What ordinary rituals did your family have? Perhaps you always got ice cream after baseball games, or went fishing on Sundays. Do you feel like it brought you closer as a family?
Does “going to science fiction conventions” count as an ordinary ritual? My dad was a writer, my uncle is a writer, so we went to a handful of science fiction conventions every year. I supposed it brought us closer? I mean, we were together, but not together, at the conventions. I wouldn’t necessarily go to every one of their panels. But we all hit the same dealer’s room, the same art show, the same con suites, so you could say “oh did you see the ___” and they’d have a story about seeing it, just a slightly different story than mine. But the traveling, the going, the staying in the hotels… that was all done together. I guess I can’t fathom “did it bring you closer” because we were all close – I can’t imagine not being close, so I can’t imagine anything we would all do together (conventions, family holidays, whatever) as something that would make us distant just by being ordinary.
Sometimes rituals and traditions can feel confining. Was there a ritual you were forced to follow as a kid that you hated? Is there one like that in your current life?
Going to school? Going to work when I had a “real” job?
Do you have a work routine? For example, do you always grab a cup of coffee before you start? Have the radio on in the background? Have a certain routine that you follow every day? What happens if you don’t follow it?
Yes but no? I have a work routine in that I get up every day and after a bit of time, I go over to the studio and try to do as much as I can do during the day. But the mornings might be a little different… sure, there’s always, now, getting up and letting the dogs out, letting the coffee brew while we’re having First Poops (uhm, while THEY are having First Poop, I don’t poop in the back yard), coming back in and feeding them and then letting them back outside for Second Poops. Then a few days a week I’ll watch TV with two friends who live in different states – so far we’ve done Babylon 5, Farscape, Stargate SG-1, Stargate Atlantis, Stargate Universe, Eureka, Warehouse 13, and now we’re on Star Trek TOS. If it’s not a morning with them, I’ll sit outside with the dogs for as long as they want me to. Then, either straight to the shower, or some time on the treadmill and then a shower. Then it’s time to grab a light, snack breakfast and head to the studio. Then it’s back and forth between the studio and the house for the rest of the day, juggling housework with studio work, juggling pets who don’t get along but all want to be with me, doing as much as I can. Or it’s a day of errands, and I’m driving all over creation doing stuff. It can depend. Ah, the life of the self-employed!
What small rituals could make your days more special (perhaps lighting a candle, or playing soothing music, or wearing something special)?
I feel like I already do those things. I burn incense in the studio when I’m working sometimes, both because I like the smell and also because when I have a gazillion stinky feral cats in there pooping up the place, it’s nice to smell more patchouli than poops. I listen to music whenever I want to. I don’t really have anything “special” I can wear, if by that you mean “fancy.” But I have cute underwear and I’m the only one who sees it, so does that count?