tripping the light fantastic?

[timsinister]

I just hope my kids learn to embrace the Dark Side.

Apart from a stint with the Army Cadet Force, my childhood was happily wasted.

[rian]

I began playing volleyball when I was 8. Played for 10 years, and loved it.

I was never forced to play something I didn't want to. But to please my grand father, I took lessons in air gun/rifle (spell?), because he wanted me to learn how to hunt, and get a license for hunting. I gave up after 1 year. Not my thing at all.

[eastmidswhizzkid]

My music teacher ignored my request to learn the drums and insisted on the trombone- what a boring fucking instument! i only stuck it for a month before packing it in. fair do's to her though,she reckoned i was too musical to give up on and eventually let me take drums /percussion tuition as long as i played in the Leics schools orchestra...which did put me on the life-path i've wandered blindly along since!

apart from that the only thing i did was a few years boxing,which i enoyed.
and the scouts,which i was forced to attend until about 15.luckily there were only about five of us on "monday-night "scouts (as opposed to wednesdays) so we just played football,smoked fags and took the canoes out on the canal.

[rian]

My music teacher ignored my request to learn the drums and insisted on the trombone- what a boring fucking instument! i only stuck it for a month before packing it in. fair do's to her though,she reckoned i was too musical to give up on and eventually let me take drums /percussion tuition as long as i played in the Leics schools orchestra...which did put me on the life-path i've wandered blindly along since!

apart from that the only thing i did was a few years boxing,which i enoyed.
and the scouts,which i was forced to attend until about 15.luckily there were only about five of us on "monday-night "scouts (as opposed to wednesdays) so we just played football,smoked fags and took the canoes out on the canal.

Scouts, oh yeah. My mother forced me too. Church scouts! She knew, and was a neighbour, with one of the teachers there. She made me go there for 2 years.

I had forgotten about that

[emilystrange]

i was a guide, and a brownie.

[andymackem]

One of the best things about music was being in the County Youth Orchestra (Durham, in my case).

Every summer we'd go to play at the Edinburgh Festival (it's true: I first played the fringe aged 14).

At school people thought I was mad to give up part of my summer for 'swotty stuff', without realising a few facts. Youth orchestras are 75% female. Of the remaining 25% half are either actually or latently homosexual. Or the remaining 12.5% at least half are too geeky to worry about.

On those odds, with time away from adult supervision, even I can pull. And Edinburgh has relaxed licensing laws. And my parents paid for it.

In spite of appearances, I was the coolest kid in school

[markfiend]

Youth orchestras are 75% female. Of the remaining 25% half are either actually or latently homosexual. Or the remaining 12.5% at least half are too geeky to worry about.

I always wondered why my brother went in for the Manchester Youth Theatre. I'm sure the same is true of youth theatre groups.

Ba$tard

[culprit]

Got dragged to Judo, but my dad brought a ZX Spectrum in one day and that took up most of my time.

Too clumsy for musical instruments, got chucked off the 'Recorder' group in Juniors.

I've emerged relatively unscathed, but with few accomplishments from that era.

My little girl, however, revels in Ballet, gymnastics and Dancing.

Now, wheres that spectrum....

[Johnny M]

Back off topic for a change ...

Now, you see Johnny, it's weird that you don't mind a huge amount about her fancying someone they know off the net.
Probably cause you know from HL that not everyone's a murdering drugged-up psychopath. Well.. not all of them anyway.. if they've been to Planet Dave, they can't be held responsible for their actions.
Anyway, I'm all in favour of it, my friend met her boyfriend off the net, they've been together nearly a year, and they're absolutely besotted with each other.

There's nutters everywhere. Not just in cyberspace. But as I said, I try to move with the times and if that's the 'fashion' for 13-year-olds today, so be it. Plus the fact that she's only allowed to use a chatroom moderated by adults with strict guidelines and the 'Scott from Uxbridge' exchanges only even take place under webcam conditions so both myself and her mother know she's not talking to Leslie Grantham.

@Johnny: My folks think any male I meet of any age, in real or cyber space, is out to rape me and leave me for dead in a dark alley. It's nice to know that there are some realistic parents out there.

But in my case, what Mommy and Daddy don't know can't hurt them.

Indeed, and just as well that your folks don't insist on webcam conditions ...

[aims]

The 'Scott from Uxbridge' exchanges only even take place under webcam conditions

Doesn't that just encourage her?

Anyhow, I have my parents on a strict no webcam policy. i.e. They come into the room, the cam goes off

[The Pope]

Indeed, and just as well that your folks don't insist on webcam conditions ...

Tell me about it.


And back on topic:

Does HL have a disproportionate amount of clarinet players compared to the general population?

I played clarient too. For about 9 months.

[Johnny M]

The 'Scott from Uxbridge' exchanges only even take place under webcam conditions

Doesn't that just encourage her?

Yep, but I also know there is a some family link from 'SFU' and her best mate, hence the initial contact between them. It's cool. I take more from the fact that she tells me about it.

[Brideoffrankenstein]

My mum pushed me into music but only because she felt I should be given that opportunity - I ended up loving it and got a grade 6 at flute

[canon docre]

I take more from the fact that she tells me about it.

... and she'd surely be very pleased to know that you share her fancies with the whole worldwideweb.

[andymackem]

This new Chairman BOX character.

Not based anywhere on the NW fringes of London, perchance?

[Johnny M]

I take more from the fact that she tells me about it.

... and she'd surely be very pleased to know that you share her fancies with the whole worldwideweb.

Yeh, but every few people know who she is so it's all anonymous. Innit?

Not like meeting the HL nutters in the flesh ...

[lazarus corporation]

My parents didn't push me to do anything (apart from work reasonably but not excessively hard at school). They were a little concerned (as regards future employment) that I opted to do a fine art degree, but as I told them back in the late 80s: "You wait - someone will invent the internet in a few years, and they'll need arty people to design spiffing looking websites".

I took it upon myself to teach myself guitar aged 13. After 3 years I gave up learning weird chords and scales and played everything in A minor, as per my band of choice. Never really got out of the habit.

[aims]

I take more from the fact that she tells me about it.

... and she'd surely be very pleased to know that you share her fancies with the whole worldwideweb.

At least she doesn't know.

Dad nattered, in front of me, to anyone who would listen in Tilburg about how it was fine for me to meet Heartland people because I'd already met a girl that I fancied on the net (to clarify, she liked me, it wasn't reciprocated ).

[Johnny M]

Dad

Different horses for different courses. He might be 'Dad' to you but he's our mate 'Paul'.

Scary, innit?

[aims]

Yes.

Very scary

However, at risk of confusing him with the other two HL-related Pauls that I'm aware of (there are probably more), he will remain "Dad" in my posts. Or "That Paul"

Edit: Your mate Paul just saw this line of conversation and found it most amusing

[andymackem]

Parents can be funny like that. When I was at school they were happy for me to go on exchange visits and stay with families in Russia on the strength of a few semi-coherent hand-written letters and a faded polaroid or two. They had few problems with reciprocating for Russian visitors to us.

If I go to visit a Russian friend now I get the third degree about how and why we met. Mention words like 'e-mail' or 'MSN' and there's no end of suspicion. The principle hasn't changed, merely the technology (and the fact that Nina and Asya are both very attractive young women, I suppose).

Nobody said it was going to be rational.

[Debaser]

i'm a blackbelt at sudoko

Third Dan here

Let me see....piano lessons....oooh a whole year, Violin lessons...oooh a whole year.....Clarinet (coz apparently I had to learn that before learning the saxaphone)...oooh about a year (you spotting a pattern here?

Did all the Brownie and Guide things and church choir - but thoroughly loved ever minute of it. Choir stopped when it intefered with horse riding on a Sunday (remember my Mum being given hell by the Vicar AND the choir master ) Did swimming too, swam for the school and the county was asked to join a swimming club but Mum or Dad wouldn't get up early in the mornings to take me training

Oh and the pony thing...some people never grow out of their childhood obsessions

[Debaser]

To tell you the truth, Poppa and Old Ma Debaser never made me do anything...I never gave them the chance...if there was a club to join I'd already handed them the membership form to fill in

ANYTHING, to keep me away from home, I was terminally bored and needed to be with other people........nowt much changes really

[ruffers]

I just hope my kids learn to embrace the Dark Side.

No, don't let them support United

[canon docre]

I just hope my kids learn to embrace the Dark Side.

He'll teach them.