Oh, GO ON THEN!

[radegund]

Stolen from EVERYONE:

Reply to this post, and I'll tell you one or a lot of reasons why I like/love/adore you.

Yay, December! Solstice sooooon!

Comments

[pisica.livejournal.com]

As you only just met me and started reading my LJ about ten minutes before that, I can't imagine you know much about me other than my ability to watch other people slice bread, but go for it!

Also, I WILL make a giant egg. Can you let me know the name of the cookbook (not that it has super-specific instructions, but would be amusing)?

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

If you make the giant egg, you MUST post pictures.

[pisica.livejournal.com]

But of course! Step-by-step examinations!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You're right that I have only a brief impression of who you are, but you strike me as someone who is what the French would call bien dans ta peau (comfortable in your skin). You seem content with yourself, socially at ease, quietly witty. From reading your journal, it's clear that you're intelligent, thoughtful and engaged with life, and that you get a kick out of the past, which is pretty cool.

Also, you are apparently UNAFRAID of the GARGANTUAN EGG. *bows down* (It's from Larousse gastronomique - in translation, obviously.)

[jane-the-23rd.livejournal.com]

Ooooh, me!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

When we met in person for the first time, you leapt up and hugged me and said, "At last, we get to meet!". And it didn't feel weird, at all, which is striking. You have an infectious enthusiasm for people and ideas and culture, and you are confident and witty and gorgeous and willing to work for what you believe is important. All of these things make me very glad to have met you.

[niallm.livejournal.com]

You're completely irreplaceable. You have justice and right action at the very core of your beliefs, and your committment to Art is second to none.

You are the mother of my child, and without you, the room seems empty.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Same to you with knobs on :-)

You are my haven and my heart's companion. Being with you is just as good as being alone, and the fact that you understand that in the way I mean it is in many respects the whole point. You give the best hugs ever, and you are the only person in the world with whom I can be unselfconsiously silly. With your capacity for easy affection, your habits of tolerance and humility, your generosity you have taught me more than I could have imagined on that sleety day when we stumbled through the pockets of bewilderment and made the first connection.

Also, you have fabulous lacy eyes. And statuesque feet.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You are thoughtful and intelligent and hospitable and kind, and you have a quiet wit that is a little like a scalpel in a velvet sheath. Your talent for - and appreciation of - a whole range of arts informs an imagination that is like a delightful foreign country (quite literally, in many ways!).

Despite your own decision regarding children, you have never ever said or done anything that made me feel embarrassed or uncertain about having Oisín around you. I hope you understand how rare that is.

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

You are my partner in crime, my loyal friend, an artistic and feminist inspriation, endlessly patient and scrupulously kind and clear-eyedly brilliantg and utterly wicked to boot. I really cannot imagine life without you.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Meanwhile, you are a[n ethically-mined] gem of a friend. Your intelligence and wit are continually delightful, while your sincere commitment to self-knowledge and a coherent exploration of ideas and aesthetics is admirable and inspiring. Your mind is intricate and illuminating, like a stained-glass window. Also, you are an ideal shopping companion, and I love the fact that you are equally at home squeeing about Schiller and GOLD COWBOY BOOTS. Thank you for more than a decade of fun and ferocity!

[glitzfrau.livejournal.com]

That would be a gem mined by unionised workers using environmentally sustainable techniques, not a gem that is also an ethical minefield, right? ;-)

You rock! Want to do an organic veg run this evening?

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Heh. Yes, I had in mind the MANY unionised miners who labour joyfully for fair wages in the welcoming shafts of the earth's more gem-endowed regions.

Organic veg run - yes, if we can mesh schedules (oo-er). I'll ring you.

[yiskah.livejournal.com]

Me, please!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You are alive. By which I mean that you could so easily slip into one of the standard moulds - "civil servant", "home-owner", "young professional", even "writer", and yet you do not. You shun conventionality, not because you ache to be hip, but because you actually are unconventional. You are not afraid of asking "what do I really want to do?" - and more importantly, listening to the answer and acting on it. You are brave. You are fierce. And you have a delicious speaking voice.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

I love the way you take responsibility for your beliefs - you think things through before deciding where you stand. You don't like to move with the herd, and so you don't do so. You are tolerant and open, and your perspective is never (in my experience) simplistic. (This may have to do with your own complex identity, which is also something I really like.)

You have an often startling insight into patterns in stories. Sometimes you say something and I think, "hey, that's like something I would've thought, but I never would've noticed that particular thing" - and I find that extremely cool.

[socmot.livejournal.com]

*ahem*

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You are a person of honesty, sincerity and integrity, with a developed sense of justice and a clarity of approach that is very refreshing. You are an idealist without being naive: you are passionate about making the world better, but you don't just wallow in your grand notions - you have a feasible plan for making a difference. Also, you have an enviable knack with a camera.

[socmot.livejournal.com]

*blushes furiously*

[mollydot.livejournal.com]

Yes please.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You are one of the calmest, gentlest and most welcoming people I know. You are self-reliant and trustworthy, and you give people space in conversation. Your artistic talent is impressive, and you have beautiful hair :-)

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You engage with ideas without losing your compassion for people. You have a fine sense of justice and a sharp sense of humour. You are one of those people of whom I think I will in future years say, "I knew her before she was famous, you know" (except I won't, because ugh). You are Going Places. You have the intellectual prowess and the personal substance to make a real impact in your chosen field, and I look forward to watching it happen.

[felinitykat]

I wasn't going to but then I keep seeing this on everyone's f-list so I give in and am a big attention whore -- meeee, please.

[radegund.livejournal.com]

What shines out from your LJ posts (and from accounts by people who have met you in person) is your good cheer, your positive attitude to life and - most of all - your capacity for affection. Your sincere love of your family and of G are inspiring. Your keen intelligence and engaging wit are tempered with a refreshing dose of wickedness, which makes me very pleased that I will be meeting you NEXT MONTH YAY!

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Oh, me please, if you can!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

You are one of those rare people who despite being bitingly, exuberantly intelligent manages to avoid abstraction and aloofness (a noble estate, and one to which I myself aspire, don'tchaknow). You achieve this, I think, because your intellect is informed by and mediated through genuine warmth and compassion for people. Your commitment to music is an inspiration, but it's only one of the things that makes you interesting. You engage with life on so many fronts that getting to know you must be like wandering through a country mansion built by an eccentric millionnaire. In a good way, obviously...

[leedy.livejournal.com]

Oh, thankyou! What nice things to say about me! I am all preeny and blushy at the same time.

[stephencass.livejournal.com]

oh, me, me!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

When I think of you I think of intelligence, honour and integrity. You are straightforward in your dealings with people, and you value a genuine connection, beyond the fluff and the small-talk. Your drive to increase people's understanding of science is admirable, as is your commitment to improving your own understanding of an impressively wide range of subjects.

Also, thank you for laying out the TCD Singers poster in the Pubs office at no notice, late one autumn afternoon c. 1995, for a hassled PRO :-)

[stephencass.livejournal.com]

Oh Lord, I was expecting something along the lines of "He knows an awful lot about the collected works of Joss Whedon," not one of the nicest things anyone's ever said to me. Alas, I have no recollection of the TCD Singers poster (I believe I've touched on my TCD memory issues before :) ), but you're very welcome!

[ailbhe]

I am still frequently amazed you let me be your friend (and it's not all because of 11-year-old-girl fangirlishness) but go on, do. (I must post this in my own journal. It's a good meme.)

[radegund.livejournal.com]

What strikes me about our friendship is how easy it is: there are whole sheaves of stuff we've just never seemed to have to negotiate. It feels as though we've been able to take a lot as read: trust, for instance, and sense of humour. The phrase "kindred spirits" is possibly too dramatic - but then again, possibly not. You are an astonishingly courageous, strong, intelligent, compassionate, self-aware person. Your unflinching honesty is tempered with tact. You know how to channel the sea of your emotions into [ouch - metaphor strain] ... um ... canals! ... that alter the landscape! Yes. Your delight in Linnea is one of the nicest things online (or off).

Plus, you answered my comment on your meme IN RHYME, and HOW COOL IS THAT?

[ailbhe]

We cunningly started things in a well-thought-out *written-down* way, which leaves far fewer spaces, for people like us, for chasms of misunderstanding to open up in. in which chasms of misunderstanding can open up.

I always liked Anne's Kindred Spirits. And what is it with the unflinching honesty, people? Am I unusually honest? What gives? La Glitz also mentioned it. *Where does it show*? Is it sort of like verbal diarrhoea? Have I had too much fast-penta?

You lost me at the canals. I think the metaphor broke. (And the rhyme? accidental. Is it any wonder there are so few prose entries in the lnc journal?)

[ainetl.livejournal.com]

you and niallm are so sweet. :D i love it.

and the santa hat cracks me up.

i want to play!

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Hooray! Thank you!

What I love about reading your journal is that it gives me an insight into the mind of a visual artist. My medium is language, but I'm fascinated by how you mediate and process your experience through shape and colour. (Texture will have to wait until I can afford some of your work - boo!) Your paintings are beautiful and thought-provoking in themselves, but reading the artist's statement you posted a little while ago gave me a real thrill - I love the fact that the elements of your work have such substance behind them.

And that's all without even touching on how impressed I am at your courage and determination in the face of your health problems, or how lovely it is to read about your gorgeous daughter.

[ainetl.livejournal.com]

that is the loveliest thing that i have ever read. i must save it! thank-you, you've made my day (or week, or month).

[pleidhce.livejournal.com]

Hi

[radegund.livejournal.com]

Bhuel, a phleidhce chaoin, a charaid mo chléibh, mo thionlacan buan, mon semblable, mon frère, where do I start? In 1992, when you rang me out of the blue and we talked about Welsh and bureaucracy? Or 1993, long airless nights mixing Oisín, huddled over endless styrofoam cups of coffee, listening for the perfect balance? Or 1994, when we started talking about our novels and our sex lives, and suddenly our friendship seemed to blossom fiercely in all directions? Or all the time we've passed together between then and now - walks on Killiney Hill, deep talks in the watches of the night over bottles or books, misty-mouthed carols and Fallaí Luimnigh under the stars at the year's threshold, always the intimation of something greater than the mundane, something we are just beginning to grasp. You've been there all along while I've been becoming who I am, and even though we now live so far from each other, I think about you often, and I miss you. I love the fact that even in a brief phone call we can slip into our shared idiom and connect.

Joy Of Anticipation Of Post Hell Of Not, Joy Of You. Grá i gcónaí, ÓdL