Hello. Welcome to my little self-indulgent internet realm.
I'm Christine and this is where I gather various things, mostly to entertain friends and family.
Not much happened in August. Kev went to Stirling for a weekend reunion with his old university friends. We finally got around to buying a new car - a funky Mazda 3. After a dark and rainy July, we spent the nicer August Sundays in the Glasgow parks trying to stock up on light and warm weather before the dark season.
September looks to be slightly more interesting. I'll be out doing good deeds (or trying to, at least!) for the SSPCA during their annual campaign Scottish Animal Week, and later in the month we have a busy social weekend in Chester. Of course, it's also the beginning of the music season which is one of the redeeming factors of the long, dull winter.
Having recently read some of the attitudes against Mensa which are posted on the web, I feel compelled to defend/justify having joined this group. There is a truly staggering amount of scorn, prejudice, ridicule, contempt and pure hatred out there for Mensa and their apparently sad and weird members with inferiority and/or superiority complexes galore. So let me straighten something out.
Personally, I took the test to satisfy the curiosity of the awe-struck 6-year-old me thinking it sounded like the greatest thing ever (see post from 19th July). The reason I actually joined was that, at the point of being offered membership, I had learned a bit about the social stuff that goes on in British Mensa, so I thought it might be interesting to join some of their many Special Interest Groups (SIGs) and see if I could meet new friends. Yes, I have a hard time finding friends - I'm picky, anti-social and lazy. I expect people to be more than ordinarily interesting and preferably quite odd in an entertaining fashion. Does this makes me elitist? I don't think so, but I'm sure it affirms a great deal of the preconceptions people have about Mensa members.
It would seem some people believe Mensa is only for people who are either crazy or boring or feel ridiculously superior to others. I know I'm certainly odd and possibly also quite dull, but I don't believe IQ is the most important measure of a person's worth (some people blatantly state this as being the opinion of all Mensans - who are they to speak for others?). I like a sense of humour. I appreciate a kind heart and good intentions. I respect hard work and dogged determination. I like wacky ideas. I value independence.
I don't kid myself into thinking I'm special. I used to be. As a child I was bright and creative and would produce piles of pictures, songs and short stories which I read aloud to my classmates (on their request), but reality has pretty much killed my creative streak over the years, which saddens me immensely. I tend to get interested in things, such as a language or a form of art, but only for a while. I get bored with a subject quickly, which is why I excel in absolutely nothing. I'm not ambitious in my work life - I think going part time illustrates my priorities. I know Kev's problem-solving skills are far better than mine. I often forget that I've put the coffeemaker on, only to discover some very bitter and undrinkable coffee about an hour later. I do occasionally feel superior to others (honestly, who doesn't?), but that's usually from a moral standpoint rather than an intellectual one. There is something comforting in thinking, "It could be worse - I could be THAT person".
So yeah, to the outside I might be a model Mensan: Weird (this often just means misunderstood, which I certainly have been many times), sad enough to join, can't make friends, whatever. But the truth is, I'm happy being different, even difficult - I don't want to please everybody. I'd rather have 5 original friends than 50 boring ones. And if Mensa doesn't work for me, I just won't renew my membership next year. I don't see it as a society which should be mysterious or exclusive; I'm pretty sure many of my colleagues could easily pass the test and join if they wanted, and Mensa is on a permanent "recruitment drive" because an increase in members means a more diverse range of social arrangements and a higher number of SIGs, covering more topics.
Some members may hang their confidence entirely on the fact that they're members. Some members may be lonely and desperate to meet a partner. Some may be incredibly arrogant. However, it is just as arrogant to pigeonhole a social club with thousands of members based on mere prejudice or having met a small handful of them. For me Mensa is just another way to meet people - like joining the opera club. I hope it will prove to be a stimulating and varied group of people. And instead of drawing conclusions at this point, I'll actually try to find out.
Here is my current programme of upcoming musical events:
Sat 11 September: Scottish Opera - Carmen
Wed 29 September: RSNO Circle private concert for members
Sat 02 October: RSNO Great Concertos: The Emperor
Sat 16 October: RSNO John Lill Plays Tchaikovsky
Sat 27 November: RSNO St Andrew's Party (with pipe band)
Sat 04 December: Scottish Opera - The Marriage of Figaro
Sat 29 January: RSNO Rachmaninov's Symphony No 2
Sat 05 February: RSNO Tchaikovsky's Symphony No 6 Pathétique
Sat 12 February: We Will Rock You
Fri 18 February: Opera Unwrapped - Orlando (hour-long taster)
Sat 19 February: Scottish Opera - Orlando
Thu 17 March: RSNO Insomnia: Musical Caffeine
Sat 26 March: Scottish Opera - Intermezzo
Sat 02 April: RSNO Nicola Benedetti Plays Korngold
Sat 09 April: RSNO Beethoven's Piano Concerto No 4
Sat 07 May: RSNO Ode To Joy (Beethoven's 9th) - season finale
Fri 13 May: Opera Unwrapped - Rigoletto (hour-long taster)
Sat 21 May: Scottish Opera - Rigoletto
Why so many classical concerts? I'll tell you why.
Rock music, I find, is by its very nature so chaotic that it is usually best enjoyed when neatly contained in studio recordings. I have also always thought that the sound level at rock concerts was too high. I know the idea is that the audience should "feel" the music surging through their bodies through the bass vibrating in the floor, but for me the major sensation tends to be the ringing in my ears afterwards (it's like those arranging it *expect* you to bring ear protection and consider you a fool if you don't, even when they control the volume and could reduce it). And let's face it, "body surge" or not, a rock concert is hardly a religious experience anyway.
Classical music, however, is larger than life (without being loud) and should be enjoyed in grand halls with fantastic acoustics and an uninterrupted view of the entire orchestra and conductor. Adding visual input makes me enjoy the music infinitely more. It will therefore not surprise you to learn that I have relatively few classical CDs. It's simply a lot more fun live. The same goes for operas; they are plays set to music so you should *see* an opera, not simply *listen* to it.
Feel free to disagree with me - I'd love to have a discussion.
