Go, team, go! Far, far away!

[geoviki]

I just spent my whole day doing housework. Crowns in heaven, I'm tellin' ya. I did a number on our kitchen in between umpteen loads of laundry.

Last night I watched my son play his first (American) football game, and I realized I'd never seen a high school football game before, ever. I went to one college game (U of M) just to say I did, but I think, given the times, that I was in an altered state of some sort and don't really remember any of it.

It was boring to watch, even when they went into overtime. Sadder still, he gave up soccer to play this. The Beautiful Game! *sighs sadly* There are about 50 players on the team, no exaggeration, and two squads of cheerleaders and a bunch of coaches and trainers and... I told Mr. Geoviki that there were more people on the sidelines than he had in his agency at work. At least my young bairn got to play - the most boringest position: defensive tackle. "You! Go there! Run into somebody and fall down! Then do it again!!!"

I brought my mp3 player, though. Nothing like listening to Sisters of Mercy and Larrikin Love to add to the experience. I want to be a cherry-lipped little cheap tart...

Background to my question of the day: When I was younger, I sucked my thumb, like a lot of kids do. Well, except I was rather old when I finally gave it up - 10, I think. And I always rubbed the softest part of some rabbit fur or a feather under my nose while I did it - man, sensation overload. I blame this for my addictive personality. So I have a history of self-pleasure. No, this is not going where your mind just went. You pervs!

Here it comes! Question of the day!! For you writers and artists and reader persons: Do you ever soothe yourself mentally by running over and over some favorite passage, image, or video in your head? Report and elaborate (50 points).

Comments

[sulky-rhino.livejournal.com]

Gah, I'll have to clean the entire flat soon too. My mum's coming to visit in a couple of weeks, and everything has to be sparkly. *whine* I wish I could just push all the crap under the beds and be done with it. :P

Yup, I do soothe myself by repeating... I'm terrified of the dentist, and I really mean terrified. I feel like fainting every time I go, and she doesn't even do anything. So I always have to soothe myself by reciting poetry in my head, or going over scenes in films and series... It keeps my mind of the fact that the dentist has something sharp in my mouth, because I have to concentrate on something else. :) I once recited the same poem about 30 times during one visit. :P

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Ooh, dentistry. I wonder about the poor people who decide to make it their life's ambition.

I used to be way more afraid of flying than I am at the mo' - about a 10 year angsty-flying period, when I'd recite prayers to imaginary angels who would perch on the wings until we landed. It actually worked, in which I mean that I did not die a fiery airborne death. Obviously. Er.

[sulky-rhino.livejournal.com]

I once went to a dentists that said he always fixes his own teeth because he's afraid of dentists. And I think he was being serious. O_O

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Do you vary the Doors version with the Cure's version? I think I would.

I don't know the Jabberwock in its entirety. I used to know quite a bit of The Song of Hiawatha, though, when I was 7. I alternated it with the thumb-sucking thing, apparently.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Who's that in your icon?

It's Boyd Holbrook (http://boyd.invisible-cities.net/), American model and the guy I use for my visual Draco.

[cordelia_v]

Yes, I do. If there's a fanfic (or other fiction piece) I've recently read and liked, then I probably still hve long sections of it in my head, word for word. So, I'll rerun the text for myself (it's sort of like my own internal book on audio file, is the best way to describe it) to help myself relax and fall to sleep at night. I can do the same thing with pieces of music that I've listened to often; there's a perfect recording of the piece (I mean, full orchestra and all the voice parts) in my head, that I listen to.

Not sure if that makes sense. But it helps me to relax and *stop thinking* so I can fall to sleep.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Ah, see, this is the reinforcement I was hoping for. I do both. Especially the repetitive relaxation of running either a fic, a manga, or a story I'm writing over and over in my head. I mean, it's so frequent that I had to make this post just to see if I was as weird as I thought. I kind of am, from the response. When I flew from Toronto to San Francisco, for example, I didn't watch any of the video stuff right in front of me, because I'd rather escape into this story I was working on. And it's exactly like the emotional soothing I used to get from the thumb-sucking.

Huh. Still, this isn't the first time I've been belatedly hit by the realization that something I do isn't exactly universal.

[cordelia_v]

I'm interested that it seems to bother you (a very little) that you and I are in a smallish minority. What does it matter? I think it works for both of us.

this isn't the first time I've been belatedly hit by the realization that something I do isn't exactly universal.

*shrugs* You posit there an assumption that there is a "universal" that we both deviate from. The older I get, the more I'm convinced that there's really no such thing. Only many, many, many niches. Popular culture is an attempt to create standardized images, and thus construct some notion of the "universal" (in terms of lifestyle, behaviors, thinking patters, appearance, etc.). But it doesn't really exist.

Sorry. I would bet that you knew all this, already. I hope I don't come across as condescending. But I suspect that I'm at least as far out from the median, in many respects, as you are. And yet, my cast-iron arrogance has never allowed me to think for one second that this reflected badly on me, in any way. :-)

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I don't know if it's 'bothered' as much as surprised. I've been caught in enough conversations where all of a sudden it's clear that I might as well be speaking Greek, when all along I've thought whatever it is I'm on about is common.

So it's an: "Oh, you don't do this at all, do you?" moment.

And it's not even the stuff I know is odd. Er, like my new affection for yaoi.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

lol, I twirl my hair- actually get teased for it mercilessly. My hair is really soft and kind of long. I found out some time ago on a pbs special that rubbing something soft between your fingers hits some sort of nerves and triggers endorphins or whatever. All I know is I find myself doing it when I think hard or am stressed. Both in creative times and in strife. And I can actually feel the difference it makes when I do it. But chocolate does nothing for me, so when a door closes, a window opens. Or something like that. ;D

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

Sorry, I guess my answer is no. I remember passages when memories are triggered by a word or phrase or some such, and I'll have the aftermath of a story stay with me sometimes. But doing pictures I twirl. (see... it all ties in together in my head.)

[ellie-nor.livejournal.com]

Ooh, I used to that hair-twirling thing when I was four or five years old and living with my grandparents. It used to get into terrible knots at the end and then my gran would attack then with an old-style hairbrush and I would scream a lot. My mum got my hair cut a bit after that, and I didn't have it long again until I was 17 or 18, and by then the habit had passed.

[lemonade8.livejournal.com]

I didn't get the habit until I was 10 or 12, I picked it up from someone else. (had people chew me out because they caught it from me, very weird thing)

My hair is extremely straight and won't ever keep a knot. I can tie one strand in about 5 knots, let go, and watch it unravel by itself. I had no unpleasant experiences to break me of it, lol.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

rubbing something soft between your fingers hits some sort of nerves and triggers endorphins

Ooh, this is the kind of thing that catches my interest. Because when I used to do that, it was such an evisceral response and addictive, too. So I'm sure to be Googling it now. :-)

[kupukello.livejournal.com]

Sure! I read something fluffy and lovely every night before going to bed, and then I think about it when I'm falling asleep. A goodnight story of a sort *g* If it's late, I usually choose something that I've already read, and just read the Good Parts before going to bed.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Yay! I do this when I go to bed as well. And when I wake up in the night. Sometimes I repeat a certain story for weeks in my head, and I wondered if this was odder than normal.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I know! There's so much down time out there where people are making some kind of decision that the crowd is not privy to. I thought baseball was slow! Sheesh.

[ellie-nor.livejournal.com]

Such a shame about giving up football for American football. He could at least have gone for rugby! (American football being rugby lleague for cissies ;-P) But yey for Sisters of Mercy! I was such a big fan in my teens. 'Baby buy an anaconda, baby buy a thing to wear...'

Anyway, on to your question. When I'm really, really, really stressed, I'll play and replay really hot sex scenes in my head, usually these days from slash fic I've read (not the text, but the visuals that get conjured up by the text), but also scenes that just pop in there from... somwhere or other. Feeling horny is a great distraction.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Hahaha! Now why don't I do the porny parts of fics I like? Instead I rework the hurt/comfort scenes. Once I even made myself cry with an imagined scenario; how dumb is that!

[luredbyvenus.livejournal.com]

I sucked my thumb until around 10 also. I had a small pillow made of silk that I held while I sucked, or I held the silky binding on my blanket. I still love to pet fabric, and I like sucking on things way too much. *cough*

I repeat songs in my head, so I guess that counts as a yes to your question.

I love your icon. Miyamoto Kano draws the prettiest boys.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Oh! Oh! Oh!

See, Miyamoto Kano is my current obsession and the reason I posted this question. I've been re-imagining the story from "Long Way Home" for weeks now. In fact, I'm converting it from its manga-ness into a short story at the moment, because I'm so into it. Plus I love MK's other stuff, too.

Er. And 'yes' to the sucking on things. I have an overbite now; how about you?

[luredbyvenus.livejournal.com]

You have no idea how excited I am to read that!!! If I could write, I would be playing in Miyamoto Kano's sandbox. The only fanfic I've found so far was a foursome with tooru/atori/hikaru/yuki from the Rules universe. It was scorching hot, but I want more plot, or just plain more fanfic from any of her verses.

Slight overbite, yep. It's so cute to watch my 4yo suck her thumb still. I wonder if she is in it for the long haul like us. :) She is also a very tactile person. I wonder if it is a sign of a creative mind.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I read that Rules fanfic, too, and yeah, not enough plot.

Okay, so I have one person who'll read this thing! Yay!

[bronze-ribbons.livejournal.com]

Great question. The short answer is "yes" - the antidote varies. Sometimes it's singing aloud bits of UU hymns or Jewish prayers or reciting the opening lines of "The Hound of Heaven." Sometimes it's scenes from romance novels or fic, particularly ones where the hero's defensive walls finally crack, or where the heroine says something particularly snarky. At the moment, it's also phrases from French pop anthems. All this stuff grounds me when my mind threatens to dwell overmuch on things I can't do anything about...

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

These posts are reassuring me somewhat. I like how you say it 'grounds you'. That sounds better than what I was worrying it was: a strange obsession.

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

I lull myself to sleep at night with fic. Whether it'd be thinking about the last I read, planning about the one I'm currently writing or just plain theory-travelling, it works quite fine.

And of course, I do it all the time while commuting. Even mp3's bore you out eventually.

I have this very favourite image from a HP/Constantine crossover of JC finding HP in his apartment, drinking whiskey. HP says, I'm a wizard. JC goes, yeah right. And HP makes the glasses resolve around each other. It's of course much prettier than that in the author's original words, and so painfully graphic and gah.

:g: Yeah. Fic makes me feel better all the time.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

I'm getting a lot of reaffirmation of this strange thing we do. I had a feeling that those of us who read fic like we do have this habit, but it's not something that other people seem to do.

I like to walk for exercise and I find myself going over and over scenes and images all the time. It's good when I'm trying to work out plots on my own stuff, but other times I simply go over other folks's stuff just fine.

[spark-of-chaos.livejournal.com]

Oh, I write (in my head) the most killer meta ever while I commute/vacuum clean/walk somewhere. The fact that it never gets on paper/LJ is a different thing entirely. And plot difficulties get sorted out in the shower. I don't know why. Maybe the soap eases the tangles out? :g:

[twigged.livejournal.com]

I sucked my thumb till I was about 10, too. And I used to twine the other fingers on that hand into my hair until it was just a big rat's nest. :D :D

I'm not sure I run over the same passages, etc. in my head, but I obsess in other ways. It's hard for me to disengage from a good story when it's over, for instance, and I go over and over the images, lines from one for a few days.

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

Yay! I also reread stuff I like, and more than once. Expecially the good parts - I can reread those scenes nightly for weeks!

[geoviki.livejournal.com]

You seem more proactive then, and not so strangely obsessive like what I'm describing.

Still, enough people have said they do some version of this, so I don't feel quite like the odd fish I thought I was.