MindlessCode.net

[This post used to be about something else, I rewrote it because it had sat as a draft too long. :)]

I’ve been wanting to write something about these things for a while, but never really had the time. Now I’ve finished up my MIME type patch for Autopackage and am looking for another thing to start hacking on. In the mean time, I got board, and “my pet mice escaped, running over the keyboard, and typed this message”:

My first fiddle contest was in Gaston, OR (near Portland) in February 2004. I had been playing Texas Style Fiddle for about five months and had no clue what to expect. We arrived there are about 8AM and didn’t leave until 10:30PM. I had a good time–enough to want to go back, but nothing really “grabbed” me about the contest. I just remember that I enjoyed it, I was deaf for a few days from sitting under the speaker (bad idea!), and slept really late the next morning.

The next contest I went to was the State contest in May. By the time this contest came around, I knew what to expect. By the time the contest was over, I had met a few people, and went home. That contest left me with a whole new understanding of these contests. Not only do you go there to play music, but to meet people who love music just as much as you do. I couldn’t wait for the next contest to come around.

Despite the name, Fiddle “Contests” really are about as far from a “contest to see who’s the best” as you can get. In the end, everyone there is just there to have fun and play music together. Everyone is incredibly encouraging and supportive of each other. Example: At a contest this August, just before I went on stage to play, I hear someone behind me shout “Go, Taj!!” (well, not shout–let’s just say “speak enthusiasticly in a somewhat loud voice :)”). I turn around, and it’s someone I see two times a year (max). They have a big smile on their face and are giving me two thumbs up. Remember, this is someone I am competeing against. That’s the kind of encouragement you live on when it’s 9:30PM, you’ve been up since 5 AM, it’s after dinner and you need to get up there and play another round. Yeah, I screwed up big time anyway and placed 4th out of 4th, but I didn’t care…

That’s just one example of why I love fiddle contests…I could go on and on.

Not only do I go to contests to hang out with friends, but it’s a great motivator to practice. Yeah, I know, I already said I don’t care who I beat–but I am motivated to do my best, and usually end up practicing and perfecting my songs a lot more than I would normally.

Wow, this post is really random, I had better stop here.

Something I just learned today:

The Dutch government is developing an electronic tax application form. It’s for windows, macOS and Linux. The Linux-version is going to use autopackage for increased cross-distro-ness

User on the Autopackage Forum

Cool!

This entry was posted on Tuesday, September 27th, 2005 at 3:00 pm and is filed under Fun, Miscellaneous. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.