Five memelemmings dancing...

From the altfriday5:

1. Do you like to have music playing while you work? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favourite music or type of music to hear then?

Usually, yeah. It frees up some cycles in my head that would otherwise be playing memories of music. What I play usually depends on what I'm working on and what mood I'm in while I do it. The one surefire combination I've found thus far is Celt-Punk for Tie-Dye--don't know what it is about listening to guys yell about alcoholism and governmental oppression that makes it easier to make hippy-wear, but... yeah.

2. Do you like to have music playing while you travel (walk, drive, ride, etc.)? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favourite music or type of music to hear then?

Yes, partially for the same reason mentioned above, and partially because having something to sing along to keeps me awake more effectively than doing the mathematical mile-marker-vs-speed-and-exit-number tango. When math becomes more powerful than music, it's time to pull over and sleep. The best driving music in the world is Queen (especially A Day at the Races, A Night at the Opera, and Jazz), followed by Meat Loaf and Jason Mraz. Styx is also good. Sing along with those cats as you toodle around in the Rockies and see if your breath control hasn't improved when you get back home.

3. Do you like to have music playing while you have sex? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favourite music or type of music to hear then?

Oddly enough? No. Unless it's Beats Antique, at an almost subliminal volume.

4. Do you like to have music playing while you're relaxing or having fun? Why or why not? If yes, what is your favourite music or type of music to hear then?

Rare is the occasion when I'd be unwilling to turn on a radio/put in a CD/fire up iTunes. I have, in fact, been known to hear music where there was none. (although I maintain that it sounded like the opening to a Loreena McKennett tune at the time.)

5. In general, what role does music play in your daily life? It's my mood ring. It's my sugar cube ("Sugar for a horse and a stick for a cow", isn't that how the Irish saying goes?). It's like my hair--I could go without it, but I wouldn't look quite right.


Bonus: My Pandora profile. "Barbrawl" is the tie-dye station.

(no subject)

"Why do there have to be badguys?" Dae asked one morning on our way to school.

It trips me up and trips me out to hear the timeless lucidity that comes out of his mouth sometimes. Times like that feel like we've stepped offstage into the dusty dimness of the wings, and are standing there together with our thumbs in our suspenders, admiring the propmakers' skill. Two old souls taking a smoke break before we're due to get back out there and deliver our next lines.

"What do you mean, boo?" I ask, mostly to see what he'll say.

"In movies. Why's there always a badguy?"

"To move the story along, lovey. To make the goodguys be good instead of just guys. To make the characters grow."

"To make the story move?"

"Yep. No badguy, or no conflict, no change. No story."

"Hm."

A few days later we were watching another movie, and as the story unfolded to show what the main problem was going to be, I heard him murmur, "There have to be badguys to make the story move."


I'm curious what plant will grow from that seed. Will he hear religious myths with an ear out for how the bad guy gives the good guy purpose? Have I just laid the groundwork for my son to become a mass murdurer? Or will it turn into compassion? Into a keen eye for the way people deal with one another?

I don't know. I have hopes, but I don't know.