So, what have YOU been up to lately? (A Cruise-free zone, please)
In an attempt to create a new topic of discussion, and since I haven't been on the forums much this past year or three, who is still around from when I used to post all the time? What have you been doing?
Me? Well being on these forums introduced me to Joe Covenant Lamb, and the next thing I knew I was being begged to vote for him in something I had never heard of called Song Fu. (His fav quote- "Did you know that >I< won Song Fu?"). This in turn led to hanging around in the DFTBA chatroom, until it sort of died, and then in the Artifiction chat room...which also died from them deciding to charge Sammy Kablam who set it up and moderated it for the chat space. Through Song Fu and those chats I met a lot of wonderful and talented people, some of whom I originally chatted with in discussions here, like Dave Leigh and Edric Haleen. That led me to deciding "If they can do it, I can do it!" and trying my hand at writing songs for the SpinTunes competitions. I usually get knocked out of the running and just do shadow songs pretty early, but I have learned a lot and had a lot of fun. Yesterday was the recital for the voice lessons I have been taking since January. I have now written over 30 songs for various competitions. Someday, with a decent accompanist and with my newer recording equipment I hope to re-record a lot of them. Maybe I will learn to play an instrument someday...
One of my favorite tunes was written for the challenge topic of "A happy song about death", and can be heard on my bandcamp page at http://menageatune.bandcamp.com/track/isnt-it-nice . If you were ever bullied, you will probably like it.
I have another grandbaby thanks to my daughter Liz and her husband- Mackenzie is now 2, and as blue-eyed and curly-blond-haired as her four-year old big brother Tyler. My son and his wife are waiting till she gets her Masters degree before starting their family- I wish she would hurry up and get it, I want more babies to snuggle!
Most recently I have been doing costumes, make-up and even some acting in small independent film productions- 6 this year so far, 2 last year and 1 the year before that. I am currently the make up artist on a tv pilot filming in 2 weeks called Everyday Bikers which is looking very strong for being picked up, and the thought of really going pro is pretty dazzling for me. Note-going pro means that I get paid in something more than hugs, gratitude and dinner for working on a project, lol. Indie film makers are notoriously broke. If you want to see me acting in something I also costumed, check out http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qbWWjrds0Xs Genre Wars 3 Vampires vs Vikings. I am the vampire matriarch who says "Yes M'Lord" a lot. I also did costumes or makeup for the other 2 GW3 submissions this round, as well as part 1. Genre Wars is an on going film competition- 20 bucks to enter your film, and the winner, decided by YouTube votes gets 1/2 of the collected pot and bragging rights. People are starting to work on round 4 entries now, due the end of July I think.
So- as the title says, what's been happening in YOUR life?
And can you believe it that JoCo actually POSTED to the forums recently???? Yeah, I about fainted when I read what he said too!
Comments
What I've been up to since I was last active on the forums would sound too much like whining, and I don't like to whine online unless it's amusing, which this wasn't. Suffice it to say that late 2008 into early 2010 kinda sucked balls. 2010 and 2011 were better but chaotic. 2012 is looking up. Finally getting a foothold here in PA, and a little music work is trickling in.
Lessee, what have I been up to?
Perspicacious forumgoers will have noted that ever since a couple years ago, I've talked a lot less about going to shows in the Boston area and a lot more about going to shows in the Pacific Northwest. This is, naturally, a job-related transition, in that I've transitioned out of not having a job and into having a job. #humblebrag?
Somewhat relatedly (though there are other factors), I've become much worse at handling any forum maintenance (and especially wiki maintenance) that requires more attention regularly than, say, a small fishtank.
And I continue to be no good at writing about myself, which seems to be the sole topic on these forums that I'm incapable of turning into a long essay all about me.
I study history, you see.
On the other hand, I have managed to record some JoCo-covers, so it's not like I have wasted my time entirely.
http://spintunes.blogspot.com/ to sign up.
Still, maybe someday
@aliceandstuff I think you want the thread @chicazul started earlier about this -- http://www.jonathancoulton.com/forums/index.php?p=/discussion/2010/one-forum-to-rule-them-all
Saw JoCo with Roderick, went to 2 weddings and played a concert- Mozart piano concerto 20 and symphony 40. Mahler 4th symphony A Little Night Music, and Miss Saigon on deck....
I'm not as worried as I might be. There are benefits to living near Boston; we have some of the top hospitals in the country.
But I've been watching all of the Twitter traffic from JoCo's tour, as well as Molly's concert, and regretting having two businesses that actually require me to be in one physical location much of the time. And not having a transporter. Also wishing that, just once, JoCo and his band would come within 1,000 miles. On this tour, they flew over us in both directions.
I've pretty much officially stopped making WoW vids by now. I get comments daily on the videos from people wanting to know why and demanding that I continue, which doesn't work, obviously. There's no sinister reason I stopped, I just ran out of steam. I'd been doing it for about five years and like any normal hobby, I eventually got bored and moved on. If I were telling the full truth, I'd probably say that the long wait for Artificial Heart (plus the lack of songs I really love on Artificial Heart once it came out) was a contributing factor. In any case, that fun period of my life is now over.
More recently, I've been fulfilling my creative urges by playing and making custom accessories for the best superhero themed cooperative card game I've ever seen, Sentinels of the Multiverse. The game is wicked fun, and I've been making oversized villain cards and hero hp trackers and card boxes and web tools and other stuff. It's made by a small indie company and so has the same sort of early adopter camaraderie on the forums like the early days of JoCo. I like that.
I know we're not supposed to talk about the cruise in this topic, but one of the game's designers is a big JoCo fan and I'm pretty sure he went on the second cruise, and even brought along his cards to play in the gameroom. So some of you may have already heard of or played this game.
Not much else interesting going on.
I've edited my second non-JoCo music video.* This one's for Fitz & The Tantrums' cover of the Eurythmics' song, Sweet Dreams (Are Made Of This).
Update: he's out of surgery, and it sounds like he dodged various bullets.