Ron

Congratulations on your promotion, @lilansui

I was a rocker and that's all I listened to be it album, cassette, or the radio. There, I've said it and I own up to it. But... as so often there is, in 1983 a new-to-me group popped up on my radar: Talking Heads. They were touring to promote Speaking In Tongues, their newest (perhaps their greatest album, but no one can deny that this work was what put the Talking Heads on the map for very many people). I bought two tickets to see them hoping I could convince someone to go along with me. I was successful a female work-friend agreed to see this band that neither one of us was familiar with. We convinced our foreman to let us go and come back after the concert, it didn't hurt that the foreman was my uncle. I checked the touring schedule for the group in 1983, but it doesn't reference their appearance at Finney Chapel in Oberlin, Ohio, where I saw them perform. The Talking Heads performed in Maine on August 6, and at the Blossom Music Center in Cleveland, Ohio on August 8, 1983. From there they moved on to Maryland for a concert the following day. That pins the date to August 7, of that year as the only available date in Ohio for the performance at the chapel. I and my friend sat in the balcony -- front and center -- looking directly at the stage. Finney Chapel has about 1,200 seats, so it's a relatively small and intimate place for a concert -- for this group of musicians. There was David Byrne on the stage hurking and then jerking his body in this direction and then in another all over the stage as he performed. The sound was overwhelmingly loud and I was gobsmacked by the whole thing of it. Never had I heard anything quite like this new sound. My female work-friend wasn't able to articulate exactly how she felt about it once we were on our way back to our jobs. What a experience! So, once again, it is not one song but 2-CD's worth of music that has been in my re-current rotation... David Byrne: American Utopia on Broadway. I have been listening to this on TIDAL Audio in MQA (Master Quality Authentication) through my stereo system, it's a fantastic listen. Two songs from Speaking In Tongues are included: Slippery People and Burning Down the House. It seems that someone has bootlegged the performance.

@BigBen I enjoyed reading your essay. I find myself in agreement with much of what you say. Also, I very much enjoyed reading Katherine Kurtz’s writing. As a layperson and not one being especially familiar with the pomp and ceremony she describes in her Camber, Deryni and Kelson trilogies, I nevertheless appreciated the atmosphere this aspect provided to the many books. The religious conflict is of course essential to connect the various storylines of her novels but the detail, as you said, was not amiss in this case.

Interesting! FYI — It never dawned on me that the words below the list of stories was a link at all. On my iPad it just looks like words alone and not a link to a further list. It’s the color or lack of a more distinctive color separating the link from the rest of the wording that fooled me.

I once cleared the tabs on all of the display iPads in an Apple store (this was before there were so many choices) except one—a tab I set to GAs story page. Since then I check every now and again (though not subversively) and I have no problem accessing GA in an Apple store.

@wildone This may be your best preamble this year, not that you've been slacking. Bravo!

Parsnips! They might look okay on the surface (psst... no they don’t, they look suspect; they’re all white and wrinkly looking) but underneath they’re evil, evil things. Believe me, I have known this from childhood—and I’m 60 years old, I ought’a know—when my mother tried to hide them in mashed potatoes, unsuccessfully. My brother, who’s two years younger, concurs. Eat well, not too much, mostly plants (not parsnips) and best of luck!

Congratulations on the upgrade, Carlos.

Thou will not answer on the grounds that thou will self-incriminate and be looked upon with dreadful and rightful scorn.

The head spins. (lol) Apparently I got Shakespeare's meaning all wrong.

Pretend it’s cheese. Scrape the mold off to freshen things up and put it back in the light.

Well, things certainly did run amok in that household.

@Valkyrie You have amok in your title.... Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok, Amok!

And, I might add: The high degree of interest and support from readers. (chuckles)

This should be added: The descrepancy between a large number of story views and that of feedback (reactions/comments/reviews) is proportionately due to the greater number of non-members to registered members. Although some members do shy away from providing input of any sort, it is imperative to keep in mind that non-members cannot provide feedback to what they have read. So the view numbers are a good indication that people are looking and possibly reading an authors work, but the lack of story/chapter feedback doesn't necessarily mean that the story was meaningless or of no value to anyone -- it could be quite the opposite or somewhere in-between.

What accounts for lesbians, another antibody? But, seriously, why even bother to discover a cause, even if a cause can be found? Could that be because even though a large cohort of the worlds population believes God doesn’t make mistakes, they’re still looking to cure homosexuality? In any event, there are far and enough first born children (me being just one of them) who are off the hetero-spectrum. That study sounds like a reach.

Here it is people, the first story I wrote to be posted on GA. Boy, was I innocent , and you can read it in less than five minutes, I'm sure.

Happy birthday, Dave!

Bravo!! ...and on my birthday, too.

"What if they're right? What if I'm the asshole here?" Huh?! What?! "Because whatever I do it's wrong." WTF?! No way! "And so I start to wonder, is everyone else lying?" Maybe not everyone. But, that doesn't mean everyone gets you. "Is my brain lying to me again?" I'm thinking, there's nothing wrong with your stupid brain (chuckles)... Elsewise??? Who the hell knows? We all convince ourselves of our own personal truths! Who in the hell has a right to judge when we're all doing the same thing? Even though these truths we tell ourselves do have limits based on reality this post doesn't seem to be what we are dealing with here. "I'm not responsible for other people's feelings." Exactamundo... within reason. You can't deliberately fuck people up without expecting recourse. Point in your favor: this is not what you do! "But I am responsible for my actions." Admirably said. Also, experience dictates that despite your personal ups and downs you are one of the most even keeled people on GA. I don't think I need add anything else.

I’ve been here just slightly over six years myself, and though I’m sure I’ve not read every post you’ve made, Matt I certainly have seen a difference in your posts over the years. I still read when I notice you have something to say, and I’m appreciative that you’ve chosen to stick around.

@cdot27 Just to add, there is a story by @Daddydavek called Abel III's Awakening and another by @Palantir called Attunga which both are great reads.

Congratulations on the promotion, @northie

There is a way to get a glimpse of reviews for stories in the Activity tab at the of the screen. Scroll down to Latest Story Reviews, choose the Expanded tab for more than one line of a review. A person will see that some reviews, and I use that term loosely, will consist of just a couple of words, though that doesn't mean that one won't find more extensive reviews less recently written that are far more informative. Though one must click on the story title to find out if there is more written and that can be hit or miss. Also, and this is a huge plus, one will find a whole list of modifiers at the top to help narrow search requirements if an individual is looking for specific cues. Personally, when looking at a physical book it isn't the remarks of adulation for the author's works that can be sometimes found on the back of the book jacket that convinces me that a book might be for me. It is the synopsis on either/or/and the inside portion of hardbook jackets and somtimes found on the backs of paperback books, that make all the difference to purchase or not. But, as you say @Talo Segura the story summary/synopsis on GA are not quite as informative, and so they can be less convincing. Unless things have changed since my last publication here, there is a reason for that: A limitation is placed on the number of words an author can supply for the purpose of story summation. I hope some of this is helpful. Edit to add: It looks like Cia posted why I was still writing. I didn’t see her post or I wouldn’t have repeated some of what she wrote. 2nd Edit: Why? Why was I writing?🙃I believe that was while I was writing. Somebody shut me up!🤨

Congratulations on your promotion, Tim (Mikiesboy)!