I tried to teach you solitaire, you just hollered at the moon (part one)

Anyone feel like a trip through negative nostalgia? I was on the grid for all but the first controversy. And many of them got very, very dire indeed, on the ground, living them out.

Kind of continuing the negative trend...today's Scenes from a Chat, all about irresponsibility.

[11:17] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Hi Em
[11:17] Emilly Orr: Hello there!
[11:18] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: How's things?
[11:19] Emilly Orr: Going well so far. Quiet.
[11:21] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Well [Ixxx] claims she's having cramps but she's got notes for the Lore and Life event

Now, this is not the irresponsible bit. I well know how daunting it can be to try to concentrate when part of my anatomy is trying to turn itself inside out. It's perfectly valid to say, sorry, migraine, can't, sorry, cramps, can't, sorry, RL has exploded, can't.

[11:21] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: She didn't send out notices...
[11:22] Emilly Orr: ....
[11:22] Emilly Orr: When's the event happening?

This is our problem with this particular individual. She doesn't send out notices in advance. She doesn't start on time when she DOES send out notices. Hells, for the Yule event--which she had said she wanted to run--she ended up starting two hours and TWO ENTIRE DAYS late! That's not just scatterbrained, that's personally insulting to everyone who wanted to attend.

[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: She asked if you could take it.
[11:22] Emilly Orr: She asked if...IS SHE SERIOUS
[11:22] Emilly Orr: No.
[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I'm going to tell her now
[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: NO
[11:22] Emilly Orr: Let me correct that.
[11:22] Emilly Orr: I will take it if you ask me to.

And I would. For [Txxx]'s sake, I would try to run with this, pull up some articles, parse them before I had to be 'onstage', as t'were, and run this. I trust him that much.

[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: the event is today in a few minutes
[11:22] Emilly Orr: But SHE is responsible, and SHE needs to realize that her lack of preparation has consequences.
[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: You are busy
[11:22] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: and I'm not qualified
[11:23] Emilly Orr: Sure, because I had no notice of an event! I could easily have been occupied with any of a dozen other things.

That's not me being flippant. There could have been folks at Sakura that I needed to meet with. That's happened in this time slot in the past. I could have been spending time with my dominant, who, when he has time, likes me there. I could have been engaged in building something, prepping items for sale, and didn't feel I could break off to attend a class.

[11:23] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I know that well
[11:24] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: She's going to eat this too
[11:26] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I'm thinking we'll need another priestess..
[11:26] Emilly Orr nods.
[11:26] Emilly Orr: If she doesn't shape up.
[11:26] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: She waited until the last moment
[11:28] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: 11 AM is start time

This is another thing. You have an event, you advertise it. If it really is spontaneous and no warning was given US to advertise it, we still try, by and large, to give as much advance warning as possible. Half an hour at the LEAST. Now, most of us who are comfortable with listing events, will follow up at fifteen, and at the start, and then at least halfway through...but if we have notice of when this is going to be, we'll try to list it a day early, a week early, whatever we feel we need to.

[11:29] Emilly Orr: Now, maybe it's just me, but....I generally have more warning in terms of feminine discomfort? Like, things ache for a bit, and then it gets hard, it's never just....normal then boom, if that makes sense?
[11:30] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I was married to a PMS Queen for 30 years...
[11:30] Emilly Orr: Okay then.

So yeah, he definitely understands.

[11:30] Emilly Orr: Well, PMS is slightly different, though the girls know to toss me B and C vitamins if I start getting snappish. :D
[11:31] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I knew nearly a week in advance
[11:31] Emilly Orr: And yet. She still waited until...well. Now.

When she should have had ample warning of both when the classes start, since SHE sets them up, AND when her courses started and the expected levels of pain. Come on now. Even me, with my hugely erratic system--once I do start, I know what I'm in for. How can she forget something like that? Both of those things, the class time too?

[11:31] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: and when she went into menopause I really knew it
[11:31] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: so.. this is crap
[11:32] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Why or why do women seem to think men are idiots?
[11:32] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: oh why?
[11:33] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I'll hush... I'm sorry
[11:34] Emilly Orr: No, you're not wrong. Not all of us do, but it is a prevailing trend.
[11:35] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: It's really insulting
[11:35] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: It's Misandry

It is, actually. It's very dismissive of an entire gender. Just as we complain about misogyny towards women, men do have a right to complain about using menstruation as an excuse to men. (Not actually having, and explaining; that's different, and again, if she's genuinely suffering, I get that. But.)

[11:37] Emilly Orr: I think most of us were raised that men dislike mention of menstruation, and a lot of men do, but not all of them. So women--some women--use that as a handy excuse. "I can't do [whatever], sorry, cramps."
[11:37] Emilly Orr: I'm not saying she is, just saying it's been done.
[11:38] Emilly Orr: And the expected response is "Ew, oh gods, okay, whatever, do what you need to, just don't tell me about it".
[11:38] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: I know it well
[11:39] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Menstruation never put me off.. it's a fact of life.

I was sent a copy of her "notes" for the event, by [Txxx]. Even her notes would need heavy explanation to be used by another teacher:

Lay of Sigdrifa -- immediate segue from Lay of Fafnir (poem about Sigurd the Volsung killing Fafnir the dragon)...
begins with S. riding to Hindfell (unknown mtn in Frankish territory) to find Brynhild

* Brynhild = Sigdrifa? YES; Sigdrifa ('inciter to victory') a generic description of Valkyries, mistaken for proper name
* if Valkyries choose who _dies_ in a fight, they also choose who survives and wins
* (Brynhild kicked out of Asgard for supporting the wrong side -- Odin had promised to let other guy win [*loss of honor*])
* If Odin loses honor, he passes that loss on to Brynhild: no more exemption from marriage, female norms traditional *at the time*
(NO, this does not mean all modern Heathen women should stay out of the military and get married; it means women should keep their word as much as men.
She's the equivalent of a dishonorably discharged vet busted for insubordination.)

Brynhild still keeps some agency, allowed to marry fearless man

"Sleeping Beauty" parallels?

* Loss of innocence from tempting fate
* Magical stasis thru pricking (spindle vs. thorn), woman set up for future pricking (Freudian) by Mr. Right

Romanticized Valkyrie imagery?

* Yes; older Norse poems depict them as frightening, shrieking, wolf-riding hags
* Valkyries in Odin's service aren't sexual, or marriage wouldn't be punishment
* Do any serve Freyja? Strictly UPG, but Freyja needs help gathering "her" half -- what qualifications?

If I was completely familiar with the story, I could have flown with this. If. But since I'm not completely facile with this, just have the "I have read this" comprehension level, I would not feel comfortable addressing these points in a class.

[11:40] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: Anyway, she did a nice job on her notes, but no notice? ...
[11:40] rxxxxxxxxxx Rxxxxxxx: not one... I checked the groups.

He sent me the second part of her "notes":

-- only poem in the Eddas with the following:

* spoken prayer (Brynhild's "Hail to Day")
* magical techniques described in detail (where to carve what, materials used)
* individual runes named as part of spells (but archaeological evidence, other poems show that spells were not just isolated letters carved/named)
* ale-runes (protection from poison/magically spiked drinks) *may* support alternate rune name (leek/laukaz = laguz, not the actual plant here)

-- Brynhild's magical lessons a fragmented list, not in order; probably not from same poem

-- list of 24 magical things ("where runes are carved"): link to Elder Futhark is modern UPG, no order or pattern

-- slight Christian influence in ref to coffin burial (this and romanticized Valkyrie are "red flags" for late origin

-- life lessons: (1) pop-culture images of magic and the supernatural...not historically accurate
(2) lore itself recorded in conversion era; learn to spot non-Heathen elements, but don't throw whole thing out

Strangely, the second part of the notes is more cohesive, but I'd still have to dig up my copy of the Poetic Eddas and read through it, maybe Google for some things (granted, a five-minute search gave me every lore-related link here, but I didn't read through everything comprehensively; I'd want to do that to have familiarity for any questions asked by the class).

(Continued in part two, tomorrow.)