drumroll please
i finally got it together and now i have answers to peripateticdoll.
1. Has there been any show/book/movie/piece of art, whatever, that you can say has changed your life or the way that you think?
2. Canada= how do you feel about it? Do you want to live there forever? Where do you want to go?
3. If money was no object, what would you choose to do as a hobby? lifestyle? job?
4. What's the worst job you've ever had and what has it taught you?
5. What do you think about therapy?
1. The only thing comes to mind was a painting I saw at the National Gallery of Canada (in Ottawa). I did a tour of Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal with my cousin just before I started high school. Thinking about it now, it was kind of weird that I went on this trip with my cousin and his friend as they were both in university at the time and I was just a little kid. It was an exhibition of paintings from Windsor Castle (which had just endured that fire) and I saw the most striking painting. It completely changed me. I have since forgotten the name of the piece and the artist but it was a depiction of Judith slaying Holofernes (the well-known, iconic versions are done by Gentileschi and Caravaggio) and it is different from anything I've seen since. I think it's better than the Gentileschi and Caravaggio versions. It was a huge painting - I remember it was the size of the wall and it loomed over me but it showed Judith, defiant and proud, holding the head of Holofernes in front of her. It was grotesque because his head was all bloodied and there were ragged pieces of flesh hanging from the base of his neck. Most depictions of this story show the action from the profile - so Judith is on one side of the painting and she's cutting his head. I think the Gentileschi version, Judith has a vengeful look on her face that many feminist art critics have taken up as an early feminist moment but I think this painting from the Windsor Castle collection tops them all. It was savage and beautiful.
2. Canada. I likes it a lot. I don't know if I want to live here forever, per se. I'm certain that I'd like to raise my children here and live a good portion of my life somewhere in Canada (probably not the west though and most definitely, not in Toronto) but hopefully, there will be stretches of time abroad. I wouldn't mind living in the US for a shortish period of time. I have a pipe dream of going to Berkeley for a graduate school degree. Warren and I want to live in Spain for a while and Viet Nam, too. I would like to live in Glasgow at some point. I think Warren has more of a travel bug than I do but I realise that travelling doesn't mean that I have to be a nomadic backpacker, in a perpetual search for the last off-beaten path, without a home. I think that was the thing that made me fear travelling.
3. For a hobby - I guess I would continue collect old cameras (like medium format cameras and super 8s) and other film paraphenalia (old film stock, etc). I've always wanted to have a darkroom and I would probably build one for myself. As for lifestyle, I would probably have a more moneyed version of the one I have now - I just wouldn't balk at price tags or have to worry about the cost of dry cleaning. I would be able to get all my posters framed professionally. I would probably have a car, too. It wouldn't be me to go all Great Gatsby-esque like P.Diddy on everyone's ass. That would be so sad. I would probably also buy a small cottage to farm on. That's something I've always been interested in.
Job-wise - probably professionally trained pastry chef or something fashion-y like a milliner or a designer. I know I would have fun doing those kinds of things. Or maybe I would run my own boutique and be a merchandiser ... it would by appointment only. ha!
4. I worked for a non-profit arts organisation in the city last summer, as a coordinator for an annual music festival. I was pretty excited about this job because it was different from anything I had done in the past (the majority of my employment record took place at the Bank of Montreal - a large, national bank in Canada). I had hoped this coordinator job would open new doors for me and I would be able to do something closer to what my arts degree had provided. It was absolutely the worst job I've ever had. I'm in the process of suing them because they never paid me for my job (which was a flat fee of $3000CDN). I learned that I work better in a structured environment where I know what my job duties are. I'll never work for another organisation that won't give me a contract to sign - that was a hard lesson learned. You can't work in good faith. I learned that professionals in their 30s, 40s and 50s (i.e. "adults") can be a bunch of petty fucks - their only sign of "displeasure" with my performance was that, as a group of people, they started to give me the cold shoulder. I felt like I had been ousted of a high school clique. I've learned how the small claims court process works and that ethics and law don't intersect. The law is still very much an old boys club.
Fucking christ.
It's important to hold people accountable for their actions. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for one's self.
5. I think anyone can benefit from therapy, but only if they are willing to be open-minded and honest. I think people create limits for themselves in therapy by not being completely honest - it's scary to admit to yourself that you have problems that you can't solve on your own. It's unnerving to allow yourself to be vulnerable and to trust someone so completely as your therapist. I see friends who deny they are hurt/upset/traumatized by something or someone - they buck it up, put on a good face about it and "move on" while in actuality, they don't, and their situation/condition worsens. It took me a while to find the therapist I see now. When I first started seeing someone, it was a woman named Christine. She was a good and sympathetic ear but at the time, it was her first year working as a counsellor. While it was effective, it isn't the "right fit" as it with Bev. Sometimes, when you're lucky, the first person you work with is the one but sometimes, it takes a while.
The best therapist listens to you and is able to tease out the right thread to unravel the big tangle you've given her.
I'm a little nervous because I'll have to stop seeing Bev at some point this fall (not sure when). It turns out that she took me on as a "special case" - so she opted to work with me over the last 2 years but with most people, she only works with them for 12 weeks.
I see therapy as a way to hold myself accountable. I know myself to be a good person but I think therapy has helped me better myself. I think that's the very least one can do for their community.
and, i have questions for shiu and ascentintochaos. answer, my pretties.
ascentintochaos
1. What's your name and do you like it? When you were little, did you want a different name?
2. What is it about bike-riding that you love so much?
3. Have you always lived in Toronto? What's your favourite section of the city?
4. What's your thesis about and how long have you been doing graduate work?
5. Name one person you hate from school and what is about them that drives you insane?
shiu
1. Which would you rather do: T.D. or Forat?
2. If you had to shave one person, who would you rather shave? T.D. all over or Barry Woody - ass and balls?
3. If given the chance to race on the rally circuit, would you, knowing that I would have to be your navigator?
4. If you came back as a ghost, who's house would you haunt? In addition to this, which Ghostbuster would you rather be?
5. Who's the illest? If you had to be some famous person's manservant, who would you pick to be your master?
1. Has there been any show/book/movie/piece of art, whatever, that you can say has changed your life or the way that you think?
2. Canada= how do you feel about it? Do you want to live there forever? Where do you want to go?
3. If money was no object, what would you choose to do as a hobby? lifestyle? job?
4. What's the worst job you've ever had and what has it taught you?
5. What do you think about therapy?
1. The only thing comes to mind was a painting I saw at the National Gallery of Canada (in Ottawa). I did a tour of Kingston, Ottawa and Montreal with my cousin just before I started high school. Thinking about it now, it was kind of weird that I went on this trip with my cousin and his friend as they were both in university at the time and I was just a little kid. It was an exhibition of paintings from Windsor Castle (which had just endured that fire) and I saw the most striking painting. It completely changed me. I have since forgotten the name of the piece and the artist but it was a depiction of Judith slaying Holofernes (the well-known, iconic versions are done by Gentileschi and Caravaggio) and it is different from anything I've seen since. I think it's better than the Gentileschi and Caravaggio versions. It was a huge painting - I remember it was the size of the wall and it loomed over me but it showed Judith, defiant and proud, holding the head of Holofernes in front of her. It was grotesque because his head was all bloodied and there were ragged pieces of flesh hanging from the base of his neck. Most depictions of this story show the action from the profile - so Judith is on one side of the painting and she's cutting his head. I think the Gentileschi version, Judith has a vengeful look on her face that many feminist art critics have taken up as an early feminist moment but I think this painting from the Windsor Castle collection tops them all. It was savage and beautiful.
2. Canada. I likes it a lot. I don't know if I want to live here forever, per se. I'm certain that I'd like to raise my children here and live a good portion of my life somewhere in Canada (probably not the west though and most definitely, not in Toronto) but hopefully, there will be stretches of time abroad. I wouldn't mind living in the US for a shortish period of time. I have a pipe dream of going to Berkeley for a graduate school degree. Warren and I want to live in Spain for a while and Viet Nam, too. I would like to live in Glasgow at some point. I think Warren has more of a travel bug than I do but I realise that travelling doesn't mean that I have to be a nomadic backpacker, in a perpetual search for the last off-beaten path, without a home. I think that was the thing that made me fear travelling.
3. For a hobby - I guess I would continue collect old cameras (like medium format cameras and super 8s) and other film paraphenalia (old film stock, etc). I've always wanted to have a darkroom and I would probably build one for myself. As for lifestyle, I would probably have a more moneyed version of the one I have now - I just wouldn't balk at price tags or have to worry about the cost of dry cleaning. I would be able to get all my posters framed professionally. I would probably have a car, too. It wouldn't be me to go all Great Gatsby-esque like P.Diddy on everyone's ass. That would be so sad. I would probably also buy a small cottage to farm on. That's something I've always been interested in.
Job-wise - probably professionally trained pastry chef or something fashion-y like a milliner or a designer. I know I would have fun doing those kinds of things. Or maybe I would run my own boutique and be a merchandiser ... it would by appointment only. ha!
4. I worked for a non-profit arts organisation in the city last summer, as a coordinator for an annual music festival. I was pretty excited about this job because it was different from anything I had done in the past (the majority of my employment record took place at the Bank of Montreal - a large, national bank in Canada). I had hoped this coordinator job would open new doors for me and I would be able to do something closer to what my arts degree had provided. It was absolutely the worst job I've ever had. I'm in the process of suing them because they never paid me for my job (which was a flat fee of $3000CDN). I learned that I work better in a structured environment where I know what my job duties are. I'll never work for another organisation that won't give me a contract to sign - that was a hard lesson learned. You can't work in good faith. I learned that professionals in their 30s, 40s and 50s (i.e. "adults") can be a bunch of petty fucks - their only sign of "displeasure" with my performance was that, as a group of people, they started to give me the cold shoulder. I felt like I had been ousted of a high school clique. I've learned how the small claims court process works and that ethics and law don't intersect. The law is still very much an old boys club.
Fucking christ.
It's important to hold people accountable for their actions. It takes a lot of courage to stand up for one's self.
5. I think anyone can benefit from therapy, but only if they are willing to be open-minded and honest. I think people create limits for themselves in therapy by not being completely honest - it's scary to admit to yourself that you have problems that you can't solve on your own. It's unnerving to allow yourself to be vulnerable and to trust someone so completely as your therapist. I see friends who deny they are hurt/upset/traumatized by something or someone - they buck it up, put on a good face about it and "move on" while in actuality, they don't, and their situation/condition worsens. It took me a while to find the therapist I see now. When I first started seeing someone, it was a woman named Christine. She was a good and sympathetic ear but at the time, it was her first year working as a counsellor. While it was effective, it isn't the "right fit" as it with Bev. Sometimes, when you're lucky, the first person you work with is the one but sometimes, it takes a while.
The best therapist listens to you and is able to tease out the right thread to unravel the big tangle you've given her.
I'm a little nervous because I'll have to stop seeing Bev at some point this fall (not sure when). It turns out that she took me on as a "special case" - so she opted to work with me over the last 2 years but with most people, she only works with them for 12 weeks.
I see therapy as a way to hold myself accountable. I know myself to be a good person but I think therapy has helped me better myself. I think that's the very least one can do for their community.
and, i have questions for shiu and ascentintochaos. answer, my pretties.
ascentintochaos
1. What's your name and do you like it? When you were little, did you want a different name?
2. What is it about bike-riding that you love so much?
3. Have you always lived in Toronto? What's your favourite section of the city?
4. What's your thesis about and how long have you been doing graduate work?
5. Name one person you hate from school and what is about them that drives you insane?
shiu
1. Which would you rather do: T.D. or Forat?
2. If you had to shave one person, who would you rather shave? T.D. all over or Barry Woody - ass and balls?
3. If given the chance to race on the rally circuit, would you, knowing that I would have to be your navigator?
4. If you came back as a ghost, who's house would you haunt? In addition to this, which Ghostbuster would you rather be?
5. Who's the illest? If you had to be some famous person's manservant, who would you pick to be your master?