Monday, December 26, 2005

Tag and Release

Okay, I was tagged, so I must offer five things about myself that you might not otherwise surmise:

1. I am a bassist. For a long time, I defined myself entirely by that. Not playing in a band anymore, but it is in the core of my soul and always shall be. During my heyday, I sang through the bass. Thunder and lightning were at my fingertips. I have experienced the unique magic of imagining a note, moving one finger to slam it into a stainless-steel roundwound bass string, hearing that sound emerge amplified through a speaker, and actually feeling it vibrate the very bones and tissue of my torso as I stood before my amplifier. From a spark in my brain to a volume of moving air, a sound I created literally shook my guts. One cannot experience such things and not be changed.

2. I was employed as a typesetter for several years and I loved it. I am still addicted to fonts and I maintain a nerdish love of desktop publishing.

3. I've always been artistic; writing, drawing... and I have always enjoyed the notion that the creative mind is the result of some degree of madness. If this is true, then it is a madness that should be nurtured. A divinely disturbing concept.

4. I am an exception to a rule that could have resulted in a tragic life for me. I had enough socio-behavioral strikes against me growing up that I should have ended up as a "statistic": I come from a broken home, was raised in a repressive, violent rural area dominated by a cult-like religion, and so on. Somehow, I managed to escape the stereotypical repetition of history, and have instead strived to become the opposite of what might have been. Except for the resultant psychological expressions described in item #3.

5. My wife and soulmate is creative and artistic also. To her I always dedicate this quote from the movie The Addams Family:
"I would kill for her. I would die for her. Either way, what bliss."
Now, it's my turn to tag someone. So, I tag Mike of the North.

4 comments:

Sar said...

Shea, I think I knew you played bass. But to read of how you experienced and lived while playing it, is proof enough of your creative writing skill.

You and Mrs. Shea are surely gifted.

Mike V. said...

Shea, I think I have never heard anyone utter the words, "I am still addicted to fonts.." :)
Thanks for the great post, BTW.

SheaNC said...

I've uttered other words, but the consensus is that they are quite unintelligible...

Mike of the North said...

Hey I'm trying to come up with five things here to fore unknown about me but I'm such a one dimensional being... I'll let you know when I post.