The Meme of Association
Feb. 18th, 2009 06:37 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
caz963I said in my last post that I would be seeking out opportunities to procrastinate, and LO! one has arrived in the form of this list of "things" from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
zinke
She apparently associates me with the following:
Knuckledraggers
Fic
Bradley
Music
DFG
1. Knuckledraggers (n.) - a generic term for (most commonly) boys between the ages of 12 and 16 as encountered on a daily basis in certain types of school.
Common features - the inability to communicate using fully formed sentences; disinterest in anything other than football, boobs and themselves; frequent refusal to comply with simple instructions - eg, "stop talking", "take off your coat/hat/gloves", "your seat is over there, etc. etc.
Not that all boys of this age are rude, ignorant, neanderthals. In fact, calling them neanderthals is probably a compliment, because at least neanderthals had some sort of purpose in life to fulfil, and were, for their time, active, useful members of society. I certainly can't say that about a large number of the boys it has been my privilege to encounter in the three-and-a-bit years I've been teaching.
I should perhaps say here that the female equivalent of "knuckledragger" is "mouth-on-a-stick". Girls of a similar age who seem to think that applying make-up, doing their hair and generally sluttifying themselves during lessons is what lesson time is for and who can talk at a mile-a-minute about any number of completely inane and useless topics instead of following the aforementioned simple instructions.
2. Fic. Until about four years ago, I didn't know such a thing as fanficion existed. (Or online fandom for that matter.) I literally stumbled across some West Wing fic by accident one day when I was searching for information online about when the next season (I think it was S6) was due to start airing in the UK. I was both amused and intrigued by the idea, read some, then read some more and just kept going from there, really. Of course I found some truly execrable rubbish, but I also found Jo & Ryo, Puck & Zillah, Bramble, Christine and Dianora. I was already a Josh/Donna shipper in any case, so that was mainly what I read.
Whilst being a simple, innocuous 3-letter-word, Fic is also responsible for my becoming part of an online fandom and, more importantly, meeting so many like-minded individuals, some of whom have since become very dear friends - and for that, I will be eternally grateful, even when some of the fic I read was so bad, it made me want to vomit!
As for writing the stuff, well, I never ever thought I'd do it. I never intended to, but I'd started beta-reading for a few people, and it wasquaggy_mire who finally got me to take that last step and actually post something of my own. I don't get as much time to write now as I did back then, which is a continual source of chagrin, but I still enjoy writing, whatever I'm writing about... although of course, a little sexy!Josh goes a long way :-)
3. Which brings me neatly to the next item on the list, Bradley. Notice she's given me Brad rather than Josh, but Josh Lyman has to be the starting point, regardless. I had no idea who Bradley Whitford was when I started watching West Wing - or most of the cast actually, apart of course from Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe. But right from the first episode I noticed the guy who seemed to have been designated "the funny one", because he was funny and smart (which always gets me), had an incredibly expressive face and a smile that almost made me fall off the sofa! So Josh was a favourite from the start, although I adored them all, and still do.
As to Brad though - I don't know what I can say about him that I've not already said or that hasn't already been said by others. He's made me laugh, cry and melt into puddles of lustful fangirly goo - an incredibly talented actor (writer and director, too, it appears), who seems to have his feet firmly anchored on the ground, and is obviously a dedicated family man. He's intelligent, articulate and not afraid to put his money where his mouth is, and seems like a genuinely nice person.
He's also sexy as hell, which of course doesn't hurt one little bit :)
4. Music. Where to start? For as long as I can remember, we've had musical instruments in the home. Nobody in my family is a "trained" musician - I'm the only one, but my mum is a very keen keyboard player. Her dad, I later discovered, was musical (banjo and ukelele!) and there is music on my Dad's side of the family too - his youngest sister had a good career as a professional singer "oop narth" (she used to describe herself as "like that Shirley Bassey, only better!") and his Dad played the violin, and did so until well into his eighties. So it's there on both sides. I remember learning to play the recorder at school when I was about six or seven, and learning to read music then - it came very easily I remember, and I've never looked back. I started to learn to play the clarinet shortly before my eleventh birthday, and it was when I started to play in the local bands and orchestras that I really discovered classical music. The short version is that I kept it up, studied Music at university and was lucky enough to get a job in music publishing after that. I did that for a few years, ran a music shop for a while, then changed tack and worked in advertising for a bit (which was where I met Mr Caz) and then worked in the record industry until I had my kids. And now, for my sins, I'm teaching - or attempting to teach - music.
5. DFG *grins*. Refer back to point 3, above. The DFG stands for Demented FanGirl and is used to denote a very small, but very select (!) band of females who are united in lust by their adoration for Bradley Whitford, namelyzinke, coloneljack, hooloovoo_42, digitalred93 and myself, all of us very excited to be able to be in the same geographical location at the same time in May of last year. There is also the Doctor Who subdivision, consisting of hooloovoo_42, zinke and myself, who managed to get together in August to do some Tennant-related-fangirling. Catherine Tate (whom we managed to meet in London) was pronounced to be an honorary DFG, seeing as she shares our obsession with Brad, and was duly presented with her DFG badge of honour (T-shirt) by hooloovoo_42.
Right, well if you've made it to the end of that lot and feel like taking a turn, leave me a comment and I'll come up with your "five things".
zinkeAssociation Meme: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate (and being me, this is very elaborate!) on the subjects given.
She apparently associates me with the following:
Knuckledraggers
Fic
Bradley
Music
DFG
1. Knuckledraggers (n.) - a generic term for (most commonly) boys between the ages of 12 and 16 as encountered on a daily basis in certain types of school.
Common features - the inability to communicate using fully formed sentences; disinterest in anything other than football, boobs and themselves; frequent refusal to comply with simple instructions - eg, "stop talking", "take off your coat/hat/gloves", "your seat is over there, etc. etc.
Not that all boys of this age are rude, ignorant, neanderthals. In fact, calling them neanderthals is probably a compliment, because at least neanderthals had some sort of purpose in life to fulfil, and were, for their time, active, useful members of society. I certainly can't say that about a large number of the boys it has been my privilege to encounter in the three-and-a-bit years I've been teaching.
I should perhaps say here that the female equivalent of "knuckledragger" is "mouth-on-a-stick". Girls of a similar age who seem to think that applying make-up, doing their hair and generally sluttifying themselves during lessons is what lesson time is for and who can talk at a mile-a-minute about any number of completely inane and useless topics instead of following the aforementioned simple instructions.
2. Fic. Until about four years ago, I didn't know such a thing as fanficion existed. (Or online fandom for that matter.) I literally stumbled across some West Wing fic by accident one day when I was searching for information online about when the next season (I think it was S6) was due to start airing in the UK. I was both amused and intrigued by the idea, read some, then read some more and just kept going from there, really. Of course I found some truly execrable rubbish, but I also found Jo & Ryo, Puck & Zillah, Bramble, Christine and Dianora. I was already a Josh/Donna shipper in any case, so that was mainly what I read.
Whilst being a simple, innocuous 3-letter-word, Fic is also responsible for my becoming part of an online fandom and, more importantly, meeting so many like-minded individuals, some of whom have since become very dear friends - and for that, I will be eternally grateful, even when some of the fic I read was so bad, it made me want to vomit!
As for writing the stuff, well, I never ever thought I'd do it. I never intended to, but I'd started beta-reading for a few people, and it was
quaggy_mire who finally got me to take that last step and actually post something of my own. I don't get as much time to write now as I did back then, which is a continual source of chagrin, but I still enjoy writing, whatever I'm writing about... although of course, a little sexy!Josh goes a long way :-)3. Which brings me neatly to the next item on the list, Bradley. Notice she's given me Brad rather than Josh, but Josh Lyman has to be the starting point, regardless. I had no idea who Bradley Whitford was when I started watching West Wing - or most of the cast actually, apart of course from Martin Sheen and Rob Lowe. But right from the first episode I noticed the guy who seemed to have been designated "the funny one", because he was funny and smart (which always gets me), had an incredibly expressive face and a smile that almost made me fall off the sofa! So Josh was a favourite from the start, although I adored them all, and still do.
As to Brad though - I don't know what I can say about him that I've not already said or that hasn't already been said by others. He's made me laugh, cry and melt into puddles of lustful fangirly goo - an incredibly talented actor (writer and director, too, it appears), who seems to have his feet firmly anchored on the ground, and is obviously a dedicated family man. He's intelligent, articulate and not afraid to put his money where his mouth is, and seems like a genuinely nice person.
He's also sexy as hell, which of course doesn't hurt one little bit :)
4. Music. Where to start? For as long as I can remember, we've had musical instruments in the home. Nobody in my family is a "trained" musician - I'm the only one, but my mum is a very keen keyboard player. Her dad, I later discovered, was musical (banjo and ukelele!) and there is music on my Dad's side of the family too - his youngest sister had a good career as a professional singer "oop narth" (she used to describe herself as "like that Shirley Bassey, only better!") and his Dad played the violin, and did so until well into his eighties. So it's there on both sides. I remember learning to play the recorder at school when I was about six or seven, and learning to read music then - it came very easily I remember, and I've never looked back. I started to learn to play the clarinet shortly before my eleventh birthday, and it was when I started to play in the local bands and orchestras that I really discovered classical music. The short version is that I kept it up, studied Music at university and was lucky enough to get a job in music publishing after that. I did that for a few years, ran a music shop for a while, then changed tack and worked in advertising for a bit (which was where I met Mr Caz) and then worked in the record industry until I had my kids. And now, for my sins, I'm teaching - or attempting to teach - music.
5. DFG *grins*. Refer back to point 3, above. The DFG stands for Demented FanGirl and is used to denote a very small, but very select (!) band of females who are united in lust by their adoration for Bradley Whitford, namely
zinke, coloneljack, hooloovoo_42, digitalred93 and myself, all of us very excited to be able to be in the same geographical location at the same time in May of last year. There is also the Doctor Who subdivision, consisting of hooloovoo_42, zinke and myself, who managed to get together in August to do some Tennant-related-fangirling. Catherine Tate (whom we managed to meet in London) was pronounced to be an honorary DFG, seeing as she shares our obsession with Brad, and was duly presented with her DFG badge of honour (T-shirt) by hooloovoo_42.Right, well if you've made it to the end of that lot and feel like taking a turn, leave me a comment and I'll come up with your "five things".
