I've just become a member after participating sporadically as a guest for a couple of years. What took me so long? Originally, I was working for a company whose workflow was becoming more uneven, I was on-line with time on my hands, I discovered this forum, but I didn't want to draw attention to myself by formalizing my participation. (Call me paranoid, but I just didn't feel comfortable with the situation.)

The company unexpectedly shut down its Calgary branch office, I opted not to relocate to Toronto, and since then I've been lowering my overhead and trying to stretch my severance to pensionable age. (Not too successfully -- I expect I'll be going to the B-list of less suitable day jobs soon.) Ironically, I'm posting less often since I've been at home with time available. For one thing, I share the home computer with a university student/fantasy writer son. For another, having to go downstairs and fire up the computer is a slight disincentive compared to being already on-line.

I don't feel any need for anonymity, so I'll go on a bit about myself. I'm 58, married, with two adult children (son and daughter) from a former marriage and one son of university age living at home. Musically, I play clawhammer-style (sort of) banjo and octave mandolin, mostly. One of my interests is Canadian traditional music (I'm still secretary of the Canadian Society for Traditional Music, as of the meetings a week ago.) I like most kinds of folk music, particularly American old-time and British traditional. I tend to prefer the traditional end of the folk music spectrum to the contemporary end, but there's lots of good stuff in the latter as well; I just find there's more mediocre stuff to wade through to find the gems. I've written a few songs and tunes that have been recorded by other people, and am working on a CD of my own (stalled by an equipment problem -- I'd hoped to have it out for Christmas, but that's not realistic now). I play in a "Celtic" group in Calgary (Scottish and Northumbrian repetertoire with some Irish and Canadian), participate in other "Celtic" sessions, and do solo gigs when they come along, which isn't all that often.

I helped run a folk club for over 11 years, until I got overloaded. I was president of the Canadian Folk Music Society for a couple of years. I've volunteered at folk festivals in various capacities (not in the last few years, though). I've been editor, co-editor and various other jobs with the Canadian Folk Music Bulletin (a quarterly publication of CSTM), and am still involved. I take part in some grassroots activities, including a singers' circle and a contra dance group.

Maybe becoming a member will be incentive to up my participation, but not in the short term -- I'm off to England to visit my daughter and check out my first grandchild, until about mid-November. Thank god for Airmiles!