Rules: tag nine users you want to get to know better.
I was tagged by @magickedteacup !
How old are you?: I keep forgetting, but I did the math and I’m 37.
Current Job/Dream Job?: Currently I work half-time as an online camera-store order-processing minion, and half-time doing odd jobs on my sister’s organic farm, including poultry evisceration and finish plucking, so boy howdy do I know a lot about the literal inner lives of chickens. My dream job currently is, I suppose, to go full-time on the farm, mostly so I don’t have to drive across the state so often (it’s 300 miles each way), but I’m conflicted about it. My real dream is, and always has been, to make my living as an author, but that’s kind of like winning the lottery.
What are you talented at?: I mean, talent is one of those things that’s kind of… not real, I dunno. But I do have some pretty good aptitudes; I’ve always been good at expressing myself in writing, and I have just enough talent in drawing and copying shapes that I can freehand embroidery and paint signs like a mofo. I had aptitudes in singing and art, but I never pursued those and they atrophied. That’s the thing about “talent”, it’s mostly hard work.
What is a big goal you are working towards (or have already achieved)?: My big goal for 2016 was to finish that Star Wars epic fic, which I did. The big goal I’m working towards is to figure out how to be able to afford to quit the camera store job, and make up the difference in various other ways. I don’t need a ton to live on, but I can’t live on nothing.
What is your aesthetic?: My aesthetic is cozy clutter, bright jewel tones and rich embellishment, a cold room and a warm blanket, layers and layers of clothing, layers and layers of story, indirect lights and oil lanterns and mirrored embroidery and handmade clothes.
Do you collect anything?: Not on purpose.
If you mean, like, Collectibles, no. I have enough clutter with just pragmatic things. I mean… I compulsively collect craft materials, but I do actually use them, at least in theory, so. I don’t know!
What is a topic you’re always up to talk about?: Ha, you name it, I’m probably interested in discussing it. Except if it’s a movie or TV show, because I probably haven’t seen it. Or a book, which I probably haven’t read. Or a video game, because I’ve never played one in my life and can’t comprehend them. I consume very little media and it makes me slow at any conversation that involves them. But you’d be surprised how much else there is in the world. I’m sure it limits me, I just don’t have the attention span for most of it.
What’s a pet peeve of yours?: when people are inconsiderate. but i do get oversensitive about some things. And then other times I’m oblivious, so it mostly makes me a big hypocrite.
Good advice to give?: oh man. I’m super good at situational advice but not always on demand. I guess, you gotta do you, and you gotta do you the best that you can, because only you can do you, and all you can really do is you, so– anything else usually just winds up being a waste of time, and you can save a lot of heartache and exhaustion by just doing you. Which isn’t simple, but it’s your last option.
Recommend three songs?: man my musical tastes are so fucked. I’ll recommend songs for singing, then, to get a kid to go to sleep. Number one is Oh My Darling, Clementine, which is great because it’s a parody of a sad song but it has a funny ending and mostly kids don’t care but it keeps you sane. Number two is Green and Dumb by Roger Clyne & The Peacemakers, because it’s pretty, doesn’t require a huge vocal range but isn’t droning or monotonous, and can be sung either loudly or quietly depending, plus it’s a waltz tempo and who doesn’t like that, and number three is Colonel Burnaby, which alas I can’t find any recordings of, but my copy is ripped from a worn-out tape my father duplicated off an out-of-print LP by the Druids. The sheet music’s at the link, surely a recording exists somewhere. I can’t explain why that one’s so good at making kids pass out– it’s kind of a stirring tune and the lyrics are theatrical, but there’s a great satisfaction in feeling a child go dead-weight in the backpack as you’re stood over the sink washing dishes singing, “He died as he had often wished, his sabre in his hand!”
phew nine people? IDK, I’m going to tag people who show up in my mentions a bunch. @deputychairman, @torrilin, @anhamirak, @buttons-beads-lace, @bibliophilecellistsoulsearcher, @laughingacademy, @sugarspiceandcursewords, @meanderings0ul, @icantbearsedtothinkofone
man nine is a lot! No obligation, and if you see this and wish I’d tagged you, please feel free to do it and tag me back. I’m awful at keeping track of people on this site.
