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Reading ChefPB's journal

Following Shabnam's lead, but in less detail, here is a bit about me. I am originally from Texas, though not the Texas of G. Dubya Bush. I left long before he had anything to do with the state. I lived in Austin where I studied and played music. Austin is a very cool place, and I highly recommend it to you. You may already be familiar with the music scene there - Stevie Ray Vaughn (God rest his soul)and many others have been a part of that scene.

There was a part of Texas that really bugged me, though. Austin is an island in a sea of red necks, religious fanatics, and ignorance. Much of the state, though beautiful physically, is spiritually and politically bankrupt in my opinion. I had another burning interest beside music -- music recording -- and I had also done some serious study and practice in recording.

So in 1978, I moved to Washington, DC, to take a job as a recording engineer with a non-commercial radio network based there called National Public Radio (NPR). At the time my greatest musical interest was in jazz. I had been a pretty fair jazz drummer in Austin, though I played many other styles as well. But I knew deep down that it wasn't in me to be a great player, so I pursued recording. NPR produced a pretty cool jazz radio series called Jazz Alive! I had the good fortune to become one of its main recording and post-production engineers. It was a dream come true for me. I got to travel to many clubs and concerts all over the country and record my heroes in performance. I even got to go to the Grand Parade du Jazz in Nice once! That in itself was an amazing experience! We were there for Bastille Day! I'd never seen anything quite like it, with drunken revellers dancing in the streets to live music! I, of course was one of the revellers. It was a blast.

I lived and worked in Washington for 16 years, though not always for NPR. I free-lanced some of the time, and also worked at a radio and television station that produces programs for both NPR and its television equivalent, PBS.

I married and we had three children -- first a boy, then a girl, and finally another boy. They are a hilarious bunch and I love them dearly. They are now aged 13, 11, and 9.

My whole life I had experienced radical mood changes. Sometimes I seemed to be a speed freak, with incredible energy and capacity. But alternately, sometimes I was utterly distraught, believing myself to be worthless, sorrowful, and very difficult to be around. During 1986 I became an almost complete insomniac and very unstable. I was finally diagnosed as being manic depressive, or as they now call it, I had bipolar disorder. A long period of therapy followed, both with medication and psychotherapy. At the time this was very difficult and I often wanted to quit and run away or disappear. With a lot of support from my wife, I came through, and I'm now a much better, stronger person for it. Somehow I was always able to work, though. Working was my passion. As Duke Ellington said, "Music is My Mistress."

After living in Washington for so long, and becoming more stable empotionally, I was ready for a major change in lifestyle. We decided to move the family to Santa Fe, New Mexico. I won't go into the exact reasons we chose Santa Fe, but access to family played a large part in the decision.

So we moved. It was A great adventure, travelling across the country with three small children and a van packed with stuff. The kids were 4, 2 and 6 months at the time, and the trip was sometimes trying, but usually a lot of fun with many stops along the way.

Having just reviewed what I've just written, I think my promise of brevity is pretty much blown! So I'll wrap at this point and post this. I'll see if anybody reads this or if I've put everyone to sleep with my tale before I decide whether to continue.

In closing I'd like to say that I think that NAO is quite a remarkable invention, and I've not seen anything quite like it on the internet. The site design and the sort of game that is created by its functions are, I think, quite ingenious. It has held my attention since I found it accidentally while I searched with Google for information on the Earth's magnetic poles possibly changing. I've greatly enjoyed reading the posts, checking out people's individual web sites, and watching the intimacies, tensions, distractions, and the beautiful and odd sort of international cyber-community that exists here. I hope to continue to become a part of it, if I am led that way.

I did not vote for Bush!, ChefPB

I hope to continue to become a part of it, if I am led that way.

And with this beautiful piece of personal history you ARE already part of it, left your mark! ;)

I wont comment any details, cause how could I knowing nothing more but what you wrote, but I'm particularly interested in the music/recording parts! I was always dreaming of leaving all that coding stuff behind and start something in the music biz, even started a private training as sound engineer some time back but left it again for several reasons. Music was always the great resort for relief in my life, how does it feel to do it as a professional??

Please, go ahead, continue! :)

After decades of construction my website is finally up an running: www.kkds.de

Wow! That was a pretty interesting autobiography, ChefPB! And, what a coincidence - Washington D.C. area (Reston) and Austin are the only 2 other cities in US (apart from Houston) where both Shabnam and I have lived ever since we came to US. We have a lot of nostalgic memories associated with both the places, especially of Austin.

I couldn't agree more when you mentioned about Austin. It was a pretty interesting experience for us too to live there, and we would love to go back to the city, if our life permits it some day.

Love is blind, but marriage is a real eye opener.

What a coincidence! ! ! that you too were in the same place I had been before, but I know I am not mentioning anything "new", as RCD already wrote it.

I got it, why does RCD sit late and read out every post before me :-(

We have so many musicians here on this site now, you, Martin, Annida so please write more about it.