Do You Seek Fame and Fortune?

We all aspire to individuality. We don't want to be a face in the crowd, until being the one standing out from the masses becomes uncomfortable. At that point, some back up and blend with the crowd, while others step forward instead. Some people always want to be in the spotlight - politicians and performers come to mind first - while other people prefer to stand back, not in the shadows, but in the background. These are the people who just want to live their lives as well as possible, pass on their joys and fears to the next generation, and eventually pass quietly to the next phase without leaving too many ripples behind. 

Every action create ripples around us. Those ripples can
intersect with those from other people and change their
directions or perspectives. Action can be a powerful tool. 

There are times, however, when individuality raises its head despite trying to fade into the nooks and crannies. I must admit that I'm not really great at self-promotion. I've been in the spotlight a few times, and it's been nice, but there was always a squirmy feeling of being uncomfortable under such acute examination. The fact it, when you fall from a pedestal instead of a step, it's a longer distance to the ground and it hurts a lot more. 

Getting onto a pedestal isn't always comfortable or easy,
as this delightful sculpture by Marian Weisberg depicts. 

I think that ambition and personal desire for achievement often tends to burn hotter in youth. As I grow older, although I would love to achieve more accolades for this or that (writing, art, general life skills), it's unlikely I'm going to transform the ages with whatever I do in the final decades of my life. I'm no Margaret Mitchell, writing a novel that still resonates more than eighty years later. I'm no Grandma Moses, whose career as a serious artist began when she was 78 years of age. I'm just me. Although I'll write and create until I'm ashes in the wind, I doubt I'll produce anything earthshaking or with lasting ripples through time. 

There is something absolutely charming about the artwork of Grandma
Moses. Depth of field and proportion are lacking, but there is life
there - daily life that jumps off the canvas and into your heart. 

That's actually OK. When I look back in another decade or two and analyze my life, I think I'll be relatively happy with it. I won't look at my personal achievements as much as what I managed to do for others. I've fostered creativity in others, I've entertained people through tales and quips, I've loved a good man, and I've helped others whenever I could. There could be so many worse ways to live a life. 

The skills shown by Grandma Moses in this piece - "A Country
Wedding" - are undeniable. It looks primitive, but in reality, it's
finely detailed, does just what it should to showcase the event,
and the lack of 3-D is a time-honored technique that dates back
to Ancient Egypt. 

I'll wrap today up here, since this post grew legs of its own and went in unexpected directions - all good. Have a truly excellent Tuesday and I'll be back tomorrow. Now, to plug in photos and head off to the gym. Enjoy your day! 

Happy Friday - Examining Perspective and Illusion

I have a lot to do in the next hour, so I'm going to do a photo blog today. What will I find to share? I never know until I start hunting...

Sometimes you have to look right at something to see it properly. 

This is called The Hidden Tiger illusion. Do you see it? All
answers will be at the end of the post. This is illusion (A). 

This is called the Cafe Wall illusion. It is a visual illusion - one
of many I have seen through the years. This is an excellent example
of the eyes playing tricks on us. (B)

This is a common perception illusion called the Necker Cube. (C)

And for a final offering, this lovely illustration...

The Inside Out Window illusion. (D)

OK, now for some explanations and a link. (A) The Tiger Illusion - read his stripes. They say "The Tiger Illusion", don't they? (B) The Cafe Wall Illusion - The light and dark bricks must be in staggered rows with each brick surrounded by a mortar of a color between the two brick colors - in this case, grey. The lines are actually completely parallel, but they appear askew. (C) The Necker Cube - The line drawing is ambiguous and in no way tells the viewer which plane is forward and which is behind. On the lefthand drawing, most people perceive the lower left as being in front, but not everyone sees it this way. What I found really interesting was that a man who had been blind from birth but who regained sight at age 52 did not perceive the ambiguity that most people do. (D) More ambiguous perspective in this. Do the windows open out or are they swinging in? You choose your preference in this lovely drawing.

Are you interesting in exploring more optical illusions? There's a great website here. Indulge yourself in some fun with the clickable links on the bottom left of the page. Many of these are optical illusions that require movement to visualize, so I didn't put them into today's post, but they're worth clicking on and checking out.

Happy Friday, everyone!

Revisions, Retrenches, Rethinking

So yesterday I posted about the difficulties I was having with my newest o-fic story and how it just wasn't working. I put more thought into it and decided to scrap the storyline completely and begin again with a different story track. Now the story is flowing and I see where it is heading. Since today is my "day off", I'll continue working on it between shoveling more snow, shopping for groceries and doing laundry. Tonight I want to work on some beta work that I owe to Lai, so I'll be at my keyboard for the rest of the day, at least as much as possible.

I ordered several different Tarot decks on Sunday night that are on their way to me now. In the interim I've been playing with a daily free reading on facade.com to get a basic feel for the cards again even though I'm not holding virtual cards in my hands. I've got to say that I've never had such negative readings in my life and it makes me wonder if I'm such a horrible person.  I know I'm selfish and can be single-minded and overly focused in my endeavors, but the virtual cards have really been kicking my butt (even though they have chosen some interesting decks.

Yesterday's random deck chose the Voodoo Tarot of New Orleans for a Shadow Truth 5-card spread, supposedly chosen to illuminate things I would be hiding from myself. The first card, the "Attitude You Assume" was "The Tower" - unforeseeable catastrophe. I usually associate The Tower with throwing out elements that don't work - a psychic cleansing, but decided to go with their definition for this spread. The 2nd card was for "Underlying Thoughts and Feelings" and was the Nine of Cups (reversed) meaning vanity, conceit, smugness and overindulgence. Ick! I don't want to be perceived as smug!

The New Orleans Voodoo Deck is one I would never have chosen.

Card #3 was for "Evolving Attitudes" and the card was a Wild Card (reversed). This is a non-standard card unique to this deck so I have no equivalent in other decks. Their interpretation was "The most extreme of unexpected events, leading to shock and humiliation. The invasion of everyday life by forces primal or transcendental. Sex, violence, and regret." OK...Double ICK!!  No...really don't want this!

Appropriately for New Orleans, the Tower

card is actually called the Deluge card.

So working through to the last two cards, #4 was for "Perception of Others" with the Ace of Swords standing for meeting a challenge and new ideas and information. This was MUCH better. The final card, #5, stands for "What I am Hiding From Myself" and that toppled right back into the negative personality aspect with the Nine of Disks (reversed). This card implies elitism, snobbery (here I go...a snob again), a lack of discipline and contempt for labor. Oh dear...I guess I have to get back into the groove again to get this better.

The Ace of Swords card is rather bizarre in this deck.

So...if others do perceive me as a snob, how best to change that? I'm not saying I'm not one - I can be high-handed and have a delusional sense of self-importance and I am well aware of that. I also know that this is armor that I have carefully crafted year after year that I place between myself and my dark sides of depression and suicidal thoughts. So, maybe I'm not too willing to give up the plate armor just yet. I built it for very good reasons.

It is a little elaborate for my personal armor...but so pretty!

So how would you do? The website is facade.com. Go take a look under Tarot and see what you get for your daily free reading. It can be illuminating, although it may also cause you to think thoughts that might be uncomfortable.