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jenettWander in, invite a friend to come along, and chat! (Not sure what's going on? Here, have a brief FAQ.) You can find previous ones in my salon tag. Please take a quick look at the reminders at the bottom of this post, too.
Today is the first day of classes at my place of work, and I'm still a little startled, somehow, about the transition from the laziness of August (when there's almost no one on campus except those of us who have 12 month contracts) to the bustle of the school year. (I have also hit my seasonal "my lungs hate September" moment, so I am not at my best, which is not exactly helping. It's been a very damp summer, and my mold allergies, they are complaining.)
Because of how I spent Saturday, I think this week, I'm going to snag an ideajjhunter brought up a month or so ago, of wanting to talk about relationships, and how to go about finding them or making the most of them.
Not just the romantic ones, but mentoring ones, friendships, teacher and student, parent and child, siblings, colleagues, and all the things that make communities and connections and the families we choose and the ones we don't and connections we make and the ones we don't.
(Why this week? Because I spent Saturday out with some awesome women, met via striking up a conversation in a restaurant in February. We all had a blast, but one of the things we've talked about a lot is how rare those kinds of friendships are in their lives. I have a *lot more* of that kind of interaction than the other four, but most of it is online and separated by distance.)
A few final notes
As noted, the basic thing here is 'leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse'. The FAQ has more help with your choices for comment (DW account, OpenID account, or anonymously) if you need a hand. Or ask, and someone (likely me, but maybe not) will be along to help. We'll work everything else out as we go.
Today is the first day of classes at my place of work, and I'm still a little startled, somehow, about the transition from the laziness of August (when there's almost no one on campus except those of us who have 12 month contracts) to the bustle of the school year. (I have also hit my seasonal "my lungs hate September" moment, so I am not at my best, which is not exactly helping. It's been a very damp summer, and my mold allergies, they are complaining.)
Because of how I spent Saturday, I think this week, I'm going to snag an idea
jjhunter brought up a month or so ago, of wanting to talk about relationships, and how to go about finding them or making the most of them. Not just the romantic ones, but mentoring ones, friendships, teacher and student, parent and child, siblings, colleagues, and all the things that make communities and connections and the families we choose and the ones we don't and connections we make and the ones we don't.
(Why this week? Because I spent Saturday out with some awesome women, met via striking up a conversation in a restaurant in February. We all had a blast, but one of the things we've talked about a lot is how rare those kinds of friendships are in their lives. I have a *lot more* of that kind of interaction than the other four, but most of it is online and separated by distance.)
A few final notes
As noted, the basic thing here is 'leave the conversation better than you found it, or at least not worse'. The FAQ has more help with your choices for comment (DW account, OpenID account, or anonymously) if you need a hand. Or ask, and someone (likely me, but maybe not) will be along to help. We'll work everything else out as we go.
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no subject
Date: 2013-09-04 06:17 pm (UTC)I wear meaningful religious jewelry to me, but it's not anything that's recognisable to other people. I do pins on my bag if I'm carrying the shoulder bag (but not on the backpack, because I'm more likely to scrape them off accidentally), but that only works if I'm carrying the bag. And so on.
The thing that works best for me has tended to be 'gathering of 5-20ish people, ideally with some sort of workshop like thing or activity that gives a chance to talk without obligating me to talking to anyone in particular.' but it took me a long time to figure that out. (And there are times it's still really complicated to actually *do*.)
no subject
Date: 2013-09-05 12:12 am (UTC)I've had writer's critique groups recommended to me more than once (apparently there's multiple such in the area, woot), and this that and the other, but the problem with such things is always that I work four to midnight. Not this month, I'm training and that's day shift, but evening activities are ruled out in general.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-05 02:56 am (UTC)(I tend to do better with 'this is on one of my weekend days' stuff. )
I also found it doesn't need to be an ongoing commitment thign - at least for me, sometimes I meet someone at the thing I go to, but sometimes it just triggers a "Yes, universe, I'm open to this kind of thing" and then someone falls into my lap in some totally different context, and it's awesome.
no subject
Date: 2013-09-05 04:39 pm (UTC)nodnod