Writer's Block: Coast Range

[solitary_summer]

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Ocean. Provided it's a moderately nice bit of ocean... A beach and mild climate at least part of the year would be nice, but are not required. Maybe it's because my parents didn't hold with the classical lazy beach holiday and the first time I actually saw the sea was when I was twelve or thereabout, when we were on holiday in London and took a day trip to the coast, I can't even remember where. (Clacton-on-sea. I think.) The first time I swam in the sea was when I was eighteen, in Crete, on our Maturareise. There's just something very zen about the sea, in a way it's almost a symbol of infinity, enough to suggest the real thing, which we can't really grasp anyway. And this is also where I always drag out a quote from Th. Mann's Buddenbrooks: Was für Menschen es wohl sind, die der Monotonie des Meeres den Vorzug geben? Mir scheint, es sind solche, die zu lange und tief in die Verwicklungen der innerlichen Dinge hineingesehen haben, um nicht wenigstens von den äußeren vor Allem Eins verlangen zu müssen: Einfachheit...

I'd love a house near the sea. Which of course isn't going to happen in this lifetime, unless I'm winning the lottery, which is unlikely (well, more unlikely), since I almost never play.



In other news, shitty day was shitty.

I'm not the most conflict-happy person in the world, but once I'm riled, I don't mind an argument getting a bit loud and/or passionate. What I hate, hate, hate is this passive aggressive crap where you're being talked down to like a mentally defective five year old and the person who does it believes they somehow have the moral high-ground because you're losing your temper and they remain 'calm'. I came *so* close to grabbing my coat and bag and just walking out today, but of course I can't, mustn't, especially not now, and then I almost started kicking things.


Yesterday's entry made me come across like a grumpy misanthropic alcoholic-in-the-making who should expect visits from the ghosts of Christmas past, present, future & possibly alternate realities in a couple of weeks; does this one make me look like an unbalanced creep? I'm kind of starting to expect defriending...

Comments

[davenport-6.livejournal.com]

I have this impossible fantasy of winning the lottery and buying an old house near the sea -- but not in a warm place, and probably in a place where it would be quite cold in the winter -- if in the U.S., probably in Maine, if in Germany, somewhere in Schleswig-Holstein -- and living in complete isolation save for seeing some family members (those I like, anyway) and some friends. I always complain about cold (as well as summer heat), but when it comes right down to it, I don't think I'd be happy living in a place that didn't truly experience four seasons. I could never live anywhere tropical.

I like mountains, too, but I often don't like the narrow minds that seem to come with the narrow valleys.

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

I vaguely dream of either somewhere in the UK, or maybe Turkey, which would be warmer and nice for swimming, but still have changing seasons... And yes, somewhere solitary - I picked my username for a reason. ;)

*sigh* Maybe I should at least try playing more often.

[fpb.livejournal.com]

"What I hate, hate, hate is this passive aggressive crap where you're being talked down to like a mentally defective five year old and the person who does it believes they somehow have the moral high-ground because you're losing your temper and they remain 'calm'. "

There had to be something we agree on. I think the game is to deliberately drive you up the wall, so that, whatever nonsense the other person says, her attitude gives them a sense of calm rationality. It is mistaking attitude for content. The reverse, but equally sickening, is the people who take the rage they feel at something or other to be a good indicator of their righteousness - religious terrorism would be a good instance. People fall for that too: it is taken for granted that if someone is angry, there is something to be angry about - even though this is not a logical conclusion at all.

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

I think with women especially it's that they are (or at least were, maybe this has changed since I was a child, and even then it maybe was a bit of a class and generation issue) often simply brought up to avoid outright confrontation as much as possible. I'm usually very apathetic, er, laid-back, but I know I picked up my occasionally a bit violent flares of temper from my father. My (younger) sister always has dealt with conflicts much more like my mother does.


I think I sometimes tend to err too much on the side of rationality and to ignore emotions, but yes, it's definitely necessary to divide what is being said from how it's being said and evaluate it separately.

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

I would live by the ocean. I love the sound of the water, and I would love to be able to run out and dip my feet in whenever I wanted.

[solitary-summer.livejournal.com]

Me too. I don't know why, because simply walking on the ground should achieve the same purpose, but it feels like a connection with something bigger, wider...

[wlotus.livejournal.com]

The ground is completely different from water. It has a different energy: ground is static, while water is dynamic. And if you believe in nature having energy of a more spiritual type, the fact that earth and water are different elements would mean their spirits are different as well.