What do you do when not on Mudcat

Subject: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:45 AM

I have read various topics on Mudcat and I am amazed how many names (real or otherwise) crop up over and over again on mixed topics.
This has led me to wonder what people find time to do when away from their screens and haw long do they spend reading and composing their thoughts.
Don't get me wrong, I find their views fascinating, if somewhat jaundiced, and long may they continue
As for me; I play a bit, sing a bit, listen a bit and sleep a bit. The rest of the time I spend constructivly watching TV

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: George Papavgeris
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:52 AM

I watch TV no more than 1 hour/day on average - news, the occasional documentary or film. I drive a lot, while listening to the radio or CDs; I read some (less than I used to, but fewer books excite me these days), and apart from the usual human activities, I fill the rest of the time "faffing" on guitar and humming to myself.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Leadfingers
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:54 AM

There's something OTHER than MudCat ??

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:55 AM

I must say I rather like your "faffing" and humming

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Naemanson
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:12 AM

I don't spend very much time on the 'Cat. I have one thread I have kept up for about four years now. Sometimes I skim through the other threads or friends might notify me of threads that I might like.

As for my off time I (deep breath) teach ESL, go kayaking, work on my car, help clean this house, search for better jobs, eat mangoes off our trees, help my friend in his various endeavors, and try to do a little writing.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Donuel
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:16 AM

go down to the mall and watch Al Gore and the green concerts.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Mrrzy
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 09:03 AM

Marketing analyses. Right now I'm taking a break from fighting with my database and coming to the Mudcat to relax for a while.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 09:20 AM

Play music, drink, eat, sleep and............was going to say fuck, but not since the wife left.

eric

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 09:55 AM

Build furniture, paint surfaces, move rocks, write books, do various home projects, drive a lot, make music, and I also have a day job.


A

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,dianavan
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:08 AM

Teach, attend community meetings, garden, clean house, paint, do yoga, play with photoshop, travel and dance.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:10 AM

do crafty stuff (embroidery, knitting, quilting, beading ...), read a lot, listen to good stuff on radio, listen to good stuff on CDs, do crosswords, lunch with friends, shop, run a folk club (where Mudcatters George Papavgeris & Cloudstreet will be appearing In March), participate in singing sessions, attend concerts,

just the kind of stuff retired folk do!

sandra

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Bobert
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:26 AM

Hmmmmmm??? Way too much, that much is fir sure...

Right now I'm running two construction projects... The first is a complete renovation of am 1833 hotel that Satan made me buy... The second is building a spec house on 7 acres that Satan made me buy...LOL...

Then I perfrom a least once a week either solo or with my band, Sidewalk Bob (me) and the Pedestrains, we reherse at least once a week and, to top it off...

...I try to keep a 17 acre farm tidy, along with helping my wife, the P-Vine, maintain our massive gardens...

If I ain't doin' one of the above that means I'm fast asleep...

Bobert (over worked and under paid)...

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 11:13 AM

when not on Mudcat, there are several thousand OTHER bookmarks to explore..*grin*...

Then, when I tire of that, I do woodwork in my basement shop..(mostly making lathe-turned 'objects' of a wide variety of woods.)

Yes...I watch TV some, too...(ONLY the good stuff, of course)

and when forced, I attempt to mow the grass & trim the shrubbery...etc...

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Ebbie
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 01:14 PM

I have cut way back on my out of home activities- this is about the fourth time in the last few years that I have consciously done it. At a certain point I decide that I want to be home more evenings, especially since I now have a dog and a cat.

So let's see: This last week, I attended a choral evening put on by Byron McGilvray (sp? I'd have to look it up) who had, in two weeks, put together what turned out to be an accomplished group. Fun. Lots of music, ranging from South American songs to Folk Songs to Stephen Sondheim.

On Thursday I went to a memorial service. On Friday I went to the usual music night.

Three times a day I roam around the neighborhood with my dog and smell the flowers and watch the gardens grow and chat with others doing the same thing.

Three afternoons a week I go to the office. I am the only employee so there is usually enough for me to do.

Otherwise I pretty much spend my days alternately at the computer or reading in my big chair.

It is my contention that anyone who works full time doesn't have time for *real* life. :)

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Peace
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 01:15 PM

Someone has to tend the sheep . . . .

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 02:14 PM

...and grind out the products of life and design and manufacture and document and patent them, pack them and ship them, drive them and stock them, sell them and track them, recycle them and re-design them. It's not just all roses and sunsets out there! :D


A

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 02:28 PM

Mudcat became a behavioral addiction for me a long time ago. I keep checking in to see what's happening on various threads. It's my daily social life, for the most part. What else do I do? I also run my business, do yardwork, play some keyboard, read books, work on models, cook, cut the lawn....whatever.

But I use the computer like many people use TV, to fill in my spare time. I like it way better than watching TV, because it's a mentally active way of spending time, whereas watching TV is totally passive. And the worst thing about TV is the endless damned advertising. I don't have to put up with that on the computer.

If the computer was not available, I would probably go back to reading more books and doing more craftwork. I'd never go back to watching television.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Peace
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 02:43 PM

"work on models"

Uh, need any help with that?

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 02:45 PM

Not those kind of models, Peace! ;-) Too bad, eh?

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 02:46 PM

I wonder...do those who don't watch TV at all do it just because they feel there's not much worthwhile on it?...or because IF they watch it, they get hooked, like an alcoholic taking one drink? If one really has so much important/fascinating stuff going on that they have no time for TV, I applaud them....but even then I'd like it to be available to follow certain things.

Different strokes, I guess.

I do watch more than I should, but there ARE some worthwhile things on it...and often on non-commercial stations.
I even like watching things like the Tour de France bike race....not 'start to finish', but at least following it.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Peace
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 03:01 PM

Bill, I don't watch TV for a few reasons. Mostly today it's because I don't have one, but the reason I don't have one is that many years ago--about 15 or so--I really got bored when TV was on. The news seemed slanted, the shows seemed crappy, the humour wasn't, etc. The commercials drove me crazy with their bland 'use this product and your troubles on Earth are over' slant. And I just found myself more and more interested in other things when the TV was on.

I don't suggest that people who DO watch TV are dullards or anything like that. They must have brains that work differently than mine (avoid the temptation) and glean from TV stuff I don't. I know--when someone as intelligent as you can and does watch TV--that there must be good stuff on it. Me, well, I just can't be arsed to find it. So I read the news in papers and on the 'net. I do occasionally watch movies on a TV screen, but that's a different thing. Oh, and when the hockey playoffs were on I watched about 10 games at a restaurant I go to at times. But that's about it for me.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 03:01 PM

Well, I used to watch TV quite a bit in the 70's, and I didn't feel that I was getting hooked....but I never actually owned a TV, I just happened to be living in places where there was one.

So when I moved, I stopped watching.

But the main reason I choose not to watch it is simply the commercial interruptions. I can't stand that. I don't want to put up with it. I'd rather read a book, read the paper, or go on the computer.

If there was a TV show I really liked (and there have been a few), I would wait for it to come out later on DVD and I'd rent it, and watch it without the ads. That is how much I hate advertising. It's like a series of obnoxious and uninvited strangers bursting suddenly into your presence in your own home every 5 or 6 minutes and haranguing you with a frantic sales pitch about something you neither need nor want. How long would you put up with that if it were happening in real 3-D life? Why should you put up with it from an electronic box?

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: kendall
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 03:43 PM

I watch certain TV shows, Law & Order, 60 Minutes, and the History channel.
I read. Right now I'm into "The Tao of Willy" by Willy Nelson. He's a very interesting character, and I highly recommend it to all.

I play with our antique car.

Sometimes I get ambitious and build a bathroom, well, the plumbing and painting, tile laying and installing the moulding. Those compound mitres are fun. The make me remember words that I haven't used since I went to sea.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 04:31 PM

Hang around the Legion Hovel.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Don Firth
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 04:32 PM

Burp and scratch?

Lemme see, kendall . . . does the Hostery Channel feature programs on entertaining in your home?

I'm retired. But I've worked at a variety of jobs, from professional entertainer (folk music, from the mid-Fifties through the Sixties), to production illustrator at Boeing, to radio announcer and news director, to telephone operator, to technical writer for the Bonneville Power Administration.

These days I spend most of my time writing:   I've had several magazine articles published, and I'm working on a book. Bob Nelson (Deckman) and I are planning to do a concert together this coming fall, so I'm practicing a bunch, singing a lot of stuff I used to sing and learning a few new songs (I haven't done a full-blown concert since the early Eighties, so I've gotta get my socks pulled up!). I'm also doing some research pending putting together a home studio, because I intend to record a batch of the songs I do and make them available on CD. Gathering information at this point. I don't have any records out, and as Dave Van Ronk said, "In vinyl, veritas!"

In addition to writing and practice, I give a few guitar lessons during the week, watch television selectively, and read a lot on a wide variety of subjects. I'm also pretty active politically (letters to editors, bugging legislators, etc.). And I also visit with friends in the 3-D world.

One thing that makes the writing go fairly fast—and that allows me to write long screeds here on Mudcat without spending all that much time at it—is that I use Dragon NaturallySpeaking, a voice-recognition program, a lot. I just dictate to the computer, and what I dictate appears on the screen. A little judicious editing, and away it goes.

Don Firth

P. S. Every now and then, for variety, I like to write with a Dixon Ticonderoga No. 2 wooden pencil on a yellow legal pad.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: autolycus
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 04:32 PM

When not working part-time (I agree, Ebbie), I mooch around town looking for s-h LPs,tapes,CDs, books; play records, read bits of books, join in several on-line discussions; play cricket in the summer (like today), talk on the phone (oh, and listen); household chores when they've built up; tiny bits of telly (keep thinking of giving it up); write very rarely; and something no-one else has mentioned (I think) listen to the radio quite a bit; prepare meals ; sleep ; solve the world's problems in my head; occasionally get gifted therapy clients, so have ongoing peer groups of fellow-therapists; visit my 91-y-o mum in London de temps en temps; clean LPs (a new intermittent pleasure - keep forgetting the pills); go to concerts when I can and feel like it. And wondering about women.

And think I'm pretty lazy.






       Ivor

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Georgiansilver
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:23 PM

Gym four of five times a week. Hike over rough terrain. Travel overland to Romania with Humanitarian aid, work in a charity shop 1.5 days a week and do valuing of antiques/collectables, walk on hot coals(Firewalking) for charity. Have and maintain a cabinet in an Antique Centre. Read my Bible, Pray, cook my food, shop, wash, iron, Go to Folk clubs and the odd festival or two. sing in the shower. Do school run..morning and afternoon during the week. Church at weekend and care group on Wednesday. Think I find time to sleep sometimes. Actually...how do I find time to get on here?????
Best wishes, Mike.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 05:26 PM

You're a good man, Mike.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Art Thieme
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 06:11 PM

Various things, but mostly they are accomplished in the bathroom.

Art

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Sandra in Sydney
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 08:15 PM

I don't watch TV cos I don't have one. I know I miss some great programs on history/archaeology/arts/travel ...

We didn't get one till I was 14, same time we moved & I got a room of my won, started isolating in my new room, pretending I was studying!

So I didn't watch much TV & more importantly, I didn't get into the habit in the next 10 years before I moved out.

When my brother went overseas in 1978 I had his TV & watched a bit until it died.

Next time I deliberately watched some TV was when I visited my 2 year old nephew & watched a few hours of kid's TV with him - we saw Bananas in Pyjamas! & other classics - he's 15 now & the only TV I've seen since was the occasional bit in a pub or store window.

sandra

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Rapparee
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:00 PM

We have four (4) televisions: 2 on the main floor and 2 in the lower level. None of them are on....

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Midchuck
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:39 PM

I spend 5 or 6 hours a day at the office. Having reached retirement age, retiring before my wife did didn't make much sense, but I didn't want to work very hard either, so I closed my home office and opened a real office so I could be there only as much every day as I chose.

Along with Mudcat, I also waste time on Flatpick-L, UMGF, the Steve Stirling discussion group, Steve Brust's blog, the Tom Russell group...

I try to practice music regularly, but often miss. I play music gigs with the trio, and sometimes with just Kris, when we can get them - mostly in the summer.

I try to get some aerobic activity every day. Most usually just fast walking, often on the local trails; cross-country skiing when possible; rare trips in to the gym.

I read science fiction and fantasy - although there isn't as much readable stuff available as there once was. Gawd, I miss Anderson and Sturgeon and...

I mow lawn, rake leaves, or shovel snow, as the season dictates.

I sit around swearing at my computer when it fails to do what it's told - or does what it's told by some outside force rather than by me.

I fuss over the cats - entirely too much by any normal person's standard; not enough by theirs.

I have a television but no cable or antenna. It's only used to watch videos. Sometimes we watch something at the neighbor's - usually bad movies on the sci-fi channel.

I never play computer games. I don't trust myself if I ever started.

Peter.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,.gargoyle
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 10:48 PM

I write:

Restaurants, Music, Airlines, Tomaine-Palaces, Hotels, Interstates, Plants, Animals, Watersports, Websites, Shoes, COMIX, Software, Tires, Tea, Yoga Teachers, ....whatever a publisher will purchase.

Most publishers need about 10% vinager to offset the sacrene sweetness required to sell advertising. If an advertiser has cancelled...six months later they call on me.

Gargoyle

Mudcat has cancelled me...again and again and again.....think of a cider-still.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Bee
Date: 08 Jul 07 - 11:45 PM

Make stained glass for selling, paint, fiddle with various arty things, read, garden, maintain the house and property, cook, volunteer, do research for museum, sew, play guitar and sing. In winter, spend a lot of time keeping the woodstove burning and the woodbox filled.

Husband travels for work a lot. The computer is my interactive TV.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: harpmolly
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 01:23 AM

Hmmm...hang around Dusty Strings (and get paid for it, nyah nyah!), come home, watch The Simpsons, play a little harp, check the 'Cat and a few other sites (occasionally get hooked on a game of Talismania), play with the cat, read, read some more, maybe have a wild spontaneous fling with the dulcimer. Every few weeks I'll go out to see live music with friends (sometimes several times a week, sometimes less). I do watch DVDs and occasionally bad late night TV because I'm naturally insomniac.

Ooh, forgot a very important aspect of my day: flirting with the checkout lads at the Fremont PCC (local community co-op grocery store). Very important to sustaining my morale. ;)

Cheers,

Molly

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Little Hawk
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:15 AM

Midchuck - You are wise to avoid the computer games. Forbidden fruit. Touch 'em once and you can easily lose 1000 hours! ;-)

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 02:46 AM

My nearly 4 year old grandson was here three times last week, and he has developed a taste for computer games. Most of them are really good and educational. They are teaching him all kinds of computer skills as well as number and reading and logic skills.

However, there is one he also likes - not one of the children's educational ones, called Neverball, which has increasing levels of difficulty. It involves rolling a ball on all sorts of curved surfaces, some with barriers, some with edges where you can fall off. You collect coins along the way and work your way towards a target at the end. Max loves it because he just likes balls whizzing around and bouncing off things and he doesn't really care much about his score. But I got hooked into it, and kept on playing after he had left.

I normally stay away from computer games, because there lies madness, but this one had me going for a while. I think I was able to leave it because the repeated falling off the edge into space was uncomfortably like a recurring dream I used to have. Not pleasant. So I think I had a narrow escape from the lost 1000 hours syndrome.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: The PA
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 05:54 AM

During the day, I catch up on all the work I'm supposed to be doing and being paid for at work!!

Out of work, I cook, clean, shop and take care of the family. And when I'm not doing that I'm schooling my horses, I do dressage and eventing and showing (that's why I have to go to work!) and run our livery yard and help my ol'man look after our smallholding, which is what he does when he's not at work too, 70 miles away at JCB in stafford!

We do not get to our local Folk Club as often as we would like to because of work committments, but always have music on in the car, at the stables - the horses seem to like it - in the house, and anywhere else we can.

The Mudcat is a great way of keeping up with stuff, when you can't actually get out there and see/hear things.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 11:39 AM

Apart from George (always welcome) the regular Catters are conspicuious by their absence. Are they afraid someone might be outspoken about their interests or, as I suspect, they have none.
To them the big red book "This is your life"

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: JennyO
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 12:11 PM

What 'regular Catters' would that be, Warwick? Amos, Rapaire, Peace, Bill D, Bobert, Little Hawk, Ebbie, Kendall, me, to name but a few, have all posted.

I thought we were a pretty regular bunch - not that the frequency of our visits to the comfort station have anything to do with it ;-)

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 06:31 PM

I read, sew, embroider, cross stitch, watch TV and movies, sing in a formal choir and try not to kill people. Prozac helps with that.

LTS

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Folkiedave
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 07:43 PM

Retired. Read a lot, listen to music when I am 'catting, write a wine column for a magazine (no pay) and sell books on folk music at folk music festivals.

Love my wife to bits.

Socialise. That means drink. (v.t.)

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,harpgirl
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 08:36 PM

Sometimes when I'm bored I look for images of gargoyle on the internet. Like this one: http://mainehasa.org/images/S78key.pdf



Opps, my bad! Now he will have Joe Offer deleting MY post!
hehehehehehe

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Joe_F
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 10:35 PM

I browse Google News and some newsgroups & blogs. I read a few comics.   Every once in a while a good buddy visits me, and we drink & talk & maybe make love. I go to various social events (Caltech alumni, FSSGB sings, bi & bear meetings). If I don't have another reason to get out of the house on a given day, I go for a walk in Fellsmere Park. I spend a lot of time making meals for myself. I listen to records, mostly folk, while washing the dishes. I do copyediting, which is socially useless but still gets me paid.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Uncle Phil
Date: 09 Jul 07 - 11:24 PM

I spend most of my time working at my day job. I used to travel a lot for work, sometimes for months at a time, but these days cell phones and computers have eliminated the need for most travel. Recreation is mostly live entertainment -- usually music but the occasional play or what not. When we go out I have a bad habit of leaving Michelle alone while I go outside to work via cell phone, so if you see her sitting alone in a bar be nice to her.
- Phil

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,TIA
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 12:02 AM

Live an actual life.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Cluin
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 01:25 AM

Lots of stuff. For instance, tonight, I attended a great Blackie & the Rodeo Kings concert.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 04:22 PM

Hi JennyO. I am lost. I started this thread in the music section to shake up the 'get a life' gang who bad mouth each other in the name of folk music (no names as they might put out a contract on me) and now I find me in a nice place where people are sensible. Thank you for talking to me

ps I forgot to mention eight grandchildren from 18 months to 18 years who do take up a little time now and again, and again, and again........................................

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Ebbie
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 04:51 PM

That's OK, WS. We all neglected to list everything.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Bill D
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 05:40 PM

hey...spoiling grandchildren is a worthy occupation anytime!

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: PoppaGator
Date: 10 Jul 07 - 06:07 PM

When not on Mudcat, I am either:

(a) at home, or

(b) doing the work for which I get paid.

You can deduce from the above that most of my Mudcat time occurs at work. I do check on this forum from home, on my own time, as I should, but only occasionally.

I work as a technical writer, and regularly suffer from writer's block. When my mind dries up and quits producing readable prose, I'll do some personal web surfing, lurk a bit here and there, until inspired to start writing something of personal, frivolous interest. Then I can get back to business and resume writing user instructions for the semi-computer-literate consumers of my employer's software products.

Mea culpa!

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Mr Red
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 01:11 PM

If the 'Cat is unavailable I think of things to ask on the 'Cat.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: beardedbruce
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 01:22 PM

For income I am a rocket scientist.

For my own sake I read, play with electronics, and write lyrical poetry.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,ibo
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 05:46 PM

i produce decorative candles from ear wax,and on sundays i confuse hedgehogs with pin cushions

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 06:51 PM

Well, when I'm not at the Legion Hovel, I try to re-learn the piano (keyboard), write checks to pay bills, work to get the money so I can write the checks to pay the bills, try to stick people with swords, work around the house, eat, bathe, sleep, shoot guns, shoot arrows, try to get money from the city council and blood from turnips, cook, read, write, work on my emboucher, look out the window, raise the dead, and a host of other things.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Ebbie
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 08:28 PM

Rap, you say: "...work on my emboucher..." Do you play the horn?

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: gnu
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 08:37 PM

I listen to as many tunes as I can..... l like good old shit kickin Southern Blues. .

Amongst all the others.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Rapparee
Date: 11 Jul 07 - 09:44 PM

Ebbie my dear, I like to think that I am a trumpeter. The very instrument of the Judgement Day, you know.

Has to be a trumpet. It's just not the same to say, "When the last D7sus has sounded" or "Hark! 'Tis the last banjo!" or even "When Gabriel blows his oboe...."

No, the trumpet is THE instrument. And I attempt to play it.

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Warwick Slade
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 11:29 AM

Rap,play the Kazoo Voluntary

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Amos
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 11:52 AM

And work on spelling your embouchure.


A

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: GUEST,Big Mick
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 12:13 PM

When not on Mudcat, I am usually travelling around the US (currently in South Dakota, Western Iowa, and NE Nebraska) organizing unions. Currently working with a mostly hispanic workforce in the Packinghouse/slaughter industry. Tough work, and tougher workers. The conditions are appalling. We read books like "The Jungle" and think these conditions don't exist anymore. Some do, some don't. In the high pressure world of production, management will push humans ever farther and harder to get a little more out of them. Machines are made of steel and they break down, imagine what happens with bodies.

Of course, I play music. More and more this is music about the struggles of peoples to simply better themselves and give their children a decent life. These days we try to criminalize something that has been a way of life in this country for generations. And the children are usually the victims. I am writing songs and collecting songs about the plight of these decent, hardworking folks. I am trying to put together a collection that takes the songs of the earlier age of immigration when my people (Irish) were coming to this country, along with Germans, Poles, and others, and then add songs, either of my own, or other folks songs, that show that some things really don't change. Music can affect social change, and I am moving in that direction.

Also, now that we have moved home to Michigan, we are trying to get our house back in order after a 2 1/2 year abandonment. During that time there was a flooded basement (looked like a swimming pool), a blown fuse that left a freezer full of food to rot, and critters. So we are a bit busy to say the least.

How's that for a regular Mudcatter report?

Mick

Subject: RE: What do you do when not on Mudcat
From: Pistachio
Date: 12 Jul 07 - 02:21 PM

My seasonal, part-time day job involves getting paid to shout at kids! I teach primary school across East Yorkshire children 'cycling proficiency' so I have varied locations to reach daily.
I referee my family - and the household. I seem to do everything 'domestic' and I have a thing about folding bedding/towels/clothes 'just so'. It's an affliction from time in HM Forces, but it's me.
My husband runs his business from home and I'm tasked to create training booklets, record invoices, key in incident reports as well as track the receipts and payments. Luckily I have Linda Kelly on hand to assist with the accounts.
I sing harmony with Linda - (she's a great songwriter)- as often as possible - and we go to festivals when we can. Our husbands 'don't do folk' ( my husband barely does time off) so I represent him!
I watch one 'soap' regularly and get one magazine a month! I stay too long on Mudcat and I cry at the sad threads. I can go on and on and on... so I'll just go now.
Hazel.