Thoughts on the Journey

To start off a meme that I always enjoy as I love taking photographs.

Suggest something for me to photograph.

Next I'm going to do some writing on topics that were asked about from the last meme, which is still open. Suggestions make me happy as they provide other things to write about other than job slog.

bjornwilde who asked How about...folk tales. Make of that what you will. = D

Folktales are some of my favorite stories as they're the stories that cultures hold onto through the generations, because they speak to something true. One reason I loved studying Classical literature is because you can watch how the stories of the Greek gods are reimagined by various writers, artists and changed throughout time. It's possible to see this in other kinds of stories; trickster tales, fairy tales, and others. They fascinate me and someday I want to run a youth program built around the idea of the power of stories and how through reinterpretation we learn our own voice and then can tell our stories.

bodldops asked Best RP character you've ever had - canon, noncanon, utterly crack, whatevs.

Now this is something I can happily write about for a rather long time, because a lot of my life is divided up by what I was roleplaying at that time. So the answer is a tricky one for me, because it's hard to pick truly, truly favorite. Instead I'm going to ramble on about the characters that stand out for the parts of my roleplaying life.

Gwyn-half-elf Bard for D&D, I created Gwyn at summer camp where I learned how to play D&D from one of the best DMs, I've ever had in my life. At that point, I was realizing that I was a storyteller so I eagerly took the chance to create a backstory for Gwyn, which the DM liked enough that he raised her starting level. She is the character that I play whenever I play D&D, so I've played her at cons and she and those early games are why I love roleplaying as I do.

Various Vampire: the Masquerade characters-From my sophomore year of high school to the summer between my first and second year of college, I played in a Vampire LARP. It's hard to say any of those characters were a favorite as many of them were rather awful but I loved LARPing. I adore the chance to get dressed up and improvise as a character, it makes me so happy. Also that period when I became familiar with the various Worlds of Darkness games and discovered Changeling, which was the game that taught me how to run a game.

Sir William ap Fiona This character was an NPC for the Changeling LARP that I ran at Randolph-Macon Woman's College and still one of my favorites. He gave me an excuse to wear beautiful suits and hats, flirt with everyone as I sneakily moved the plot along. My players were wonderful and created plot where I had only left hints of it. I also ran a Changeling tabletop game and over the years, there was drama and chaos but a lot of fun. That experience taught me how much of a difference, the right group of players makes. When I played in high school, a lot of things got in the way of the game but in college, we all worked to play. We always had a blast getting dressed up, helping each other with costumes and thanks to one of those players, I actually have a Fiona crest wall hanging.

Will Scarlett One of those amazing players introduced me to Milliways and I brought in Will. At the end of February, I'll have been playing in Milliways for five years and I hope there's more. Will is a character that I've been writing in some form since I was about twelve and in Milliways, he's grown. He's also how I've learned LJRP, which adds collaborative writing to the mixture of creativity that makes up roleplaying. He's the one that I can always come back to and though I have others that I currently play more, he's a constant for me.

I'm going to end with a little explanation of my roller coaster week but I'm trying to not do too much as I have this bad habit of twisting myself in knots. This week began with a sense of many things weighing on me that needed doing and not really knowing where to start. On Sunday I was able to write and post a story that had been in the back of my mind. Monday and Tuesday were a tired blur with Tuesday listening to a library head talking about her hiring. Wednesday, I hauled myself out of bed early when I didn't have to, but did allow a fellow librarian to have some more time.

Then I went out, freaked out about all the jobs I wanted to apply for and how I had no time. After a good conversation with my parents, I sat myself down and applied for two of them. I think if I block off two or three hours every week when I put on music and just apply, I will find a job. So while the morning was strange, it helped me accomplish things. Yesterday I met with an old college friend of my dad's who works at Michigan and had a slightly surreal experience of a mock interview mixed with talking with him. It was informative but odd and I hope to talk to him another time without that odd framing device.

The main reason I think this week has been so tough on me is I'm putting pressure on myself due to job stuff and so my nerves feel rubbed rather raw. That means that I'm more sensitive to things that normally wouldn't bother me. I'll try and keep everyone aware of how I'm feeling and do my best not to snap and instead say, I need space. I might not always manage it but that's what's going on in my head.