The letter meme

[vaneramos]

I've been feeling reticent lately. I need some content, and ubermunkey was playing the letter meme, so I asked him for a letter. He gave me I for intensity; now I have to list ten things I like that begin with that letter.

1. I is for introversion: I can't deny I'm most comfortable in my own company. It gets tired sometimes, but on the whole I enjoy living alone and retreating to my own apartment at the end of the day.
   
2. Islands: set off on their own in the middle of a lake, they exert a special draw. There's a little one on Lake Fletcher where blueberries grow and a nice diving rock faces the sunset. I haven't gone there in a couple years; it's time I set a date with that place. Vancouver Island is my favourite place I've travelled to so far.
   
3. Ice cream: now that I'm on a wheat-free diet, this is one of the few desserts that's convenient and kosher, but I'm not complaining. It keeps me satisfied. Pralines and cream is usually my favourite flavour, but you haven't really experienced Toronto unless you've visited Greg's Ice Cream, made the traditional way from all-natural ingredients: roasted marshmallow is what most people recommend, and that's fine, but I like green tea, earthy and mysterious.
   
4. Insects: As a kid I liked to collect butterflies. Now I'd rather leave them alone, observe and photograph them. Recently the camera has drawn me into a deeper, macro relationship with tiny critters, drawing my attention away from the horizon, closer to my feet. Order Odonata is of particular interest; I'm considering getting a dragonfly tattoed on the back of my shoulder, as a reminder of the dock at Lake Fletcher, where one of these agile creatures will frequently alight.
   
5. Identification: when I see an interesting plant, bird or insect, really anything in nature, I want to know specifically what it is. Since my teens years when I spent vacations poking through the forest with a field guide in hand, this has been a life-long endeavour.
   
6. Impressionism: my favourite movement in visual art, which used free brush strokes to evoke the sensation of viewing a subject, rather than presenting a concrete image of it. Impressionists such as Claude Monet and Pierre-Auguste Renoir moved the practise of painting from indoor studios to en plein air where they could more readily capture the effects of light and movement. The movement also bled into music, where the heady emotions of Romanticism yielded to texture and atmosphere. Impressionist composers Ralph Vaughan Williams and Maurice Ravel are two of my favourites. This probably relates to my next point.
   
7. Imagery: a literary device I like to write or read. Textually it sparks the senses, awakens the imagination, and provokes the reader into a deeper experience of the narrative.
   
8. Ian McKellen: Gandalf the Gay, I'm a fan.
   
9. Internet: I've become more skeptical. Internet community seems like an oxymoron. Nevertheless, here we are, and here we'll stay for a while. It has revolutionized and enriched our lives (at least to the extent that we follow our intentions). I can come home from work and interact with people and ideas from all over the world, or look up a new songwriter I just heard on the radio and download the album. I can take a photo or record some thoughts and, almost instantly, find an audience.
   
10. Integrity: It matters to me at the core. I don't claim to have a lot of it. One's own values can be a hard act to follow. There is honesty in telling the truth; I'm more concerned with doing it. Beliefs and values change, of course. Maybe integrity is something we work out over a lifetime.

I was a more fertile letter than I thought at first. If you want to play the letter meme, post a comment, request a letter, and I'll give you one.

Comments

[wonderboynj.livejournal.com]

Hey stud, cuddle me.

Err, I mean give me a letter ;)

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Hey, I discovered this on the radio yesterday. Listened to the whole album last night and it made me think of you. Do you like it?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=maGzqRCKI7k

Your letter is C for cutey.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Okay, one of my favourite letters: F.

[osodecanela.livejournal.com]

I'm in, sweet man!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

Okay, tell me about R.

[hankdmoose.livejournal.com]

I'll take a letter.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

I think it's a T!

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

If you did, then we were practically in the same neighbourhood. Danny was to give a presentation, and I hadn't gone for a walk yet, so I planned to do it while he was setting up. When we arrived, I was surprised to find myself right across the street from Robarts Library. It pleased me to be able to take my daily photograph with you in mind. I haven't processed them yet, but will post one shortly.

[rfmcdpei.livejournal.com]

I'm game.

[vaneramos.livejournal.com]

H is unquestionably your letter.