Straight From The Barracks

So it’s been a while since I’ve introduced a...

Tue, 21 May 2013 23:42:33 -0400

So it’s been a while since I’ve introduced a character of mine.

This one is a little bit different, though. When I was a kid, my friends would always come to me for ideas on what kind of story we should do when it came time to play pretend at recess. This is one of those characters from one of those.

I was about 10 and it was just me and my best friend at the time who were playing out this storyline about these two dudes who were being haunted by their dead wives and all this crazy paranormal shit was happening.
I believe at first the characters had some sort of amnesia and were finding themselves drawn to certain places where they would remember bits of their past as they found objects. There was one instance in the storyline where there’s a swirling cloud above them and all these demons and spirits are trying to work their way into the physical world through them or something like that. I think it was around that point that we stopped and other kids were beginning to lose interest in playing pretend which made me turn to online roleplay.

I can’t recall the name I gave this guy and I’m not so sure I really got his appearance right, but it’s hard to figure out how to translate it. I’ve been spending the last hour trying to get it right and nothing’s really working so this will have to do for now.

At the time, whenever I wasn’t checking out books on wolves and various other animals I was usually checking out books on ghosts and spooky stories so it was only natural that I would come up with a few ideas involving that subject matter.

I might do a few more from those days if I can think of any of them that were interesting enough.

malformalady: When injured, Pterocarpus angolensis, also known...

Tue, 21 May 2013 22:50:44 -0400

malformalady:

When injured, Pterocarpus angolensis, also known as the bloodwood tree,
exudes a blood-like sap which is valued for its medicinal properties.

reallyreallyreallytrying: yo i ain’t saying she’s a gold-digger but she does carry a weird pan...

Tue, 21 May 2013 21:16:37 -0400

reallyreallyreallytrying:

yo i ain’t saying she’s a gold-digger but she does carry a weird pan everywhere and keep mumbling stuff about “gold in them there hills” idk so yeah she is probably a gold digger

happy-hummingbird: douglas-macrae: Yak at the Turquoise lake...

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:52:42 -0400

happy-hummingbird:

douglas-macrae:

Yak at the Turquoise lake (Yamdrok Tso) in Tibet ©Douglas MacRae

Your ride is ready.

Yohji Yamamoto Fall 1991. This wooden waistcoat and skirt in...

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:52:17 -0400

Yohji Yamamoto Fall 1991. This wooden waistcoat and skirt in one is more architecture than fashion design. The artwork represents radical experimental thinking of the 1980s and 1990s Japanese fashion scene and Yamamoto’s orthodox experimental fashion vision.

Association with times and dates

Tue, 21 May 2013 20:51:07 -0400

I find it fascinating that for some people, whenever a certain date or time of year rolls around, they immediately associate it with a past experience which I assume happens with most people because of how our brains work.

What really fascinates me, though, is that for some people it might as well be as if the event is happening all over again and in most cases it seems to be a terribly negative one. I’m guessing for those who have PTSD or similar conditions that have triggers, the date is probably a trigger point for them so in that respect I can understand that and I don’t really question it.

But there are people who don’t have these types of ailments and it’s about events that might not be nearly as traumatic. It’s interesting.

I’ve never been able to really do that. I’ve tried, especially when it was something pleasant, but for whatever reason I cannot relive that moment in time. It’s gone. By the time the date rolls around the next year things are just too different for me to associate it with the same thoughts and feelings, I’d have to have the same thing or similar thing happen again to invoke those feelings and even so I don’t think it would ever quite feel the same way.

I mean whenever something like Christmas comes along, it always has that vibe I like and it always brings that familiarity to it but every Christmas is always different but not in a way that ruins the experience for me. I’ve had pets die around Christmas time before, I’ve had terrible birthdays where I found out I had been cheated on, but I can’t seem to attach it to that timeline. There’s nothing that comes along and ruins it forever or says that it will always be great forever.

I suppose the advantage to that is that it makes it easier to get over certain things but the disadvantage is that a happy experience I had last year doesn’t measure up to now. I don’t get to experience that again, it’s gone. I’m different. The me that was there last year is no longer the me now, whether or not there are marginal differences or huge differences, I’m not the same me anymore.

I guess the timeline for that is irrelevant. You can’t really pine on something that once was that isn’t happening now because the reality is you’ve moved on. The only thing that exists now is the present and there’s nothing saying the present couldn’t be just as good or even better. For all you know you could be cutting yourself off from growth. You aren’t the same person as you were before X event happened so logically speaking, certain things or solutions, maybe not all, might not be applicable anymore to what is current.

That’s not meant to be accusatory by the way, that’s just self reflection. If any of you do have strong associations with dates where they make you feel the same or give you almost the same emotions as the event I’m curious about what that’s like. If you don’t want things published just make sure you express that, I’m just curious.

Assuming people are even half interested in my brain vomit text posts.