JT Thomas

 Finally just finished what I'm pretty sure are the last edits to Trinities, the winter-themed Threes I wrote at the December 1st MASSFILC meeting. This song got funnier as the weather got more ridiculous this winter.

 With the Sooj (& Jesster) concert tonight, yes, I was the bored one in the chat three minutes before concert. Making a copy here of the approximately ten-minute filk that happened as I was waiting, so it's not just sitting in a sticky note on my desktop.

 If I've never mentioned it, my parents' house is kind of huge. (Not my house anymore. Nopes.)

My mom grew up here, then bought it from her dad for cheap. The main part's about a hundred years old, and there are at least two separate extensions, a huge basement, and both a second floor and an attic. The attic's basically empty, but the basement has all of my baby clothes and about three thousand vinyl records (at least half of which were destroyed in a flood when I was little, sadly). 

The upstairs, however, is a mystery most of the time. It's where my dad's stuff goes when he doesn't want it. That means, of course, anything technological. He's kind of hopeless. 

According to my mom, somewhere upstairs, there is a bunch of recording stuff. As in, she bought him enough stuff for his own recording studio and he never touched it after opening it for Christmas when I was a tiny child. So now, she's offered it to me if either one of us can find it upstairs. 

I spent probably about an hour upstairs today trying and failing to find any of it to see if it's even compatible with modern technology (we still have a Windows 95 computer upstairs, too, so if it's not then it's staying here for someone else). But it's impossible to find to see if it's even worthwhile to claim as my own.

Things I did find:
--my mom's sign language textbooks
--my late aunt's mandolin, in desperate need of repair but maybe I can play it then?!?!?! I may save up some money for those purposes (update: my dad thought it over, he thinks it's his godfather's originally, most likely from the 1930s, and he's fine with it being mine since otherwise it would sit around. Also, the upstairs of this house has no heat, so me having it means it's not in the cold all winter every year which is probably better)
--extra guitar strings
--at least two guitars my dad would never admit exist, one of which is a 3/4 classical with not a single sign of who made it but at some point it was fitted with a strap button which has since fallen out given the hole and the fact that it had a strap tied onto the headstock with a literal piece of nylon string
--an Appalachian dulcimer which my dad has now declared I can have, because it came from Little Bear's original owner. Needs new strings, is otherwise perfect. Is also adorable, has its own case, and is definitely mine
--a whole lot more books than I thought I had
--a bag of cords I need to go through tomorrow in case there's one of the ones I need for my drawing tablet (the cord is nearly broken)

Overall, pretty successful in unexpected ways.

 Not a bad thing for once, however odd that feels to me: my mom tried black beans for the first time in her life this week, and she greatly enjoys them.

That moment when my father steals my guitar for a minute and starts playing "Have Yourself a Merry Little Christmas"...

...then says "if the fate allows" to remove the only semblance of a reference to anything not purely Christian.

Have I mentioned how Catholic he is? I feel like I need to point out just how Catholic he is. He's so Catholic it's not even funny. I also feel like I should mention *this is why I wear headphones to listen to any and all music when he's home*.

 with a knot in my stomach because it's not the first time I've had these thoughts.

Cut for family issues, slight but not urgent mental health stuff, and general confusion.

( Read more... )

but I’m doing holiday_wishes this year. Post lists! Get gifts! Spread some cheer this time of year! My list is here if anyone wants to get me anything, but please spread the joy to everyone else in the community too!

Did this earlier. Finally have the energy to post the link.

With an hour and a half before a second half runthrough for the Scottish play, here's my thefridayfive  for the week.

Frankenstein's creation (not monster, dammit). This comic sums up my opinion pretty nicely (no image descriptions, sorry, I'm low on spoons).

Seeting up a YouTube livestream for some practice. Also known as the moment I realize how much of a mess my dorm room is and say screw it, because I need practice. Think I'll throw in the current draft of my Kiple and fantasy songs. Link is here, provided it actually works. I'll update the link if needed after the stream's done.

Edit: stream failed first time, link replaced.

Edit two: stream split because of microphone failure. Second link here.

Final edit: links are good. First stream failed at 27:15, but I didn't know right away.
Full practice list (with credit according to the internet and my apologies for incorrectness) was:
Stream one: Shadow Stalker (lyrics Mercedes Lackey, music Heather Alexander), Rocket Rider's Prayer (Steve Savitzky, mdlbear ), Threes Take Two (lyrics Mercedes Lackey, music Leslie Fish), and There's Always a Reason (Mercedes Lackey) ((in which the audio failed majorly)).
Stream two: didn't bother to try There's Always a Reason again because I have a cold and it's cutting my range off, but did Battle Dawn (Mercedes Lackey), Dawson's Christian (Duane Elms), Greensleeves-ish (Michael Longcor / Moonwulf Starkaaderson), first part of Sir Gawain and the Green Knight (Heather Dale), a couple tries at Hymn to Breaking Strain (words Rudyard Kipling, music Leslie Fish), first part of Midsummer (Heather Alexander), an attempt at Herald's Creed (Mercedes Lackey) that started off sounding suspiciously like Web of Light (oops), Gloria in excelsis deo, Wassail, and my two current WIP filks (Prepare to Die and Law of the Jungle).

My fingers are still hurting. That's a good sign. I think.