Peg Kerr's Journal

I got this meme from minnehaha:

Comment on this post. I will choose seven userpics from your profile and you will explain what they mean and why you are using them. Post this along with your answers in your own journal so others can play along.

Here were the icons minnihaha K. asked me about:

This is from the movie Sense and Sensibility (of the Jane Austen novel of the same name) and it pictures the actress Emma Thompson in the part of Elinor Dashwood. Throughout the book (and movie) the reserved Elinor ("Sense") stands in contrast to her sister, the romantic passionate Marianne ("Sensibility"). At the course of the novel, Marianne, who has always rather looked down upon Elinor for what she terms her coldness, learns that Elinor feels just as passionately as Marianne herself, except that she (unlike Marianne) exercises discipline over her emotions for a variety of reasons: because it is more honorable, more temperate, and because she does not wish to give her family and friends pain when she herself is hurting. My emotions have always been a difficult part of my own character to manage, and much of the process of my maturation has been learning how to handle them appropriately. I have adopted what I call my "Elinor Dashwood" mode (and I use this icon) to describe those times when my emotions may be tumultuous and painful, but I do not feel it is appropriate to make a parade of them, or to speak directly in my LiveJournal of what is bothering me. See this entry where I began the metaphor, and all of my entries tagged "Elinor Dashwood" here.

and Both of these icons (as well as my default icon) are representations of what I have come to call the Holy Tree. I first became aware of the term by reading Tolkien: he loved trees dearly, and they became central to his mythology, as depicted in The Silmarillion. (In the first manifestation of the world, there was no sunlight or moonlight. Instead, there were the Two Holy Trees, Telperion and Laurelin, from which shone golden and silvery light.) This idea has mingled in my imagination with my favorite poem of all, Yeat's The Two Trees. (I was introduced to it by Loreena McKennitt, who sang it as a song on her album The Mask and the Mirror.) The poet speaks of a magical tree which grows within the human heart, and contrasts that with a false vision of a blasted, barren tree, which may be seen when demons hold up their bitter glass (a mirror). To me, this poem is about one of the central struggles of my life, and it words it so beautifully. I am too apt to believe the demons who hold up the bitter glass, and show me a vision of a blasted and barren tree. I have been trying to see more clearly the holy tree, which the poet assures me grows within my own heart. The song is also a damn good description of cognitive therapy, one of the best I've ever read. When depression gets its claws into me, my tormentors are, indeed, the "ravens of unresting thought," who shake their ragged wings, alas. The key, the poet says, is to turn the eyes away from the bitter glass, with its false vision of the blasted tree, back to the holy tree within the heart. The first tree icon, highly stylized, I posted because I was considering it as a possible tattoo (it was on the cover of a devotional booklet distributed by my church). I still love the design, but I know it would have to be simplified and I am not sure I will ever do it (the idea of my getting a tattoo does horrify some members of my family). The second tree icon was taken from a watercolor done by Tolkien himself, picturing the Mallorn trees of the Golden Wood (from The Fellowship of the Ring).

This candle is an evocation of another important concept from Tolkien: A light in dark places, when all other lights go out. (This is a reference to the Vial of Galadriel, which was a source of light to Frodo in the cave where he encountered the spider Shelob. I use this icon when the depression seems to be waxing and the Light seems to be waning. I use it to remind myself that there is still light there, and I need to remember and draw courage from that.

This is a line from Pride and Prejudice, something said by the insufferable, bossy Lady Catherine DeBourgh. I swiped it from www.pemberley.com. I thought it might be good to use when I wanted to comment on other people's journals, although since I swiped it without permission I feel guilty about having it and so I haven't used it that often. It was actually these Pemberley icons that gave me the idea of creating my Tolkien icons.

This is a picture of the ice palace in St. Paul, taken from the air, at night. I was trying to write a fantasy novel, where the central character was the architect designing it. Unfortunately, I lost my way, and the book has been abandoned for now.

1. List seven habits/quirks/facts about yourself.
2. Tag seven people to do the same.
3. Do not tag the person who tagged you or say that you tag whoever wants to do it.

1. I have an obsessive dread that I will someday drop my keys, either down a storm drain in the street or in the crack just beyond the open door of an elevator.

2. Whenever I take the girls in for their portraits, I drive them crazy by being obsessive about their hair: I always bring a comb and fuss around them to make sure no wisps of hair are sticking up or out of place. Our long-time photographer thinks this is amusing. The girls find it aggravating in the extreme. Often, a large part of the challenge is getting them to smile when in actuality they are hacked off at me.

3. kijjohnson and I talk at noon every Sunday, as we have for years. If we can't make our Sunday noon date, we try to arrange for another time. Best friendships need respect and regular maintenance.

4. I have a specific place for everything on my desk at work. The stapler, paper clip holder, notepad, etc., must always be in exactly the same place when I leave at night. I attribute this to the fact that my house is usually out of my control because of the people I live with, and so I make up for it by being anal about the one space I totally control.

5. I do straddle stretches every day after lunch. I am aggravated that I can't seem to stretch out my inner groin muscles any farther--I used to be as flexible as Delia, and I am trying to get it back. I go into the empty office just across from my desk, close the door, go down on the floor, and stretch. And curse in aggravation because I just don't seem to be getting any more flexible.

6. I will not wear anything orange near my face. I think it makes me look bilious.

7. When I get obsessed by certain songs, I have been known to play them hundreds of times in a row.

I tag dreamshark, pazlazuli, jbru, huladavid, aeditimi, nmalfoy and kiwiria

If there are one or more people on your friends list who make your world a better place just because they exist, and who you would not have met (in real life or not) without the internet, then post this same sentence in your journal.

*smooches*

Gacked from bekkio.

I have no idea what this means, but apparently my LiveJournal weirdness quotient is very low. My writing style is "simplistic," which I find mildly insulting. ( Clicky here for details )

This is something that kijjohnson did last week and I liked it and want to try it, too. She did it because she was feeling a little isolated. As for me, I'm feeling a bit too self-absorbed, and I'd like to shake myself out of that.

Tell me something, some little detail of life lately. Lurkers, too.

Got this meme from papersky: Top most interesting entries of mine in 2006, by number of comments.

January:
6th:
Post about the pointlessness of cleaning the top of refrigerators (yeah, that one surprises me, too) [+36]
SF/Fantasy novels set in time of Elizabeth 1 [+38]

February
Cleaning the room. Again [+84]

March
MAN, I'm hungry [+41] (asking people for snack ideas)

April
Dinner: A Failure [+90]
Certain points that are useful to make after my last entry [follow up to Dinner a Failure] [+52]
Space Camp Fundraiser [+127] ( Thanks again, everybody, for helping make it possible for Delia and the rest of the kids to go!)
Just got back from seeing "United 93" [+93]

May
Garrison Keillor says to quit whining about writing being hard [+51]

June
The HPV Vaccine [+30]

July
Kinda desultory month. Nothing got over twenty comments

August
Homeless, Hungry, God Bless [+50]

September
Fisheses! [+40] (fish recipes)

October
I'm afraid this is really not going to work [Peg cannot take karate after all] [+41]

November
Compusa, feh (Rob has to work Thanksgiving Day) [+38]

December
This is why my husband drives me insane [+32]

I actually like both of these. Maybe I'll do both!

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Fire my boss. Get your resolution here.

(kijjohnson, this reminds me of you).

In the year 2007 I resolve to: Walk on the ceiling. Get your resolution here.

Snabbled from matociquala

Meme:

IF YOUR LIFE WAS A MOVIE, WHAT WOULD THE SOUNDTRACK BE?
So, here's how it works:
1. Open your library (iTunes, Winamp, Media Player, iPod, etc)
2. Put it on shuffle
3. Press play
4. For every question, type the song that's playing
5. When you go to a new question, press the next button
6. Don't lie and try to pretend you're cool...

( la la la )