corvus

It works wonderfully the other way too -- being gay and having a straight girl/woman to talk to. Straight guys tend to freak out. Lesbians are too hard to find. So, what's a guy got left to do?

Hmmm. I don't think music has ever inspired me directly. But certain pieces resonate with my writing. For "Mike and Winston," this song, by Neverending White Lights (could you get any more maudlin? harhar), was good for setting some of the tone; it's called "I Hope Your Heart Runs Empty." Another song -- one that has a similar sound, actually -- called " ," covered by Sarah Brightman, helped me too. I guess these pieces help make me feel lonely or sad or calm enough to access the emotions needed to write. Can that be considered inspiration? I dunno.

My experience with anime can be summed up in Pokemon, Sailor Moon, and a handful of episodes of Neon Evangelion (how ever you spell that!). So, honestly I know nothing about yaoi manga.

Apparently, my body just needs chocolate mousse and instant noodles. I wonder if this level of neediness is affected by dietary habit, as opposed to metabolic need. Of course, once you've made a habit of what you eat, your body might adapt towards making it what you need. It's almost like an addiction. Yes, addicted to food. Lovely. I'd probably not have said the above if I ever craved healthy food. Sadly that's never happened.

lol, that's hilarious. I can't say I do as much talking, but I can definitely understand the reminding-of-something-else bit. I think that's a very insightful definition of what an introvert is -- someone who enjoys listening more, but not necessarily a "better listener." The culture of instant messaging I grew into was very scattered. I remember in 8th grade that sometimes I'd have, like, 10 conversations going on at once. A couple of years later, I made a good friend who definitely was not used to this sort of thing, and consequently sometimes got annoyed that I would talk -- do something -- come back to talk -- finish pset. Haha. I think it depends on the situation. IM conversations can go on for hours if you don't sign off, and it's unrealistic to expect undivided attention the whole time. But if the topic is something important, or if we haven't talked in a while, etc., I do stay put and don't go looking for how to solve transient cases of heat transfer.

I think it's very telling that both Tristan and Kevin, who're -- shall we say -- less callous about animal treatment, have lived on or around farms. I've never lived on a farm. So the idea of animals being treated badly and inhumanely... it's something I can grasp intellectually, but I can't make the jump to the emotional level enough to feel strongly about it, or at least strongly enough about it to alter my eating habits. Interestingly, my dad has always advocated spending some time amongst the farmers and workers and getting a feel for that sort of thing. (He was at least partially a product of the Cultural Revolution.) He still eats meat though . Tristan -- can you actually taste the difference? I'd always assumed that bad-tasting meat was due to idiotic chefs, but maybe it's because it came from animals who'd been through a concentration camp. Kevin -- just so you know , I've never spent a cent on iPods or cell phones, and I literally have no new clothes. So I don't think it's just stereotypically rich people who complain about rising costs. And oh, I'm one of your favorite posters. *bows* Now go read my story. You're not allowed to disagree. What's your opinion on the "healthy/organic" trend nowadays? You know, those things that have blurbs describing how happy their chickens were, and how green their valley... etc. You can tell I'm ambivalent about it. I'm wary of anything that's so marketized and, well, trendy. I think that's what people might have objections to, and not the fact that animals are being tortured and farmers are losing farmers. The trendiness seems to distract from the fundamental issues surrounding animal treatment and farmers' livelihoods. (Saying that felt a bit hypocritical, because I apparently don't really dig the fundamental issues anyway.) Of course, it's certainly more effective in getting people to buy the organic stuff. *shrug* Is it because people want to appear trendy or because they care about farmers and cows? I suppose it's the former with the latter tacked on. It's usually how things go in the world, I suppose. Got to love human nature.

All the best revelations are simple ones. I'd advise you to be careful about omniscient and limited third person POV, though. If done badly that can feel as jerked-about as alternating first person POV's.

Lol, my sentiments exactly. I do feel bad for the dog owners though. If they can't let dogs run about the park, where can they let their dogs stretch their legs?

I know what you mean. I will mention a story, but that's because it's Harry Potter and everyone knows it. I was disappointed with how JKR treated the characters after book 4. There was a lot of wasted potential, really. This problem comes up in long series more often than shorter works, obviously. I guess, if the author didn't have an outline, he/she might not know when to stop; the story might drag on, long after it deserves a respectable ending. On the other hand, if the author did have an outline (I think JKR was in this sort of situation), the story might have bloomed in a way that no longer fit the outline. If the author insists on following that outline, then, problems can arise. Not everyone is a Tolstoy! Or a Victor Hugo. Splitting is good.

I'm celebrating the fact that I finished touching up and uploading my story Mike and Winston on eFiction by hunkering down to study for my midterm on Wednesday. :nuke: Life is beautiful...

Uh, how about carnivores? I do object to human under most circumstances. I like my meat. I would prefer my meat providers not to be cruel and inhumane, but not at the price of, well, rising prices. I think animal lovers of this sort can first worry about cruel and inhumane treatment of other humans in certain parts of the world. However, if gruesome treatment of future food reduces the quality of food (e.g. feeding pigs other pigs increasing risk of disease), then yes, I would on the animal rights bandwagon for that cause.

Hmm, I don't think I have music that addresses anger. Just as well, as I don't usually feel angry. I am, of course, eternally congenial and happy. Recently (ie, over the last year and half), I've quite gotten into Italian opera. To me, opera is extremely cathartic, but I had to work hard to understand and enjoy it. I would say that Cherubini's "Medea" has a lot of hatred in it, which might go some way towards assuaging anger. I haven't found the best version, necessarily, but I think Maria Callas does a great interpretation in the 1958 studio recording. Yeah, I seriously don't have much "angry" music. If you're feeling very dark, though, check out the soundtrack for "The Red Violin," by John Corigliano, featuring Joshua Bell. It's the most brooding piece of music I know. As with opera, it took me a while to get into. On another note, maybe some World Music can help soothe the beasts within. In all seriousness, though, I would highly recommend Loreena McKennitt's "The Visit" to anyone. The music is always evocative, intelligent, and reflective. Plus, anyone who's into literature can appreciate musical settings to Tennyson and Shakespeare.

Ugh, the less screen time they come up with the better. I never liked the HP movies. Although the later HP books were such disappointments that it's almost fitting... Sorry if you liked it/them. I didn't.

"Oh, the light, um, it was kind of... bright." *crickets* Just think, you've scarred the poor paper boy for life. Either that, or he's still hiding in your hedgerows with binoculars... I've never been caught, although a custodian gave us very strange looks once. Couldn't tell why -- we were both fully clothed, and no one's hair was disheveled. And, years ago, my mom once walked in on me, but I was half a second faster than she was, so her eyes and mind went away unscathed. Lalala.

lol, for some reason that reminds me of something that happened when I was (very) young. I convinced my mom that I want to bake a pie. So we bought what I thought was a pie, but was actually only a pie crust. We baked the thing, and I was flabbergasted that it didn't magically become a pie like what was shown on the cover... Traumatized for life, I was.

I win this award weekly with every problem set. Sometimes I spend 5 minutes tearing my hair out because I dropped a constant from one line to another. Oh, and for my last problem set, I erased my answers to one of the problems for a very odd reason I still don't understand. The answers were correct, too, but I lost points anyway because they'd, well, been erased. I dunno anything about guitars, Tristan, so I can't say how spazzic the whole thing really was. I don't think I've done anything really idiotic with musical instruments, but that might because I only play flute and piano, and it's a bit hard to mess those up.

This reminds me of the first time I had coffee. I was eleven or twelve and on a flight to Europe with my seven-year-old brother. It was late, we were going to switch planes at Heathrow, and I, feeling very grown-up and responsible, thought a coffee would help keep me up. So when the flight attendant asked me if I would like anything to drink, I said yes, coffee. Her brows rose. Her brows rose even more when I said no to sugar and milk. (I didn't know back then you could put things in coffee! Anyway...) The flight attendant came with the coffee, and I spent the next thirty minutes miserably trying to finish the thing. It was horrible! Then the plane started landing, I felt very sick for an acute half hour, and, after we finally got into the terminal, I promptly fell asleep. It was many years before I tried coffee again...

Enforced sleeplessness. Go problem sets....... x____X There is something really nice about walking the city streets when nobody's there, though. Or going through an empty campus at night. Almost beautiful.

I totally know what you mean... Whenever I set aside a day for myself to write, I actually end up being very unproductive. My brain runs dry. For example, I was planning to finish Mike and Winston this last winter break, but I ended up moping around, doing other things. Then classes started, psets came piling on, and I finished the damn thing in a week. You two are gods... I get a lot of really good ideas when I'm in the shower. There's something about doing nothing, feeling relaxed, and being alone that's really conducive to inspiration. Then I try to knead the ideas for a while, hopefully getting it under my skin. So I actually get most inspired when I'm very relaxed, or very stressed. Hmm...

I know what you mean. For all the science and math I do, a description of myself would be incomplete without fixing "writer" somewhere in it -- and a writer of fiction. Not to be confused with problem set answers and lab reports... Chem has always been okay for me... but physics is a bit scary. Which is why I'm doing it... I wish I speak up as much as you do! In real life I'm much too stubbornly "maybe-I'll-get-this-myself"-ish, until 4:00 am before the pset is due.

I knew I was into guys way before I knew there was a word for it. In fact, I would say I am a lot more "bi" now than I was years ago. One reads about guys who think they're straight and then realize they're gay; I can't fathom that having happened to me. I kind of wish I had realized a bit later, because in a way I feel that I don't understand straight people, and my sexuality had always seemed solipsistic and narcissistic to a certain degree.

Sweet -- something to look forward to every other week. Or so. If all goes well.

Simple question: are you happy with your job? Do you want to change? Can you see yourself doing it for the rest of your life? How important is your job to you anyway? (ie: if you teach, do you think of yourself as a teacher...?) I'm a student, so I don't really have a job yet. But my line of study is science and engineering, and although I neither have the right nor the inclination to consider myself fully an engineer... I am, as of now, pretty happy with my line of study. I do believe in what I'm studying, and as much as I love writing, I'm glad that I'm not majoring in that. Although, if life as an engineer consists of problem sets, I'm getting off at the next station. PS How do you make a poll.....?

It would almost be more appropriate to ask who hasn't. There are three stories I've read in recent memory that made me cry/hurt (tear up, more accurately, cough). They were City of my Dreams, this random Swedish novel my best friend convinced me to read; Story of the Night, by Colm Toibin; and Shadow People, by the now-vanished internet author Jason Locke. At the end of all three, I felt as though a subway train had just rushed through my body. It was great. Painful, too. What I've heard... to be honest, most recently it was the sound of my mother crying when she found out I was gay. That wasn't nice. Less personally, it was listening to Maria Callas -- in 1955, at her height, during which she really was La Divina, and in 1965, just a decade later, when her voice was a tattered shadow of what it was before. That really got to me as well.

Sigh, I'd almost forgotten what it was like to pull all nighters. Then I was reminded of it rather brutally last week. I've a feeling it'll happen again this week. But I'm basically okay until 4:00 am, at which my brain completely shuts down. Then, at around 6:00, I get over it and happily finish my problem sets. Sigh. I hate college.