On the other side of the wall...

[fajrdrako]

I saw this meme on omnivorously's LJ and like the sound of it:

Everyone has things they blog about. Everyone has things they don't blog about. Challenge me out of my comfort zone by telling me something I don't blog about, but you'd like to hear about, and I'll write a post about it. Ask for anything: latest movie watched, last book read, political leanings, thoughts on yaoi, favorite type of underwear, graphic techniques, etc. Repost in your own journal so that we can all learn more about each other.

Sounds like an interesting challenge.

Comments

[chatona.livejournal.com]

*ponders upon this meme*

So. Something you don't blog about, huh? ... Uhm. I'm still thinking, here. Oh! I know! Your family! What about your family?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

My family. Right.

Well, the reason I don't much talk about my family, is that I don't have one. Or, for all the purposes that matter, my family is made up of the friends around me - not blood relatives but chosen companions like maaseru and maaboroshi, and others you may notice being mentioned here on a regular basis.

My mother died of cancer in 1982 and I miss her still. My father is alive, and lives on the west coast; we occasionally talk on the phone and I write to him regularly (but not as regularly as I always intend). We are not close, and from my point of view, the relationship is somewhat problematic.

I have no brothers or sisters. My aunts and uncles are now dead, most of them within the last few years. I never had any children, though I wanted them.

[chatona.livejournal.com]

Well, that certainly explains that. I'm sorry!

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

No problem! But you see why I don't talk about family - I just don't have family around.

[sollersuk.livejournal.com]

It does sound an interesting challenge, but in my case all the things I don't blog about are either work related (all my working life I have been scrupulous about confidentiality, and sometimes it has driven me bananas not being able to talk about work-related issues even to close family) or things that relate to family members (I'm not suicidal)

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Well, yes. And I think it goes without saying that there are some things there are good reasons not to talk about publicly - and no reason we should. And in any reply, I would not lie, but I always reserve the right to say "I don't talk about that, and for good reason".

But it's still interesting to know what others might be interested in - the topics I avoid perhaps because they are boring to me, or perhaps because I take them for granted.

[femme-slash-fan.livejournal.com]

LOL. I'm gonna try to ligten the tone (or bring it down) by asking fave type of undies and why?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

My favourite type of undies - white cotton panties and white stretchy sports-bras. So stylish!

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

Tell me about the people you went out with when you were young, and about how you came out.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Hmm. Interesting question.

As a teen and in my early twenties I longed for people I couldn't have (usually ten to twenty years older than me) and dated a few people my own age just because they were company and I was lonely - but I didn't much like them. The people I went out with weren't the ones I was crushing on.

Never thought of myself as being closeted, but didn't talk about being bi out loud much - not directly - mostly had no one to talk to about it, and didn't know what to say anyway, though I tried to make my lack of gender-preference clear at every opportunity.

In my twenties I fell very much in love with a male/female couple and had an affair with them - I've never been so happy, and was fairly open about it all at the time.

[omnivorously.livejournal.com]

I think I've bought too much into the usual coming out story.

And that's very interesting, thank you.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

You're welcome!

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

I also haven't any family; my mother died of cancer 1999 and my father died 2006, I haven't any siblings. But I actually haven't any friends - because I don't live in my own country, but it's possible that I'm a very weird person - so people usually don't like me. I have unusual polical leanings, which most people don't understand, they don't understand my interests as well.

I always admire your activity, I'm a very passive human being. After beeing around for fast two years I know your interests and other things about you, so I haven't actually any questions. If you have questions - feel free to ask. But there is nothing interesting about me.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Your opinions and knowledge seem interesting to me - how often to I meet people who like to talk about history? Not nearly often enough!

I've only lived in a different country once, and briefly - that was England. I did a lot to overcome my shyness there - which was difficult, and I'm still fairly shy. But I like people and find them fascinating; I am what maaboroshi calls "a hub". Which is a comfortable and happy place for me to be.

I am a passive person too, in a lot of ways, but I try to fight the tendency because - well, I guess, just because I feel I should: I do think it's a good idea to push my comfort zones in ways that expand and enhance life, if I can.

A question for you, and I know you've give me part of the story, but I haven't heard the whole chain of events: how do you come to be living in Austria?

[wanderinunicorn.livejournal.com]

My knowleges about history are very limited; I should do something to enhance them,but in the evening I'm usually hanging bevor my TV-set watching movies instead of reading.

How it happened, that I'm living in Austria? It's a very simple, but a very long story. I will put it together and e-mail you if you accept.

Another theme; I find bisexuel people fascinating! I have to say, that I'm straigt (althought Kinsey says, that everyone is in some degree bisexuel, who knows) but I had always strong interest in people who are not usual.

And last but not least: Lymond has arrived! The book is very used, the pages fall apart, and it smells so weird, but it doesn't matter.

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

watching movies instead of reading

I do that, too - ! Though I find I miss reading when I don't do it, so I'm making more of an effort to turn to books as well as TV and video.

There's always that lure of my favourite heroes, but I remind myself that the Lusignans and Julius Caesar and Admiral Pellew and others are just as much favorite heroes as Captain Jack and the Doctor - !

I will put it together and e-mail you if you accept.

Yes, I'd like that.

I'd glad you find bisexual people interesting! I do, of course, but then, I have reason to. I'm not sure how much I trust Kinsey's analysis; I just don't know.

I'm sorry your book smells! But at least you have the text - ! It's getting harder and harder to get copies of the Lymond books, as they go out of print.

[bright-lilim.livejournal.com]

I also agree that not everything should be written about publicly especially personal stuff. That's why I don't use filters: if I feel that I don't want to share something with possibly millions of strangers on-line, I won't post it on-line. There are also some work-related stuff that I might want to write about but can't, at least not yet.

So, what *are* you thoughts on yaoi? ;) And manga?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Yoai: in principle, I love it. I am intepreting the word to mean (a) managa about same-sex relationships and (b) fanfic on the same, the Japanese-inspired equivalent of slash, both in fan-comic form and as prose stories.

Do I like it? Yes, of course. All those beautiful cuddly boys.

But... Manga style doesn't quite hit me viscerally the way American comics do, though I've yet to encounter anything like yaoi in professional American comics. Some good f/f stories, maybe, but with a very different slant.... With a few exceptions, the yaoi I have encountered (both prose and in manga form) has an element of superficiality (is that the right word?) and prettiness that keeps it from being really sexy for me. Even when it's fun.

Ilike some of the Final Fantasy slash I've read, especially with Rufus, Reno and Rude. (If I remember the names rightly.)

I'm currently reading Crimson Blade and enjoying it, though it hits an anti-kink for me. Which is okay, I'm enjoying it anyway. My kink is for guys who really, really want to have sex together; and Vald (in his right mind) is resistent. So far. C'mon, Hall, seduce him for real.

There is manga I love: I'm a big fan of From Eroica With Love, for example, simply believing that Klaus is protesting too much and really wants Dorian. (If I didn't believe that, the story would lose its charm.)

[walkingowl.livejournal.com]

Okay, sure. Write about paleontology -- specifically, dinosaur bones and recovering them from their find sites.

Gad. Sorry. Boring!

How about, Wendy's menu?

[fajrdrako.livejournal.com]

Write about paleontology -- specifically, dinosaur bones and recovering them from their find sites.

Gad. Sorry. Boring!

A challenge is a challenge.

So... paleontology. Dinosaur bones. I've seen a lot of those in my time. When I was a kid I used to go to the science museum with my parents "to see the dinosaurs", of which there were plenty - more on display and bigger than we have now, I think. Or maybe it was just that I was smaller. Things whose tails went on forever. At the ROM, too.

It was more fun when there were huge cavernous rooms that echoed when you walked, with high ceilings and wooden beams. Now museums have small dioramas and too many reconstructions and not much of it is large, or real; and you have to follow the arrows. Sort of like Ikea.

As an adult I went to the museum at Drumheller, Alberta, where they have amazing dinosaur bones.

So I've seen my share of dinosaurs, and though I was awestricken at four, I find them a dead bore now I'm an adult. Like fish. Some creatures just don't mean a lot to me.

Dinosaurs I have liked: Well, there's Myfanwy the pterodactyl, in Torchwood.

There's a kind of cute dinosaur in Runaways, the Marvel Comic, but I forget its name. But I can go to Wikipedia and look it up. Yes! Old Lace, the genetically altered dienonychus from the 87th century (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Runaways_%28comics%29).

Both female, oddly enough.

Yeah, boring, but that doesn't always stop me!

As for Wendy's menu: I like some of their new concoctions, though I don't precisely remember what they are - haven't been to a Wendy's since last summer. Their chili isn't bad. I like their burgers and their chicken dishes. Don't much like their french fries, but they do still have nice salads - some excellent salads, in fact. They used to have great salad bars, but no more.

And chocolate shakes. Yum. Now, that was an evil thought. Maybe I could get one somewhere around here, but I don't know where the closest Wendy's would be.

Probably just as well.