Slinking and squiggling
20/04/2021 10:00 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
izmeinaI had intended to post my answers to Reg Flint's "How Machievellian are you?"quiz in honor of the birthday of the most infamous despot of all time.
But I have only answered 3 questions so far. I will have long turned back into a pumpkin by the time I get it finished
I did have plans of squiggling my answers to the quiz a good 3 hours ago but that was before the avalanche of spinning beach balls, Scrivener simply refusing to open and Firefox channeling its inner snail. After 20 minutes of these ridiculous antics, I resorted to the usual trick of turning off the computer at the mains. By the time I finally got to the blank page on Scrivener, I was far too frustrated and pretty peeved to be in a state to write anything even remotely coherent
So many lovely days in the real world used to end this way that I simply gave up even going near this blasted Big Mac. The odd visit once every fortnight became the norm. But it is April and I figured I would use Camp Nanowrimo as an excuse to get back in the habit of squiggling. Unlike previous years, I did not even start until 4 days in. I figured if I leave it any longer than that, then there would simply be no point even if setting a ridiculously low word count of 15,000 for the month.
It's not like I am attempting to write a story or any such thing more like an excuse to get back into the habit of squiggling. Especially since I have discovered that it is the main way I make sense of the world and process stuff.
Not getting my thoughts out of the old green serpent skull and on to the page is somewhat like not going to the loo for a week. It actually clogs up the old grey cells until they are barely functioning.
Also there are just so many distractions in Cyberia. Such as milkshakes.
Or Duolingo. I have finally managed to snaffle the elusive top spot in the Diamond Leaderboard using a combination of recycling, plotting, planning and scheming.
I did a 400 point blitz one hour before closing time so that there would be no danger of anyone sneaking past me at the last minutes as I did to some poor sucker who had gone to bed as smug as a bug in a rug assured of her victory next day.
Aside from the very badly behaved Big Mac, April has been a very good month so far. It makes such a difference to have mild weather and delicate sunlight and no need to worry about the weeds wilting if they are not watered every single day
On Monday I rescued a deck of tarot cards from being sent to another location (the charity shops rotate stock because what is old in one shop is new in another)
The deck was missing its box or bag and was tied up with purple ribbon. It also came with a book
It's called the Enchanted Tarot. I had a proper look at it today and it is one of the most beautiful decks I have come across (and I have a collection of more than 60)
It is a strange hybrid of the usual Rider Waite and the Crowley Thoth deck - the big giveaway being the 2 snakes on the 2 of Pentacles
It is definitely one that I will need to get out the magnifying glass for.
I really must get back in the habit of using Tarot decks as a device for generating stories.
But I have only answered 3 questions so far. I will have long turned back into a pumpkin by the time I get it finished
I did have plans of squiggling my answers to the quiz a good 3 hours ago but that was before the avalanche of spinning beach balls, Scrivener simply refusing to open and Firefox channeling its inner snail. After 20 minutes of these ridiculous antics, I resorted to the usual trick of turning off the computer at the mains. By the time I finally got to the blank page on Scrivener, I was far too frustrated and pretty peeved to be in a state to write anything even remotely coherent
So many lovely days in the real world used to end this way that I simply gave up even going near this blasted Big Mac. The odd visit once every fortnight became the norm. But it is April and I figured I would use Camp Nanowrimo as an excuse to get back in the habit of squiggling. Unlike previous years, I did not even start until 4 days in. I figured if I leave it any longer than that, then there would simply be no point even if setting a ridiculously low word count of 15,000 for the month.
It's not like I am attempting to write a story or any such thing more like an excuse to get back into the habit of squiggling. Especially since I have discovered that it is the main way I make sense of the world and process stuff.
Not getting my thoughts out of the old green serpent skull and on to the page is somewhat like not going to the loo for a week. It actually clogs up the old grey cells until they are barely functioning.
Also there are just so many distractions in Cyberia. Such as milkshakes.
Or Duolingo. I have finally managed to snaffle the elusive top spot in the Diamond Leaderboard using a combination of recycling, plotting, planning and scheming.
I did a 400 point blitz one hour before closing time so that there would be no danger of anyone sneaking past me at the last minutes as I did to some poor sucker who had gone to bed as smug as a bug in a rug assured of her victory next day.
Aside from the very badly behaved Big Mac, April has been a very good month so far. It makes such a difference to have mild weather and delicate sunlight and no need to worry about the weeds wilting if they are not watered every single day
On Monday I rescued a deck of tarot cards from being sent to another location (the charity shops rotate stock because what is old in one shop is new in another)
The deck was missing its box or bag and was tied up with purple ribbon. It also came with a book
It's called the Enchanted Tarot. I had a proper look at it today and it is one of the most beautiful decks I have come across (and I have a collection of more than 60)
It is a strange hybrid of the usual Rider Waite and the Crowley Thoth deck - the big giveaway being the 2 snakes on the 2 of Pentacles
It is definitely one that I will need to get out the magnifying glass for.
I really must get back in the habit of using Tarot decks as a device for generating stories.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-21 02:18 am (UTC)I'm nervous around the tarot, but I do like using runes. I avoid even runes most of the time. They work too well for me. My grandmother too, and an uncle. They both read tea leaves far too accurately to be fond of it. My grandmother taught me to scry water on a mirror. That freaked the heck out of me. I am a firm believer in science and fact, but some things are simply inexplicable.
Tarot and tea leaves
Date: 2021-04-22 01:09 pm (UTC)I am plodding along slowly with the answers. I think I am secretly a snail just pretending to be a serpent.
Tarot is a strange thing. My first deck was the Haindl which I saw in the window of a book shop in Germany. In those days you couldn't Google to see all the artwork. It was more like buying a pig in a bag. I also bought the Thoth tarot around the same time but while I loved the art work, I never really got into the whole fortune telling thing. It was funny that neither deck bear much resemblance to the ubiquitous Rider Waite deck and its countless clones. I was always put off by that fugly image of the magician on the cover. Other illustrations of other cards are actually much better. Especially the Hermit. It took a while for me to realize that was the same critter who appeared on that Led Zeppelin album.
Tarot is a bit like Alice in Wonderland, once you start paying attention, it pops up everywhere
It was only when Catness invited me to join an online coven and sent me the amazing Fantastic Menagerie deck that I became addicted
I see the cards as a sort of Rorschach blob for the soul.
Like you, I love science, logic and facts but after some very strange occurences in my own life directly connected to the Potter books (which I recognised as dripping in alchemical symbolism and lots of Classical mythology Easter eggs) I started looking for more metaphysical explanations
I must say Crowley's 2 of Pentacles with the serpents was just too damned uncanny and provided the source for my username along with Jacob Bernoulli and his spirals.
I see the symbolism of the cards as being a sneaky way of bypassing the logical rational mind and getting straight to the subconscious. The collective unconscious, archetypes and all that sort of stuff.
While I do have a set of runes - carved in green stones of course, I don't particularly resonate with them. Too sharp and pointy for my tastes. I like spirally and curly alphabets such as Thai, Burmese or Arabic.
Tea leaves reminds me far too much of Sybil Trelawney. One of the many reasons I love the 3rd Potter book so much is that I can so relate to Hermione Granger's reaction to so much divination hocus pocus. I still chuckle at the ghost in book 2 who insists on discussing nothing but cold hard facts.
I guess my inner Hermione loves the logic and structure of tarot cards compared to the vagueness of tea leaves. Runes comes somewhere between the two extremes I guess.
no subject
Date: 2021-04-21 02:23 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2021-04-21 04:16 pm (UTC)Here's a (silly) idea: if your computer is too slow for typing, how about doing this quiz on paper, making photos with your phone, uploading to some free image hosting (e.g. https://imgur.com/) and posting the link here? Your handwriting is awesome, so it will be easy to read. And an interesting approach.
Just googled Enchanted Tarot. Wow, very prety, and such elaborate art! Yep, my Tarot decks are also getting sad and lonely...
Leaderboards and Lace
Date: 2021-04-22 12:43 pm (UTC)I remember the old days of February 2019 when you were on a mission to gamify the hell out of Duolingo. You explained stuff about bots and scripts and more plain vanilla stuff like doing a language tree in reverse - in your case English to German and German to English. It would have been so easy for you that you could do it in your sleep.
I used to do boring stuff like testing out of a level but then they started charging points for it or limiting it entirely so it was no longer worth the bother after that.
I'm not into any of the script tricks because I still actually want to learn stuff and I remember commenting at the time that it would take me longer to learn to write cheat scripts than to do the actual Duo lessons in the first place
I did follow the most important rule. Choose your battles carefully. Only 3 times have I ever attempted to go for gold and I was usually within 200 points of the leader. This time it was 400. But the difference was that I had just learnt it was possible to recycle stories which are by far the lowest hanging fruit on the Duolingo tree.
I had naively believed that I had to earn 5 crowns to get 4 measly stories when all I had to do was just go back and do old ones which are easier and faster and less likely to make mistakes.
So one hour before reset time, I did a 400 point blitz but over reached and ended up with some of those points in the new week which landed me with a bunch of Strebers who think that 1,000 points per DAY is par for the course.
Now also they have brought in those nasty hearts in a sneaking attempt to lure people into paying for DuoPlus. They are like a cat's lives but they don't give you nine just a measly five and when they are gone your choice is to pay 350 points for 5, upgrade to Plus or do revision.
On the subject of hearts, I was taking a first look at my new tarot deck on Tuesday. It took a while to realize that most of the original art is actually made of needlework, embroidery and lace. Lots of lace. I like the use of dominant colours for the different suits and the shapes as well as the influence of the Alistair Crowley tarot so it's not as sickly and sugary as you'd expect from all that lace.
For some reason, I have been unable to squiggle since Petunia became sick and then died. It's gone 3 years now. I guess I need to get back into the habit with writing just tiny little stories one card at a time.
I think the last deck I paid full price for was the Devil's deck. I have decided that I simply cannot justify buying anymore and I should learn to love and make the most of what I have which of course is more than I have ever seen in any real life occult store.
It is too easy to be tempted into chasing after the next bright shiny thing instead of appreciating what we already have. Of course if any decent decks land in the charity shops, I am happy to snaffle them at bargain basement prices.
And designing that deck is STILL on the serpent bucket list and there is no excuse for slacking.