The Watchtower of Destruction: The Ferrett's Journal - Feel The Love. Then Define it. Then Debate The Measurements.

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February 25th, 2008
01:20 pm

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Feel The Love. Then Define it. Then Debate The Measurements.
"I love you," I whispered in her ear, hugging her goodbye, smelling her hair as we parted. And she was someone who was beautiful on every level - physically gorgeous, mentally adept, and warm and giving. I did love her, even though my wife Gini was standing right next to me when I said it.

On the drive back home, Gini asked me about that. "Is that a big-L love or a little-l love you have for her?" she asked.

I thought about it for a bit. "Smallcap-L love," I admitted, and Gini laughed and moved on.

She knew what I meant. I thought that girl was an absolute babe, and we connected on so many levels that really, if Gini wasn't there I probably could fall big-L in love with her. I cared about her; if something happened to her, I'd be a little panicky until I knew she was okay. And I liked her. So it was something that maybe could have been romantic under different circumstances, and was certainly more than the amicable little-l love friendship I have with a lot of friends, but too tiny to be a big-L love." So smallcap-L love it was.

But the problem with smallcap-L love is that I've only opened it up from a binary to a ternary operation. Yet three modes still isn't quite enough for me.

I want a whole font.

Gini's the 144-point bolded "L" love, so large it obscures billoards, towering over the rest of the letters like a strange alphabetic titan. But I have some forty-eight-point "L" loves hanging about - people I've shared intimacies so close with it might as well be sex, coupled with a strange erotic attraction that inevitably deadends but in a quite luscious way. And I have a lot of twenty-four "L" loves in italics, people who I adore so much that I'd never even think of sleeping with them because that would make them uncomfortable, and I've unconsciously ratcheted that down because I care for them so much I don't even want them to have to discuss something like that.

There are a couple of strikethrough-L loves - people who I will always care for, but have gone down paths that I cannot follow or condone. And there are some Comic Sans L-font loves - loves that are obvious, simple, and trite. And I have a lot of headline-font, very masculine-L loves from guys who I'd never sleep with simply because I don't swing that way... But I'd walk through fire for any of them.

My love for any one person isn't binary, or ternary - it's as complex and unique as the person that I love. And if I'm going to have to give a definition, I want to tell them, "She's a thirty-six bold-L love, and my finger's on the trigger to bump her up to a forty-eight."

Or I could just say to L with it.

(Tell me I'm full of it)

Comments
 
[User Picture]
From:[info]theferrett
Date:February 25th, 2008 06:21 pm (UTC)
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I really wanted to work a LaTEX joke into here, but I couldn't find room for it. Boo.
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From:[info]thetathx1138
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:07 pm (UTC)
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Too bad, it would have put you to the font of the line.
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From:[info]terpsichoros
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:32 pm (UTC)
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Some love requires LaTEX, some leaves deeper impressions.
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From:[info]kimberkid
Date:February 25th, 2008 06:23 pm (UTC)
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Oh god. The pun. It burns....
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From:[info]wurmwyd
Date:February 25th, 2008 06:41 pm (UTC)
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hi there!

See, it's posts like this that make me forget that you're not polyamorous. (or at least, I don't think so ...)

and

I don't think I love anyone in italics!! :(
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From:[info]zoethe
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:14 pm (UTC)
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Oh, it's posts like this that make it clear that he *is* polyamorous - as are a lot of people who have many close, intimate friends.

But there is a difference between being polyamorous by nature and actively practicing it! So there ya go!

;-)
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From:[info]ladyfox7oaks
Date:February 25th, 2008 06:48 pm (UTC)
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Oh Gawds... What a set up! (TRUE- to be sure.. but what a set up!)
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From:[info]fabricdragon
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:14 pm (UTC)
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you know. i have been reading Crevette (who has been posting excerps form the worst novel ever. with hilarious commentary) and then i got a link to the penis commentary from sailor jim..
and now this...
i THINK i need a brain cleaning.
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From:[info]yakavenger
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:34 pm (UTC)
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Oh, the pun. It hurts.

Care to make me feel better? *g*
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From:[info]theferrett
Date:February 27th, 2008 01:39 am (UTC)
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Come here and let me fontle you.
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From:[info]belgatherial
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:39 pm (UTC)
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Yup. I think that too. All of it. A lot. You expressed it better than I would have though. ;)
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From:[info]zoethe
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:40 pm (UTC)
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With puns like that, you can just go to L.
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From:[info]justbeast
Date:February 26th, 2008 07:07 pm (UTC)
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Wow. Just... wow, madam. :)
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From:[info]lorriet
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:51 pm (UTC)
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I enjoyed reading this. Thanks. :)
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From:[info]callie_chan
Date:February 25th, 2008 07:56 pm (UTC)
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If I had written this post, I would have written it purely to work up to that pun. Bravo, sir.

Incidentally, if you wrote the whole post to work your way up to the pun, then that bumps you up three font sizes at least. Is the fact that I'm writing this in small text ironic?
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From:[info]puckathon
Date:February 26th, 2008 03:54 am (UTC)
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Not at all... it's just the fine print.

;)
From:(Anonymous)
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:03 pm (UTC)
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I'm not sure that, at least for me, sexuality is such a large part of what size the font should be. Surely you love your momma quite a bit more than many women you would like to have sex with, and one would assume that that kind of familial love is neither a threat to nor in competition with erotic love. I would say that you're right that every love is its own unique combination of fonty attributes, but I think size isn't that closely coupled to sex.
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From:[info]zhaneel69
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:13 pm (UTC)
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A very nice way of putting and one of the many reasons why I still don't fully understand why you & Gini aren't poly. This entry, to me, would help people understand why poly people can be big-L in Love with more than one person, but still have a primary who is the Billboard style LOVE.

Zhaneel
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From:[info]stormdog
Date:February 25th, 2008 09:55 pm (UTC)
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I totally understand that on an intellectual level. It makes a great deal of sense to me. In fact, going beyond that, it even seems entirely natural to me that one could love so many people in so many ways.

Yet I've been trying to wrap my head around actually practicing it for, what, three or four years now? I don't know where the disconnect is, or why, but it's there, and it's not easily surmountable.
From:[info]meyerweb.com
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:22 pm (UTC)
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I'd think smallcaps-love would be deeper than big-L-lowercase-ove, just going on the typography of it. Smallcaps tends to lend more emphasis than regular faces. (Assuming a consistent font size, of course!)
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From:[info]on_reserve
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:25 pm (UTC)
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And I have a lot of headline-font, very masculine-L loves from guys who I'd never sleep with simply because I don't swing that way... But I'd walk through fire for any of them.


So, would this be like Copperplate font?
[User Picture]
From:[info]theferrett
Date:February 27th, 2008 01:41 am (UTC)
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Hopefully not quite as trite.
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From:[info]jfargo
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:39 pm (UTC)
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L's bells, that was bad.

Not the post. I loved the post. It's absolutely fantastic, and wish I had the mental knack you have for putting thoughts into words.
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From:[info]rbradakis
Date:February 25th, 2008 08:51 pm (UTC)
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Oh good. Now you've started the "What font and size do you use for me?" wars. I need a ribbon for that...
[User Picture]
From:[info]theferrett
Date:February 27th, 2008 01:43 am (UTC)
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Anyone can feel free to ask...

...now that a day has gone by and nobody's looking in the comments.
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From:[info]wolflady26
Date:February 25th, 2008 09:11 pm (UTC)
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Hmm. If I ever get a Valentine from you, I will now be scrutinizing the font carefully.
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From:[info]zoethe
Date:February 25th, 2008 09:32 pm (UTC)
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WE LOVE YOU GUYS!!!!



I hope that's clear.

;-)
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From:[info]zarhooie
Date:February 25th, 2008 09:16 pm (UTC)
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I'm linking to this. It Makes Sense. <3
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From:[info]gafizal
Date:February 25th, 2008 10:38 pm (UTC)

Awww...

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Awww
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From:[info]gaijineli
Date:February 26th, 2008 11:15 am (UTC)
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It took me a while to figure it ou what smallcaps were, but then I thought about characters who are always represented with caps, like Terry Pratchett's Death, and suddenly it all became clear.
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From:[info]kilbia
Date:February 26th, 2008 03:03 pm (UTC)
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My love for any one person isn't binary, or ternary - it's as complex and unique as the person that I love.
---
You are just so awesome. I hope I get a chance to hug you someday.
[User Picture]
From:[info]theferrett
Date:February 27th, 2008 01:42 am (UTC)
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Ya know, I wouldn't mind.
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From:[info]acrylic_after
Date:February 26th, 2008 03:42 pm (UTC)
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Word. This, sir, was a fantastic post. I wish I had written it. Grr.
From:[info]jcochrane
Date:February 26th, 2008 05:20 pm (UTC)
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Love the images this post brought to mind, thanks.
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