Welcome to the Nest

I think I've started a few blogs with this title, The Loon's Nest, and I've deleted them all. What seemed brilliant and insightful at the time turned out to be useless ranting, or worse, whining. So with a renewed commitment to contribute something someone else could use, I try again. It's like creating anything else: the garbage appears first. Only with time and persistence does anything of any satisfaction come forth.

That said, the story of SingingLoonie, a moniker I've held for many years now:

I've been a musician nearly all my life, all 46 years of it. My primary instrument and passion is the voice, and because I could never seem to talk without waving my arms around, I naturally became a choral director. These are my two first loves, singing and directing, particularly directing. When I'm directing a choir, I lose track of time and feel no pain. And they say that when you feel timeless, weightless, formless, and joyful, you have discovered Heaven. I have had the privilege of directing several choirs I loved.

Now you know the Singing part.

As for the Loonie part, well...

I have long had a knack for entertaining an audience. My audiences have been captive for the most part: students, choir members, family, and friends. I'm given a mic once a month at church, and a serious demeanor eludes me even in that setting. It does not take a lot of time in my presence to notice that I prefer to laugh and make others laugh over all else. This is not a boast. It is a confession. For if you can make others laugh and entertain them, they forget to ask a lot of invasive questions, like "How are you?"

Sometimes, my antics were a little over the top. Not barking mad, just... unusual. For instance, after a long, hard day of teaching 6th grade (and that would be every stinkin' day), I liked to lay in the hall and rest. My colleagues learned to step over me, which was great until the day I was on the floor because I had pneumonia and had collapsed. They continued to greet and step over me until finally one person noticed I wasn't talking back.

I also enjoyed dressing up in costume for school. Not for Halloween. On random days. I had a medieval queen costume that I wore early in the year, just to reinforce the point that my classroom was a benevolent dictatorship and not a democracy. My other favorite was my Zero the Hero costume, which I wore to reinforce the properties of zero for math lessons. It had a cape, and I had to run in the halls to make the cape flutter. What good is a cape unless it flutters?

My least favorite was a cow costume, complete with udders. I had agreed to appear as Daisy the Cow for an elementary school Christmas musical number. All I had to do was enter the stage dancing. Easy. However, after I put on the costume, I felt strangely exposed. My udder was there for every one to see. To make matters worse, I had 8 year olds attempting to "milk me" while I was waiting to go on stage. Oh, the humiliation. By the time I got on stage, I was longing for an apron or a fig leaf or something. For the rest of the year, kids pointed at me and shouted, "It's Daisy the Cow." Not my finest performance.

The only reason I got roped into playing Daisy the Exibitionist Cow was that I had a reputation of wildness. I'd do dang near anything for a laugh. That's where Loonie came from.

So now you have the story.

These days, I still like to laugh, but I don't crave the attention anymore. Then, the laughter helped me define myself. I had no idea who I was, where I stopped and another person began. That's many essays to explore. For now, suffice it to say that the more I understand who I am and what I am not, the less I need to provoke a response in someone, even a positive one.

It it my intent to record things I've learned in this blog. Sometimes, the postings will contain practical information, and other times, the musings will be more insightful. And probably, I'll have to tell a story or two, just to make someone laugh.