Accomplishment chart, 7/31 - 8/6

Accomplishment chart, 7/31 – 8/6

Writing
- wrote “Who Was Your Mother?” scene for Adonis sequels for day 1 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- finished “Everything I Do” scene for Base Instruments for day 2 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- finished “Of the Mariinsky” scene for Base Instruments for day 3 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- finished “Make It Good” scene for Adonis sequels for day 4 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- wrote “Bombshells” scene for Bombshells for day 5 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- finished “Lead, and I’ll Follow” scene for Ripper for day 6 of 31 Plays in 31 Days
- worked on scene 13c for Base Instruments, version 1
- 55 #RejectedIronGM jokes on Twitter
- 7 LiveJournal entries
- 7 daily Hipster Feminist tweets

Larp/Gaming
- helped come up with secret ingredients for a personal Iron GM with lightgamer
- had 1 editorial meeting for Game Wrap Magazine
- had GM meeting to help run Spring River

Media
- listened to episode 18 of Tom and Lorenzo’s Pop Style Opinionfest
- read chapters 2-33 of “This, You Protect” MCU fan fiction by owlet
- watched episodes 1-13 of season 1 of Agents of SHIELD

Physical
- 1 hour-long circuit workout
- 3 two-mile runs
- 1 ab routine

Cooking
- made steak with avocado and steamed broccoli
- made turkey bacon with peppers and onions
- made pork chops with mushrooms and onions and steamed broccoli
- made bay scallops in lemon garlic butter and steamed broccoli
- made slow-cooked cinnamon pork roast with apples and onions and vegetable fried rice

31 Plays in 31 Days, #7 - "The Mirror"

In musing about things to incorporate into the Adonis sequels, it occurred to me that Aidan had probably never seen his reflection clearly, as mirrors were rare and expensive in Ancient Rome. So Aidan finally getting a chance to look in one would be a big deal, given the fact that his physical appearance has had so much effect on his life.

Aidan’s major struggle is to own his own identity and worth as a person in the face of extreme objectification. It’s difficult to maintain self-esteem, or even a strong self-image, when your personality and agency are continually disregarded. But Aidan has spent his life having other people defining what he was such that he’s never really been able to do it for himself. Having the character look at his own reflection in the mirror for the first time is a great way to depict him examining himself to try to decide who he is.

Still, figuring out his reaction in the moment is a bit tough. The question is, then, what does he think? Is he able to perceive his own beauty? Does getting to finally see it allow him to understand why everyone makes such a big deal about him? Or does he not see what all the fuss is about?

Aidan’s relationship with his appearance is necessarily fraught. He has been told all his life that he is exceptionally beautiful, but he has limited ability to see what they see. We’ve established that he hasn’t had much in the way of opportunity to really look at himself. It’s something he was born with and has never made any effort towards, which makes it weirdly mundane to him and he is therefore incredulous that it could really be all that special. Also, though in any kyriarchy the real problem is the oppressive structure, it’s hard for him to not regard his beauty as the thing that’s brought on his suffering. Naturally this has made him come to resent it somewhat. But I found the idea that he would rail against it in any outward way to be melodramatic and somewhat absurd— even given the circumstances of his life, it just seemed kind of stupid to go off on how terrible it was to be a pretty person.

What we settled on was him not really engaging with it. When it is brought up with him, he neither agrees nor disagrees. At most, he responds with a variation of “Yeah, I get it.” It has the great suggestion that he doesn’t think it matters whether he is or isn’t; they treat him a certain way, and that’s the important part.

This scene is very short, though that's appropriate for the cinema. Also it reuses a line from an earlier discarded scene, but I like the line and think it's better utilized here.

( Day #7 - The Mirror )