Song a Day Meme: Day 18

My first time around in Oswego I was active in GALA, the Gay And Lesbian Alliance. The adviser was an art professor who was extremely proactive with regards to programming (not the coding type). One group he arranged for several times was called The Flirtations. They were a five-man a capella group who did songs ranging from the heartbreaking to the hilarious and including any number of musical styles. I loved their harmonies and their voices and most of all them as people. One of my favorite Oswego memories was teaching two of The Flirtations how to skip rocks. Of course this was on Lake Ontario, so they were starting with a handicap, but they were good sports and laughter ensued. I still keep in touch with one of them, and regularly try to track down some of the others. Sadly, two have died, both from complications related to AIDS.

One of the songs among their staples was a song written by filk artist Fred Small. The story behind it is worth telling, especially since the song is being featured on this list. From the CD insert for the live version of The Flirtations CD: Janet Peterson of Motherlode asked Fred to write it for her eight-year-old son after he came home from school one day and said, "Mom, it's getting hard to grow up and be a man these days; you can't hug your friends anymore. You have to slug 'em and say 'son of a bitch'."

There are several versions of Fred Small's "Everything Possible" floating around. They include a version by Motherlode, whose member requested the song, as well as one by Mr. Small himself. Andy and I have listened to all of the versions we can get our hands on. Our favorite one is that performed by The Flirtations, but I would be happy if any of the versions got radio airtime. Every child should be so lucky as to have this lullaby sung to them, and any number of adults would benefit from it as well.
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Colored Gemstone Course

I finished my Gemological Institute of America (GIA) course which I posted about here. It was interesting and in a few ways uncomfortable.

The interesting parts were everything I learned (or, in many cases, confirmed) about things like inclusions and stone-cutting and such. The uncomfortable part is that it was primarily aimed at people who want to sell colored gemstones; so, for instance, one whole chapter was on building a sales pitch. A lot of the advice of stuff to do were things which make me grind my teeth when done to me, like saying the person's name (too) often. This class is, however, a prerequisite for the course I really want to take, colored gemstone identification.

The final tally was 15/15 for the 8 quizzes, and 48/50 on the final exam. Unfortunately, as far as I can tell, they don't let you look at the final to see where you went wrong. Also unfortunately, though you have three shots at taking the final, you can only repeat it if you get fewer than 38 questions correct. Thus, I can't try again for 100%.

The next step is going to take some doing. The next course in the series is, as noted about, gemstone identification. That is far more technical, and involves using various methods to see if that pretty blue shiny rock is, say, sapphire or tanzanite or glass, and if it is sapphire, whether it was natural, treated, or lab-created. It is also a two-year course and involves some lab aspects which would require airfare and hotels and such. It's also just a bit more expensive than the 3-month course I just took (understatement alert) for tuition. One of the good things about online courses is that I can start them whenever, so I have some time to figure things out.