Stuff we talk about around here:Metaphor Mouse starts the best foodfight ever.
So. Exactly a month ago, I announced our big new fun-brewing thing.
It is gorgeous and wonderful.
How could it not be?
We brew fun to support the Playground, which is my tiny, sweet thing that is now becoming a big real-life thing.*
* Translation: My duck and I are opening a studio where we will teach destuckification and biggification stuff in real-time. And we are raising money in cool and weird ways.
But I realized that I never told you how we got to call it fun-brewing. And the story of the naming of things (like how The Fluent Self got its spots) is often useful.
When in doubt, ask a superhero.
I was at Drunk Pirate Council (because I can’t go to “meetings” or I’ll die), going over the “fund-raising plan” with Selma the duck and the First Mate.
And it was kind of a disaster because good grief if there’s one thing more depressing than fund-raising, it’s having a plan.
We quickly realized we couldn’t do this alone. This called for a) more pirate whiskey and b) invoking the mighty Metaphor Mouse to come and save the day.
This involved yelling things like “Metaphor Mouse power ACTIVATE!”
And singing I am Iron Man but singing it I am Metaphor Mouse, which weirdly didn’t get us kicked out of the pirate bar.
Anyway. Here’s what happened when we metaphor-moused it.
Unpacking my current relationship with this. (FUND-RAISING = ?)
What are the qualities, aspects and attributes of the thing that isn’t working (including what *is* working — if anything)?
[+ stress]
[+ awkwardness of asking]
[+ shame]
[+ ew "funds"]
[+ grownup]
[+ boring]
[+ I can do it]
[+ But aaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaagh]
[+ power]
[+ board room]
[+ banquette]
[+ lectern]
[+ terrible music]
[+ agonizing]
[+ doilies]
[+ shoulder pads and blue eye shadow]
Learning more about my IDEAL situation (X = ?)
What sort of qualities, aspects and feelings does the thing I want contain?
[+ playful]
[+ carefree]
[+ fun]
[+ community]
[+ helper mice]
[+ not scary]
[+ me-ish]
[+ an adventure]
[+ ease]
[+ surprises]
And the name-storming begins.
What is this place that is not a fund-raising dinner?
Is it a fairground? A fun-ground!
Fun-raising instead of fund-raising. Hee.
Fun-generating
Fun-grounding
Play-grounding
Fun-growing
Fun-brewing.
Once we ended up there, everything fell into place. We came up with the wishing well and the whole fun-brewing page. And it was perfect.
Metaphor Mouse was a little disappointed at first.
Because what we ended up with is not technically a metaphor.
It’s just wordifying. Word-generation. You know.
Kind of like how I say brunch instead of “launch”. Because launching is weird. And brunching is fun. Mmmmm. Brunch.**
** Borrowed this from Tara the Blonde Chicken, and it’s so perfect that I can hardly stand it.
Metaphor Mouse was therefore of the opinion that he hadn’t helped.
We said, sweetpea, of course you helped!
But he thought he hadn’t helped enough.
He wanted to make stuff happen. Tear things apart. Do some damage!
So we let him crash a fund-raising dinner. Here’s what happened.
It’s the night of our big (completely imaginary) fund-raising event. Black tie only.
Champagne in fluted glasses. Waiters with impeccable hair. Chamber music.
I’m wearing a ridiculous dress. But I’m totally pulling off the hot Grace Kelly look. Oh yes.
Selma is wearing a fabulous scarf.
Suddenly Metaphor Mouse swings down a rope onto the stage. Bounds up a wall. Swings from a chandelier.
He sweeps me out of the way, trips the evil mustachioed marketing guy, snatches a pie from the waiter and pops it right in someone’s face.
The shocked silence that greeted his entrance is followed by excitable hub hub hub hub hub rhubarb rhubarb.
Who is this masked mouse and why is he so awesome?
Chaos, unsurprisingly, ensues.
Exactly.
The thing with metaphors is that one word builds an entire world. One word contains infinite possibility and endless variation.
And the thing with inventing your own is that these worlds are your own.
It doesn’t matter if fun-brewing doesn’t conjure up magic for everyone.
It only needs to speak to me and my people. And it tells us everything we need to know.
Where does fun-brewing happen? Is it indoors? No. It’s in a forest clearing.
Is it loud? No, it’s understated and kind of hidden.
But there’s also a lot of excitement. And magic.
And fun. And stuff to drink.
So we just keep going from there.
p.s. I have a big news.
Best. News. Ever.
As of THIS MORNING we have the lease for The Playground.
Fun-brewing is go! Crazy, beautiful things are about to happen! Be joyful with me!
Twitter: Germinational
WAHOO! YAY!
A signed John Cleese for the baby Playground! Congratulations!!
Yay! You got the lease! Yay!!!
.-= Dawn´s last post … Recap: Thinking in the Present =-.
Twitter: simonebernhard
WOOOOOOOO HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!!!!
*starts conga line*
.-= chicsinger simone´s last post … What do artists do, anyway? Let’s find out. =-.
Twitter: elizabethhalt
You have the lease! Yay! I’m so excited for/with you!
.-= Elizabeth´s last post … ode to joy, volume 17 =-.
Twitter: karen_sharp
Oh, Havi!!!! How fantastically stupendously wonderful! The Playground is real and ready to rock!!!
How fun, how amazingly fun!!!
YAY!
Twitter: metachaos
Oh, Havi, that’s WONDERFUL! Yay on the lease! Maybe I can join in on one of the in-Playground classes sometime soon. That would be even more wonderful.
Look at your tiny, sweet thing growing up!
Twitter: picsiechick
How can I not be full of joy? What a fabulous post! What an exciting time! Does Metaphor Mouse do charity gigs for stumbling wordesses? :-)
I can’t wait for the crazy beautiful things!
Hugs and butterflies,
~T~
.-= PicsieChick´s last post … Where invisible lines encircle =-.
Twitter: apple_kai
Omgosh! Super Big Ultra Hugetastic YYYAAAYYY!!!!
Hopping up and down 10 times and cheering,
<3 Kai
Twitter: virtuallori
Oh yay! Awesome! Pretending this lemonade is champagne to go clink-clink!
.-= Lori Paximadis´s last post … Ah, Friday! =-.
Twitter: pearlmattenson
mazal tov!!!
Lease..fleece..peace! (oops got carried away with wordifying.)
Joining Simone’s conga line!
YAY! Congratulations! Dance of joy all over the place.
Twitter: twitchinggrey
From my chair here, deep in the bowels of the 5th Circle, I am dancing for joy with you.
Snoopy dancing.
In my seat. (Thankfully, this is a seat that spins, thus permitting the wild flailing of feet while spinning!)
And now I have confirmed what all here suspected:
I am crazy.
But little do they know that it’s just fun-brewing in my soul, joining in with the dancing duck, metaphor mouse, and the glorious Ms. Havi.
.-= christy´s last post … Mind Churn =-.
Twitter: delightineer
Oh, huzzah for you! That’s such great news. I hope I can eventually join you there. :) (I can finally say in public that we’re looking at moving out of Indiana next year and up to the Portland area!)
And thank you for the reminder that we can include our monsters and mice in our mischief even when they don’t immediately have a place. I wonder if some of my monsters aren’t monsters because they feel left out…
.-= Chris Anthony´s last post … Special =-.
Twitter: celestialrose
LEASE!!!!!!!!!
Fun-brewing!
Metaphor Mouse!!!
SquuuEEEEEEEEEEEEEEeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee..
Good luck indeed! So happy for you I may go Shiva it up just for you and Selma.
^_^
.-= Rose´s last post … Fears =-.
Twitter: howellspace
Congrats on the lease! Wishing you the best playground equipment ever to fill it.
.-= Elizabeth Howell´s last post … New things going up at Canada’s satellite hotstove =-.
Super ultra awesome new lease high five!!! (Smack!!!) Congrats!!!
Twitter: brianaaldrich
Squeeeeee! Hooray! (And every single word that means hooray or *could* mean hooray by Metaphor Mouse standards!) So ridiculously happy for you, and much inappropriate S-E-X-Y R-O-B-O-T dancing on your behalf. Now, *and* at the Playground.
Mwah, love, joy to you!
.-= Briana´s last post … The Talent Code. (Or, why I’m trying to suck at stuff.) =-.
Twitter: maryanndevine
Oh, Havi! Soooooo happy for you about the lease. That is amazing news!
xo
Maryann
Twitter: spiralsongkat
Lease! The John Cleese! The Golden Fleece! The Piece of Reese! WAHOO!!
.-= Kathleen Avins´s last post … Liberation =-.
Twitter: toacircus
Yaaaaaaaaaay! Woo hooooooooooo! Welcome, welcome, welcome beautiful playground!
.-= Megan´s last post … Rachael Ray Recipe for Resistant Readers =-.
Twitter: darxyanne
Congratulations on your Playground! I hope you and Selma and everyone who joins you there (and I kind of hope to be on that list some day) have tons of marvelous fun there. And pie!!
.-= Darcy´s last post … A bad day for ears =-.
Twitter: i_ching
Woohoo! Congratulations!
(You know, like people above were saying, but in a terribly strait-laced and repressed British way.)
Fun-brewing to me sounds like a form of alchemy – lots of strange and wonderful ingredients in a great, big vessel whose contents keep changing colour, and occasionally breaking out in stripes and polka dots…
Twitter: alightheart
Lease! Lease! Lease!
(I envision a time where people don’t know that there ever WASN’T a Playground, like, ‘Justin Timberlake was in a BAND?’ but WAY. COOLER. Yup.)
.-= Andrew Lightheart´s last post … How to present like Hans Rosling =-.
Twitter: HiroBoga
Yayayayayayayay-ay Playground! :-) Squirmy with excitement, delight, and sheer over-the-top happy for you.
Love, Hiro
.-= Hiro Boga´s last post … Money, Heart and Soul: An Interview with Mark Silver =-.
Twitter: copylicious
LEEEEEASE!!!!!!!!!
Never, ever thought that word would make me excited.
You’ve popped my lease excitement cherry!
I can’t WAIT TO SEE EET!!!!!!!!!
I’m buying Exclamation Point Cocktails for everyone!
Congratulations!!!!!
!!!!!!!!
!
.-= Kelly Parkinson´s last post … The Overdelivery Zone =-.
Twitter: jacquelynkitt
Yay! for the lease!
so excited for you – dancing in my chair! with the music up loud!
.-= Jacquelyn´s last post … Who is Your Advocate? =-.
Twitter: victoriashmoria
Oh Havi, I am so happy for you! Congratulations!!
Wishing you so much joy as you fill the Playground with Fluent Self-ness!
xo victoria
.-= Victoria Brouhard´s last post … I Did All That Work for Nothing =-.
WooHOOOOOOOOOoooooooooooowlllll
Awesome on the John Cleese!
Yay!
I don’t conga but can we do that goofy line dance from The Replacements but…not in a jail?
Congrats!!
Yay!!! Woohoo!! And Congrats!
.-= leah´s last post … Creative Every Day Check-In: May 3 – 9 =-.
Twitter: gurubody
Wooooo Hoooooo ! I’m bilocating. Now. Fandabulouuuuus :-)
loads of kisses, besos and hanging chairs coming over!
.-= Lindsay´s last post … Sovereignty, gravity and the-day-the-burglars came… =-.
Twitter: intuitivebridge
This is fabulous news, Havi! Looking forward to hanging on your playground soon!
.-= Bridget´s last post … The lyrics are the words we tell ourselves =-.
Twitter: JaneOfArdis
Squeees…. :)
Twitter: talktherapybiz
In the spirit of the Metaphor Mouse, I’m toasting the Playground with all the positive and creative energy that you bring to(I imagine, all) your endeavors with a doilie-less 20 oz. bottle of Diet Coke!
And may nobody show to the opening with shoulder pads and blue eye shadow…
Congratulations Havi!
Twitter: amysnotdeadyet
Woohoo congrats yayayayayayayay! That’s deeply awesome. I’m so glad your Fun-Brewing has resulted in a Delicious Brew of Success!
.-= Amy Crook´s last post … Charitable Impulses =-.
Havi,
I am soooooooooooo happy for you! I wish I could bring my calabash with some water from the river here (I’m in Niamey, Niger) to pour a libation for the Playground…
Twitter: kimianak
Wheee! That perfect place you had found is now your Playground for real! Yaaaaay!!! *joyfully rejoicing with you*
.-= Josiane´s last post … Middle of the night musings =-.
Twitter: havi
Thank you for the cheering and the libations and the cocktails and the dancing (conga and non-conga alike). This is so much fun.
I cannot even tell you how great it is to have you to celebrate with. And can’t wait until you guys see it. I will put lots of pictures up too.
Mwah!
I second Kelly on the Exclamation Point Cocktails! Though I think it’s really just one guy.
*runs away so Kelly won’t hit me*
Twitter: annaline_39
YEEEEHAW!!!!
.-= Andi´s last post … You Gotta Give A Little =-.
Twitter: tamihackbarth
woo-hoo!
everyone loves a playground!
.-= Tami´s last post … Pajama Day in Progress =-.
Twitter: monagrayson
Yay for the leasing! Makes me so happy. I’m currently creating my New World – just like you mentioned related to finding new metaphors. I am LOVING it. and having so much fun. I’m just smiling and giggling to myself in my room. And then I swung over to my Typing Station (because I Love to type) and saw your news of the lease. Made me smile more!
.-= Mona´s last post … My 14-Day Trip To Continuity Land =-.
Twitter: roomtosmile
whee! and mazal tov! and a woo-hoo, too!
Twitter: lizemmettmattox
*happy dancing in my chair!!*
Yay for the playground!!!!! and yes please to another exclamation point cocktail!!!!!
.-= Liz´s last post … Do-Overs and High-Fives… D’oh! =-.
Twitter: christijarland
Huge congrats!!
Twitter: DianeRipstein
Huge congrats.
And yay for happy Portland, which will soon be even hipper and sweeter and funner and certainly more play-ful.
Bravo Havi, First Mate and Selma. May you go from strength to strength.
Yipppeee, Playground!
Twitter: chloewrites
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy! That is fabulous news. I’m so glad for you that the waiting is over! TO THE PLAYGROUND!
Twitter: curiousHeidiHi
Funtastic! Yay!!! So exciting.
.-= Heidi Fischbach´s last post … Going back for me-then =-.
Incredible. You and the playground found each other and now you even have an official paper to prove it. How great is that! CONGRATULATIONS and happy celebrations!
Oh how wonderful! Congratulations!! So, so happy for you!
When the Playground is all adorned and ready to open, can we have pictures? Please please please!
Twitter: _i_n_g_e_
Wheeee! Congrats on the lease!
Twitter: susangiurleo
Like @christy, I’m doing a fabulous Snoopy Dance for you, Selma and your new lease!! Yay, for new, yay for progress, yay for playgrounds for grownups!!!!
.-= Susan´s last post … The Sigmund Freud Guide to Marketing =-.
Twitter: EncouragingBird
Congratulations!!!!! :>
*happydancing for you & all the lucky folk who will be seeing the Playground in person over the years*
Twitter: edgetocenter
Yaaaaaaaaaaaaaay lease!
Twitter: somaphile
Whoo hoo! You got the lease!!! Portland just got 10000x cooler. :)
.-= Danielle´s last post … Earth Day 2010: taking stock and setting goals. =-.
Twitter: katytafoya
Big buckets of congratulations on securing the lease!! The Playground will surely be the coolest place in all of Portland! Bring on the pirates, wenches, and well…cooler than cool people…YOUR people!
.-= Katy´s last post … What Do You Do All Day? =-.