Apparently SO much less done shaking words out of my fingers than I thought.

(again, reassurance for folks who haven't seen previous posts, the mania is explicable and temporary, look back in LJ for explanation about insurance fuckery)

If you're ever going to find me scribbling on the walls, Shining-style, it will SO be in the shower. All that time to think, and NO PLACE TO RECORD IT! I half considered going after Kidlet's bath crayons just to make notes to myself. It's entirely possible I'll do it in the future. I promise you, though, that it'll be a hell of a lot more interesting that "All work and no play..."

Fragments, phrases, entire paragraphs bouncing around in my head, bumping into each other, approximately five separate half-composed topics each worthy of their own post, from what I can track at the moment. As usual, I'll jot down notes first, so I don't get obsessed with worrying about what I'll forget, and then go back and expand on it. You'll generally only see the last phase of this, but that's what's going on -- literally cannot calm down until I get the words out, but so many going on at once it can be hard even to do that. (Oh, Wonderfalls, how I miss you -- "Get Your Words Out")

This time, here's a bit of what that can look like when I start making notes and going stream of consciousness, although it's obvious that by the end I've started actually composing my thoughts in some fashion or another:

Meds and drugs and clonopin navigation (have a scrip but have never taken it, considering need today), entire classes I've never tried, thanks to Art, navigating being able to "tune" my state with medical knobs, but walking a line about being aware of where that can go very unhealthy, acknowledge it's not like I'm managed to completely successfully dodge that, either. I use a lot of things more habitually than I should, but meds aren't generally among them. Smoking cigarettes is the number one baddie I haven't been able to give up. Other therapies I prefer, including non-addictive meds, TENS therapy (oh so amusing for a kinkster), fucking, massage, impact play, swimming and soaking. More tuning knobs in the arsenal.

Before that, I was humming in the bathroom as I got into the shower, and sort of composing something in my head about what I'd learned about my current limitations musically, and how that's different from the fear I did feel, and how I'm learning to notice the chord notations in my childhood songbook just from repeated exposure, and how that relates to my history learning to read music, what I did and didn't understand about how music _works_, places where a physicist's approach to music is what it's taken for me to grok (I can't remember the title, but there's this awesome series that approaches mathematical underpinnings of octaves, things like that -- many "ah-ha!" moments for me). And also about the ways I'm waaaaaay more visual than auditory in my processing, so starting to pick that up is handy, and learning to actually read music would probably be hugely valuable to me (I've had as much experience as any other kid who sat through several years of various sorts of music classes without having it sink in all that successfully at the time -- basic theory, but no grokkage.) And I was still humming. And I started singing "It's visual, mathematical..." (can we do it?). Yeah. George Michael. I was so amused I would have jumped out of the shower to make a note just about that, if my phone weren't plugged in in the other room at the time.

Incidentally. phone keyboard issues, laptop battery problems, these are some of the great banes of my existence when I'm manic. Quills, The Shining? Yeah, I kinda get it. I get hugely frustrated just having to go back to handwriting because I'm so very much slower at that then typing. I suspect mania may be why I've learned to type at the speeds I do -- generally around 100 wpm tested, and I suspect during these kinds of stream-of-consciousness I'm going quite a bit faster. I can't even talk it out to a recording as fast as I can write this way. It's a lot of why writing things out is so important to me, and even more so because it allows me to go back to the thoughts when I'm in other mood states, to share them more easily, to consider and evaluate them better. Talking is so in the moment and impermanent, and I have a hard time with that, with second-guessing what I said or didn't say, how I said it, how I heard things other people said, or failed to understand them. I actually prefer to do almost all my arguing in writing; so much easier for me to handle in a million ways that a whole other string of posts I'm not even going to approach right now.

And I'm pretty sure I've skipped several of the other topics that were also bouncing around, but which are already at least half-way expressed over on FB or in email, and I'll be copying those and expanding them a bit in a separate post.
Context for why this is such a big fucking deal to me

And honestly, it really, really is. Intellectually I realize how few people actually see any given post on FB, how many fewer have a chance to click through on a link that takes time. And I really, really wish Soundcloud didn't tell me how many listens a recording has had. But it's hard enough for me to overcome my fears and put it out there that I could use some support if you have the time.

The recording of Lord of the Dance that I made the other day. My phone picks up an annoying buzz when it's too close, so it's all a bit quiet, sorry about that. Lord of the Dance (Christian Version)

God Rest Ye Merry Gentlemen, Rise and Shine, We Three Kings, Hark the Herald Angels Sing, Joy to the World.

Some of the more secular childhood songs I know well enough to try singing. Clementine, Alouette, I've Been Working on the Railroad.

Pern Ditty: This is a brief little song I made up when I was 12 and dragon-obsessed. I'm pretty sure I've never shared it with anyone, except maybe family members who overheard me singing it back then. Again, gentle is good. Tackling my fears over here.
I figure I'll paste over the FB stuff first, then ramble a bit about some more things on my mind and going on. (some of that rambling ended up at the beginning of this whole long post, actually)

So I'd been talking about music in my life and singing, and that got me posting a bunch of music links on FB, which is something I relatively rarely do. Here's the "playlist":

It's been a musical few days. Here's one I haven't shared in my recent posts that's on my mind: Odetta: Ramblin' Round

This is the song that really first introduced me to the awe-inspiring power of her voice: Odetta: The Ox-Driver's Song

Another powerhouse favorite singer of mine. Wish I could find Prodigal Daughter to share, but this is a close second for me. The studio version from the dead man walking soundtrack is incredible too. Michelle Shocked: Quality of Mercy
I didn't post these over on FB because my phone was being a pain, but these are a few others of hers that I especially love, and that are up on youtube:
Come A Long Way
The Ballad of the Ballot and Bullet, Part 1: Ugly Americans -- Hell of a good history lesson in the video, too.
On The Greener Side
My Little Sister

Yeah, I'm in a musically nostalgic kind of mood tonight. Janis Joplin: One Night Stand
Didn't post it to FB the other night, but oh, how I love this song: Me and Bobby McGee

*chuckle* OK, just posting the music I had over on FB obviously isn't what's happening here. From here on out, it's some mix of stuff I did share and stuff I would have, or feel like sharing now. This may distract me for a good long bit -- hopefully I'll get back to the other stuff sooner or later.

Cat Stevens: Harold And Maude(1971) - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out -- Nothing could be more appropriate for me right now. Nothing in the world. Harold and Maude is one of my all-time favorite movies, and Maude is a personal hero of mine (see icon -- It's my "joyful" icon). When I think about why I want so much to get over my fear of singing, it's Maude and this song that comes to mind most often.
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Tired and melancholy today, not really sure what direction I'll end up going with this post. So much to mention or discuss, so little time or focus at the moment. I suspect it's going to be a grab-bag.

Last night I had insomnia until this morning. I think I finally got to sleep around 7am. I suspect the lack of sleep is probably a lot of why I'm feeling relatively emotionally fragile; being underslept does an awful lot to give me roughly the emotional maturity of a temper tantruming three-year-old. Also, I am so damned tired of itching. I wish I knew what was setting it off, because hives and eczema climbing up my arms and intermittently popping up all over the rest of me is really damned irritating (no pun intended). Also, the vision changes with the trileptal have been getting pretty non-trivial; it feels almost like my eye focusing ability is partially paralyzed; it's like sudden onset presbyopia. It's been especially bad in my right eye; the other day when I did a quick check, I couldn't focus completely at _any_ distance. *sigh* Oh, just fucking grand. I'm scheduled to see both my GP and the Chronic Pain Rehab Program coordinator tomorrow. Life got annoying thanks to med effects, and I called my doc to ask her to do a quick vag smear for me so we know whether the two doses of diflucan in the past few weeks have really sorted things back out. This appt was _supposed_ to be about fibro followup, and I've got a lot of stuff I really need to discuss with her along those lines. Just got a call back from her office. They can fit in the pelvic, but at the expense of _everything_ else. Her schedule's too tight tomorrow, so now I have to schedule another appt, maude knows how long a delay that's going to be. I've still got my fingers crossed that we can multitask enough during the pelvic for me to catch her up on some of the biggest issues, at least. At the moment I'm feeling thoroughly frustrated.

Some linketies related to life here at the moment:

A friend of mine, Mitch Andelmo, died early Monday morning, late Sunday night, however you want to look at it. A story had come out earlier that evening, I had been reading about it, about a car driving through a barricade and straight into the crowd at a street festival. -- This death has hit my local community hard; I didn't know him, but many people I care about are deeply grieving at the moment.

CKG Benefit for IDKE XIV (The International Drag King Community Extravaganza) -- I do believe this means that IDKE is happening in Cleveland this year!!!! I adore Drag King performances with a passion, and IDKE is especially meaningful since it was one of the first dates for me and Katy and Tori lo those many years ago.

Baltimore Gay Life -- speaking of Katy, so proud of her! Those awesome folks on the cover are folks Katy hired and works with. Go her, go them!
And the interview! (the one about The Den)
Also in happy news, Katy's on her way through town this coming weekend, so I'll get at least a bit of time to catch up and see her in person. Hoorah!
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I'm not entirely certain why, but youtube is currently unlocked at work. I'm luxuriating in being able to listen to the songs I'm thinking about.

Music is definitely all about emotional resonance and historical touchstones in my life. It's why going back through all these church songs is hitting me so intensely, and each reminds me in turn about another I'd forgotten...

Songs on my mind, in no particular order:

Shelter from the Storm - Bob Dylan
I'm listening to this one as I start this post. This is the version of it that I love, and that I "lost" in a way for a number of years. My long-ago ex, Mike, said it reminded him of me, and it was therefore important to me during our relationship, and too deeply painful for many years afterward. The day I discovered that I'd released those associations and could just enjoy the song again was a beautiful day in my life. I think something similar is happening to me with the religious music, which is what got me thinking about this. In some ways, I "broke up" with Christianity after a very long and intense relationship. Although I haven't doubted my decision to do so, it's not one that's free of grief and loss for me, and for a long time I think this music hit those emotions too hard for me. I'm feeling, at least at the moment, as if I can enjoy the beauty and power of the music without mourning that it no longer speaks so directly to me.

"Here I Am, Lord" (very solemn hymn) -- this is a stunningly beautiful version of this song, done by Andrew Parnell, Barry Rose & The Boys & Men of the Choir of the Cathedral & Abbey Church of St Alban. Much as "Shelter from the Storm" was "my song with Mike", this, more than anything else, was "my song with Christianity". I always had a powerful feeling of calling, and struggled with how to express that and follow through on it. Actually, I still do, it's just non-religious now. This song, the combination of the beauty of the music, the powerful nature imagery (always how I connected best with God), the lyrics from Isaiah as he struggles with his own sense of calling... It hit me hard. It's the song that moved me to tears on my own front porch this morning, and just did it again sitting here. "Lord of the Dance", as I mentioned in my previous post, reflects a great deal about how I experienced Christianity, but "Here I am" is the most deeply and personally emotional for me.

Have You Seen Jesus My Lord -- another one that hits two of my big emotional hot-buttons; nature imagery and sense of community/love. It's not actually all that great musically, but the lyrics meant a great deal to me:
Refrain:
Have you seen Jesus my Lord?
He's here in plain view.
Take a look, open your eyes,
He'll show it to you.

1. Have you ever looked at the sunset
With the sky mellowing red,
And the clouds suspended like feathers
Then I say... (pause)
You've seen Jesus my Lord.

2. Have you ever stood at the ocean
with the white foam at your feet,
Felt the endless thundering motion?
Then I say...(pause)
You've seen Jesus my Lord. (refrain)

3. Have you ever looked at the cross,
with a man hanging in pain
And the look of love in his eyes?
Then I say...(pause)
You've seen Jesus my Lord. (refrain)

4. Have you ever stood in the family
With the Lord there in your midst
Seen the face of Christ on each other?
Then I say... (pause)
You've seen Jesus My Lord. (refrain)

Lord of the Dance (Christian Lyrics) -- I already talked about what this one meant to me, but this is a pretty decent version that reflects the up-tempo element and the sheer joy of it.

We are One in The Spirit (they'll know we are Christians by our love) -- Oh, so deeply conflicted on this. All about community and working together and love and not being hypocrites, but also one of the most dangerous sentiments out there, in my opinion. So much implication that people who are NOT Christian can be expected not to behave in these ways, and as an atheist I run into that crap all the damned time.

We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
We are one in the Spirit, we are one in the Lord
And we pray that all unity may one day be restored
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will work with each other, we will work side by side
We will work with each other, we will work side by side
And we'll guard each one's dignity and save each one's pride
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
By our love, by our love
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
We will walk with each other, we will walk hand in hand
And together we'll spread the news that God is in our land
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love
By our love, by our love
And they'll know we are Christians by our love, by our love
They will know we are Christians by our love

Oh, FWIW I did follow through on my "threat" to go all spreadsheet about this. I'm currently about 60 pages through the songbook, creating a googledoc to use as a reference, with Title, Author, Page, Religious Content, To Share With Kidlet, Personal Favorite, For Personal Nostalgia Only.

Examples:
They Will Know We Are Christians By Our Love, Peter Shottes, 6, strongly religious, No, Yes, Yes
Sound of Silence, Paul Simon, 4, Secular, Yes, Yes, No

Sound of Silence -- Indeed a very long-time favorite of mine. I remember learning it in 6th grade music class, and utterly falling in love with it. And it's all about the kind of messages I love in music (because I'm a damned peace love and community style hippy, oh yes I am!)
From my last post:

The other is something kind of amazing for me. I'm singing out loud again. Sometime in my teens I lost all my confidence in singing aloud, even in large groups. Its been something that has weighed on me for years, and been one of my biggest personal fears to overcome, and well as a deep personal grief, given my view on the voice as everyone's rightful instrument and tool for joy. Although I never pursued it, I've often dreamt of setting aside time and guts to work with a private vocal coach just to get over that fear enough to sing acceptably well in group situations. Something happened this weekend, mostly because of singing with Kidlet. I've hit a major turning point, it seems. I'm still pretty stunned about the changes in my own fear level, especially at the ripe old age of 37, and there will be a separate post about this, too. I know it's something a lot of people take for granted, but for me this is really, really huge. Today during break I actually had the guts to record myself singing, probably for the first time in my adult life. _And_ the guts to send the recording to my parents, at least. Seriously. Big stuff for me. Joyful stuff for me. Great gratitude to Kidlet for triggering this.

Addition to this: Just a few minutes ago, I gave my two coworkers a rendition of The Pink Pajamas Song, a nudist-friendly camp song sung to the tune of The Battle Hymn of the Republic (incidentally, the Battle Hymn is another song that's strangely powerful for me, but in that case it's because Dad used to sing it to me as a lullaby).
Also, totally did not know about this song set to the same music! Solidarity Forever *plans to start memorizing lyrics*

My voice is one of my greatest tools; it is far and away the physical trait about me that gets compliments most frequently, and I am confident and comfortable using it. I take joy in using it. I'm an excellent public reader, a pretty good extemporaneous speaker, and I can project like nobody's business when I choose. I can read poetry and children's books, generally well enough for comment and praise, and I can intentionally express various emotional states to calm people down, rile them up (*ahem* my old phone sex work), etc. It's been a joke in my office over the years that I'm "Voice of the Helpdesk", and until we outsourced it I did all our recordings. I have, in fact, practiced these things for years because I like the sense of confidence it gives me in interacting with the world. My fear and lack of confidence around singing, even in the most brief and non-threatening ways, was a giant gaping hole in that. It really does matter hugely to me to fix this, and that's part of why it's such a big deal for me to suddenly discover this unexpected progress.

I have this old copy of (800 Christian) Songs from my youth in the church (OK, actually I stole it from the church before I left for college for sentimental reasons. Oh, the irony.) I pulled it out recently because along with all the explicitly religious stuff, it's got a whole bunch of generally "peace and love" songs that're good for sing-a-long, and a lot of campfire classics. I wanted to find some to sing with Kidlet, and refresh myself on them, since there's only so many times I can sing "Itsy Bitsy Spider". Chad and I are firmly atheist, and Kidlet's Momma is pagan (and perhaps his Poppa* as well), so I certainly don't plan to use the more christian songs with him, and was flipping through for appropriate choices.
*For clarification; Chad is "Daddy", and Momma's partner who has been in Kidlet's life since birth is "Poppa".

The thing is, I'm a firmly and politically atheist adult who comes from a childhood and youth immersed in happy church and church-camp experiences. I did not become an atheist because of bad experiences in the church, I became an atheist despite extraordinarily good experiences in the church. And I was intensely religious. As intensely religious as it's possible to be and still identify as Episcopalian (a notoriously level-headed and middle-of-the-road denomination), basically. I'm talking recurrent ecstatic experience kind of intense. Going to national youth retreats kind of intense. Considering the Episcopal priesthood kind of intense. More christian music earworms than pop music ones for most of my teens. Flipping through the songbook was such a reminder that this is the music I really know by heart, that I can still sing after not hearing for 20 years or more, that's embedded in my heart whether I still agree with a word of the lyrics. It's the music that still resonates with how it affected me then. It's weird and powerful for me in strange and conflicting sorts of ways. It's also a reminder of what particular lens I used to interpret christianity, why it was a positive experience for me, why it fed my passion for justice and compassion, where I found and connected with nature imagery that's often more expected in many pagan perspectives than christian, but resonated very deeply for me personally.

The title of this post is a line from a song that exists in both christian and pagan versions, and is based originally on a famous Shaker song: Lord of the Dance. I actually really love the pagan version, and although I can quibble with some gender essentialism than bothers me, I find it a much more comfortable version to teach Kidlet or sing myself. On the other hand, it's the christian version that I've adored since I was young, that did and does give me goosebumps, that reflects how christianity was a source of joy for me.

And last night, after Kidlet was fast asleep, I sat on our back porch 'til 3am singing a capella church songs. Hopefully didn't wake and annoy our lovely new neighbors, because that'd sure be a confusing message! ("the hippies next door are singing WHAT?")

I'm sort of in the process of re-interpreting and re-understanding my entire perspective on singing. It feels like it's happening overnight, almost literally, and it's confusing but wonderful.

OK, I still have a lot more to write and say about all this, including a lot of comment on various songs and what they mean to me, but I think this is enough for tonight. Or at least, I'm tired, and I can't focus on writing any more at the moment.
I was trying to remember "One Tin Soldier" to sing to Kidlet last night, and that got me thinking of other peace and protest songs from that general era. This is me playing around with which of those I think are most likely to connect with kids (while also not getting them singing lyrics about sodomy and weed in school). In those cases where it's an option, I'm going with the Muppet versions. With other major songs recorded by multiple artists, I'm going with whichever version I feel like. So there. It depends a lot on what I find available on youtube. Unfortunately, I can find links but can't view vids from here. I'm hoping most of these vid links are working and reasonably close to what I think they are.

Mostly meant for Chad, but sharing it here just because.

Coven - One Tin Soldier (animated version)

Muppet Show - For What's it's Worth (Something's Happening Here)

Harry Belafonte/Muppets - Turn the World Around

Hair Soundtrack - Hair

Hair Soundtrack - I Got Life

Hair Soundtrack - What a Piece of Work is Man

Cat Stevens - If You Want To Sing Out, Sing Out
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And speaking of music, although I'm so far from a music geek it's embarrassing (can't carry a tune to save my life, can't reliably recall melodies, just generally dumber than average in that arena, despite many attempts over the years) -- I have a very gut reaction to music. I don't have the context to appreciate the pure musicality in the same way someone who really speaks the language does (so jazz rarely does it for me, for example). I often can't remember a song's tune until I'm listening to it, but I remember how it makes me feel, and the contextual life memories with which it's associated, very powerfully. (The memory thing is part of why I'm not an active music-seeker; I'm looking for the memory triggers more than the exploration of music itself) Under rare circumstances, often involving lots of weed and/or hallucinogens, I've come from just listening to the right music.

I don't tend toward smooth and sweet and romantic in my music anymore than I do in my sex. Mellow and jazzy -- also not a good plan. I do best with intensely visceral music -- thumping, pounding, heartbeats, moans, shrieking, roaring. I tend toward hard and fast, sometimes aggressive, sometimes joyful. Same as my sex.

I was playing around on Youtube at o-god-thirty this morning, and pulling music videos of stuff that all gets me hot for various reasons:
links and explanations/stories )
What song or songs really get you going or feed a lusty mood?
You know what's awesome about having felt like utter crap for a while, and not having been able to walk without substantial pain for close to a week? When it lets up, you feel like dancing!

My knees still aren't thrilled about stairs, or going from seated to standing, but they're acting like normal when I'm walking; I have my stride back (given how this fits into my body/self-image, this is surprisingly important). And I just got all my music set up on my Blackberry. I'm reveling in walking around the building, and I'm constantly finding myself dancing, from the time I was waiting at my first bus stop this morning.
[livejournal.com profile] serpentseye's Rubber City Bombshells will be playing the Performance Stage at 4pm! (as well as several other places throughout the weekend)

(also, check out the henna she'll have from [livejournal.com profile] bec76 by then)

*groan*

May. 4th, 2006 07:40 am
PT last night kicked my ass. Ow. On top of that, I just missed the bus, so I decided to walk home rather than wait another 1/2 hour. It's only a mile and a half, but it was a bit much on top of the session. Very sore. We switched approaches such that I'm doing my stretching exercises at home, so we're now spending the entire hour doing conditioning instead. I like that, but I think I was a bit overly gung-ho about it last night. I think some part of my brain is working in the same way I get through tasks at home -- "Do it all now, because once I stop, I'm going to collapse and be non-functional for a couple of days" -- I kind of enjoy pushing myself too hard for short periods of time, actually, even when it breaks me in the long run, but it's a habit I really need to quit (especially because it tends to be about my macho tendencies, which seem to hit the "idiot" button in my brain). Not effective as a PT approach. I need to figure out better how to judge the middle ground on that, so that I can give my physical therapist the feedback she needs, without unnecessarily bailing on things that I can do. We've started playing around on the Total Gym for some of my exercises -- I'm seriously considering ebaying a used one when we've got the spare cash. Anyone have experience with them, or opinions about them (aside from the inevitable Norris-related giggles)?

The Taiko performance last night was rather misbilled by CSU -- the advertising suggested that Taiko would be the primary focus, and there would be a Taiko-symphony cooperative piece as well. In fact, it was primarily an orchestral performance, and the last piece also included the Taiko drumming. Still enjoyable, but we were a bit disappointed that there wasn't more of what we'd specifically come to see. I did get to see [livejournal.com profile] habari for the first time in ages, though, which was nice -- she and her friend Amy came over to practice bellydance with [livejournal.com profile] bec76 before the show, and then came to the show with us.

Final exam today, and then a date with [livejournal.com profile] fabulousmisst. That's well worth managing to stay awake for!
(expanded from a reply in a friend's journal)

As a kid, I basically only knew church music (classic and modern), the classical music and a bit of americana folk that Mom listened to, the 50s-60s bubblegum pop that dad listened to on the oldies station, and the random assortment of good folk and bad christian music that christian summer camps tend to adopt. I was actually very actively adverse to exploring popular music because of some weird fundie-christian attitude I'd absorbed somewhere along the way*.

I remember being a little disturbed and scandalized at summer camp in '85 (I would've been 10 or 11 then), when I found myself really liking Prince's "Raspberry Beret". And for a couple of years after that, rock and pop were sort of guilty pleasures that I didn't admit to liking. In general, I was only very peripherally aware of the whole music scene -- names I heard friends mention, music from movies I saw, the Michael Jackson poster on the wall in 5th grade, a bunch of the girls that year dressing as Madonna or Cyndi Lauper for Halloween -- that sort of thing. Until I was 12 or 13, I wasn't actually clear on the idea that there was pop/rock music that wasn't played on the radio. Actually, I think it may have been later than that before the idea really sunk in. (And I recall really frustrating some DJ at the local top 40 station by calling in repeatedly to request "Little Old Lady From Pasadena", because I really didn't get the idea of "Top 40", and if my Dad's radio station played it, why wouldn't this one?) Until I was 16 (in college), I was pretty sure the "Grateful Dead" were a metal band of some sort. In general, I seem to have mostly missed that crucial teen socialization period where people seem to learn about different genres, and what falls where, and all that. I still get awkward trying to find the right words for those sorts of things.

Once I did finally decide that rock music wasn't going to be some sort of satanic downfall (I'm guessing right about the time I transferred to Davison in 8th grade), I started enjoying what my friends were listening to (my undying fondness for Guns and Roses started here), but still didn't really actively explore music on my own. I spent almost every penny I got on books, and I just couldn't grok diverting money from my precious books to spend it on music instead (by the end of high school I think I had maybe 5 tapes), so almost all my musical exposure has been related to what my friends were listening to, or what played on the radio, rather than anything I sought out. College really was my salvation, musically. Enough of my friends had pretty widely varying musical interests that I was suddenly exposed to all sorts of stuff I didn't even know existed, and discovered that I really liked an awful lot of it. It's led to something of an eclectic collection, now, but it's largely a result of being very baffled and clueless about that whole music thing.

And still, I devote way, way, way more money each year to books than to music (by at least a factor of 100, I'd bet), and now that I'm not living with people who are randomly introducing me to new stuff, I tend to forget to explore it on my own. It's kind of odd, because I do like music. In fact, it tends to have pretty profound effects of me. I think maybe it's a matter of habit and convenience, as much as anything else. I understand bookstores. They feel comfortable to me. I know how to have a good chance of finding what I'll like. Finding music? I still lack the language, and I tend to feel awkward in music stores, and therefore spend very little time in them. Especially if there's a bookstore nearby.

__________________

* Not from my parents, I'm pretty sure, but at that age anything that any "christian" said got taken to heart, because I wanted to be the best christian I possibly could be. The day I stayed home sick from church and decided to watch the televangelists to "make up for it" was quite a trip for my poor parents, who discovered on coming home that they suddenly had to deprogram me. Moral Orel cracks me up largely because I really do identify with that kind of mentality.

Question 1

Mar. 13th, 2006 01:07 pm
what is the order of importance of those things and why?

Hmmm... trickier than it seems.

1. Friends -- that's right; first priority. That's also the only reason LJ should be on the list at all (in terms of "important things", which I assume is the interpretation). It's a central modality for communicating with friends, but a replaceable one. It's rightly in position #6.

I assume by "Love" there's a connotation of romantic love specifically. That's all a weird categorization for me, and the overlaps between friends/love/sex, in particular, are pretty convoluted. Assuming that whoever wrote the meme originally is talking about primary partnership romantic love -- its importance varies a lot in my life. If I were attached to someone that way right now it would be a very high priority, but since I'm not, it isn't, and "tracking it down" isn't.

The last three are largely experiential. I'd be loathe to lose any of them, but I think the order here is actually correct already. I'd lose "drugs" before "music" because there are ways of creating altered states of consciousness that aren't dependent on externally accessed chemicals (whereas as loss of all music would mean no earworms or humming to yourself, as well as not listening to external music), but I would probably put "altered states of consciousness" before both sex and music, if it came down to that, since part of what I value about all three is their ability to alter the state of my consciousness.
Sex
Music
Drugs
Because I'm bored, and feeling marginally less ill than earlier (thank maude!)
ganked from [livejournal.com profile] cjdoyle

seven things meme )
...and I'm still feeling crappy and on-the-edge-of-tears for no reason. Depression blows; hopefully this'll be a quick and mild one. Last night, when I woke up long enough to think depressing thoughts for an hour or so, the big one on my mind was that I hate the self-conciousness of being bipolar.

Bootsy was fabulous; it was rather like "Inside the Actor's Studio" with musicians instead of actors. The interviewer wasn't particularly great, but it didn't end up being an issue; Bootsy's charismatic enough to run the show without a problem, and I had a fabulous time listening to his stories for an hour and a half.

I'm pretty sure I aced my A & P exam yesterday, so that's out of the way. And I wasn't at work, but apparently there was a big office politics blow-up over the employee satisfaction survey results (they gave us the survey during Benefits Enrollment hell back in October, which was particularly bad timing). We'll see what comes of it, but they're trying to get the new folks to be more reliable about actually doing their jobs, and it may involve cracking down on all of us. I have no idea what the ramifications are going to be. One possibility is that I may need to get official documentation on my fibro again (good thing I already have doctor's appts set up) -- Most of my days off are unscheduled (i.e. sick days), rather than scheduled, and if they choose to implement and pursue the point system, this can fuck me over, because you accrue points for sick days, but not for scheduled time off. Enough can get you written up or fired. Last time this came up, a few years ago, HR had me get documentation from my doctor about the fibro, and that fixed the issue somehow (I think all fibro-related UPTO was counted as one day for points system determinations, or something). I'll know more after the meeting this afternoon. I'm not thrilled.
I'm bored and sleepy at work today. Writing answers gives me something to do to keep my eyelids propped up. Yay!

Who/what is "michelle shocked"? You have it/her/them in your interest list.

Hmmm. Wikipedia says very little of any importance about her. She's a musician/activist that I've adored since college; I was introduced to her by my friend Chad, and then saw her live in Columbus a few years later.

Her website

I'm rather ashamed to say I haven't actually heard her most recent stuff -- I really should fix that. However, her first three albums rocked my world. Her politics do infuse her music, and she's got some rockin' politics. I think her explorations around musical appropriation and race are especially gutsy; enough to make me nervous some times, and to make me stretch and think. And her love for various styles of american music is utterly contagious. I think my love for fiddles developed largely through exposure to her work.

I'd post lyrics or links, but I'm having trouble finding most of the ones I'd like to.

Bootsy!

Jan. 19th, 2006 01:07 pm
Bootsy's speaking at the Rock Hall in February, for free!

details, mostly for my own reference )

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