Five Things from PocketNaomi

[mdlbear]

I have asked a couple of people for five Things that they associate with me, to ramble on about in my journal. I extend the same offer to anyone who comments here.

Here are the five things I got from pocketnaomi:

Songwriting

I believe I started making up songs when I was eight or ten years old, but didn't actually write any down until I was in college and found myself rooming with two other guitar players. They would have been classifiable as filksongs if I'd ever heard of such things at the time. I only remember bits of one of them, but was told at the last reunion I went to, a decade ago, that one of those former roommates still sings that and another one, which I had entirely forgotten. I keep them in my computer files now.

It was my involvement with fandom and filk that finally "gave me permission" to write songs, a few of which were worth singing in public. As time goes by I seem to have gotten better at it.

I wrote five songs last year, my most prolific year so far, and more than the previous five years put together. Last year also included my two or three best songs so far.

I have a tendency to write lyrics first; if I start with music it may take years for the tune to attach itself to a suitable lyric.

I've helped teach songwriting at a couple of weekend workshops run by Kathy Mar; I don't claim to be much good at that, but you're welcome to read my notes for the 2007 workshop and draw your own conclusions.

Programming

Programming is, in essence, the art of giving orders to an incredibly fast, incredibly accurate, and moronicly literal-minded demon. As such, it represents a very useful skill for game-players and parents. You will note that I do consider it an art, and in particular a branch of literature. (My degree is in Computer Science, but I feel strongly that any field with the word "science" in its name isn't one.)

Another way of looking at it is to say that the inside of a computer is an alternate universe where magic works: programs are spells, and obey most of the usual laws of magic. They also share with traditional magic the fact that a misspoken spell can wreak untold havoc.

Programming, like reading, is one of those activities I do in a light trance state. When I'm on my game (increasingly rare these days) I occasionally look up from my keyboard after what seems like a short time and wonder why it's suddenly gotten dark outside.

House Parties

Our household has four Saturday parties every year: one in late December or early January celebrating the new year and our anniversary, one in March (the "It's Green!" party, now by long-established tradition the Saturday after Consonance) to celebrate Spring, St. Patrick's Day, and our birthdays, one in June (originally to celebrate the anniversary of Colleen's flower business, but now just for the tradition of it), and one in late October to celebrate Halloween.

We also have an Open House every Wednesday -- these were originally devised by Colleen to make sure that she would have adults to talk to even after our older daughter was born.

The house is also more-or-less open during the entire Winter holiday season; we don't exactly expect guests, but are never surprised if they show up, and occasionally invite them.

Our 25th Anniversary party was remarkable in being the only one for which we hired entertainment -- the members of Golden Bough had been to a few of our previous parties, and we booked them a year in advance to make sure they'd show up. It was also the only one we had to rent chairs for.

Cordwainer Smith

... is/was one of my favorite science fiction authors. The name "Mandelbear" comes in part from a post I made in alt.callahans, and in part from one of my favorite characters, the Middle-Sized Bear, in his story "Mark Elf"; my latest and arguably most autobiographical song is called "A Talk With the Middle-Sized Bear". My first filk song, "The Shores of the Night", was loosely inspired by another of his stories, "The Lady Who SailedThe Soul".

My favorite story of his is probably "The Dead Lady of Clown Town", though it's hard to pick just one. I especially admire him for his imagery and his narrative style; many of his stories are written as if they were popular history, written years -- centuries, in some cases -- after the events they recount. "Drunkboat" is also worthy of mention; its description of the first journey through hyperspace is simply a translation of Arthur Rimbaud's "Le Bateau ivre".

Janis Ian

... is one of my favorite singer-songwriters, and probably the celebrity I would most like to spend a night with -- swapping songs, of course. She's also a long-time science fiction fan, and more recently author. I see from her tour schedule that she's toastmistress at the Nebula Awards banquet this year. I have yet to run into her at a Worldcon; she never goes to the filking.

I have been known to perform one of her songs, "The Last Train", in filk circles and even at a concert or two.

Her website includes lots of good articles on being a songwriter and performer, backed by 40-odd years of experience. Highly recommended.

Comments

[sweetmusic-27.livejournal.com]

Ooo! *makes a note to look into Cordwainer Smith*

What five things do I make you think of?

[mdlbear]

Let's see... (mostly from your LJ interests)

fiddle
folksongs
Baron Munchausen
single malt Scotch
oblivion folder

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

I've always liked Cordwainer Smith myself, although when I first started reading his stories, I was far too young to understand everything in them. I think my favorite, though, is "The Ballad Of Lost C'Mell".

Do you think you could pick five things for me to answer? (If you don't feel you know me well enough, that's okay.)

[mdlbear]

I can try -- I can always cheat and look at your bio. Hmm...

porphyrophilia
Callahan's
mysticism
1947
radio

[acelightning.livejournal.com]

Porphyrophilia - a fondness for the color purple. You'll have noticed that everything associated with me tends to be purple. It's always been my favorite color, and whenever it was in fashion I'd buy purple clothes (and then wear them even when it went out of fashion again). The color always makes me feel empowered and energized. As time went on, I'd find myself in situations like, "Well, I know today's going to be pretty tough, so I'd like to wear the purple shirt... but the black pants are in the wash, and it doesn't go with the brown ones..." So I gradually replaced everything I own with purple equivalents. Even my eyeglass frames are metallic purple, and I dye my hair purple.

Callahan's - Like Spider Robinson, I grew up on Long Island. But I didn't know that a virtual Callahan's Place existed on the internet until a few of my real-world friends (also science fiction fans who'd read Spider's stories) introduced me to it. I quickly made a number of friends there... and also got sucked into some drama from time to time. And then I joined the long, slow exodus to LiveJournal. I don't seem to be in a headspace for participating much in online groups lately, though - I do most of my interacting in friends' LJs and/or email.

Mysticism - I've had a somewhat mystical turn of mind all my life, which has never conflicted with my scientific skepticism (which I've also had all my life). I've had some subjective experiences that, if I described them, would convince just about anyone that I'm seriously delusional, or at least on some very interesting drugs. In a roundabout way that I don't have room to explain in a comment, my mystical streak brought me to Wicca. So I'm a Priestess... but I'm still an agnostic.

1947 - the year I was born. I don't remember very much about it ;-D

Radio - Electronics was among the technological hobbies I tinkered with as a child - I wanted a ham ticket, but my family couldn't afford to buy me the parts for a rig. In college, I discovered the campus radio station (how I happened across it is another story that's too long for an LJ comment). I also discovered that I was very good at being a radio engineer (board operator), and fairly decent as an announcer/DJ. And people actually got paid for doing this in the real world! After I graduated, I got a commercial radio license, and began looking for work in NYC. At first, nobody had ever heard of a female engineer, and it took me a while to get my foot in the door. But I worked in radio, off and on, as an engineer and occasional DJ, for nearly thirty years. I haven't been able to prove it, but I'm pretty sure I was the first woman radio engineer in NYC.