Welcome, you who bring good will, an active mind and a smile. (Can't keep the others away, but when can you...)
I used to have a half-ton of dos and don'ts, some at this blog, some elsewhere. Deciding to rely on "common sense" has only produced more anger and general ill-feeling, however, with at least two people "un-listing" me recently because, I assume, they thought I was applying unfair rules to them or fair rules unfairly, or whathave. (In one case, actually - a broad interpretation of _site_ rules, not mine. In another... eh. It doesn't even seem to merit explaining, really. After all, if I've been acquainted with someone for several years and they break it over slight things... I've probably done the same, more fool me is all I say :( )
So. On to the more important stuff, what you should consider - because if you didn't know it you may think you were given a pig in a poke, friendwise.
First - happy (as much as your average bear!) atheist and rationalist (I'd write that I'm an "unashamed atheist" but why should I _be_ ashamed?), strong believer in tolerance, in the separation between the roles of church and state. Know that about me if you are the profile-reading type (and kudos then) and know that first. Seems that there are a few people on fubar and elsewhere (or at least, they post bulletins - and if you post a bulletin, take responsibility for it, even though you may not have written it. Common. Sense.) who want us unbelievers to "shut up", I quote. Not going to happen. Anyhow, on to the other stuff.
Some of the material in there is as good as anything else to know about me anyway ("and better than most things!") - I'm a 39-year-old New York resident (born in Queensboro, living in Ithaca), working several part-time jobs, obsessed with music. I have Asperger Syndrome. In my free time I'm an editor/admin on Wikipedia (edit: replaced links removed during a double bouncer check), I spend a lot of time here, I work on music-related projects (I used to compose, I don't just right now). I graduated with a bachelor's in math and an MS also.
(I am single but am looking only for acquaintance and possible friendship.)
Since this tends to come up, if my images or profile don't seem worth a 10 to you, either don't rate them - or rate them lower than a 10. Rate them as seems fit. That's how it stands with me (not with a lot of people, I gather.) A rating is a gift if it's a 1 or a 5 or a 7 (7s are interesting) or a 10- you've looked at the dratted thing, you've given me your opinion, you've given me (and yourself) some points even. Anyway, while you're here, you don't have to, but if you could rate what you see and not peer pressure, my gratitude follows as the day the night.
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Highlighted friend profile (aka person who's purchased me in "fu-own" :) )
Seeing if I can place my list of bookish interests here instead. If not- then... nope; and they're saved elsewhere and I'll try not to lose the rest of my profile while doing so.
(No current reading just now March 11 08, though otherwise it alternates... directly put.)
Have often read and re-read Alfred (yes) Einstein's Mozart: His Character, His Work.
Moved guestbook to my stash so that I wouldn't destroy it the first time I got a bouncer ID check wrong (which strips the area of all links, it seems, at least in my case :) - probably because links are exactly what spammers are notorious for leaving! )
Music:
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(last updated:February 5, 2009 @ 5:49 pm)
I'm a classical-obsessed person. Show-tunes too, started there...
Music - Music on right now and especially dear to me- Le Tombeau de Couperin by Maurice Ravel (orchestral arrangement, performed by Claudio Abbado and the London Symphony Orchestra, on classical music choice TV. I have an older recording, myself.) This piece is both an homage, by a composer writing 90 years ago just after World War I, to one of the greatest French composers two centuries before that- and an homage, too, to friends of his who had died in the war, each moevment being preceded by an inscription...
And to my ears it is not all that "light-hearted" a piece! -
Pieces: Beethoven string quartets, Mozart piano concertos, fourth piano sonata by M. Weinberg (Polish-Russian composer 1919-1996, see http://home.wanadoo.nl/ovar/vainberg.htm) from 1955, fourth string quartet by W. Stenhammar, are my favorites, but my almost-favorites become a long list. And I like making lists, and have nothing much else to do... so here's a partial list. (Saving early and saving often in this weather.)
(7-18-06 - hrm, this is getting just-a-bit lengthy. Will change the format a bit in a few ways and move parts of the content to another site later, after I've gotten some more written. Of course for now I have a few more important things to do, like some LilyPond material, university temporary work, and &c.)
Had a lot lengthier descriptions in the B area and under "Medtner" :) , but since this section is limited to 15,000 characters, I'm moving them elsewhere, then abbreviating them and moving them back in when I do not have a (was tearing when I wrote this months back, now another headache, but weaker. Yay cycles- coincidental, not biological ones) headache
Transferring the lists to a blog... (length limit was well exceeded when they were here.)
Tend to do much music writing elsewhere (esp. contributing to articles on Wikipedia - also have written two prefaces to published scores released by Musikproduktion Jurgen Hoflich and have had some brief composer profiles posted to MusicWeb International.
Interests:
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Main focus is classical music. Books- fantasy/sci-fi, history, mystery (Elizabeth George, Tony Hillerman, Colin Dexter, ...), biographies... (More to add later, getting set up..)
Also interested in (expect this list to grow) gryphons (still a member of the Gryphons Guild), computer programming, psychology, civil liberties, left politics, libraries, 20th-century philosophy (Wittgenstein especially but not only), comics (in print and online)
Math- been awhile (this was my major and grad school concentration), but still into what I remember of number theory, combinatorics, especially. Did some work with independence structures/matroids (this has nothing to do with politics, I'm sorry to disappoint, despite my political interests) back in college.
A favorite, favorite quote: Oh, yes. It's vital to remember who you really are. It's very important. It isn't a good idea to rely on other people or things to do it for you, you see. They always get it wrong. (Rincewind, a Terry Pratchett character, in the novel Sourcery. The quote made by another character, from another POV, in a later novel. Pratchett is high on my list of favorite modern authors...)
Idols:
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None. But my family and best friends are my heroes- and if unlike for idols I know that they are made with feet of clay (I'm an atheist but that line is stunning metaphor...) - their work to overcome both their external troubles and their own failings - makes them more the heroes.
The people I list on CT as my family (and the people on MySpace on my front page- I've known those for at least three years, I think...) - are worth at least considering adding, if I may put on the annoying promoter hat.
Movies & TV:
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I haven't seen that many movies more than once. The ones at the top of the list I have; the ones towards the center I probably haven't but still liked far more than enough to include. Not really in a particular order at the moment, though Andrei Rublev is my favorite. -- Andrei Rublev You Can Count on Me 2010 Monty Python and the Holy Grail (I always manage to forget how often I've seen this movie, but not the movie itself!) A Mighty Wind Manufacturing Consent Naked Gun Never Say Never Again Amazon Women on the Moon Airplane! The Incredibles O Brother, Where Art Thou? Twelve Angry Men Take the Money and Run (keep meaning to include this one in this list of films I've seen often and enjoyed, keep forgetting it!)
Movies seen recently enough and recommended: Ladder 49 (2004)
Movies seen in theaters since November '05 , only once, but very strongly recommended: 16 Blocks The Guardian All the King's Men The Family Stone The Lion, the Witch and the Wardrobe
***KRIS***
