JT Thomas

 Finished while at last night's MASSFILC meeting; not performed, because I wouldn't have gotten through it without laughing.

I started it back on December 21st, an hour or so after finishing my finals, after laughing too hard at my own failure to remember the actual lyrics to Toast to Unknown Heroes. There's one trouble with having a song written by someone who rather famously has always loved Star Trek when the song itself has one verse where the end rhyme can accidentally be "boldly go" and one where the final word is actually "before" -- as in, "where no man's gone before".

This song has given me more trouble than any other song I've ever written, and I'm glad it's over.

( TTTO Toast to Unknown Heroes )

Also known as: a fiddle tune got stuck in my head, and the name was too good not to make the pun. Then another pun showed up, because it’s also a Morris dance tune. To top it all off, I was sitting in the theatre for an hour waiting to be cleared to turn on the preshow light cue... and I got bored.

Edit, because it seems I might need to clarify: that title is the actual title.

( The Girl I Left Behind Me )

to ysabetwordsmith, whose Schrodinger's Heroes universe deserves a bit of extra filk and all. This one runs on the simple theory that Schrodinger the Cat may be significantly smarter than anyone gives him credit for. (I may or may not spend the summer animating the title sequence, but that's once I have a decent workspace to draw at.)
As such, a song inspired both by Schrodinger's Heroes and by the chat room in the 3/18/19 Sooj Concert Window broadcast. Tune yet unwritten, but surely exclusively to be played on stringed instruments (which I will extend to piano if it's an actual piano and not a digital keyboard):

( String Theory )

Looks like I'm graduating a year early, and I'm an RA in the time between now and then. This means a source of income that I can actually rely on to at least some extent.

My Patreon does exist as well; some writing and a bunch of photos are up there for free, if anyone cares to take a look. I tried to attach all appropriate content warnings, but am also forgetful and would appreciate a reminder if something lacks them.

( CW for family, existential dread, future stuff )I'm really starting to not like college as much, either. The fact that Play Production (aka literally just working in the scene shop building stuff and otherwise running lights and sound for the show) is my favorite class right now and my all-time favorite was choir (in which I was basically assigned to whine at the other students that unless they fixed their posture and relaxed they were going to be dealing with quite the trouble breathing well enough for the music we were doing) ... yeah. Either music or working with my hands would be the ideal. But hey, I've only got another year. I think I can make it that long. Might as well, since I've already got some loans. Some degree is better than no degree.

What did the cat do with my good thumb pick? x3
Early in the mornin’.

• Tossed it under the radiator.
• Put it in his pile of toys to play with.
• Dropped it in the catnip planter.
• Somehow swallowed a piece of plastic.
• Gave it to his brother to hide forever.
• Sent it to a new dimension.
• Dropped it in the nearest black hole.
• Set his time machine to the Big Bang and lost it.
• That should cover all the options.
• Never gonna find my thumb pick now.
• It’s Rooster’s fault that I’ve got a blister.
• Moral of the story is picks aren’t cat toys.

Worst part is it happened at my sister’s house and I won’t be back there for weeks yet.

can I have in various stages of the writing process at once?

Lyric stage:
--"Elevenses", not the actual title
--Superstitions
--a certain Star Trek song without a proper name as of yet
--resistance song, again unnamed as of yet
--a Grimm / Child ballads / classical mythology crossover piece that is written for the sake of sarcasm
--Poison Control
--a Civil War marching song that has a slightly too convenient name not to make a pun out of it

Melody stage:
--River Wind, provided it doesn't make me cry too much to handle it
--Elfin Knight with Scarborough Fair, using an older melody for the descant

Instrument stage:
--Trinities (to actually get good enough to sing and play it at once without laughing too hard to breathe)
--Law of the Jungle (because not once did I write down my own chords, and guess who has a horrible memory for chords?)
--A Real Steampunk Story

Other Songs I Am Learning: 
--Barrett's Privateers

Other Projects:
--that Maquis & French Resistance musical I've been working on for three years and is finally getting somewhere because I found my old lyric sheets
--the ten-layer Christmas song my dad will yell at me if I don't finish

This is in addition to about six fiddle tunes I have lined up to learn so I can actually get decent with fiddle again, now that my hands can handle it. (Heh, halfway to a pun.) 

...I didn't realize how many I had going.

 Homework must be done. Then, bodhran and fiddle videos for my music theory professor, who will be the acting chair of the Medieval and Renaissance Studies program next semester while the chair takes a sabbatical. 

Then, after all that work, art time. We'll see if I can finally get my drawing tablet up and running again now that I've got a new cord and a better setup. Very much hopeful.

But first, sleep, because I am sick and it is not fun to be awake all night while sick. 

 that I can attend Boskone next year provided my roommate comes with me. This is funny. I'll be 21. I can drink by then. I can get a hotel room without needing anyone else by then. But I don't get to take public transportation with her knowledge unless I have a chaperone.

Whaaaat.

Gotta write the melody after class today (update: melody written, will record tomorrow). But yeah. This. Saw it on Twitter and now I'm really sad.

( Goodnight Opportunity )