Alazia: The Fear That You're No Longer Able to Change
After so many years wondering what kind of person you were going to become one day, somewhere you forgot that this question actually has an answer, and that 'one day' will eventually arrive. If it hasn't already.
ETYMOLOGY
From Turkish god Alaz Khan, a fire deity in Turkic mythology. Alaz was an old man with a torch in his hand, who wore a cloak of fire.
VIDEO CREDITS
Vimeo Creative Commons Attribution License
Edition Nikolas Kerl - The Making of Stan & Harvey
by Edition Nikolas Kerl
https://vimeo.com/96689963
Crazy Woman Glass
by Anthony Ngo
https://vimeo.com/74698765
glass art by RYO
by Miskos Production
https://vimeo.com/88978819
Kelly Lowe, Glass Artist
by Barry Gray
https://vimeo.com/69766899
Glass Blowing at Rainier Glass Studio
by Meg Fleshman
https://vimeo.com/118668516
The Dark Roads to Trabzon
by Amin Suwedi
https://vimeo.com/108055734
Antibes Ada Loumani, Verrier de Biot
Endless Echo
https://vimeo.com/99131693
makai storm vase
Makai Glass Creations
https://vimeo.com/69872123
Pure Virtue Glass -2014 Flamefest-
by Jon Cash
https://vimeo.com/113668736
the making of still & sparkling by nendo with lasvit
by designboom
https://vimeo.com/42825623
John Pomp Promo Video
by Gregor Halenda
https://vimeo.com/43675578
We Three Travellers
by Tom Ganley
https://vimeo.com/125999257
Aurora Village in Jan 2014
by Jason Koo
https://vimeo.com/84243523
BALLISTA!
by Jeremy Snell
https://vimeo.com/34421130
Introducing- borrowed
by birdhouse
https://vimeo.com/25865490
Keep It Real - Teaser Season NYC 2013
by Keep It Real
https://vimeo.com/92751338
One day-
by Martin Jur?i
https://vimeo.com/100130448
Trance night vol. 2
by AlternativeBoxProductions
https://vimeo.com/33556632
Patrick + Elizabeth // The Mill Wedding Film in Spring Lake Heights, NJ
by Brighter Lights Media
https://vimeo.com/68569959
the making of air swimming by anna paola cibin at carlo morettis glass factory
by designboom
https://vimeo.com/102722201
Vidrio soplado arte y oficio
by Noelia López
https://vimeo.com/69969587
Lampwork
by Matt Rhodes
https://vimeo.com/61435526
Playing with Glass in Firozabad
by Rajeev Lunkad
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZhIqxOcPMys
YouTube Creative Commons Attribution License
Color Run - La couleur Rose by Meetic
by Meetic .fr
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HPTPaMgbdug
Design Dictionary Glassblowing
by Cooper Hewitt
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8i-CRRlqBI4
2014 Chinese New Year HD
by Yutub Maker
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2D87KqWNfDU
THE DICTIONARY OF OBSCURE SORROWS http://www.dictionaryofobscuresorrows.com
The Dictionary of Obscure Sorrows is a compendium of invented words written by John Koenig. Each original definition aims to fill a hole in the language-to give a name to emotions we all might experience but don't yet have a word for. Follow the project, give feedback, suggest an emotion you need a word for, or just tell me about your day.
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TRANSCRIPT
Of all the different ways we reassure ourselves, the least comforting is this: "it's already too late."
Alazia.
When you were born, you could have been anybody. So quick and malleable, your parents could look at your face and see a future president. They tried to mold you as you grew, but they could only work with what they had. And when their tools stopped working, they slowly handed off to you, asking, "What do you want to be when you grow up?"
There's a certain art to becoming who you are. A teenage personality is a delicate medium, its emotions are almost too heavy to handle. You have to keep yourself together, and tease out the good parts without stretching yourself too thin. You can never stop moving for too long, or focus on just one side of your personality, or you'll fall out of balance, and never stand on your own two feet. You can't ignore your flaws-you see them so clearly-but you can't just fix them either, and force yourself to change. And you need to make it look effortless, even if you keep getting burned.
But the toughest thing to master is the sense that your personality is hardening over time. That the fire that kept you flexible all these years is dimming, and you're becoming set in your ways.
You can still recall the heat of youth, that once kept you warm on a dingy couch, or a night in the wilderness, or a wandering summer. At any given time you remained untouchable, because you were 'not yourself today.' You knew that you weren't just you, you were also the person you will one day become, finding comfort in the lines, "I am not I. I am the one walking beside me...who stays calm and silent while I talk, and forgives, gently, when I hate, who walks where I am not, who will remain standing when I die." [Juan Ramon Jimenez]
But now it's hard to deny that you are anyone but yourself; you are who you are, for better or for worse. For all your wondering what kind of person you were going to become, somewhere you forgot that that question actually has an answer, and that 'one day' will soon arrive, if it hasn't already. Now you wonder if you can change, even if you wanted to. If you have enough fire in the belly to surprise yourself. Or if you're too tough and cynical to stretch without shattering.
Of course, maybe who you are is just fine, and dreaming of being someone else would only keep you from being your best self. Or maybe that doesn't really matter. Maybe it's already too late.
