A Quasi-Absurd Melancholy

OTHER-005

Gare, here's where the concept of 'melancholy' can be applied to the odd hobby of making whatever it is you make again ...
Amateur Planetariums are like the Curiosity Cabinets of yesteryear.  On display is a sense of MELANCHOLY, when artisanal handcrafted machines were the base of the wildest form of flight.  Limits and boundaries can be both realistic AND fictional, a quality oddly missing from the digital world of today.  Planetariums at home are conducive, in their ‘strange beast’ demeanor, to the wildest flights of imagination and adventure.  They break through the constraints of space, time, light and color.  They may appear to be headed for the abyss, but they go willingly and smiling.  
Taking flight, no matter the destination, is still taking flight after all.   And what indeed is melancholy but an unsolicited and sweet feeling of lost grandeur when as very young humans, we saw things for the first time as they really were, free from the constraints of definitions and metaphors.  It is in the revisiting of these things that a yearning, melancholic memory must indeed be Muse-sent. 

OTHER-004

Gare, in the story that's written in your head, whether Heather changes course or stays on it, well that's for you to finish, or to save for another day. but there's another story Gare, your story, isn't there? you once sat breathlessly in the Adler planetarium, and like that baby in the park, you were in THE planetarium, only later when you remember the experience and saw other planetariums did you begin to miss, at times sadly, those innocent early days of wonder. so, you began to build your own starry heavens at home Gare, but even then, you saw people with once state of the art equipment and domes, beyond your skill and means. and the sweet but mournful strands of melancholy began to sing to you through me Gare, Urania, the Muse of astronomy. and you built your own version of star projectors and domes and did your own thing. and for a while you made this work, but still deep inside the creeping knowledge that barns fall down, old age spares no one, and this too would have an ending. and now you feel it more than ever, yearning memories of your own imperfect stars on top of those perfectly rendered ones you remember from when you were a child, and there was only one planetarium. but melancholy sings of sadness, of memories hard to let go of, yet it contains still a ray of sunshine as in that old song, hope for a future. I wouldn't be a muse if I didn't give you inspiration, but it may be hiding in plain sight Gare. ask me for my help and we'll find it together. just as Calliope, my sister Muse of literature, in the end will help Heather in your story and hers, if only she asks.
in the end the choice is still yours, you see Gare?

OTHER-003

Gare, if you think about it, when we see something for the first time, we become lost in the wonder of it. an infant goes to THE park for the first time and wonders at the green space, the trees etc. it's not until they revisit what's now a memory and realize there are other parks does THE park become A park. And all these others are ones they may not ever visit and see and wonder about. This leads to a creeping sadness called MELANCHOLY. it is not the same as sadness or unhappiness over a specific circumstance or incident; it comes unbidden, usually unexpectedly. Like a sweet sad feeling, it sweeps over a person and reminds them of what they never experienced, things they never saw, places they never visited. In literature it can be viewed almost as a Muse, adding emotional depth and a certain wistfulness to a character. In the story in your head, Heather is writing a book about her favorite author, but through unexpected journals learns that unlike her own situation, her hero author had all the things she had missed. a relationship that added to the strength of her voice, both figuratively and literally. children and a family life that added emotional depth and fulfillment. therefore, after Heather saw what she would never have, she began missing it, abstractly. This is melancholy, both a gift and a curse, and completely unpredictable.

OTHER-002

Gare, in the story that's written in your head, as just explained, the main character Heather sees her writing hero essentially having it all, everything she wishes she had.  and experiences this much as a child would seeing something for the very first time, almost as if she didn't know it was even possible.  sort of like 'you can't miss what you never had' if you get my drift Gare.  However, once she sees it, as we say, she can't unsee it.  She begins revisiting it, in this case in the journals recorded by her hero writer in prior years.  these had been in possession of the hero writer's sister, who shares them with Heather.  Heather, you see, is writing a book about her hero author and thus is given valuable behind the scenes insight into her life that she had recorded.  But now that Heather knows the truth and what is possible, she begins a mental process of recalling what she has read.  And she begins, inevitably, to compare it to her own life and situation.  

OTHER-001

Gare, in the story that's written in your head, Heather miraculously is given the unlikely opportunity to see into the past of her writing hero. This writing hero woman somehow had what Heather is missing, her individual voice and a blended voice of a dedicated partner. While retaining their individual creative writing voices, together they achieve an even higher blended level, sounding nothing like each voice separately, but they somehow obtain a higher synergy level in this fashion.  And as if this wasn't enough, Heather's hero writer also manages to have another major part of life, children and family life.

Season 9 Episode 10 - Look at All of Them

Season 9 Episode 9 - Restless

Season 9 Episode 8 - Pompeii

Season 9 Episode 7 - Good Junk

Part 2

Season 9 Episode 6 - Good Junk

Part 1