For the purposes of this inquiry, "therapy" shall be defined as "the treatment, conducted by a licensed professional, of mental and emotional disorders through the use of psychological techniques"; "therapist" shall be defined as "the licensed professional conducting said therapy."

These questions arise from my own curiosity, nothing more. They're for my own edification and enjoyment; you're under no obligation to respond to them. If you do opt to answer, however, I would ask that you do so as honestly as possible. Or at the very least, as entertainingly as possible.

( Come one, come all to the latest poll. )

Discuss an individual who has scared you.

So! Sinister! Big scary evil man. I don't know what Rachel sees in him. No, wait, that's not true at all. Reminder note: "I disagree therefore you should" is both insulting and a logical fallacy. Sorry, Rachel! I'll try harder! And I also know why so many people seem to have forgotten the part where he's a big scary evil man. For one thing it depends on your definition of 'evil'. Plus he's very polite and often vaguely helpful. And that whole thing about punishing people for things they did when they -- well, I was going to say 'didn't know better' but probably 'didn't give a shit' would be more accurate, although now this whole sentence implies that he does give a shit, which has yet to be determined.

Also, why is giving shit good? "I give a shit about justice!" That sounds really w-- oh, no, hang on, it's "you don't give a shit", i.e. "you care so little you would not even through faeces at (whatever)", isn't it? Doesn't work the other way. Can't be positivized. Yes, I know it's not a real word, spell-checker. And wow, a meaningless tangent in the middle of a discussion, how unusual.

Sinister. Scary, scary man. Thing. Man-thing. Evil clown. (Tautology?) (Apologies to non-evil clowns; I'm sure you must exist.) (On account of the infinite multiplicity of the universe thing.) Goldfish actually have pretty good memories. I add, before the inevitable comparison begins.

Sinister killed Forge who was pretty much my father at the time (adoptive families seem to be a theme). Wellll, a Sinister killed a Forge, and the problem with multiplicity is that once you put the 'a's in, you end up looking like a jerk for blaming people for things they didn't do, personally, even if some version of them did. On the other hand, I'm pretty sure this Sinister still did a bunch of evil crap. (See previous re: necessity of definition.) Morlocks. Marauders. Murder. Mayhem. Other words beginning with M. This isn't so much a discussion, huh? I dunno. Scary scary man. Ice and razor blades. Something something something.

Also, apparently discuss can also mean to consume enthusiastically, by the way. I'll just let those mental images steep for a while. Yeahhhhh, there we go. Aren't you glad I share?

Hair

They're - where? Brazil? Ecuador? somewhere Spanish-, Portuguese-flavoured - up against the too-hot night-dark wall in the swimming air, his hand, her back, burnt-umber bricks and the heavy bass night-club reverb, unconsciously matching that pulse, pounding rhythm, her legs around him, hands in his hair, twisting black-white, tongues tussling, thoughts fencing, blood burning - he ducks his head to breathe - in, out, her - the swell of her breasts, the nipples taut against sweat-transparent white, the curve of her stomach, his hand on her leg, his thumb just grazing where they meet, where they move, where wet black hairs curl again and against red.

#

Sweat slick and moaning, half remembering this, half lost in the high, Draco pant-panting against his breasts and - no; Mike; he's Mike - thoughts slow separating, bodies slower, boneless interconnected sprawl, fingers trailing arcane patterns against skin rippled in warm breath shivers, and Draco makes a tired, happy noise, and Mike - he's Mike - chuckles and lazily lowers a hand - left; ring glitters in the candlelight - to rest in Draco's hair, to caress, to gently trail through platinum and blond, to touch and warm and press - scalp massages release endorphins; touch is safety; security; rough, deep affection - to slide through the white.

#

If you asked, he couldn't tell you why it hurts, why it's any different than before, saying no children and meaning it - no expectations; no stone-set plans - and he looks up and breathes in, breathes out, the bio-scanner fading, screens gone static, no reason, no confidence - and he thinks of Christopher, Tyler, Stephen, all those soft baby futures cut away - too bad, so sad - and he breathes in, breathes out, runs a hand through his hair, runs both through and puts it all away - never-mind - never mind the little no heirs ever sign sadly flashing blue - black blue - black blue.

Hmm.

Poll #1227872 Addendum to previous.
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I identify my ethnicity as:

Ethnicity and race are

(Previous poll is here. Thank you for indulging me!)

Poll #1227674 It's for SCIENCE!
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All

I identify my gender as

I identify my sexuality as

I identify my race as:

On a scale of 0 (not at all) to 10 (I am plotting your death), how annoying is this poll?

Account Structure Update
Back by popular demand, Basic Accounts will be available to all users again by the end of the (northern hemisphere) summer. More information on the decision-making process and proposals relating to the future of Basic Accounts are in lj_2008.

New Themes
Two attractive and all-new Flexible Squares themes, "Circular" and "Circular Brown" are now available.


L to R: Circular and Brown

New V-Gifts
Give someone you care about the gift of enticement. With the new Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi v-gifts, all the significant people in your life will be able to share in the longing for the tasty edibles below. Plus, it reminds loved ones you think they're really sweet, really savory or just plain satisfying.


L to R: Chocolate Ice Cream, Vanilla Ice Cream, Tea, Coffee, Curry and Sushi

Ж-Men...but not the ones you might expect!
This week LJ Russia launched Ж-Men, a new comedy series about superheroes, inspired by the LJ communities dedicated to superheros, comics and cartoons. The title's "Ж" comes from ЖЖ, the nickname for LiveJournal in Russia.

Ж-Men's script is written by a group of LJ enthusiasts who also happen to be television professionals. Who knew? Following the premiere, five more episodes will be broadcast over the next two weeks. We hope you find the series fresh and enjoyable.

This is, of course, an experiment for LiveJournal. As always, we'd love to hear what you think!

[Open to everybody!]

When the sun goes down, there is only a field there. Large, flat, grassy; pretty average as fields go. But the field has a road and the road has vans and the vans have cargo and men and women who are willing to work quietly in the dark and louder in the dawn and, by the time the field can be seen again, much of it is covered in brightly coloured and lights bedecked tents and stalls. Things fill the gaps, things to be thrown, things to throw at, over, and through, things to entire and bedazzle, things to make people go 'what is that', things what are bouncy castles (shoes off, please) or signs pointing to elephant rides (maximum three at a time, please), while in the centre, tinkling music entices people into the big top.

An hour or so after dawn, large sign goes up attesting to the fact that today, in celebration of Conner Kent and Terry Cassiday's birthdays, Haley's Circus is honoured to offer free entry to the circus, to their big show (repeated three times throughout the day), and to the evening cook out that will follow. (A much smaller notice cautions people that tickets will still have to be bought for the games and that cotton candy and such like must be paid for, although the quoted prices are on the cheap side of reasonable, so that's okay.)

Roll up, roll up! The circus is in town!