Rand, in a park near his apartment last year.
Happy birthday to my friend Rand!
In continuing the tradition of listing some of the things I love about some of my friends and family, here are:
20 things I love about Rand Bellavia
- He's a librarian.
- His uncanny memory.
- The way he appreciates food. Also, how he appreciates how I appreciate food. If he's telling me about a new restaurant where he and a friend had dinner the previous night, he knows that I don't just want to hear if it was good or not, but *exactly* what dish he had (including condiments and beverages).
- He's an unbelievably talented songwriter. He and Adam sold some of their music to Disney a while back; it became the main theme for the Saturday morning children's cartoon, Fillmore, now in its second season.
- He has a turtle named Chunky Rice who loves him.
Rand and Adam in Watchmen Studios, a long time ago.
- The friendship between him and Adam (who is also his longtime music partner in Ookla The Mok). You can find a somewhat outdated interview here. You can also find the Rand & Adam bio I wrote for the GAfilk program book here (they were Interfilk Guests).
- His sense of humour.
- His avid interest in comics and the fact that he is not ashamed of proclaiming his avid interest in comics.
- He's a good listener.
- I love his singing voice. You can check out sample soundclips from various Ookla The Mok albums here (sample songs where Rand sings lead include "Famous People", "Hockey Monkey Song"). My favorite of their albums is the newest one, Oh OK LA (which you can buy here, where you can also find even more soundclips).
- His love of words and wordplay.
Adam and Rand at Astronomicon in 1994, the first time
that Allison, Jodi and I ever met them.
- His culinary sense of adventure.
- He gets along with my non-filk friends as well as family. He and my sister have developed a friendship; she's even put him into the illustrations for one of her books.
- He's there for me even if it's not always fun.
- His appreciation of office supplies.
- He's a steadfast and loyal friend.
- He usually has more types of herbal tea in his kitchen than I do.
Rand and Allison at Mark Osier's place.
- His love of poetry.
- He's a good cook, likes cooking. He has valiantly tried giving me cooking pointers.
- He enjoys being with friends, but also values solitude.
- He puts as much effort into the friendship as I do.
- We can fight and stay friends. If I'm upset at him, I can tell him (ditto for him being upset by something I've said or done). No mindgames, no hidden agendas: he shares my attitude that it's best to hash things out in the open. And when the dust settles, our friendship is always stronger for it.
Though we're in pretty much daily contact, we never seem to have enough time to talk as much as we'd like. I figure that in itself is a good sign of a longterm friendship. :-)
If you want to find out more about Rand, check out the official and unofficial Ookla The Mok Web sites. Rand and Adam will be performing at Eeriecon, Toronto Trek, and OVFF (where they are Guests of Honor this year), among other venues.
Jodi and Rand, at Torcon last year.
Saturday, April 10, 2004 at 1:24PM 
