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five words
Way back in March some of my LJ friends were playing a game wherin people would be assigned five words which the giver associated with the receiver, and then the receiver was obliged to do a post explaining what those words meant to them. I commented then to ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
vesta_aurelia that "Ok, I don't really have time for this, and if I'm being a dedicated student I won't do anything with the words straight away, but I enjoyed reading yours, so what the heck...". She gave me the following words, and the e-mail notification has been sitting in my LJ folder in-box for months, waiting for me to get back to it. I still don't have the time, but I feel more like cleaning out long-neglected correspondence than being a responsible post-doc at the moment, so here goes:
World The world is a wonderful place, and I think of it as home. Yes, all of it. While I've only lived in seven countries yet, I am still reasonably young, and there is every reason to believe that I'll have time to poke my nose into far more corners of it, yet.
Stone Is one of the most important things in the world--without the solid bits of earth, what would we stand upon? It is also beautiful, and records ever so many stories for those of us who care to read them. Every stone and rock consists of minerals, and every mineral has a temperature/pressure/range of compositions at which it will grow (and a much larger set of temperatures, pressures, and range of compositions of the host rock in which it won't grow). By studying the rocks we can work out the history of a rock--what were the conditions of its birth? In general, the prettiest stones are the ones which were born at high temperatures and pressures, and had a long gestation period before coming to the surface of the earth. Why? Because it takes time to grow a mineral, and the larger the crystals of any given mineral that are present, the more likely we are to see it as "pretty".
Partnership Partnerships are a very flexible thing--I truly believe that any combination of individuals can form a happy sucessful partnership. Some combinations take more work than others, but that is due to the individuals present, not the number and gender of said individuals. While partnerships can form for any number of reasons, sometimes to achieve a specific short term goal, sometimes for business, I think that the most joyous partnerships are those which grow out of love, and it saddens me whenever a group of people try to restrict such partnerships to only a certain number of individuals or to restrict the genders of the individuals. I believe that the world will be a happier place when more people truly understand that loving partnerships can form between groups and that such partnerships will enhance their communities, not detract from them.
Custom I am very fond of custom-made things. Why go to the store to purchase oneself a random object that is mass-produced and doesn't quite fit, when one can make (or cause to be made) a similar object which has been customized to precisely suit the needs/tastes of the individual? Though, I acknowledge, it is sometimes faster/cheaper to obtain the mass produced item and then modify it to suit.
Balance Balance is one of the things I enjoy playing with in my daily yoga practice. It brings me great joy to be able to stand upon my head, or hold myself in crow pose (hands on floor, knees on the back of the upperarms, feet and body in the air, all supported on just the hands), or many of the standing balance poses. I have also enjoyed playing a bit with partner balances, where one stands at unlikely angles upon another, and hope to one day find someone who wishes to play those games with me again.
And bonus definitions:
Custom The customs of a people dictate acceptable behaviour, and include rituals for certain activities. In many ways I very much enjoy these--the ritual built into an SCA court ceremony is much fun, and many of the SCA customs we've developed over the years (which are harder to change than Law) are good things. However, customs can also cause major problems in this world, such as places where the customs are too restrictive and try to force people into patterns to which they cannot adapt.
Balance The balance between the many different interests a person has in this world can be difficult to achieve. We are responsible for tasks related to our jobs (when we have them), related to maintaining our health and fitness, related to our emotional stability, and related to caring for such of our friends/family/partners as we've taken under our wings. Yet, there are only 24 hours in any given day, and sleep (a big component of health!) tends to demand a big chunk of those. Those of us who choose to undertake a major project in our lives (like a PhD) often choose to set aside one or more of the other aspects while completing the project. When this happens, it can be difficult to revert to a more balanced lifestyle afterwards. I am currently struggling with re-finding the optimum balance. Between my recent travels and the time spent moving into my new place, my "uni work" catagory of how I'm spending my time is considerably lower than it should be, and yet I'm tempted to keep picking up more and more things that I haven't done in ages, while I was finishing up my PhD thesis. There is an optimal balance of all of the things I wish and need to accomplish, and I hope that I find it again, soon.
vesta_aurelia that "Ok, I don't really have time for this, and if I'm being a dedicated student I won't do anything with the words straight away, but I enjoyed reading yours, so what the heck...". She gave me the following words, and the e-mail notification has been sitting in my LJ folder in-box for months, waiting for me to get back to it. I still don't have the time, but I feel more like cleaning out long-neglected correspondence than being a responsible post-doc at the moment, so here goes:World The world is a wonderful place, and I think of it as home. Yes, all of it. While I've only lived in seven countries yet, I am still reasonably young, and there is every reason to believe that I'll have time to poke my nose into far more corners of it, yet.
Stone Is one of the most important things in the world--without the solid bits of earth, what would we stand upon? It is also beautiful, and records ever so many stories for those of us who care to read them. Every stone and rock consists of minerals, and every mineral has a temperature/pressure/range of compositions at which it will grow (and a much larger set of temperatures, pressures, and range of compositions of the host rock in which it won't grow). By studying the rocks we can work out the history of a rock--what were the conditions of its birth? In general, the prettiest stones are the ones which were born at high temperatures and pressures, and had a long gestation period before coming to the surface of the earth. Why? Because it takes time to grow a mineral, and the larger the crystals of any given mineral that are present, the more likely we are to see it as "pretty".
Partnership Partnerships are a very flexible thing--I truly believe that any combination of individuals can form a happy sucessful partnership. Some combinations take more work than others, but that is due to the individuals present, not the number and gender of said individuals. While partnerships can form for any number of reasons, sometimes to achieve a specific short term goal, sometimes for business, I think that the most joyous partnerships are those which grow out of love, and it saddens me whenever a group of people try to restrict such partnerships to only a certain number of individuals or to restrict the genders of the individuals. I believe that the world will be a happier place when more people truly understand that loving partnerships can form between groups and that such partnerships will enhance their communities, not detract from them.
Custom I am very fond of custom-made things. Why go to the store to purchase oneself a random object that is mass-produced and doesn't quite fit, when one can make (or cause to be made) a similar object which has been customized to precisely suit the needs/tastes of the individual? Though, I acknowledge, it is sometimes faster/cheaper to obtain the mass produced item and then modify it to suit.
Balance Balance is one of the things I enjoy playing with in my daily yoga practice. It brings me great joy to be able to stand upon my head, or hold myself in crow pose (hands on floor, knees on the back of the upperarms, feet and body in the air, all supported on just the hands), or many of the standing balance poses. I have also enjoyed playing a bit with partner balances, where one stands at unlikely angles upon another, and hope to one day find someone who wishes to play those games with me again.
And bonus definitions:
Custom The customs of a people dictate acceptable behaviour, and include rituals for certain activities. In many ways I very much enjoy these--the ritual built into an SCA court ceremony is much fun, and many of the SCA customs we've developed over the years (which are harder to change than Law) are good things. However, customs can also cause major problems in this world, such as places where the customs are too restrictive and try to force people into patterns to which they cannot adapt.
Balance The balance between the many different interests a person has in this world can be difficult to achieve. We are responsible for tasks related to our jobs (when we have them), related to maintaining our health and fitness, related to our emotional stability, and related to caring for such of our friends/family/partners as we've taken under our wings. Yet, there are only 24 hours in any given day, and sleep (a big component of health!) tends to demand a big chunk of those. Those of us who choose to undertake a major project in our lives (like a PhD) often choose to set aside one or more of the other aspects while completing the project. When this happens, it can be difficult to revert to a more balanced lifestyle afterwards. I am currently struggling with re-finding the optimum balance. Between my recent travels and the time spent moving into my new place, my "uni work" catagory of how I'm spending my time is considerably lower than it should be, and yet I'm tempted to keep picking up more and more things that I haven't done in ages, while I was finishing up my PhD thesis. There is an optimal balance of all of the things I wish and need to accomplish, and I hope that I find it again, soon.