friendly collision

Received a nice e-mail yesterday:



"I can't believe Inkspot no longer exists. For some reason I thought it would be around forever. I was perplexed by the pointer to Xlibris, until today, when I searched for your personal Web site under your name and learned about the acquisition. My condolences. My guess is, it's like receiving an advance from one of the major pub houses and they wind up not publishing the book."



I was also invited to speak at a writers' conference in Washington in a couple of months. I had to turn it down...I tend to be pretty anal about doing copious research before doing presentations/panels, and I wouldn't have enough time to prepare; I've only just started back into my writing. I did ask for them to consider me for next year, though. :-)





Last night, a bunch of friends came over to watch the premiere of "Enterprise", the new Star Trek show. I was feeling somewhat apprehensive because of the unusual mix of people. I tend to hang out with my music-type friends in completely separate venues (e.g. conferences, going to visit them by myself) than my other friends, and wasn't sure how well the different personalities would mix. Last night's crowd consisted of:


- Me and Jeff.


- My Urban Tapestry music partner and friend, Allison Durno.


- Bryan Fullerton, my technohero. He's been busy lately keeping the CBC Web site running properly. I met Bryan when he used to work for Interlog; Inklings wouldn't have existed without him.


- Craig White, editor of MapArt, Toronto Film Festival buff/media personality (he interviewed Gwyneth Paltrow!). Jeff and I have known Craig for ages.


- Ruth Anderson, from Winnipeg. Ruth lives in "the Bhigg House" with Dave and Elizabeth Clement (see below). She's in Mississauga right now doing on-site software training for a company client. She can juggle fire!


- Dave and Elizabeth Clement, from Winnipeg. Both super-nice people; they're doing a 90-day road trip around Canada. I've known Dave for a long while, and have a real soft spot for him. He's one of the most talented musicians I know. He and Tom Jeffers perform as Dandelion Wine; I have all their albums. He was inducted into the Filk Hall of Fame in 1999. Okay, I'll stop raving about Dave now.





Anyway, I needn't have worried. :-) Everyone got along...unusually good people chemistry, in fact, with none of the awkward moments so common in situations where people of different backgrounds and contexts get together. Allison's Blatherchat comment on the topic:



"It became pretty clear to me last night why everyone at Debbie's place had such a good chemistry- there was just a deep-seated love of Star Trek there that you could really sense. Funny, I would have said I had become plenty cynical of Trek over the last several years, especially in the Voyager years, but sitting there last night watching the premiere of a new Trek series with a group of like-minded people just felt like going home. There was that same anticipation, same anxiety it would be bad, same hope that the show would beat expectations, same excitement as I've felt with the premiere of each Trek series and movie. And at each commercial, Jeff would mute the TV and the opinions and reactions would fly while Deb kept insisting, "Push the mute button, it's coming back on! Hurry up! We'll miss something!". I felt kind of returned to my fannish roots (Trek brought me into sf fandom), it was great fun."



Because of Dave's presence, I found myself seeing the television show with a different perspective. Scenes without dialogue, for instance, needed to be briefly explained, since Dave was unable to see what was happening on the screen. Or in the case of the Klingon dialogue, the subtitles needed to be read aloud. After the first few minutes, the extra explanations along the way felt like a natural part of the process; I noticed we all started doing it.


As for the show, we all gave it a tentative thumbs up. I definitely liked it way more than the premieres of any of the other Star Trek spin-offs. I had also expected to hate Scott Bakula (sp?), but found myself actually thinking the guy was okay in this role. No actor got on my nerves right away, unlike with the other shows. Hm...guess I'll have to check out the first regular show next Wednesday.





After hashing out our thoughts re: Enterprise a bit, Dave played some music for us (in response to my gentle nagging). I -love- listening to Dave sing. His voice is like chocolate, rich and velvety and of immense comfort. One of Craig's comments made me laugh: "So can we do this every Wednesday? Watch the premiere of Enterprise and then sing?"


Felt a pang when Dave finally handed back my guitar because they had to leave. I don't know when I'm going to see the Winnipeggers next; I suspect it will be a long time. :-(


But I suppose that's part of what made last night so special for me, and why I'll not soon forget this brief and friendly collision of good friends from different areas of my life.


Today's Blatherpics:


- Dave Clement on the guitar last night.


- Watching the premiere of "Enterprise".


- Ruth Anderson on penny whistle.


- Dave trying out my harp for the first time.


Today's Poll:



At least once a week, do you ever make a point of listening to music as a purposeful activity? (i.e. not just use music as audio wallpaper in the background, but sit down and actually LISTEN to a piece of music)