Mixed Meme

[qos]

Via _storyteller_. . . mostly because I'm very interested in the recommendations this group will throw at me.

A) First, recommend to me:
1. A movie:
2. A book:
3. A musical artist, song, or album:

B) Next, Everyone who reads this ask me three questions, no more, no less. Ask me anything you want.
1.
2.
3.

C) Then, go to your journal and copy and paste this, allowing your friends to ask you anything.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

Movie: American Pop
Book: The prince of nothing
Music: The Horizon Has Been Defeated - Jack Johnson

Tell me about an ephiphany you have had in life?
If you could live anywhere in the world where would you live?
What is your favorite food?

[qos.livejournal.com]

One of the most important epiphanies I ever had occurred during my freshman year of college. Although I had known since kindergarten that I would go to college, and had been told for years that "when you get to college, you'll come into your own," freshman year was very hard for me emotionally. I made some good friends, I was active in the Christian fellowship, and I got good grades, but I never made the adjustment emotionally to being there. I was there because it was expected of me, not because I had chosen it, and I was miserable.

At some point during my agonized musings on What Am I Going To Do? I remembered the book Illusions, by Richard Bach (which I have to imagine you've read -- and if you haven't, you should). At one key point, Don tells Richard: Listen! It's important: We are all. Free. To do. Whatever. We want. To do.

For a Good Girl like myself, who had always followed the rules and made sure to meet other peoples' expectations, finally really believing this was a massive paradigm shift. Of course any choice has consequences. Being free to do whatever we want to do doesn't mean that we can do so without fear of sanction or hurt or anger or disappointment -- or whatever -- from those around us, those who have authority, those who have needs and expectations.

But we are still free to choose. We can decide the consequences aren't worth the price. But we are free to choose. We each have far more options than most of us are ever willing to admit.

For me, at that time, being Free meant leaving school for a year, something which previously had been literally "unthinkable." I took my year, experimented with some options (all of them disappointing), and eventually chose to go back to Pomona for my own reasons.

Since then, I have never been able to say "I have no choice." Well, only once, in retrospect, but that was looking back at an emotionally abusive relationship, at the end of which I was pretty much suffering from Stockholm Syndrome. When I say that I "couldn't" leave that man, it was a literal truth. I did not have the power to choose to leave him, even though I desperately wanted to. (Add a few more details and you have the story of the lowest point of my life.) But such circumstances are the exception, not the rule.

If I could live anywhere. . . For me it's never been as much about the external setting as the internal one. I want a big house, one with some grandeur to it (and a staff to help me take care of it!). I want a bedroom with a fireplace. I want a big, big library with another fireplace and window seats and big comfy chairs. I want a screening room with comfy seats. A big room for dancing or rituals. Smaller rooms for conversation, games, perhaps meetings with clients when I become a spiritual companion/director. A light, airy room with exercise equipment.

I want it to be set back behind some trees, preferably with a nice wall and fence (think 9 of Pentacles from the Robin Wood deck!) -- but close enough to amenities and friends for convenience.

My favorite food? Probably prime rib. But I also love pepperoni pizza, and chewy brownies. I love seafood, especially crab. Fresh bread. Roasted dark meat chicken. . . .

[http://users.livejournal.com/_storyteller_/]

My mother had been a social science major in college before she dropped out. She had all sorts of books from college and assorted places that we kept in the garage of the house. One of the things she would do is go out to the college and take all the books that they didn't want to keep anymore. Growing up, I would rummage through these piles and boxes of books and find and dig out the ones that looked interesting and put them in my personal book collection in my room.

One of the ones I found was Illusions. I still have it with me and read it regularly. I found it at a time when I was first comming into my own as a seeker, and I was playing in my mind about the questions of choice and free will about freedom and privacy. These thoughts would become the most important thoughts in my life until I joined the military. I based my path around the concept of personal freedom. Then I joined the military and learned about service and social freedom.

The house you describe sounds wonderfull. My own dream home would need many of the same comforts. The best example for me of a dream home is the house that [Unknown site tag] jediyinyang lives in. It is a large house shaped like a pagoda. The main part of the house is actually on the third story. You walk through an herb garden and small personal orchard to get to the steps, the steps take you up to the entry alcove. The alcove opens up to a reception area. There is a large kitchen, a formal dining area, a living room, an office area, a master bedroom and a bathroom all on this floor, aranged in a hexagon shape around the center of the house (the entire house is a hexagon). The center area is a library, with stairs leading up to a loft that forms the top tier of the pagoda design. The entire design is very open air, most of the major interior walls are simply double sided bookshelves build into the frame of the house. From the main area there are stairs leading down. The second floor contains a second bathroom and three more rooms (bedrooms or whatever, one is currently where Ryan's father maintains his practice). The next set of small steps leads down into a 600 sq foot dojo and exercise room. With an adjoining garage/storage area. Both have external exits to the driveway. One of the things that I love about the house is there is simple no wasted space. The entire design is seemless . Oh and the house sits at the peak of the tallest hill in the area and overlooks the northernmost end of the San Fransisco bay.