Fetish Screen
Alphabet
I alphabetize so much that I had the alphabet tattooed around my wrist. My only regret is not having it tattooed upside-down, so it would be rightside-up as I look down at it.
I alphabetize hand-outs, papers, syllabi, journal articles, and book chapters. I have binders full of...alphabetized articles!1
Luckily, I have a handy alphabet cheat sheet all the time.
In–Between–ness
Those points where lines cross, where things change from just–left to almost–there, is where I feel most comfortable. Weight and guilt and responsiblity lift, and all that's left is not–quite and in–a–bit and we'll–see and just–wait. Those spaces are what I imagine Zen masters inhabit. In the middle of moving or transferring or codeswitching, I can just barely feel transcendence.
Permanence
I don't have it, and I'm not sure if I want it.
Perhaps the closest thing is my sister, who's been with me since the first and lived the closest life of anyone to mine. Perhaps that's more a matter of empathy, than permanence. At least, she is the one I permanently never have to explain a back–story to. She's also the reason for my other tattoo. So that's permanence in a way, I suppose.
- Gotcha! You totally thought I was going to say "binders full of women," didn't you? I'm not into timely cultural references, you know. See entry on permanence.↑