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therithere
Theri There from 2005-11-21
Notes: A learning experience with mental shifting. (Readers have pointed out a flaw in this exercise in weird physics: the person should have fallen forward instead. But then we wouldn’t have seen xir sorry face at the end.)
Transcript:
A person struggles to carry cardboard boxes from a moving van, thinking, “These boxes of books sure are heavy. I’ll visualize my dragon form, and focus on its qualities of strength and balance!” The shining silhouette of a dragon astral form appears around xir.
The dragon picks up a box with xir forelimbs, extending xir wings and tail. Caption: “When a quadrupedal dragon rears up bipedally to carry a heavy object, xe instinctively counterbalances the burden by unfurling xir wings behind xir.” This is illustrated with a old-fashioned balancing scales, sitting level.
Caption: “Phantom wings (weighing nothing) are an ineffective counterweight to lean against.” The weight vanishes from one side of the scales, and they collapse to the other. The dragon otherkin falls over, spilling the box.
Under a pile of textbooks such as “Physics 101” and “Qi Gong,” the dragon kin says, “I shouldn’t try a mental shift like that if I’m ever on a tightrope,” and then mutters, “Balance indeed!”
[Edit 2017-04-03: Updated link.]
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Date: 2005-11-21 02:26 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 04:14 am (UTC)I may recently have had a similar event. I was manifesting phantom wings heavily (even though they aren't something I associate my form with having, I still experience them quite a bit) and walked by a bookshelf in my house. I could have sworn I was a good three feet away, but all this stuff came cascading off the shelf behind me.
I'm not ready to chalk it up to "OMG phantome winges!" because I suppose it's possible I was close enough to the shelf to knock things off, but.
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Date: 2005-11-22 02:35 am (UTC)On the other hand, wrong guessed seem to generate discussion :D
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Date: 2005-11-21 07:00 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 02:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 09:17 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 07:48 am (UTC)will read comic and may post again.
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Date: 2005-11-21 02:31 pm (UTC)Or it could be a timer in the VCR that nobody remembers setting. (Our second-hand hi-fi did that. It would turn on at 7am, but only if there was a CD in it, so initially it seemed random, and we thought it was because of the guy with the remote again.)
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Date: 2005-11-21 06:55 pm (UTC)granted, if you REALLY want weird technology my old computer, May'ree, takes the cake.
I had her for 6 years and she was quite out of date and buggy at the end. I called her a piece of shit in a chatroom and Windows Explorer shut right down and refused to start up again no matter how many times I restarted and how long I let the computer sit.
after three hours of no luck I grew so desprate I patted the tower and apologized to the computer for calling her a piece of shit, hit the power button... and it started up perfectly... she even ran better than usual that day o.O;;;
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Date: 2005-11-21 09:32 am (UTC)I HATE being the one who's way way ahead of everyone else, time-zone wise.
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Date: 2005-11-21 08:00 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 02:40 pm (UTC)See, I kinda ruined part of my back in middle school by carrying an overloaded bookbag. Nobody told me it was bad for me before it was too late. So now my upper back and shoulders are stiff quite often (though part of that is also because I hold a lot of tension there when I'm stressed). Normal stretching doesn't always work. But when I happen to be in a form that has wings (sometimes I can make them appear at the time, sometimes not) I'll cross my arms over behind my back, grab each wing, and pull it to stretch it out along with the rest of my back. That seems to help.
Of course I also weirded people out when I meditated before practice. I'd be all quiet off in a corner, some people would be standing there not noticing me, and when as soon as I was ready to fight I'd pop up and freak them all out. lol Not my intent, but the result was funny....
*ahem* Off-topicness, sorry.
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Date: 2005-11-23 10:15 am (UTC)You: *hops to feet, foil in hand* "Make ready!"
ALL: "WAUGH!" *falls over*
Friend, from beside you: "Where'd you come from!?"
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Date: 2005-11-29 11:45 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 02:53 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 03:22 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 01:37 am (UTC)personally i do use my phantom tail for keeping balence on some things, it only works like 40% of the time though.
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Date: 2005-11-22 11:19 am (UTC)It's not really a strain anymore - my calf muscles have built up quite a bit.
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Date: 2005-11-21 03:41 pm (UTC)Random reader
Date: 2005-11-21 04:38 pm (UTC)Re: Random reader
Date: 2005-11-22 05:35 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 06:18 pm (UTC)::puts her two cents into the jar and sits back down with the rest of the group::
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Date: 2005-11-22 02:34 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 07:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-21 09:06 pm (UTC)I am extremely amused that the book atop our dragon's head is Physics 101. So deliberate, Orion. ^.=.^
I also get the imprthat the dragon in question might have bent xis knees a bit, and/or went up on the balls of his feet when shifting. The pose of the dragon in panel 4 suggests it to me--or more likely, it's something I do when imagining myself dragon.
Unfortunately, I don't think that's the best "carrying heavy weights" stance for flat-footed bipeds, wings to counterbalance or not. ^_^
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
If I believed that anything, ah, significant was happening when I imagine myself dragon, I can easily see myself trying something like this...possibly with similiar results.
As it is, it's not something I'm in the practice of consciously calling up...often*. More like a mood or a mental state that, when I notice it, I will usually focus on and try to heighten. Usually said feeling creeps up on me when I'm alone (or feeling alone, regardless of crowds about), in a good mood, and....hmm. Some third quality that I'll work out just what it is later.
Point is, it tends to happen in libraries. There's something about the solitude, the mental attitude adopted when I leisurely hunt down a book, or just browse along the shelves, and the knowledge that I'm pacing through shelf after shelf of knowledge and I'll never get to read it all...
Well, it tends to put me in a draconic mood, and it has since high school. For that matter, finishing a good book or story can have the same effect. I will unashamedly admit, I get a high off of the right book.( or some other kind of literature. or a good discussion.)
Why am I bringing this up? Why is it vaguely topical? Why, because the dragon's carrying a great big box of books. ^_^
~~~~~~~~
* I realized an exception to this statement while I was writing. I have two semi-notable "phantom limb" habits. One, sometimes I'll put wings on my back just to flap or stretch them out, then refold. You can see grazing canada geese do it, and other birds too, I imagine. It might be a sign of slight agitation, or fidgeting.
The other thing I'll do is put wings on my back when I really want to move--a long haul on my bicycle or a dash off to class or somewhere else. I'll imagine them there, catching the wind and pushing me along, faster.
(warning! Tangent ahead.)
I'm not in good physical shape, but I do love a good run--or a chase. And several other forms of physical activity besides (dancing, DDR, some martial arts--anything I can lose myself in focusing on.)
Joy in motion. I suppose that's something else that brings out the dragon in me. *thinks that sounds very cliche, but couldn't find a better phrasing. Everything else had too many awkward qualifiers*
--And that concludes another semi-topical, self-referential, rambling post by Zuki.
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Date: 2005-11-21 09:21 pm (UTC)BTW, you'd actually fall forward with the box, not backward, if the counterweight behind you suddenly disappeared. Unless you were holding the box over your head or something so that it'd make you fall backwards. ;}
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Date: 2005-11-22 05:53 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-12-06 07:22 am (UTC)I was scanning through the comments to see if what I had to say had already been said. Guess it has. The lack of a counterweight would make the victim fall forward instead of backward. Maybe that would explain why the Physics book is in the box, and consequently why it wound up on the person's face: "READ ME!"
Mind if I add you?
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Date: 2005-11-22 12:16 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-22 08:07 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-25 07:32 am (UTC)By that, I don't mean I whistle or hum or anything. For me, visualization keys very directly to solid music. I have, for example, a number of "interactive cartoons" that I engage myself in mentally when listening to the soundtrack from "Heavy Metal". Sammy Hagar's title track is exceptionally conducive to a sequence moving from a "power-up" style of transformation into a highly acrobatic battle scene. "True Companion" is for relaxed, languid gliding. With "The Mob Rules", I lead a citizen's revolt of theris against a corrupt government. Don Felder's "Taking a Ride" is a draconic romance theme. And so on.
In all of this, I can feel every movement...the wind shrieking across my wingbones, the length of steel in my hand, the curling of tail around a pole to arrest forward motion. Hooves moving so fast only the leading tips touch the floorboards.
I listen to music a lot. -:)
Phantom failure
Date: 2005-11-25 09:37 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-27 03:11 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-28 02:18 am (UTC)Thanks for writing this. It's all lovely art and a pleasure to read ^^
Oh, and one this I didn't see on the FAQ, I'm seeing a lot of words like Xir and Xe, that I think are being used are pronouns, but I'm not sure. What are those?
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Date: 2005-11-28 07:10 am (UTC)"Oh, and one this I didn't see on the FAQ, I'm seeing a lot of words like Xir and Xe, that I think are being used are pronouns, but I'm not sure. What are those?"
Yes, "xe" and "xir" are pronouns. They're a set of neologistic gender-neutral pronouns. You're right that I should mention them in the comic's FAQ, at the rate I'm using them. I'll include that in the next FAQ edit.
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Date: 2005-12-06 08:50 pm (UTC)Yes, I'm on Draconic.com, so you probably did see me there.
"Mind if I add you?"
That would be neat. Go ahead.