A Short Paragraph About You

[gurdonark]

An on-line friend from Goteburg sent me two samples of a Swedish instrument called a nyckelharpa. It's got a great sound--like a cross among a zither, a fiddle, a dulcimer and something indefinable. I'm using it to mine samples to slice, but I admire the samples as they stand now, unadorned.

Today marked another very busy day. I am tired.

The newspaper advised that this January is the most rainy since 1898. We do extremes well where I live. Other places are warmer, other places are colder, but we have compelling contrasts.

I like a meme that is going around the internet these days. I'm impressed, too, with the aplomb people bring to this meme.
Thus, I'm going to incorporate that meme into this post, and issue you an invitation:

I'd be delighted to write you a short paragraph about how cool you are, and what I like about you and your journal. There are but three rules:

a. you may not write back to deny any compliments paid;
b. you need not duplicate my feat in your journal;
c. you shall not turn inot a winged monkey.

I reserve the right to:

a. write a long paragraph, or more than one
b. wax effusively
c. go off on tangents
d. give unexpected praise

As you know, I like to start these things with a silly word in reply.

If you are interested, could you reply--

"All about me"

Comments

"all about me"

[ensenchiridion.livejournal.com]

if course i'm interested... i just feel like a bit of a jackass, asking to hear about myself all the time - but it's so addictive!

Re: "all about me"

[ensenchiridion.livejournal.com]

that's an "of course", of course - and please take your time (i can see you have so many of these to do - we could even take a rain check if you decide you need a break from them before you get to mine)

deux

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I suppose this is the endless reply, although don't imagine that this is the end of the process of reply.

I like that you can focus on getting the right 90 seconds of creative expression, one second at a time, whereas my own way of creating is to create 90 days' worth, in hope of getting the right 90 seconds. Both approaches reach the same place, although yours probably requires less metaphoric film development.

I want to see you achieve all sorts of credentials and degrees, as my hope for you is that you are able to share your ideas and your passions with as many people as bright as you as possible. I think you (do and would) benefit from being around people devoted to craft and task. It's not that you're a snob that way--not really, if people understood you--it's just that it's hard to play chess with the beginners when you really would like to see if you could rate up to a master. I always want to cheerlead for you or to give you practical advice, but I think you have a good head on your shoulders.

I like that you see the multiple facets to things. I like that you're not unduly materialistic, but you're not oblivious to practical materialities, either. I like that you're on a perpetual voyage of self-discovery, and that you're willing to put aside the arrogance of pretended self-satisfaction to instead hunt for how you want to live.

I like getting to you know you a bit better. I like that you open up and discuss. I like that you take yourself seriously about things that matter, and that you take yourself lightly about things that don't matter.

I even like the name of your school and the way in which your narrative indicates you live where you live, as your narrative if you lived here would be similar in some ways but very different in others. I like that you live in a suburban area, as I always believe that tons of creative people do, and always mind, a bit, when people glibly imagine that none do.

Your fragilities touch me. Your ideas intrigue me. Your writing style interests me. We shallbe/shouldbe/are great friends.

I'm really glad I know you.

if(of)(off) with[in] (of) course a(bout) you

[gurdonark.livejournal.com]

I don't think you should feel remotely burro-like, as I am delighted to tell you how very, very much I like you.

I don't remember how we came to be on one another's friends list--probably because we both had Lisa on ours--but I'm glad that you've been on my friends' list for some time now. When you had a prior handle, omitted here for privacy's sake, I always liked your posts, but I puzzled a bit over just who you were, really. You obviously were creative and interesting, but there was even a vague moment in which I was not sure of your gender.
You were my favorite friends' list mystery.

I liked (and like) the way you can weave allusion and notions into cohesive posts, and I enjoy your love for wordplay, even if my own form of writing and wordplay is very different (mine is undoubtedly the more pedestrian).

I like that you're filled with so many thoughts and ideas. I love to read your interests list, and to figure out the few in which I get the literary or musical reference, and the several in which I get the joke, and then be left with the rest of the jigsaw, all card-table-like, which merely sit there, unattached to the other ideas, alive and interesting. I regret that we don't know each other outside this medium, because we obviously would enjoy very much the resulting dialogue and interaction. Perhaps that's remediable in at least substantial part.

I like that you have a strong sense of loyalty, and of family. I like that although, as we all do, you have your own struggles with self-discipline, there is a solid, real core of you that is self-discplined indeed. I am glad you have a sense of real values about the arts and creativity, and your own sets of aesthetics. I like that you're an encyclopedia of interesting pop songs,and even that you don't have seven favorite symphonies.

I like that if I were discussing how the Brill Building songwriters' book I'd read intrigued me because one or two of them studied with Milhaud, you'd get the anecdote as I do.

I like that you've shown me great kindness. I enjoy our exchanges,and enjoy learning about your life. I think that your interests in music
and music teaching really resonate with me, because they are to me callings in the way of the ministry or the medical professions.

I like the sense I have that I will know you better as time goes on than I do now. I like your fierce independence, even as you explore what compromises to make with it to make your life work best. I like the poetic turn of your mind. I like that you pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and try again. I like that you care very much for your family, as to me, family is such a treasure, not bestowed on all.

I like that whether it is this space or that other space, there is always an air of educated whimsy about your expression and even your page layout.
I like the URL of your web depository.

I like that you're a person who owns up to ambitions. I like the way you've come through rather more than your share of challenges. I like that you do not blame the Heavens for some of the choices you've made, but merely recognized the opportunities to make better choices.

I think that you are much more a person of highs and lows than I am, and I'm always glad I don't bore you silly. I like that you share my trait of being rather a magpie about culture, taking a little ribbon here, and some aluminum foil there, and weaving it in the story of who you are.