LJ Idol season 9 Week 0: Introduction

[swirlsofpurple]

I remember an introductory conversation I once had with a distant relative when I was a child, during which I was asked why I didn’t want to be a doctor. My mother answered that it was because I couldn’t stand the sight of blood. I recall my horror-tv-watching, Stephen-King-novel-obsessed self being affronted by this lie.
But like many things of childhood as we grow we begin to understand the complexities of situations and why we create the social constructions we do. It was a need to answer the question in a way that wouldn’t rock the boat on my mother’s part and a desire to see all of us well on the part of my relative. The thing is said relative was of a time and place where the only hope for more than mere survival, for living, thriving, providing for family, was to have a job that drags a person out of poverty. It’s a good thing no one tried explaining this to my younger self because I probably would have said something about how we were in England now and if worst came to worst I could go on the dole. Adult me understands that that would have displeased people.

I suspect we all suffered through many introductions as children, not understanding the point or appreciating the merit. Too old to run around playing and yet too young to fully delight in good conversation, or to recognise that it was only through hundreds of exceedingly boring repetitive introductions that something precious, something golden can sometimes be found. There’s a tendency to focus on the banality of the subject matter, on the ‘why do we want to know these things?’ I also suspect it took me a lot longer than most children to figure it out. I wasn’t and am still not, the most social of animals. I often do not know what to say, as may be seen here, but that doesn’t mean we shouldn’t keep bumbling along, stumbling together, waiting with baited breath to see if something magical may emerge. Friendship after all can be the most magnificent of creatures.

So in the interests of banality in the search for more, I ask some questions of myself. What job do I do? I’m tutoring at the moment. Where am I from? London. What do I want to do with my life? I have no idea. What films/TV/books do I like? I’m a massive sci-fi fan, particularly Star Trek and Stargate and am also a fan of all things supernatural, including Supernatural. At the moment I’m reading a lot of Terry Pratchett, but I’ll read almost anything.  

Learning that introductions are often tailored to the situations we find ourselves in is difficult, often including a mess of insecurities and hesitancies and other human frailties hampering things. But fortunately here we are lucky enough to know we have one point of commonality to jump off from: a desire to write.

Comments

[deza.livejournal.com]

During one of those childhood introductions, I stated I was planning to be god when I grew up. Asked how one gets the job, I said I would be apprenticing the next year. They stopped asking after that. :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

LOL, genius! :)

[bleodswean.livejournal.com]

Yes! Yes!! I think there is an essay here - Friendship after all can be the most magnificent of creatures. Or a fairytale.

I scored "Dodger" yesterday at the thrift store!

*kisses*

[kecharasmoon.livejournal.com]

Awkward and incorrect introductions as a child were definitely something I can remember. Not a bad one this time around though, greetings!

[sweeny-todd.livejournal.com]

Stargate has been on my list of things to watch for a while. And I am an avid Pratchett fan. :)

[ljidolvillian.livejournal.com]

Last sentence is a pretty succinct summary of what brings us together.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

I was hoping that line would be well received ;)

Ooh yay for Dodger. I have a copy of Dodger waiting to be read.

Thanks *kisses back*

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

What do you tutor? And what part of London? I don't know the neighborhoods terribly well, but I did visit with a college group in 1990 and have been dying to go back ever since.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Ah memories ;). Greetings! Nice to meet you :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Hi! I would definitely recommend Stargate; see my icon, that's Daniel Jackson, he's awesome and once managed to form a friendship with an alien who didn't speak the same language and was taking Daniel to eat him.

Yay Pratchett :). Which ones are your favourites?

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Hi! I tutor kids 5-11 in Maths and English, though maths is more my specialty as I have experience with placements and volunteering teaching maths in schools.

Wimbledon, the land of wombles and tennis :).

What about you? Where are you from? :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Yep, thanks :). Hello!

[alycewilson.livejournal.com]

I'd imagine tutoring those kids is very rewarding. I did a brief stint of tutoring through my school in high school but remember almost nothing of it (except that I did it).

I currently live in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, USA but grew up in the much more rural central part of the state, where little towns are interspersed with corn fields and factories. Ironically, my maternal grandmother's side of the family hailed from the Philadelphia area, although my father was raised in New Jersey. So it's a little bit like coming home.

[kehlen.livejournal.com]

I enjoyed reading about you introductions :).

[sweeny-todd.livejournal.com]

anything with Vimes. That is far and away my favourite series. so pretty much the whole of the city watch.

But I do love Death as well.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Hi! Thank you, glad you enjoyed :).

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I love Vimes and carrot. And death is pretty cool too. I also love Vetinari and Moist.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Yeah, it can be rewarding, it can also be very frustrating ;).

[catwomon.livejournal.com]

I'm not good with introductions or small-talk either. I almost always feel like I have nothing worthwhile to say. So, I can relate to what you wrote here.

[dreamsofspike.livejournal.com]

Intriguing insights here... I can relate :)

I'm excited about this whole thing, can't wait to get started! Great opening post! :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Thanks, nice to know :)

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Thanks, glad you liked it :). I'm excited too, should be fun.

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

Great to meet you!

Have you read Ben Aaronovich's London Rivers series? The newest one just came out a couple weeks ago.

[swirlsofblue.livejournal.com]

Hi! Great to meet you too :).

No I haven't, maybe I'll check it out :)

[kathrynrose.livejournal.com]

You mentioned liking things supernatural. Also, the author has written for Dr Who, and there are Dr. Who references sprinkled throughout. The latest book had a ST:TNG reference in it that cracked me up with the coming from out of the blue. Read them in order, though. Each book has and arc, but there's a larger one as well.