Blogflog: The Little Miss Snowflake pageant continues!

[pith]

Blog link: http://blog.laurellkhamilton.org/2008/01/if-only-it-had-worked.html
LKH in bold; I'm plain.



I'm glossing over all the therapy talk, because . . . well, it's not really that interesting. LKH just draws it out like someone who wants to tell a cool story at a party but doesn't really have much of a story, so they pad it with detail—that way, by the time they're done, you're so happy they're done that you may actually think what they said was important/funny/interesting.

I was somewhat surprised, though, to see LKH distinguish "artists" from "writers". A lot of writers, of both the sane and wanky variety, insist that writing is an art, and at a lot of universities and colleges, writing is in the "fine arts" category, along with drama, painting, etc.

But then again, she's all about The Science, so she probably doesn't want to give up her membership to the Soft Sciences by claiming she's an artist. She has principles, you know. The Science helps make her stories real.

My subconscious and I are apparently too tight to sepearate. That means that the veil that most people have between their waking mind and their subconscious isn't really there for me. I didn't realize that other people did it differently.

I think she's starting to write lyrics for the song portion of her Little Miss Snowflake routine. (Or would that be Little Ms. Snowflake, since she's Grand Liberated Woman? Er, Womyn. Whatever.)

Knowing I was a writer, why didn't the therepaist warn me? Because it hadn't happened with every writer she'd worked with, only a few. Apparently, even among other writers I'm the odd duck. Why doesn't that surprise?

Oh, yes, Laurell, of course. It's the therapist's fault. (Unless the therapist didn't consider you a real writer and simply wanted to fuck with your head, in which case... bring on the Harley Quinn!) Never mind the fact that most people, when undergoing a treatment of some kind, will actually look into it and learn the pros and cons, the side effects, etc. It's fodder for her Miss Little Snowflake resume. File under "Unique Powers".

Honestly, there are how many billion people on this planet? Of course there's not going to be a one-cure-fits-all for anything. Then again, what do I know? I'm just a measly human. Which is probably better than being a unique snowflake, as snowflakes have a tendency to be eaten, trampled, driven over, or pissed on by passing dogs. (And the occasional human.)

Comments

[drho.livejournal.com]

LKH is the only person I'd wish Dr. Phil upon. A special snowflake artiste such as she needs a therapist of comparable specialness.

[atypia.livejournal.com]

Oh, OH! That would be an amazing thing to witness.

[easol.livejournal.com]

Is that Vincent Perez?

[drho.livejournal.com]

Nope. It's John Simm.

[notadoor.livejournal.com]

There's something about LKH's recounting of the therapist's explanation that ... doesn't feel right. I'm having a hard time pinpointing what exactly is making my spidey-sense tingle, but a quick, informal Google is turning up a lot of hypnotherapy (hypnosis) for phobia treatment, and no "sleep therapy" per se.

How would you conduct therapy during the client's normal sleeping hours, anyways? Did the therapist give her tapes to listen to while she's asleep, or something? That could backfire horribly, considering we tend to integrate sensory information from around us into our dreams.

Your subconscious is where all the thoughts that you don't want to admit to having wind up. Writers may have more vivid imaginations (which might make phobias & delusions harder to cure or deal with), but they're not better/stronger/more self-accepting than everyone else -- or if they are, I haven't gotten the memo, and neither have all my writer-pals with serious self-esteem problems. Self-acceptance is the factor that dictates how directly you can access your subconscious -- the ability to face aspects of yourself that frighten you, the parts you're ashamed of, the parts you want to pretend don't exist.

I am not a psychologist (give me another 5 years, heh), and even a trained professional shouldn't make guesses about the mental state of someone they don't know personally, but my instinct in a general sense is that a strong, incurable phobia actually might suggest you're farther dissociated from your subconscious, because if your conscious & subconscious were closely integrated, they'd work more easily together instead of battling for control of your thoughts. (This is assuming you like working in a particularly psychoanalytic paradigm -- I don't, usually. But I do know it's a lot easier to find something external to freak out about than deal with an internal problem.)

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

That could backfire horribly, considering we tend to integrate sensory information from around us into our dreams.

Completely off topic, but this reminded me of a forum I was in where I was relating a really bizarre dream that involved a black cloaked figur eon a horse riding down a waterfall after telling me some nonesense about "If you're not there at 6, jump down after me, and we'll eat chalupas" or something. A girl on the forum insisted it was all this deep darkity dark recesses of my soul and I was hiding these feelings.

I kind of laughed at her and said she might have had a point, but that wasn't really the case with this particular dream. She got offended and asked how I knew she was wrong. I told her it was because I ate Taco Bell and watched the Fellowship of the Ring before bed. Ah, I have weird dreams. :-)

[notadoor.livejournal.com]

Hee, generally the darkity dark recesses of your soul dreams are the ones you don't remember because they're too threatening to be allowed into your conscious memory. The most useful dreams to psychoanalyze are the ones where you can only remember part of it, and there are blanks in between sections where you're not quite sure WHAT happened, but you know something did.

But yeah, to mangle Gandhi, "I like your Freud; I do not like your Freudians."

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

I did have ONE dream I can remember that involved me being broken up over my nephew's death over a year later (I was going to a therapist at the time and she helped me realize that). Other than that... all my dreams are either completely random or have to do with things i was doing that day or before bed.

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

Continuing off topic, I once dreamed I was flying in a helicopter over South America with the pope, to go to a UN conference; when I woke up my radio was on and playing NPR. XD

[estllechauvelin.livejournal.com]

I can't set my alarm clock to go off with the radio, because instead of waking me up, my dreams suddenly acquire a soundtrack.

[silent-sybil.livejournal.com]

I've had several where in the dream, an alarm starts going off somewhere in the building, and I run around for a while trying to turn it off and unplugging random dream-alarm clocks, to no avail, before I wake up. :P

[recrudescence.livejournal.com]

*laughs* I...don't know if I can imagine a more terrifying dream.

[were-lemur.livejournal.com]

I once had a dream about being chased by a lawnmower. I woke up and found that one of the cats (not the one in the icon, but a different one with an unusually loud purr) had flopped down on me with his purr motor right over my ear. :p

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

My favorite was when a teacher of mine in high school was arrested for sexual contact with a student and Arnold Schwarzenegger was running for office. I had dreams that I was running from Ahhh-nold and did a back flip over him, and sent a roundhouse kick to the face to the teacher, and when I landed I was in the jungle. I woke up and was like "What the hell's ass kind of dream was that?!"

[lovefromgirl.livejournal.com]

Aw, man, I know what that feels like -- I dozed off during the S.C. primary coverage last night and somehow ended up dreaming about the Mafia. Turns out my dad changed the channel in the middle of my nap...

...to The Godfather.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

I tend to have a LOT of dreams influenced by movies. So I sympathize!

[drho.livejournal.com]

I think LKH means that her mind was suppose to process the therapy, while she slept. But the entire explanation looks suspect, as if it was either untrue or conveyed by a therapist who just wanted to get rid of an unreasonable client.

[notadoor.livejournal.com]

Or it was vastly misinterpreted, which is my guess.

[ladymuttly1.livejournal.com]

I'd be willing to bet that she's talking about hypnotherapy. I attended one session of hypnotherapy many years ago and the therapist tried to put me in a trance. Since I didn't know and/or trust the woman (trust is built up over time) this didn't work at all.

[dreamstrifer.livejournal.com]

You know, reading the whole blog, I still have no idea what the hell she's talking about, with the subconscious babbling and all that. I only took one psych class, but whatevs. So she's saying this type of therapy didn't work for her because she has no division between her normal thoughts and her subconscious? I'd be interested in figuring out how exactly that's different.

And maybe it's just because LKH is batshit. Whatevs. We already know she has a hard time separating reality from fantasy. Maybe that's what's keeping her from being "cured."

[nightangel486.livejournal.com]

Apparently, even among other writers I'm the odd duck. Why doesn't that surprise?

Ohhhh GEEZ woman, enough already! "Ohhh, poor me, I'm so different and moar speshuler than everyone else, even other writers, but I suppose I should be all wangsty and accept that, I mean it's nothing new, I'm just so awesome and darkity dark that my entire life I've been so different, so ostracized, no one UNDERSTAAANDS me!"

[booster-blue.livejournal.com]

Naturally, as she says this, Evanescence is blasting in the background.

[manekikoneko.livejournal.com]

I'm glad she switch to Evanescence from Tori Amos. I like Tori Amos.

[ayako.livejournal.com]

I want to make a witty comment but all I could think of is what will happen if LKH ever meets scientology. D:

[drho.livejournal.com]

She'd start her own version. Laurellology. It's speshul and original.

[dwg.livejournal.com]

I read Laurellology and all think is a macro:

"IM PUTTING UR LOL BAK IN2 RELIJUNZ!"

The Empire of Cheezberger will be most upset.

[brandiweed.livejournal.com]

Honest to God, I first read "waking mind" as "wanking mind."

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

This post is reallly interesting if you read it to the melody of Dashboard Confessional's "Your hair is everywhere."

In fact...

---

I'm missing my bed
I never sleep
Closing my eyes, is when we speak
Me 'n my friends who're
Dragon bat-t-ling

I'm snuggling near,
Covers aren't on my feet
Cause it's time for a moan, it's time for a screetch
Cause all of it's practice
More dragon bat-t-ling

I'm reading my notes, over again
There's not a word, that I comprehend,
Except for the sex scenes where I'm she's tight and wet
So Wet

Well as for now I'm gonna play my Christmas songs
Sit in bed and ponder
Why can't men be toys?
Just like in an anime
Be pretty little dancing toys, subby boys

I'm missing my friends - the ones who are dead
And it's all my fault, though it's all in my head
And I'm wishing the haters would stop their hating

I'm snuggling near,
Covers aren't on my feet
No I will not be, polite and discreet
Witness my sacrifice for dragon bat-t-ling

I'm missing my bed
I never sleep
Closing my eyes, is when we speak
Me 'n my friends who're
Dragon bat-t-ling

Well as for now I'm gonna play my Christmas songs
Sit in bed and ponder
Why can't men be toys?
Just like in an anime
Be pretty little dancing toys, subby boys

Subconscious, everywhere,
Seeping in my fantasies
Make me over share. (x4)

[witchwillow.livejournal.com]

Thanks.

The end came first (Subconscious) and then I couldn't help building on it.

[saucyirishlass.livejournal.com]

I second the "win" sentiment.

[darkese.livejournal.com]

This therapist probably used crystals as well. Maybe read her aura and read her future in tea leaves. Then told her she was so special that her therapy wouldn't work (after she had gotten paid). LKH was taken but, to her, it's a story about how unique she is.

[glitterglass.livejournal.com]

why can't she use spell check?

[nicbemused.livejournal.com]

Well, she's a fluffy newage pseudo-neo-pagan, why wouldn't she go to a fluffy newage pseudo-therapist. (perhaps her house took so long to renovate due to fluffy pseudo-carpenters and fluffy pseudo-plummers?)

*serious eye-rollage*

[atypia.livejournal.com]

So, let's take bets on when Laurita will see a hypnotherapist and end up being too fantastically different and awesome for it to work?

I'm thinking in .... two books.

[atypia.livejournal.com]

I meant Merita *headdesk* They're all so similar, I even get the mean names confused :P

[easol.livejournal.com]

I call her Laumerita. :) And yeah, I wouldn't be surprised if her amazing cooch was too strong for her mind to be overcome, cuz she is SO strong-willed and powerful and blah blah blahity blah.

[tsubaki-ny.livejournal.com]

Oh my god what is she SAYING? I don't understand it. And I have fairly good reading comprehension. I taught ESL. I did! *sobs*

Is she claiming to be a lucid dreamer? What the fuck with the veils and the waking life??? She lives in dreams and can't wake up? (That would suck.) Is that why she buys her characters presents -- is she actually freaking seeing them there because her dreamlife invades her reality? What the hell does she mean she has a special lack of separation between conscious and subconscious? Is she claiming schizophrenia? ESP?

I have no idea why this is agitating me so much. It's a last-straw sort of thing...