I have been recently "tagged" for Memes (separately) by Jeannie Kontis and Lisa Ryan!
I had originally done my first Meme, Really? Me and My MEME back in August, so I don't want to repeat anything I've already talked about. It's not as easy trying to come up with a second five things to relate as it was for the first five! But here goes:
1) I am an enthusiastic cruciverbalist! For the uninitiated, that's a crossword puzzle solver. I love to relax with the most difficult crosswords I can find. I used to do the daily crosswords, graduated to the Sunday New York Times puzzles, and now tend to favor the Random House Masterpiece crossword puzzle books.
There's a tremendous feeling of accomplishments when you can solve, piece by piece, a cleverly clued puzzle, plus it keeps my vocabulary from getting rusty!
2) In 2007 I received my SRES designation - Seniors Real Estate Specialist. I'm looking forward to helping the 55-plus generations find the best of the many options that are now available for seniors of any age. These days, great new choices are available for independent and active lifestyles, assisted living, and total care, with specialized services for aging in place as well.
3) I used to collect and repair antique phonographs, and still have several of them, including one that plays Edison Cylinder records. There's something quite exciting when you wind up one of these beautiful old phonographs and suddenly hear, without any assist from electricity, a crackling voice announcing a selection by the Edison Symphony Orchestra, or a vaudeville comedy selection by Uncle Josh ("Uncle Josh buys a Talking Machine", "Uncle Josh at a Chinese Laundry"), or "Come With Me, Josephine in my Flying Machine". An interesting fact about Thomas Edison is that he was hard of hearing, and unable to really appreciate the very music reproduced by his own invention!
The sound of these old records, when preserved in clean, unscratched condition, is surprisingly good. And few things can duplicate the thrill of hearing these distant voices come to life from over one hundred years ago!
4) In April I'll be performing a musical program for the Caring Singles
group. Some of you know that I play the accoustic guitar. What is less well known is that in the 1960s I was a big fan of Bob Dylan, who, like the folk singing activist Woody Guthrie before him, learned to play harmonica held with a neckpiece, at the same time as the guitar.
I was so taken with the total amount of music that could be produce by a single person, that I just had to learn how to do it as well. It has the feel of a one-man band, and I do a pretty good early Bob Dylan impression, if I may say so...
5) Some day I'd like to put together a program of antique phonograph records and take a portable antique phonograph around for speaking engagements. I've learned many interesting pieces of information on the popular music of the last 120 years, and I would hope that many younger people might find it informative to see and hear where and how the music of today evolved from these roots.
Well, whom shall I tag next for a Meme?
Copyright2010BrianSchulman©
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Brian Schulman offers expert real estate representation for buyers and sellers of homes in Lancaster County, PA. To learn more, visit http://www.FindLancasterHomes.com/ |
Well, you are one interesting fella, with some equally interesting hobbies! Did you see Bob Dylan in concert when he played the Barnstormers ballpark?
By the way, did you attend the LCAR dinner? I was going to go, but the snow scared me off. I heard there was a nice turnout despite it.
WoW, Brian, I'm impressed with your crossword puzzle abilities.
I play a fair bit of scrabble (through ISC, the internet scrabble club) and really enjoy it, ranking in the upper echelon. It keeps my brain cells sharp and gets them in gear early in the morning, so I understand why you enjoy crosswords so much.
Bob Dylan is one of my favourites too.....I wish you could have your musical program at the Caring Singles get-together videotaped so we could all see it..I imagine it will be very good. ((-:
Your idea to do a speaking tour on antique phonographs sounds intriguing...I think all ages would enjoy a presentation on that immensely.
Jo
Brian~ what a great Meme! I knew I had tagged a great AR member.
I love to hear about people who restore antique items, it looks like the phonographs are not only great to listen to but beautiful as well.
Jeannie, I had some kind of schedule conflict when Bob Dylan played at Clipper Stadium. I had wanted to see him. On the other hand, the Bob Dylan I was so taken with was the folk-singing Dylan of earlier years.
Many of his fans, including me, were disappointed when he kept changing his musical styles over the years. Of course, he had a perfect right to do that, but he lost a lot of his earlier fans. No one can say that he wasn't his own man, though.
Ironically, the Beatles kept changing, too - but it seemed that every time their music changed, it got better and more sophisticated and complex.
Jennifer, I doubt that I'm anywhere near the puzzler level required by NPR - but thanks for the compliment!
Jo, I love Scrabble, too - it's one of my favorite games. There's another similar game called Up-Words, played in three dimensions, so you can actually build over someone else's word and change it. That's a lot of fun.
I have also thought of the idea of getting videotaped, but never found anyone else with the capability of doing it. In addition, I've been a little leery about whether knowing I was being taped would make me nervous and hurt the performance. Maybe some day...
Brian
A regular renaissance man you are!
A weak dollar will also drive foreign investment which will make the Oil Tanker move a bit faster. Let's hope our next president keeps tax cuts permanent, as well as lower the corporate tax (the highest in the world).
Hey Brian. Thanks for the MEME tag. I have done a meme once, and in the last week, I have been tagged twice more. I will get one together, and let you know when it is done. I see your points are accumulating fast there, on top of the heap in Pennsylvania. Perhaps you have noticed that I had 0 points on Sept 18th, and now I have over 75,000. Is there more room at the top?
Thanks for the tag. I will work on my meme
Don
Brian, I'm impressed with the puzzles. I'm not good at them; I would rather spend the time reading a book.
My grandma had an antique phonograph; my cousin was always intrigued with it and still has it.
Marchel, I love books, too, but I find crosswords very relaxing.
Your comment reminded me that I first started collecting antique phonographs when we got one from my ex-wife's grandma.
Hi Gita,
That's the problem - there never seems to be enough time for everything I want to do!