dull nestbuilding post

[devi]

After a surreal half an hour or so where my new housemate and I were the only people in B&Q, I spent yesterday evening painting my room, with a soundtrack of Sergeant Pepper and Motown.

I’m going with the three plain walls, one red wall plan (thanks for the advice!), but I made an error: I picked a colour called ‘apricot’ because I thought it looked like a more interesting cream, when the point of the neutral colour is that it's not supposed to be interesting. Turns out it’s horrible. It wobbles about on the line between being neutral and being a colour. Finally it decides to try being a colour, fails hilariously, and its friends point and laugh at it. Oh dear. Time to paint over it with plain white. The red wall rocks, though.

This whole business is weirdly exciting. It’s so strange to me to be able to change my own living space that I was almost scared to make the first brush stroke, and hesitated with the brush held hairs’ breadths from the wall, and then had to go through with it because the brush would drip if I didn’t.

A couple of weeks ago, just before catching my flight to Ireland, I went to Herbal to see dr_f_dellamorte doing his DJ thing. He was fantastic and I got my groove on to his funky breaks till late into the night and then stayed over at ultraruby’s, and when we got up the next morning we sat in her lovely kitchen talking about house-painting and DIY and it occurred to me that I always thought you couldn't have both at once, the nestmaking and the getting your groove on, and that you had to sacrifice one for the other. And if that’s not true, then it’s a whole different world.

Comments

[ultraruby.livejournal.com]

Awww! Nestbuilding's quite lovely, really. When I was younger and couldn't get the hang of wearing make up, my mum used to say to me 'it's like doing art, but on your face, and you like art!' these days I try to apply the principle to where I live, except my mum was wrong (gasp!) cos it's not really making art, it's making a feeling. Which is what getting your groove on is too.

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

you couldn't have both at once, the nestmaking and the getting your groove on

This is not true. Really, it isn't. My problem is that not enough people realise that you can have both. It depends on the people involved, and their creativity, of course.

[ultraruby.livejournal.com]

Also it depends on the degree of perfectionism. I get my groove on very sloppily and I am terible at wallpapering but I reckon that on balance it's better to be ok at each thing than to be brilliant at either one of them.

(Heh, I almost said that like I don't freak out about something-or-other every 25 minutes)

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

I've got this theory that perfectionists aren't entirely creative. I mean, prolly the best is creative, and the ability to finish something. But like Gaiman says, he still hates everything he ever wrote. Kind of. One has to know when to leave it off. Michael Caine, in today's Guardian, was saying something about the films he's done. I suppose *active* perfectionists have the problem - potential perfectionists, who can leave something 'when it's good enough' and send it out to the masses - they're sorted.

[marnameow.livejournal.com]

Isn't there another kind of perfectionist - someone who makes a thing, and evaluates it and says 'this isn't perfect' and sends it out to the world anyway if it's good enough, but looks at it carefully first, and notes its flaws, and resolves to improve on those next time.

(and then there are people who abuse commas)

[juggzy.livejournal.com]

You know, I think that's the same thing.

I don't know anything about the abuse of commas. Clearly. And I'm struggling to care.

[gothwalk.livejournal.com]

Clearly, thou hast not been paying attention. :)

[bluedevi.livejournal.com]

I've been learning slowly, going "yeah but... yeah but...", but maybe it's finally got through.

[teawith.livejournal.com]

Cool. Hooray for nest-building. Just to let you know, hon, I have one letter for you, and a purple and black sock :)

[wimble.livejournal.com]

You could drop it in to my desk at work. I, with luck, will be diving in briefly on Thursday.

And it'll be interesting to see what the reaction is ;-)

[juliet]

I am determined that you *can* have both nestmaking & groove-getting-on. I love both my lovely house, & going out dancing & behaving inappropriately (although in practice not as much as I would have liked of the latter happened last year due to Ill).

If knitting counts as nestmaking, then I've done that *whilst* getting my groove on :-) (well, I knit quite a lot at the last ATP I went to, anyway, whilst sat at the back on the steps listening to bands).

[dr-f-dellamorte.livejournal.com]

Why thankyou honey!

My aim is to facilitate the groove-getting-on of nestmakers worldwide! Let's make it happen!

[verlaine.livejournal.com]

I'm trying to even understand the concept of not being able to have both, and failing miserably.

Presumably, you're not saying that it's difficult for someone who buys paint in B&Q to go clubbing the same week?

[bateleur.livejournal.com]

Hey, when I get my new house (this year, hopefully) lathany and I are going to paint a mural. That will be exceedingly groovy.

[echidnacrossing.livejournal.com]

Ah yeah. Nestmaking and getting your groove on go hand in hand. It's so important to have a nice nest to come back to..