My husband plays Dwarf Fortress. I would play it too, but the learning curve is steep. He uses both his monitors just to keep up with what's going on in the game. It is a hilarious game, by the way. If a dwarf is struck by a "fey mood", he or she suddenly needs to invent something, or go insane.
If they can't accomplish the task they've been inspired to undertake, they go psycho and kill other dwarves. If they do complete the invention, it's usually something hilariously odd: a shoe. What is a dwarf going to do with a shoe? One child made a shield out of goblin remains. Twisted kid.
When they are possessed by the idea/inspiration, the dwarf will scream, "I CLAIM THIS WORKSHOP IN THE NAME OF INVENTION!" Only they draw out the "tion"... So it sounds like "INVENT-SHUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
If they can't accomplish the task they've been inspired to undertake, they go psycho and kill other dwarves. If they do complete the invention, it's usually something hilariously odd: a shoe. What is a dwarf going to do with a shoe? One child made a shield out of goblin remains. Twisted kid.
When they are possessed by the idea/inspiration, the dwarf will scream, "I CLAIM THIS WORKSHOP IN THE NAME OF INVENTION!" Only they draw out the "tion"... So it sounds like "INVENT-SHUUUUUUUUUUNNNNNNNNNNNN!"
I'm pretty sure that's what Rowan said when she was conceived and made herself at home inside of me.
As she prepares to make her debut, I'm looking at what 2013 will bring. For me, June will mean moving to a strange new place. Really, an entirely new region of the U.S.
Sometimes we are drawn to a place. I'll hear fellow Pagans say they are very drawn to water or the desert, while other people simply feel a kinship to a town in which they spent their entire lives. Maybe it's spiritual, or maybe it's emotional. Maybe it's psycho-somatic. Who knows?
I have a weird fear of wide open spaces. My husband thinks the open plains are the best, especially fields with dilapidated barns. I find that notion spooky, eerie, and beyond creepy. Give me the security of feeling enclosed. I'm the person who sleeps with the covers pulled up to my chin, or even over my head. He rolls on his stomach, not at all concerned about what's going on around him at night.
Give me Massachusetts, or at least some historic town along the north-east coast. Give me mountains. I don't mind ocean either, as long as it is a New England beach with hills and grass and cottages. But open land makes me feel like the world could fall away from me at any moment.
I am at my most comfortable in Plymouth County, Massachusetts, where I grew up, or Hampden and Hampshire Counties in Massachusetts, where the Pioneer Valley is flanked by the Berkshire Mountains.
If I could live in any town in the world, it would be a toss-up between Plymouth or Northampton, Massachusetts.
Is there a type of land you prefer or for which you feel an affinity? A type of land that just doesn't feel right to you?
Copyright (c) 2013 Wendy L. Callahan
I am not sure. The most at home so far I have felt in a small town close to the Dutch border, where my family spent many years (we moved a lot, and although I have by now spent more years in my current town than in that one, it still feels like home to me when I return to visit friends). I would also like to try living at the ocean, since it is a strong craving for me and I want to know whether it is real or just a fantasy. Apart from that - as long as you do not put me in the center of a big city, I guess I'll be fine. (I simply can't stand people.)
ReplyDeleteI feel most at home surrounded by trees. I prefer flatter land, but that's only because I like knowing what's coming up around me. I don't like feeling hemmed in by a cliff or anything else except trees, because then I can't A) escape in any direction that I need and B) mentally stretch out. I don't like driving on hills and would rather not live on one, but I don't mind living near them - looking up or down a hillside when the seasons change is one of the most beautiful sights ever, in my mind. As long as I have deciduous trees near me, I'm happy. :)
ReplyDeleteI have lived in a lot of different geography. I am not sure I have a preference, but I know that once I have my home set up, I am comfortable. I think for me it involves just being surrounded with my family and my 'stuff'. Get inside, shut the door... ahhhhh.
ReplyDeleteI grew up in Oklahoma and there is something about a wide open plain that speaks to the heart of me. but I have left that behind. My dream locations is Savannah Ga. I want to move there, so very bad.... I don't know why. I have never been there in the physical sense...but I have walked down the streets thanks to Google Maps.
ReplyDeleteWell, if it helps, I'm still living in Oklahoma, but I fell deeply, deeply in love with Atlanta when I visited. I have a feeling if I went to Savannah, I'd never leave.
DeleteI have no desire whatsoever to visit the 'outback'. The desert is scary and the scrubland is a badland. And the Australian bush, while beuatiful, is also deeply foreign to me. I feel at home in the UK. Deeply at home.
ReplyDeleteHey, have you read Sarah, Plain and Tall ? Lots of lovely description of wide open places and also the sea/coast.
(Random... I don't know if you do 'awards' or whatever, but I'm awarding you one on my blog. Feel free to claim it... or not.) :)
ReplyDeleteOften on my blog, I mention how much I hate the city. Too cluttered, too many people, too many potential problems. I want to live in the mountains of West Virginia, as did my Ancestors. I often feel them calling me when we're in West Virginia. The mountains with a creek (definitely need a water source, but not a river, unless it's at the foot of the mountain), thick woods, rich with wildlife, nearest neighbor a couple miles away; I like my privacy. Animals are predictable, humans not so much. I yearn to live off of the land like my ancestors once did. No other place has that affect on me like West Virginia. ~)O(~
ReplyDelete