, this is where I keep all my gaming knowledge, routines, pleasures, and goals. I keep the guilt portion in the study. As you can see, I'm a big World of Warcraft player -- there's my priest and my shaman, and my warlock is there in the corner pouting (I don't pay much attention to her). On the wall here are strategies and formulas and maps, as well as some good conversations and hard-to-forget drama. Those little portraits are of the friends I've made over the course of the last two years in the game (ignore the ones with the Sharpie scribbles...sometimes I'm not too good at housecleaning the social stuff) This chest of drawers has all the goals I'm working towards right now. As you can see by the calendar in the back I haven't been playing as much lately.
The desk in the front here is where I've been keeping my Battletech/MechWarrior stuff, since my roommates and I have gotten really interested in the universe again. Oh, her? She's Petra -- my new roleplaying character for our Battletech campaign. I don't know her too well yet, but I think we're going to be very close.
This closet in the back is pretty big when you open it, but I don't go in there too often. That's where I keep all my other games. Morrowind, Thief, all my love for word games and scrabble and flash games, and anything else I can't think of off the top of my head. I keep it all back here where I can find it when I need it, but the majority of this room is WoW and that Battletech desk.
Okay, ready to move on? The next door over here is the study. Oh, yeah, the academic section is all dusty and marked off right now with yellow tape, but I plan on reopening it sometime within the next year if things go well. I still sneak over and steal old papers and study strategies from there sometimes, but really things have been kind of lax lately. On our side of the line, feel free to examine my work table right here. I JUST built this a week ago when I got a new job at a bookstore, so it's still a bit messy. I need to sand it down and organize it, since they gave me a lot to learn at once. Luckily I keep these things pretty much in order as I learn them so this room should be clean very soon!
Under a floorboard here is the box of guilt. It's pretty full. I don't pay too much attention to it, but now and then it overflows.
The last room in this wing is the living room. Here is where I keep all my interactions and feelings about other people. It has four sections. This half of the room, where we're standing, is where I keep internet friendships, and that is further divided into "casual" and "close." No offense, but we'll be staying in the "internet casual" quadrant for now. The second half, across from us, is real-life relationships, and it's also divided into "casual" and "close." Notice how there's a lot more stuff in the "internet-close" section than the "real-life-close"? I don't always like it, but such is the way this room works. Most of the people and stuff in "real-life-close" is older and more stable, though, so I guess that makes up for something.
The plaques on the walls represent people who I don't talk to anymore, but think about sometimes. I'm sure as I get older I'll have to extend the ceiling to fit them all.
Back into the foyer, if you don't mind. Next we're going to the aviary and the nursery. Follow me?
The aviary is perhaps the oldest, biggest, and most colorful room in here. Watch where you stand, you don't want to get pooped on. Can you hear me? Yes, it's pretty noisy in here, haha. This is where I keep everything I know and love about birds -- their noise, their intelligence, their beauty -- as well as my feelings and hopes, and any analogies and symbols, that birds instill in me. It's arranged chronologically, and they all fly in their memory area.
On the far side, about 50 from here, are my earliest memories and ideas of birds. The parakeet who died in my hand, the parrots I had my picture taken with in Hawaii, my first stuffed birds taking flight. In the middle is Buddy, my family's African Grey who died after a long struggle with nerve damage. He is always happy here, with an endless supply of toast and new songs to learn. With him are many drawings I've done of birds. Right up front here is Casey, who is hopefully coming to live with me and my roommates after Thanksgiving. Don't worry, in here he never bites: this is how he will be after he gets out of that house where nobody loves him. Also around us in the front are all the birds I've met at the National Aviary here in Pittsburgh, a place that inspires me regularly to keep birds a passion of mine.
Do you mind if I bring Casey along? If you're afraid of him, I'll keep him away from you. He loves the nursery, though.
The nursery is also a place filled with birds: my stuffed bird collection. I have about 40 in real life, but in this room are all the stuffed birds I've seen but haven't been able to buy. Unlike in the aviary, these birds do not fly; they are happy to hide in the massive caves made of blankets. Andrew spends a lot of time here, too.
Along the wall are childhood memories that don't have a place in the other rooms.
I also keep my huge refridgerator in here. I LOVE food, to the point where I joke with Andrew about how it's more important than anything else at a given moment. This particular fridge it filled with all my favorite foods -- pasta, olive oil, tomatoes, various soups, quesadillas, special pastries, pesto, many salty things, dark chocolate, raspberries, and thousands of avocados in various forms. I retreat here similarly to when I want my stuffed birds or the comfort of warmth.
This small dresser in the back -- yes, very small, only about a foot high -- is where I keep my hopes and wishes for a future family. Though it's small right now, it is a seed that will grow.
The last place on our list is the library. Follow me past the aviary again and out into the foyer, then we'll make a right.
My library is small and cozy but filled with things. This is where I keep any knowledge that isn't bird, gaming, or food related. All my academic knowledge is here -- the study is where things are processed and used, and it may be in disrepair, but my knowledge is always available to me here. My psychology books, the fiction I've read, my opinions, memories of places I've been and things I've seen without my personal feelings (those are kept in the nursery) -- anything! It's all here, all accessible and kept clean. I also do a lot of writing here, where I can get up and grab anything I need. You'll notice the colors here are rich browns and gleaming whites, heavy wood and shining bone.
Come with me past the dinosaur books and my review of House of Leaves to get to the backyard.
I keep all my bad habits out here (at least, the ones who aren't stuffed in the guilt box), as well as music. It's always raining here, ranging from a fine light mist with the sun shining through, to torrential downpours during which I love to sit on the porch and read. Right now we're in one of those hopeful, light mist kind of rains. I've never seen a rainbow here, though.
The music I keep here is scattered in the grass, in clumps. Since the ground is always wet, the music sinks in over time unless I'm pulling it up to listen and love regularly. Music I particularly enjoy I keep in the branches of my trees -- big wet willow trees with dripping chimes of hot pink flowers that look all the richer against grey skies. Songs and notes hang like pollen and burst noise into the air. Right now I have a whole tree of The Mountain Goats.
The bad habits that live here you probably can't see very easily. They hide in the wedges of the fence or under rocks and come out at the worst times. Look! Over there is nailbiting -- he hasn't been so happy lately, and either spends all his time hiding or languidly hanging around the porch, bugging me. Other habits that pop up often are can't-look-people-in-the-eye, forget-to-put-dishes-away (she's a rascal), don't-want-to-do-laundry (him too), and biting-the-inside-of-cheeks.
Against the fence opposite of us is my beehive.
Okay! Well that's about everything (except, like I said, Andrew's room, but he's still asleep). Thank you so much for stopping by, I hope you found the place agreeable. I do try!
I'll take you to the front door. See? Look at that, the 8 foot drop is only 3 feet now. Bye!