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Interview Meme: Anastasiya
Mar. 4th, 2007 04:05 pm1. How and why did you get into the gothicky side of life? (and are you ever going to wear those pants????)
Wow. Uhm, I really don't know. It's just seemed pretty natural to me, I guess, identifying myself with that subculture. There wasn't ever a moment where it was like, "OK, I'm a Goth now!" I think the first time I ever went out to a Goth club of any sort was when you and Jenny took me to Nation to see Cruxshadows (or whenever it was we first went to Nation), but I was already at least knee-deep into things by then.
As for the why? Like I said, it seems only natural to identify with that subculture. I think of the modern Gothic subculture as an extension of the Gothic era of literature, itself a movement of the Romantic era. The Romantics were reacting against The Enlightenment, which reduced everything to logic and reason. Romantic literature focussed on intense emotions like love, hatred, terror, and sadness, with Gothic literature favoring horror heavily. Modern Gothic culture resonated with my own emotions and, I was intrigued to find, has an undercurrent of hope and redemption that I really appreciate. In both modern Gothic culture and Romantic era thinking there is a strain of bucking social norms and doing what you know to be right despite what others might tell you. I appreciate the thread of inner- and outer-conflict, and the dichotomy of the whole thing.
And let's be honest: the cyberpunk, gothpunk, anachropunk, and all the rest of the theming that goes on in Goth culture is just really cool to look at.
As to the parenthetical: which pants? The baggy ones that you made me buy that I wore when you, me, Jenny, Gene, and Josh went out? Or the pleather ones that Leslie got me years and years ago that I went to Con in?
2. If you could have anything as your primary mode of transportation what would it be? why?
There's a part of me that really wants to answer 'motorcycle' to this question; there's something so Romantic about racing down a highway in the pouring rain on a gun-metal motorcycle. There's also a lot of risk and impracticality to having a motorcycle, though, which are the main reasons I'll probably never have one. You can't (easily) go on a trans-state trip on a motorcycle (I can't pack light enough to make that very feasible) and even if you could, you can get really hurt really easily on one of those if you aren't careful.
So I'll stick with my sleek four-door dark blue Volkswagen. With a good engine, nice trunk space, decent stereo, and a heater to make up for driving with the windows down, there's really not a lot more I could ask for.
3. What of your traits do you hope to pass on to your kids, which ones do you hope not to?
I want my kids to be honest, loyal, intelligent, self-confident. I want them to have the right priorities in life (generally, people > career > money). I want them to have a strong system of belief to fall back on, religious, moral, and philosophical. I want them to be sensitive to other people's needs and emotional states. I want them to be able to do what they know is right despite what others might think of them, even when it seems the world is against them.
I don't want to pass on my lack of faith, my fear of emotional pain, my cynicism. I'm afraid, though, that most of that comes from life experiences I won't always be able to protect them from.
4. If you could gain any talent, which would it be? (like drawing, singing, dancing... etc)
Probably singing. I love music, and as it is I really enjoy singing; I imagine that if I was any good at it, I might be less self-conscious about it. Failing that, I'd like to draw. It'd be yet another way of expressing my inner-life, and I'm always looking for more outlets.
5. I know you don't like being single, but being single does have a few advantages, what would you like to do while you aren't "tied down"?
Actually, I'm not sure I even look at it that way. I mean, yeah, there are advantages to being single, and it's nice being (generally) accountable for no one but yourself. At the same time, a wife, even children, aren't the things I envision "tying me down." The sort of things I want to do -- learning skills and studying different subjects and seeing the world -- are the sort of things that are indifferent to or even made better by having someone else to share it with. Yeah, seeing Europe would be nice, but traveling alone would almost be depressing. What I expect to tie me down are a mortgage and a solid job and bills, and I expect to have most of those in a rather short time, wife or no.
(Meme: Request to be interviewed in a comment, and I'll ask you 5 questions, which you then answer in a post on your journal, opening yourself up to give interviews as well.)
Wow. Uhm, I really don't know. It's just seemed pretty natural to me, I guess, identifying myself with that subculture. There wasn't ever a moment where it was like, "OK, I'm a Goth now!" I think the first time I ever went out to a Goth club of any sort was when you and Jenny took me to Nation to see Cruxshadows (or whenever it was we first went to Nation), but I was already at least knee-deep into things by then.
As for the why? Like I said, it seems only natural to identify with that subculture. I think of the modern Gothic subculture as an extension of the Gothic era of literature, itself a movement of the Romantic era. The Romantics were reacting against The Enlightenment, which reduced everything to logic and reason. Romantic literature focussed on intense emotions like love, hatred, terror, and sadness, with Gothic literature favoring horror heavily. Modern Gothic culture resonated with my own emotions and, I was intrigued to find, has an undercurrent of hope and redemption that I really appreciate. In both modern Gothic culture and Romantic era thinking there is a strain of bucking social norms and doing what you know to be right despite what others might tell you. I appreciate the thread of inner- and outer-conflict, and the dichotomy of the whole thing.
And let's be honest: the cyberpunk, gothpunk, anachropunk, and all the rest of the theming that goes on in Goth culture is just really cool to look at.
As to the parenthetical: which pants? The baggy ones that you made me buy that I wore when you, me, Jenny, Gene, and Josh went out? Or the pleather ones that Leslie got me years and years ago that I went to Con in?
2. If you could have anything as your primary mode of transportation what would it be? why?
There's a part of me that really wants to answer 'motorcycle' to this question; there's something so Romantic about racing down a highway in the pouring rain on a gun-metal motorcycle. There's also a lot of risk and impracticality to having a motorcycle, though, which are the main reasons I'll probably never have one. You can't (easily) go on a trans-state trip on a motorcycle (I can't pack light enough to make that very feasible) and even if you could, you can get really hurt really easily on one of those if you aren't careful.
So I'll stick with my sleek four-door dark blue Volkswagen. With a good engine, nice trunk space, decent stereo, and a heater to make up for driving with the windows down, there's really not a lot more I could ask for.
3. What of your traits do you hope to pass on to your kids, which ones do you hope not to?
I want my kids to be honest, loyal, intelligent, self-confident. I want them to have the right priorities in life (generally, people > career > money). I want them to have a strong system of belief to fall back on, religious, moral, and philosophical. I want them to be sensitive to other people's needs and emotional states. I want them to be able to do what they know is right despite what others might think of them, even when it seems the world is against them.
I don't want to pass on my lack of faith, my fear of emotional pain, my cynicism. I'm afraid, though, that most of that comes from life experiences I won't always be able to protect them from.
4. If you could gain any talent, which would it be? (like drawing, singing, dancing... etc)
Probably singing. I love music, and as it is I really enjoy singing; I imagine that if I was any good at it, I might be less self-conscious about it. Failing that, I'd like to draw. It'd be yet another way of expressing my inner-life, and I'm always looking for more outlets.
5. I know you don't like being single, but being single does have a few advantages, what would you like to do while you aren't "tied down"?
Actually, I'm not sure I even look at it that way. I mean, yeah, there are advantages to being single, and it's nice being (generally) accountable for no one but yourself. At the same time, a wife, even children, aren't the things I envision "tying me down." The sort of things I want to do -- learning skills and studying different subjects and seeing the world -- are the sort of things that are indifferent to or even made better by having someone else to share it with. Yeah, seeing Europe would be nice, but traveling alone would almost be depressing. What I expect to tie me down are a mortgage and a solid job and bills, and I expect to have most of those in a rather short time, wife or no.
(Meme: Request to be interviewed in a comment, and I'll ask you 5 questions, which you then answer in a post on your journal, opening yourself up to give interviews as well.)
