son of five questions

[ironymaiden]

mimerki asks insightful questions, and i can't resist. by now, you know the drill.
(1) We met through the intercession of frabjousdave and scarletbronte. How should we have met?

(2) One tea-drinker to another, what is your (current) favorite tea and why should I try it?

(3) What fairy tale would you say is most representative of your life and why? Or make up your own.

(4) You are yet another theatre person in my life. What attracts you to theatre as an activity (as opposed to a thing to be viewed)?

(5) You, on the other hand, seem to be a non-writer surrounded by writers. Why do you think this is, or do you think I have misinterpretted the data?

1. i too, own a black leather motorcycle jacket. i like to think that we would have been handed the wrong one after some event, and been compelled to track down the other by the contents of the pockets. mine contains a Snoopy PEZ dispenser and still has matchbooks from my favorite sushi place back East. in some labyrinthine way you would find me from these clues, and i would do the same for you. one of us would be a beat ahead of the other, and we would actually meet on the ferry, where you would be reading a novel that i love, and i would stop to chat about the book, and then one of us would mention the quest for the mystery coat owner, et voila. but maybe we wouldn't figure that out until we arrived at the same location off the boat. and then we'd go have a cup of tea.

2. i don't have a current clear favorite, but in this weather i like a scented black tea. Earl Grey. the loose blend i have right now is a little perfumy; my favorite brand is the Stash Lady Grey, which is more delicate.
hgrossand evego introduced me to chrysanthemum tea recently, and i think it will be my new herbal love. three loose flowers to a cup, which with the addition of hot water slowly open their petals and create a delicate golden brew. i like the way it feeds all of my senses and encourages a turn inward and contemplation of the cup. i think you would appreciate the aesthetic, the flavor, and the way you are compelled to stop and fully experience its preparation and consumption, rather than absently dunking and sipping on the way to somewhere else.

3. fairy tales have a beginning, a middle, and an end. i don't feel like i'm in a place where i can sum up - i think i'm in the middle of a trilogy or a story cycle. Beauty and the Beast, i think. i don't want to imply that any of the people i love qualify as a beast, but perhaps there are Beast qualities. i do like that she's a smart plucky girl with a big heart, who learns to love people for what is found under the surface. i think that's very me, and a journey that i've experienced, one that's been rewarding. she's mad about her father, has bad relationships with women, and discovers that while she loves her family, she's happiest away from home. there are issues with the Disnified version, but laying on the book obsession in the rural setting with the jock-worshipping populace is a bonus as well.

4. this is perhaps the hardest question, because lately i've been an audience member, and i'm conflicted about wether or not it will ever be my career again. i heard an interview with a musician the other day that summed up one of the problems - you're looking for a new job every week. the theatre cycle isn't quite that rapid, but enough to be emotionally draining. the business and the personal are very closely intertwined, and it's very rarely just a job, no matter how much we'd like it to be. when i work on a bad production, every performance is like scraping off a little bit of my soul.
that said, theatre is the union of all the arts - writing, acting, singing, dancing, music, painting, sculpture, textiles, furniture, it's all there. your work (and i think that actually everyone involved in a production is a craftsperson, but that's a big debate) is a part of a grand collaboration, one that isn't complete without the audience's participation. i love ephemera, and a performance is new every night. i like to share with my friends, and there's something immensely satisfying about inviting 300 people over and telling them a great story with your friends and the cool stuff we made. maybe it's that i like making things but i don't like finishing them, and the play never stops being made. and it makes me kinda high, when it's good. take the pleasure of pleasing a lover and spread it and multiply it through a room full of people. take the anticipation of doing that and amp it up through research and planning and rehearsing and building for weeks or months. it's like a drug. you can develop a tolerance for it, you can cease to get pleasure from it, it can ruin your finances and your relationships, and you can quit for your health. it doesn't stop the addiction. i used to think the drug reference was for actors and amateurs. i was lying to myself.

5. you're right. i write this, and letters. i like stories, and i like to transmit them and share them, but i'm not driven to make up my own.
i think my current immersion is a bit of a phase, since it used to be that C was the non-theatre person surrounded by theatre people. i was the only person at dinner last night without a writing project, but so far it doesn't bother me.
i've always wrapped myself around with creative types, musicians, artists, actors, writers. there was a decision sometime in childhood that i would have to marry a writer so that i would never run out of books. and then i forgot about it, but i figured out recently that i've only had sex with people who are creators or performers of one kind or another. writers tend to be smart, witty, and great conversationalists, with an intense curiosity about the world. and imaginative. all of which makes them great company. and for some reason they seem to like me.

and they're dead sexy. nothing makes me quiver like a well-turned phrase. oh. my. gods. i'm a groupie.


shall we play the game?

Comments

[scarlettina.livejournal.com]

oh. my. gods. i'm a groupie.

Right there with ya, girlfriend.

Okay, I'll bite. Interview me.

with my teeth?

[ironymaiden]

1) you have all kinds of great jewelry. assuming you have a favorite piece, please describe it - why is it your favorite?

2) what keeps you smashing pennies, and when/why/where did you start?

3) as a groupie, which writer, dead or alive, (appearance of course is not an issue, since that's not how we know them) would you most like to encounter?

4) what was your first cat like?

5) if your life was a Choose Your Own Adventure book, what chapter would you turn back to for a different ending?

[frabjousdave.livejournal.com]

I object to the first question, your honor. You should have met by my intercession, as should everyone.

[mimerki.livejournal.com]

I find the thought of someone trying to find me by the contents of my leather jacket kind of disturbing. I don't think anyone needs to know how many small shiny objects (marbles, interesting pieces of broken glass, etc.) are in my pockets. Though it might have led to intercession on the part of frabjousdave anyway, since I think his card is *still* in my pocket.

Earl Grey and his kin are favorites in our household, though by no means our only tea. I think our default is Twinings Earl Grey, though we've also got Stash Lady Grey (which sounds kind of kinky, now I think on it), and a couple of loose varieties called things like "Flowery Earl Grey." Currently, I am very fond of teas with what I think of as unexpected flavors: Sage Blackberry, or things with both flower and vanilla tastes.

Now you do me!

five by five

[ironymaiden]

1) we started our LJs the same summer - but you had had your account for months before then. what made you decide to get the account, and why did you wait to use it?

2) assuming you have a complete Shakespeare, describe its acquisition and appearance. if you don't have one, why not?

3) would you say there's a fiction book you've read that changed your life? which one, and why?

4) is there a food item that is common in your hometown back East that you can't get here, or can't get "right"?

5) i know some of the drawbacks, so what do you think is good about being in a "military family"?