LJ Idol, Week 0: Introduction

[rm]

Everyone and everything needs an elevator pitch. Mine is that I live an almost entirely fictional life. It's a fabulous quip, even if most people never really quite get what I mean by this. But fabulous quips can power some pretty big adventures if you do 'em right, and by and large I do.

I live in New York City, which for a town with really high rents, is an almost entirely made up place. It is more what people think it is than what it actually is, a forest of buildings half-hallucinated into being. I grew up here, and I've spent my life watching it rise and watching it fall.

My life is shared with my partner, Patty, who I met on LJ playing in _riverside fandom. She's sort of a cross between Indiana Jones and Hermione Granger, and the first time we met a guy asked me if he'd be real if I stabbed him, and our first actual date I missed because I was filming a commercial with James Gandolfini and an angry chihuahua. Somehow it all worked out anyway.

Work is a combination of things. I'm an actor, mostly in film; a writer of pretty much everything; and a dancer of whatever type you need to order up. I also do media analysis on a part-time basis for a German firm and work as a personal assistant to help pay the bills. If you're interested in my work, you can see me in a dance sequence in the upcoming Revolutionary Road; search YouTube for a video of Regency-era dancers at Naomi Novik's recent book release party; or pick up a copy of The Book of Harry Potter Trifles, Trivias and Particularities or the anthology Horror Between the Sheets: The Best of Cthulhu Sex Magazine.

In the realm of things I don't necessarily get paid for, but aren't any less prominent in my existence, I'm a serious student of classical and historical fencing. I'm also extremely active in fandom and tend to attend cons in a convoluted and ambiguous capacity because sometimes I'm a pro and sometimes I'm not. After a summer of running around to things like Dragon*Con and Terminus as a pro, I'm beyond happy to be headed out to Gallifrey One in February as anything but.

So when I say I have an almost entirely fictional life, I mean I can go where I please, when I please, looking however I wish. I mean that sometimes I am a man and sometimes I am a woman. I mean that I live in a city that most people don't even understand is real with a woman who does a job most people think can only happen in the movies. I know how to move like people who have never existed, know what they think about in the dark just before they go to sleep and know their cravings at the supermarket. I have allowed my obsessions to literally take me around the world and pride myself on a life that has been implausible and full of the most ridiculous sorts of serendipity imaginable.

Oh yeah, and I know how to ride a horse, sail a boat and fly a plane. No damn idea how to drive a car, though.

This is my second year in LJ Idol. You can find last year's introduction here. Meanwhile, hello, and welcome aboard.

Comments

[brightflashes.livejournal.com]

This is an amazing post. Brilliant. ::is wowed::

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you very much!

[hmrpotter.livejournal.com]

Wonderful introduction!

Oh yeah, and I know how to ride a horse, sail a boat and fly a plane. No damn idea how to drive a car, though. I find this amusing and, in the words of Ron Weasley, "Bloody brilliant!"

[puppetmaker40.livejournal.com]

I am so glad that you are throwing your hat back into the ring.

I am looking forward to what you have to say on the topics.

Heck, I just enjoy your web log over all. *grin*

[schpahky.livejournal.com]

Your elevator speech just gets better and better.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks! It's one of those oddities of living in NYC and coming from a sort of privileged background.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I'm not expecting to do much better this time, but I do like the exercise of it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

One day, it will fit in an elevator ride to something other than the top of the world's tallest building.

[rosepurr.livejournal.com]

Good to see you back!

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[angelic-oni.livejournal.com]

Nice introduction! I love the way you describe your life and your city. I'm a native New Yorker. You got the city down in a few words, which isn't an easy thing to do.

It's nice to meet you and I really look forward to reading more of your entries.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you and hello!

It really is a hard place to get. It's always weird to me when friends from the Internet who haven't been here before visit and they sort of fan girl what they see in the helicopter shots on the evening news or whatever.

[laurashapiro.livejournal.com]

I've been reading your journal for a while now, but I didn't know you were THIS awesome. (:

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heh. Thanks!

[dabhug.livejournal.com]

Hi. I enjoyed reading this! Thanks for sharing it.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heya. Thanks!

[angelic-oni.livejournal.com]

I understand the star-eyed fangirling. I've lived here all my life and I get emotional when I see pretty pictures of the city. I'm in love with this place.

[welfy.livejournal.com]

I'm happy to see you participating again, rm.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thanks much!

[lacombe.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're back in the game.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Thank you!

[strange-selkie.livejournal.com]

It reassures me that someone as put together as you cannot drive either, although unlike me, you probably could if you had lessons.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heh, thanks. Neither Patty nor I drive as we both grew up over-exposed to public transit. I'm getting close to finally learning, just because it would be nice to rent a car and go places, but I've been saying this for years.

[marchek.livejournal.com]

I'm glad you're throwing your hat back into the ring. I raise my Torchwood mug in your honor.

[rm.livejournal.com]

Heh! Thank you.