Monday, October 1, 2007

Huit!



This mushroom has nothing to do with anything regarding the theme of this post.
These fungi have taken over my front yard, so I decided to go on a snapping spree and capture the surprise smattering of beauty before they all were unfortunately crushed underfoot.



I did have fun themed posts in mind. In fact, I had one half written about the odd nature of dating. But after a long first day training at my new job, particularly when I had to get up just past 6am the night after I went to an Arctic Monkey show, I decided that scattered was the way to go today.

So, in honour of this, and fact # 6 (that I am a collector of tacky mushroom memoribilia, which apparently generalizes over to photography), I present to you another 8 Princess Factoids, in my eventual quest to 100!

#25 - Lately I've been thinking that if I wasn't an almost-psychologist, I would like to be a documentary filmmaker. The notion of being able to research something due to genuine passion and wanting to share it with the world sounds invigorating. This newfound notion could be due to me becoming a little jaded with the bureaucracy inherent in academia. I also think it is tied to my awareness that people spending all their time doing "important" research seem to rarely take the time to disseminate it to the general population. It may also be that I want an excuse to learn to scuba dive-- an epic seahorse documentary is waiting!

#26- While I am generally a hygenic person, I have a horrible pen chewing habit. I will shred the lid to a perfectly good pen near instantaneously. I have been known to get plastic pen fragments caught in my throat. However, the worst part is it is so automatic that my tendency knows no etiquette-- I am that horrible person you later regret lending a pen to.

(and I am cutting off any oral fixation comments at the pass)

#27 - This probably doesn't come as a big surprise, given my previous disclosed voyeuristic tendencies... but I find personal ads really fascinating. It just strikes me as so telling of our various subcultures of North America society what ends up in these little snippets. When I'm bored, I will sometimes browse through the ads on Craigslist to see what odd quirks squeeze through people's well-honed (or not so well-honed) impression management attempts. All this despite the fact I have never written one myself...

#28- Okay, so maybe I lied. I have written a personal ad. However, before you get too excited... it wasn't a real one.

A few years ago, when discussing our mutual interest in such ads, and the odd characters that sometimes emerged out of the woodwork in the weird landscape granted by anonymity, a friend of mine and I suddenly came up with an idea: A personal ad contest.

The rules were simple-- we would post an ad for a completely fictional woman on craigslist, with no restrictions other than no direct promises of sex, and no photos. As you would expect, the one with the most replies wins.

She went for the exotic European woman angle. I went for the new girl in town angle. I kicked her ass with nearly 300 replies.

In all honesty, I wasn't prepared for a sense of guilt to come out of this endeavour. From what people had told me of their experiences, I had expected my newly created hotmail account to be bombarded with photos of male genitalia and various random suspicious sounding propositions. And while I did get, amongst other things, detailed accounts of back-door lovin' and some rather sketchy propositions from a man in exchange for a trip to Mexico, I also received genuine emails from nice sounding people. And I felt like an utter ass.

So I wrote another ad for Craigslist, saying that my fictional 26-year old who liked biking and was looking for a new friend to show her around was so sorry she wouldn't be able to respond to everyone's replies, because there were so many--even though I obviously didn't contact any of them.

And my attempt at morality failed again, as this attempt to let them down easy resulted in even more emails, saying that in my kindness, I had attracted them even more.
If they only knew.

It was then that I decided "new girl in town" needed to be retired, before she could cause anymore heartache.

#29- Whenever I finish a good book, I feel as though I can't start a new one for a day or two, as though a new story would somehow betray the just completed one, which is still in the process of fully sinking in.

#30- One of my career aspirations as a child? Girl detective extraordinaire!

Like many a ten year old, I probably read too much Nancy Drew, Trixie Belden, and, of course *swoon* Hardy Boys. But, as a part of my ever-so-active imagination, I wanted to integrate all this glorious knowledge about how to pick locks with a paperclip and escape when tied to a beam in an abandoned manor to my real life. As such, I tried to create mysteries in my day to day life. I recall convincing my friend to help me set up a case file with a list of prime subjects, motives, and alibis when her science project was vandalized. I probably tried to take fingerprints using baby powder and scotch tape, too, and was constantly on the look-out for counterfeit money.

#31- One of the less fortunate aspects of my new(-ish) apartment is its distance from my university campus and my new workplace. This was a conscious decision on my part after nearly three years of living in the suburbs, with the university and Wal-Mart seemingly serving as the only two relatively interesting things close to me (see how low my standards became?)-- I came to the conclusion that I would rather travel for work than fun.

However, as you may remember from Factoid #24, I am without a car, which makes for some long rides home, especially as I cannot read for the portion of my trip on the bus.

The odd bit of creativity that has come out of this, though, is blogging inspiration. My best ideas come about as I am staring out the window with my headphones on, or trudging up a hill... something about motion helps organize my thoughts, it seems.

#32- Oddly enough for a family that fled to a small Bohemian town to become environmentalist vegetarians, I spent half of my first ten years on a hobby farm. While I remember it being somewhat idyllic, just outside of the city's hustle and bustle, to be able to collect eggs from my favourite chicken with the red tie 'round her leg and to go chase the pigs in their muddy pen, I think I actively surpressed the fact that these animal friends of mine would disappear at seemingly infrequent intervals-- and my parents colluded with me in not reminding me where breakfast came from.

On a side note- is it a little creepy that the pigs were named after our grandparents?

29 comments:

Airam said...

#29 - I'm at a point now where I read several books at once. It doesn't do any of them any justice, I know. I just find I get bored now with reading just one story and I'll need to read others simultaneously.

t.k.foster said...

Nancy Drew? You should check out Veronica Mars; she is very similar except with an attitude. Anyway, I also went through a detective phase as well when I was younger, so I wonder if that's just something that appeals to all people in a similar way.

the frog princess said...

Ack! I have a bit of a fungus phobia and that was not exactly how I expected to start my morning!

Fortunately I'd already had some coffee, so the damage was minimal :)

I definitely tried to take fingerprints with baby powder and scotch tape. I don't believe I was very successful.

Did you get a chance to check out that new Nancy Drew movie before it bombed out of theatres? Sadly, I missed it...

Mim said...

I love this idea! I did a bullet post this morning and now I wish I could go back and start a numbered list. Ah well. I won't steal your wonderful idea :)

I get most of my blog ideas on my way into the office. I have a 30 minute commute. Makes for some good reflection time.

Princess of the Universe said...

Who is Trixie Beldon??

Lin-Zed said...

I was a huge Nancy Drew fan...but mostly because of my huge crush on Ned Nickerson, of the sandy tousled hair. And then they started to come out with the Nancy Drew/Hardy Boys Supermysteries and then I had both Frank and Ned to contend with...talk about "swoon." Does it betray my image of strong independant woman to admit that sometimes I have damsel in distress fantasies??

Michelle and the City said...

i loved nancy drew and hardy boys as a kid. and those choose your own adventure stories.

i still read mysteries now. good stuff.

Beth said...

Glad to hear someone else read Trixie Beldon - much more realistic than Nancy and her pals!
(And I preferred Jim to Ned...)

Princess Pointful said...

Airam- I have been working very hard to allow myself to feel okay to stop reading a book if it isn't entertaining me enough! It's weird how I feel committed to that book... even if it sucks!

Names- I've actually been recommended that show a few times. Perhaps it will bring back some of my old sleuthing urges?

Frog Princess- Eep! Apologies! I guess I wouldn't take well to a giant spider image on your blog, either.
No, didn't see the new Nancy Drew. I was kind of disappointed by the whole making her a loveable loser thing- Nancy was suave!

Mim- Glad to see your commute can be of use. And I stole this idea from someone else- actually, it is the combination of 2 memes- so use it if you are so inspired!

Princess-http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Trixie_Belden
She was another girl detective who was younger and considerably more human than Nancy Drew, in my books. She had a temper-- but amazing mystery solving abilities to make up for it! She also relied on her friends a lot more.
I'm actually reliving some serious childhood memories through that wikipedia entry.

Lin-Zed- Ah, good ol' reliable Ned. We would have been a good pair, as I was besotted with Joe (which is actually Factoid #1)- we could have gone on double dates ;)!

Michelle- Any good mystery recommendations? I haven't read any in a while, but all this reminscing has got me thinking!

Beth- Indeed! I discovered her before Nancy Drew. And is it telling that my first crush was on Mart? He's a very similar character to Joe Hardy, in all reflection.

Anonymous said...

dude. I still wanna be a detective. or a spy! a la sydney bristow from alias!

Yoda said...

Hey, PsychGirl, write me a Match.com profile as a "new guy in town". Please, please?

Lisa said...

Who didn't want to be nancy drew! I still want to be a girl detective one day!

cdp said...

Yes, it is a little creepy that the pigs were named after your grandparents. Unless maybe your grandfather was named Bacon, like that pig in the Varsity Blues movie.

I love your princess factoids. I totally dig these little insights into what makes you, you. Also I am the same way when I finish a good book.

eric1313 said...

I didn't read any young detective lit, sadly enough.

However, I was very well-versed in the works of Margret Weiss and Tracy Hickman (Google them, and you'll see...).

I like your idea, too, to climb up to this one-hundred royal factoid Everest that you envision. Now don't wus out on us! Eight royal factoids a week, and you'll be there.

The druids would worship your front yard as a giant complex of faerie rings. Are you a good witch, or a bad witch?

eric1313 said...

btw--is media-rific a neologism?

Where's my prize, if so?

captain corky said...

When I finish a book I usually do pick up another one for about 10 years or so. I blame God and Television for this.

Anonymous said...

erm Hi Fellow Voyeur, are we sister or something because I also had hopes of becoming a detective, studied psychology, would totally feel bad about writing a fake, personal ad and find that I feel guilty about finishing and starting books on the same day. Scary!

Anonymous said...

Huge Nancy Drew fan here. Are those mushrooms real?! I've never seen anything like them. They're so pretty! Then again, it's hard growing fungus in parched lands.

Hi! I'll be stalking you from now on.

Sheila said...

Factoid #29 is one of my "things" too. My daughter loves Nancy Drew, but when I was her age, I was more interested in the Hardy Boys... Now I feel old!

PG said...

Holy mushrooms...

point #25 - I've also thought that it would be interesting to make documentaries. I have another theory about why it may be interesting to you..based on why I think it would be interest of interest to me (just a theory). Generally, I think that people look for careers that allow them to make sense of the world in a way that rings true to them. For me, that's where research comes in. Telling a story, systematically, with evidence about human behaviour. Seems like something that could also be achieved through documentary, but with picture, film, word, etc. it would be less limited than manuscripts. But, I guess it would also depend on the topic and content of your documentary. If you're looking for 100 facts about you material, you can describe what your first documentary would be about.

#26 - I have a pen clip breaking problem.

#28 - reminds me of a friend who got tired of the crappy responses he was receiving as a heterosexual male on Lava Life...so he decided to create a female profile.

New girl in town definitely seems more approachable than exotic European.

Ant said...

#29 is hilarious! Myself, I am a complete book-slut and will whore around with any amount of half-finished ones, all with dog-eared bookmarks sticking out of them...

And this is possibly the worst ever comment to add this particular appendix to (I'm going to anyway :-) ) but do you have an email address I could get you on? I've just discovered I'm very likely going to be in your corner of the planet within the next two weeks!

Crushed said...

Is THAT what Craiglist is?

Now the nystery is solved.

I log in via Google. I just type in cr, and up comes my blog, or so it did.

Now Craigslist appears. I can guess the culprit...

As a psychologist, do you incline to Freud or Adler?

Or neither?

The Author Of This said...

Fake personal ad...did something similar...only a little less, err, subtle. A few of us posted an ad on a personals site advertising "Casual Relationships". Something along the lines of "Business woman in town for 2 nights, needing some relief etc etc" and that a picture was a must. We picked 10 (oh the shame of this now....) then gave them the address to my local pub and said to be there at a designated time. Needless to say, we were all there and just sat and watched as all these guys rolled in, one after the other...not our finest hour. But we were young, foolish and just a little bit evil.

I fully apologise for my part in all that.

I will not confess to how funny we found it at the time...

DG said...

OMG I lost you at the mushrooms. That picture was taken on your FRONT LAWN??? I live in LA and would DIE if I saw that!! It's amazing looking!

Jocelyn said...

I feel like I've just eaten a feast after reading this--each paragraph was a tasty course on its own.

Num.

Princess Pointful said...

Libby- I say you tweak your job applications a little!

Yoda- But you are the new guy in town! Just throw in some buzz words like "charming" and you're all set! Don't forget the Dr. ;)

Lisa- Don't give up on your dreams! In fact, I will partner with you in an agency!

cdp- Sorry, no food named relatives here.
(Except for Auntie Relish)

Eric- A good witch, clearly! *clicks her heels together and swishes her wand*
Googling those authors, I see why you brought up the idea of faeries.
Media-rific is a neologism. Five points for you. But it isn't THE neologism!

Corky- God and television, you say. You mean they aren't one and the same?

Hope- Eek!! Coincedence and a half indeed! And did you say fellow voyeur, too? Excellent.

The Lisa Show- And I'll be sure to return the favour. I'm all about the reciprocal stalking. Yep, those are real mushrooms- apparently they are called Fly Agarics.

Sheila- I was interested in the Hardy Boys, too. (was I ever!) If you see Fact #1, you will understand!

PsycGrad- That does make a lot of sense. I have been thinking a lot lately of the whole idea of storytelling and narrative approaches to therapy, which would fit within your idea. I think I am maybe sick of how hard and indirect it can be to get your story out in the academic world.

Ant- Why am I not surprised? ;)
And, yes, self-description as a whore is the way to a real life connection with me-- glad you figured it out ;)

Crushed- Craigslist is more general than that. It's kind of like a massive classified section for everything-- sex, couches, and jobs.
As for therapy, I'm still trying out various approaches, and thus haven't figured out my true therapist idol.
Freud was both a genius and a crackpot within the same paragraph. While the impact of his theories cannot be underestimated, Adler had a bit more of a fitting approach to therapy. Much more egalitarian.

AMC- You are bad!! I will pretend I didn't giggle when I read that.

DG- It is my first fall at this place, and in truth, I'm a little surprised. It's not exactly your typical city front yard!

Jocelyn- That is an extra super complement coming from you :)

Crushed said...

I agree.
I'm more an Adler man.

Freud's theories tell us more about Freud than ourselves.

eric1313 said...

I'll keep my eyes peeled for the one neologism to bind them all...

Wow AMC's recollection was pretty intense... sounds like this idea could be a TV show, a mix of Dateline's to Catch a Predator mixed with elements of The Office.

eric1313 said...

Hey, I found a poem by one of the masters you'd love and this post was appropriate, so here it goes...

Mushrooms
Sylvia Plath


Overnight, very
Whitely, descreetly
Very quietly

Our toes, our noses
Take hold in the loam,
Aquire the air.

Nobody sees us,
Stops us, betrays us
The small grains make room.

Soft fists insist on
Heaving the needles,
The leafy bedding,

Even the paving.
Our hammers, our rams,
Earless and eyeless.

Perfectly voiceless
Widen the crannies
Shoulder through holes. We

Diet on water
On crumbs of shadow
Bland-mannered, asking

Little or nothing
So many of us!
So many of us!

We are shelves, we are
Tables, we are meek,
We are edible,

Nudgers and shovers
In spite of ourselves.
Our kind multiplies:

We shall by morning
Inherit the earth.
Our foot's in the door.

-------
Thanks for being a loyal reader, Princess Pointful. I hope you put doubt to rest where the mushrooms will grow on it and the birds of the world will carry it away.

Peace out.