Shower Meme on a Rainy Night

[flwyd]

When you know the day is ending all too soon
You're just two umbrellas one late afternoon
You never know what you will say
This is your favorite kind of day
It has no walls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls

And there's nothing wrong but there is something more
And sometimes you wonder what you love her for
She says you've known her deepest fears
'Cause she showed you a box of stained-glass tears
It can't be all, the truth about the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls

But when she gave you more to find
You let her think she'd lost her mind
And that's all on you
Feeling helpless if she asked for help
Or scared you'd have to change yourself

And you can't deny this room will keep you warm.
You can look out of your window at the storm
But you watch the phone and hope it rings
You'll take her any way she sings
Or how she calls, the beauty of the rain
Is how it falls, how it falls, how it falls
How it falls, how it falls, how it falls

-- Dar Williams, "The Beauty of the Rain"

The shower meme continues. You may ask me for an interview. I'll ask you five questions. You post the answers in your journal. You tell people they can ask you for an interview. And the meme marches on. (If you get intimidated by the verbosity of exchange by Sun and I, page down to the horizontal rule.)

From blazingsun:

1. How do you (and others who know you) think you are different from and similar to your brother? What kinds of things have you learned about yourself from your brother?

People often express disbelief when they learn that my brother and I are related. I have long straight hair; he has a giant orange afro. (You'll be able to verify this when I post my Santa Fe pics.) So that's an obvious answer. But we're different in a lot of other ways, too. I'm much punnier than he is -- I view a sentence as something to be poked at, perverted, and used to the full extent of blunt literalism. Harper is (or was) pickier -- for many years he refused to eat very many foods, while I've always eaten just about anything. He's better at social organization -- he often marshals his friends for games, spelunking, or other events. I, on the other hand, am not very good at getting people to do things they aren't already excited about. I'm much more likely to plan an event in advance and see who shows up than to call a bunch of people and say "want to hang out tonight?"

There are lots of way we're similar, of course. He's an artist and I'm a programmer. Getting good at either requires doing art (or writing code), but it's not practice like sports where you do the same thing lots of time. However, I write programs with a clear goal in mind; he often lets art evolve as it comes from his pen.

I'm not sure what I've learned from him. I've spent a significant portion of my life around him, so it's hard to think of specific things.

2. If you were a heterosexual woman, what kind of man would you find most attractive (both in terms of looks and personality)? Would the kind of man you imagine finding yourself attractive to as a woman be any different if you were a homosexual man?

Well, it seems most women are attracted to gay men and most gay men are attracted to gay men, so I'd think the answer to both would be "gay men!"

It's difficult to come up with a good answer to this question because it's not much like the question "If you were a girl, what sorts of books would you read?" Female attraction is governed in large part by genes and hormones I don't have, so answering this question involves more than imagining myself clean-shaven and in a skirt. Furthermore, I find a lot of women attractive and they span many kinds.

So Trevor the Straight Girl might be attracted to boyish muscly guys or rich older guys or geeky goth bois. Or maybe all three. But she'd probably care more about personality than looks or status (since Trevor the Straight Boy does). She'd probably be into educated witty expressive guys. Which are the sorts of girls I'm into, so it might be a bit of a copout.

Trevor the Gay Guy is easier to consider, since I have most of the right genes and hormones. When I've seen a guy and said to myself "He's pretty hot," it's usually been a fairly bulky clean-shaven outdoor enthusiast type. (Much unlike me.) The partner I'd like would probably be someone physically attractive who I'd also like as a friend -- sharing common geek domains and activities. Roommates with benefits, so to speak.

3. If you were to create a movie (assuming you had plenty of money and the power to make all the major decisions about it), what would the movie be about? Where and in what time period would the film take place? Who would you choose to direct it and who would you choose to act in it? Would it have a happy or sad ending?

I've got various movie ideas running around in my head. I've got a neat idea for a contemporary film noir (of the Sunset Blvd. style more than the Third Man style) about a mailman and a dissatisfied wife.

I think it would be cool to do a silent film. Film technology and technique has improved a lot since 1927, but it's lost some of its universalism and physical expressiveness. Slapstick is almost a lost art and melodrama ain't what it used to be. So I'd like to help silent film make a comeback. The ultimate challenge would be to make a character-driven silent film without any titles between shots. (There are, of course, lots of films without words -- the Qatsi series, for instance. But they typically aren't about characters and relationships and human activity, which is what I'm talking about.)

I think it would be very powerful to make a movie version of Romeo and Juliet set in contemporary Jerusalem. I don't think I know enough about either culture involved to take much of an artistic role in such a project, but I think it should be done.

I think it would be neat to make a short film with dialog in English that's subtitled in English. The subtitles would express the meaning characters intend subtly. For instance, "No, I don't mind." [Of course I mind, fucker.] It would also be neat to make a movie about some intense interactions between some people, but shot from a cat's point of view, so there's all this crazy stuff going on in the periphery, while the main attentional focus is the bird feeder or something.

There's a Borges story where he describes an author who wrote a story where the first scene is later explained by three different possible antecedant scenes. Those three are then explained by their own three past scenes, creating a three-level tree with nine leaves. He predicted his imitators would stick to two-way branching. I think this could (with two-way branching) adapt itself well to a movie. I think the first scene should be a trial in court, but I've yet to come up with a good crime to trace back.

Other ideas are less well formed. A movie about a day in the life of a kid. A post-apocalyptic movie. A movie exploring philosophical theories (set in a Kantian or utilitarian society; starring a Nietzschean hero; featuring a brain in a vat; climaxing with a runaway trolley...).

In all of these cases, I don't have particular directors or actors in mind -- the overall concept is more important. I'd probably want to be both the screenwriter and the cinematographer (if not the director), possibly sharing the role with an expert.

4. Think of five people you admire who you have personally known and associated with during your life. Now think of one characteristic for each individual that stands out in your mind as the characteristic you like most about each of individual (for you personally). Wait until you've done the previous two steps to read this next step: now describe how you would be a different person, and how your life might be different if you possessed/displayed each of those five characteristics. What characteristics of those five do you think you already have? Which would you most like to have that you don't have?

• Emily's Playful wit
• Michelle's Self-aware goal-recognition and pursuit
• Heather's Caring helpfulness
• Morgan's Outgoing exuberance
• Clover's Quiet reliability

I already have playful wit, though sometimes it isn't expressed as often as I'd like. I'm fairly reliable and I'm not particularly loud about it. I do have some work to do on following through on everything I agree to do, though. I'm pretty self-aware, but I don't have very many goals, and I'm content to let life take it's course rather than working too hard to achieve those that I have, figuring I'll end up meeting the important ones anyway. I can be pretty exuberant, especially in front of lots of people. Morgan's exuberance, though, is mostly displayed with individuals and small groups of people -- situations in which I'm often rather quiet. I'm often helpful, but it doesn't usually arise from care for the other person but either a sense of duty (part of being an RA is helping people out) or from being a nice guy.

In each case, I have a version of the virtue, but in most I don't express it in the same way the person in question does, and I'm not sure I want to. Because of the way the question was asked, these virtues are fairly personal and bound in my mind to the person in question, so it's hard to imagine me expressing them without being a lot like the person.

(Interestingly, three of the people have bright orange hair and another considers herself a dark redhead.)

5. Imagine that the human species was decimated by a virus. The *only* survivors are you and one other woman. You and this woman find each other and move onto a large mixed-fruit and nut orchard where you spend a few leisurely hours each day tending your garden, chickens, and goats, and making food to sustain yourself. The rest of the time you spend reading, having sex, and doing what ever else seems fun. One day, your female companion confronts you with the fact that it will be up to both of you to ensure that the human species does not go extinct. Assuming this woman doesn't have to be super savvy about survival skills, who would you want this woman to be (If you can't think of a particular individual, than describe what she would be like)? Would you choose to have children under these circumstances (assuming you were both fertile and you could)? Why or why not?

Now that's some interview question. I've entertained many a stream-of-consciousness fantasy beginning with "she and I are the only ones around," but usually it's a deserted tropical island or something, not a postapocalyptic scenario. I also get the sense that this is a question my interviewer has thought over in her own mind.

Now, if we're the last two humans alive, I don't really have room to be choosy so who I'd want her to be is rather academic. Characteristically, we'd both have our pedagogical acts together to have any chance at success. She'd better not be carrying problematic recessive genes, 'cause I foresee a lot of inbreeding. Reproductive health would be important too -- success requires offspring production until at least one boy and one girl come out, and redundancy would be a good idea.

Incidentally, "maintaining the human race" requires more than baby production. Culture is arguably as important, if not more important, in the makeup of the human race than biology. I don't know if a rich culture can be passed through a two-person bottleneck. The culture and society that emerges after a few generations would be fascinating. Unfortunately, there won't be any grant funding left to study it.

---

More from falcondreams

1) You're pretty well read, but what's your candy bar for your brain? You know, the junk you shouldn't be reading but crave every now and then?

LiveJournal! I actually haven't read very many books in the last six years or so, which I find rather disappointing. I have, however, read a whole lot of words on the Internet.

2) What mental image gets you through an average day?

∅. I don't get many mental (visual) images. I certainly lack recurrent mental images. I do often get a song stuck in my head for several hours, and that helps sometimes. But most days I don't need help getting through. I just go with the flow and the day goes by like the river.

3) What song do you feel shapes you even though you haven't grown into it yet?

I just got back from my first tango class, so I'll pick a tango at random.

It's getting close to ten years since I heard "And then one day you find / Ten years have got behind you / No one told you when to run / You missed the starting gun." I told myself I'd look back ten years from then and hope I'd picked up on the starting gun. In some ways I have, in some ways I haven't. So in a way I'm always growing into Pink Floyd's "Time," because it's always the case that "The sun is the same in a relative way but you're older / Shorter of breath and one day closer to death."

4) Tell me about your favorite character you've ever role-played. Live action or table top, you choose.

On December 31st, 1999, Keith Baker ran an "End of the World" LARP. I was cast as Focker McLeod, a less-than-sane scientist who recently emerged from the asylum hungry for revenge. During the game, he was trying to build a device to steer an asteroid into the planet to kill them all, provided he could escape. He connected with some aliens and, in the intense final moments of the game, made it on to the porch, letting the rock end the world. The three previous versions of the game didn't end in world destruction (there were other ways the world could end), but we agreed that it was an appropriate result for the Y2K game.

Anyway, that role kind of set me up for my real favorite role. Keith later ran a Cthulhonic LARP. Various characters had differing knowledge about what was going on, and most of the "good guys" were trying to stop the "bad guys." I was cast as a guy who lived in a mental hospital who'd been invited to the reading of this guy's will (like everyone else). My psychiatrist came along. Throughout the game I'd get odd memories that helped link things together -- in the end it turned out that some terror had once messed up my mind.

I played the insanity to the hilt. I walked around all game in a rain coat telling people it was going to rain soon. I'd burst into Singin' in the Rain frequently. I had a couple packs of gum that I'd hold out to people and say "Cigarette?" even if they were clearly talking privately to someone else. I kept putting sticks of gum in my mouth without removing the previous wad. My character description said one attendee seemed familiar, but I couldn't recall why. So every time I saw her I'd say "You seem familiar... is your name... Sandra?" "No, it's Adria!." By the end of the evening, she was actively avoiding me. By and large the plot unfolded without my interference or awareness. I had a blast. Everyone said they loved my character.

A month or so later, I came over for Keith's regular Wednesday night gathering and one of the participants of that LARP was there (it was her first Wednesday). I came in and she said "Are you... really insane?" I was impressed and pleased.

5) What do you dream about at night, that you can remember?

I remembered a lot of dreams in the last few years. A couple weeks ago I dreamt that my brother was pregnant...

---

So that's more of me. I'd like to get to know you -- ask me for an interview. (Or, if you've asked for one and I didn't give you questions, remind me.)

Comments

[ironhawke.livejournal.com]

After reading through several of these interviews Trevor, I'm wondering if you'd be willing to throw one my way. Considering that our level of actual social interaction has been mostly nil for years, I'm still curious to see what kind of questions you could glean considering that you can read my journal. :)

Oh, and on another note. Harper looks nothing like you, I'll vouch for that one. I have no idea how you could have the hair you do, while he has the hair he does. Recessive genes unite!!

Shower Meme

[flwyd.livejournal.com]

1) What's your favorite memory that took place at New Vista?

2) Are you happy with the decisions you've made and the course your life has taken since you graduated? What decision would you be tempted to change? What would you insist stay the same?

3) On several occasions you've sworn off something -- booze, sex, etc. -- only to take up the "vice" not long after. What have you learned from these experiences?

4) Design yourself a job you'd love. What would you do? Realistically, how much should you get paid for it?

5) What's the funniest and/or weirdest story from your food delivery experience?


Post your answers and invite others to request an interview. Give such seekers five questions and tell them to post the answers and an interview invitation.

[blazingsun.livejournal.com]

I like your answers! I especially liked your ideas for films. Have you ever considered dying your hair red?