5 Things About Me
Lee nudged me to participate in a recent blogging meme wherein I am to list 5 things about myself that most people are not likely to know. Given that my readers, all five of them, probably know me quite well makes this difficult, and considering one of those five is my mother I must choose carefully what I divulge from here on. Warning: this is a long, self-centered post of the kind that gives blogging a bad rep.
1. I was a teenage vibraphonist. OK, first off, you may wonder what the hell a vibraphone is. It’s like a xylophone but made of metal, the keys are all on the same plane, there is a sustain pedal, and a motor that produces vibrato. Need more information? Try Wikipedia. I began playing the vibraphone at age 12 in my junior high school jazz ensemble. I also played piano, trombone, and all manner of percussion instruments, including tympani. It was a lot of fun. I switched full time to vibraphone and percussion at 15. Our high school jazz ensemble was very good and won lots of awards. I had exactly two vibraphone lessons during my abbreviated career, one given by Dave Samuels, at that time with the fusion jazz ensemble Spyro Gyra, and the other given by the illustrious Gary Burton, who taught me how to play with four mallets. My band instructor was well connected and brought in some great professional players to tutor us. In addition to the jazz ensemble I played in the concert and marching bands. Thus, in the rigid high school classification system I was a “bandie”. It all ended after high school when I decided to attend a college that didn’t have a jazz ensemble, concert band, or marching band. In fact, there wasn’t even a football team (the horror). This was a great disappointment to my instructor who was actively trying to convince me to go to a big state university with a full music program and/or play professionally.
2. I flunked Introduction to Pascal in college. I didn’t just take an incomplete, I really flunked. Got a big old F on my transcript to prove it. My only excuse is that I was at my lowest low in life and wasn’t living in a reality-based frame of mind. I suppose making my living now as a systems administrator is my way of making up for my earlier mistakes. No, that’s not true. I just like computers now and back then they were completely alien to me. (Related bonus item: that same semester I also flunked “Civilization in Question” which was a “great books” class, although the F was not entirely my fault. I was railroaded by a femme fatale in my study group who lied to the professor that I was solely responsible for our group’s dismal performance. The professor, a true bigot and unrepentant man-hater, believed her. I had stupidly left the country for a few weeks and was unable to defend myself. Live and learn, my friends.)
3. I had the chicken pox twice. They say it is impossible, or at least very unlikely, but I had them once when I was a baby and then again my senior year in high school. The second time around I was very sick, the sickest I’ve ever been. I had pox everywhere you can think of, including places you’d rather not think of. I missed the last two weeks of high school. I was granted permission to skip my final exams and still graduate. Given the choice between having the pox and taking my exams, I would have chosen the exams.
4. I made several pretty bad short films. After completing my expensive liberal arts college education, I decided to bum around Seattle and see if I could get into the film industry. Guess what? It didn’t happen. Though I did continue along for quite awhile thinking it could happen. I completed a film and video production program at the University of Washington Extension where we made three short films. For one 16mm color short I was the director of photography. After that experience I decided cinematography was for me. I bought a light meter and the American Cinematographer Manual. I got a gig as DP on a 35mm feature, written, directed, and produced by one of my classmates. It didn’t materialize. Meanwhile, I made short animated videos in my apartment using pre-digital technology as well as an 8mm short for a stage play directed by a co-worker. None of it was particularly good and there was no way to make a living doing it. I’m still I true film buff and worship the silver screen, but I harbor no illusions that I will become a filmmaker someday.
5. I sometimes crave the limelight. This will, perhaps, come as a surprise to even those who do know me. I am an introverted person. I like people, but I prefer to be around only a few specifically chosen people. I don’t do well at parties, or I should say I do well for about the first hour or so and then I start to feel tired and desire to slip back into my comfort zone, at home with my family. However, there are occasions, rare moments indeed, where what I want most is to have everyone in the room talking about and listening and looking at me. This goes back to my days playing the vibraphone. I loved performing with a group on stage, and I loved most of all taking a solo in the jazz ensemble. When your confidence is high and the audience responds to what you’re doing on stage, the feeling you get is out of this world. Nowadays, I only perform and play act in front of my kids, and that’s fun enough most of the time. But sometimes I itch to entertain strangers, whether it be with words, music, or what have you.
Apparently, now is the point at which I am to tag five other bloggers to also list 5 things about themselves that we do not likely know, but I’m at pains to come up with that many. How about Heather, Jim, and Scott (if you’re out there buddy). Have at it.
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