(no subject)

Apart from that...

Rose and I went dancing!  We did English country dancing, which was ultimately a lot of fun.  It started out mostly stressful for me, as I was in this big new place, I only knew Rose, and I was learning new shit on the fly in front of other people who were relying on me to get it right.  Aiee aiee I die.

On the other, larger hand, everyone was lovely.  Everyone reminded me that being new is a temporary state, making mistakes is fine, and gosh isn't dancing fun?  I learned something from everyone I danced with.  Apparently I am a natural at such things?  I got compliments on my dancing ("This is your first time here? Really?"), so okay.  It definitely is a fantastic representation of short-term memory being repeated into long-term - I couldn't tell you what the dances were when we were doing them, but they stayed in short-term long enough for me to do them, and by the end, I know what a "cast" is.  I think.

Primary pleasedness: getting to spend a wonderful evening with my girl.  I mentioned to her that I'm glad I like New York a bit more, because it's a place that she loves, and I was sad that I couldn't appreciate it.  Turns out that the major thing in my way was me, of course.  When I assume that I cannot end an outing, then of course the world seems hostile.  When I know that I can say "I am tired and would like to go home" and it's okay to say that, suddenly the world is a bit nicer.

Self-care: not just for breakfast!

In related news, I never picked up the stereotype of New Yorkers being rude.  I haven't noticed any rudeness that was especially New Yorkian in nature.  I don't know why it exists.

The r-word, and a campaign. And an announcement.

First, the announcement.  Mild.  I do not participate in April Fool's Day, so you needn't worry about lying bullshit on this blog.

Now then.  Rachel at Feministe posted about the word "retarded".  There is a campaign to end use of that word as a pejorative, at R-Word.org.

I used to use that word, but I gave it up ages ago.  Alas, I work with someone who uses that word every five goddamn minutes, so I have to be a little more vigilant in keeping it out of my daily vocabulary.

I am ridding myself of other terms I don't like, as well.  The way I do it is to think of what the word means and what it connects to and so forth – so when I say "Man, I'm beat!", my first thought is "'Man', eh?".  Links back to my ongoing irritation that men are often the default.  ("Boy, I'm tired!"  "The sweet closeness of brotherhood."  "One giant leap for mankind.")  It is a silly thing, I suppose, but I figure I can take the opportunity to find other ways of expressing what I mean.

I dunno from others, but I do not post this in an effort to control your, the reader's, language.  I post this to encourage others to consider their language.  Linguistic dictates don't work, but maybe more people will consider the words they use, and will cut down on using certain ones.

*finishes coffee*

Originally posted at Xtinian Thoughts.  Comment here or there.