TOTALLY non-cycling related.

[sandra]

I love bikes and everything BIKE, but I love my girly girl side too. I love shoes and fashion. I confess, I also read on a fashion messageboard.

Today I could not pass up a DEAL on the most fabulous pair of shoes made in Italy with chinchilla pom poms!!!! I especially love them with my PJ's.

Tell me about YOUR other side.

[Tri Girl]

Those are fab-u-lous. I have a friend that has a chinchilla- and that is the softest creature I've ever touched. If I had shoes like that- I'd pet them more than wear them.

Hmmm... other side, eh??
I am a big Neil Diamond fan- saw him in concert a couple years ago. Not something I've told many people. I'd get teased mercilessly. And if ABBA was still around... oh don't get me started.

[uforgot]

ABBA?? Me too! "Thank you for the music" is one of my favorites. And I don't ever tell anyone that I'm a Barry Manilow fan. His schmaltzy stuff just goes right down to my toes. When someone makes fun of this, I just simply ask them "who here has the music degree???" (me!)

Like Sandra I love shoes. and video games. I used to try to hide my gameboy when I was flying a lot, but I finally gave up. 53 years old and I'm in the middle of Zelda, the Phantom Hourglass.

Great thread!

[nic840]

I LOVE NEIL! ABBA TOO!
I discovered Neil was coming to town shortly after I found out I was pregnant...my Due Date was Sept. 29th....Neil's concert date Sept. 27th. Got tickets for my husband, Dad and his girlfriend the morning they went on sale. Being 9 months pregnant was not going to stop me from seeing Neil...may not be standing much but I would be there!

Well as fate would have it my daughter decieded that 1am Sept. 27th was a great time to start making her way out... Delivered 6:30pm the night of Neil Diamond!

So my daughter now lives with the "day Neil came to town and Mommy had me" birthday.
Neil's not getting any younger! Hopefully he will do one last tour. In the end I gave my OB after delivery and he was thrilled to go! If it was a boy Neil was in the running.
Abba is a Toddler dance favorite, Nothing like a little Dancing Queen!
Don't be ashamed! You will always have something to sing at Karaoke partys.

[short cut sally]

If someone would've told me 2 years ago that I would start to have a femine girly side to me I would've laughed and told them that H&#ll would freeze over first. Down below isn't getting any cooler but let me tell you about my bedroom. It is done in 2 tone green stripes, and those vintage 50's pink spaghetti poodle figurines - all with rhinestone collars or cat eye glasses, and older lady figurines and 70's women paris prints as I call them and a collection of fake rhinestone jewelery. NEVER in a million years would I ever believe that I would ever reveal my inner feminism let alone enjoy a room done in it. Cool shoes by the way!

[five one]

Hmmm... other side, eh??
I am a big Neil Diamond fan- saw him in concert a couple years ago. Not something I've told many people.

I was a Neil Diamond fan MANY moons ago when he was big in the 60's. It's too long a story for here, but his was the first autograph I ever got. It was at a Where the Action Is tour show in Huntsville, AL in the spring of 1967 (40 years ago ). I was 15. He was in his mid-20's, decked out in black leather, and HOT! Something happened in the 70's and he became this weird sort of lounge singer IMHO. Now, I can't watch him without squirming. Eeewww. Sorry. But he sure still has his very loyal fan base, which obviously includes you .

[sandra]

Shellyj, you have got to post a picture of your bedroom!!!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

My "other side"? Hmmm....I have more than one.

On this forum I'm a cyclist and walker and snowshoer.
My daily work is as a technical illustrator doing patent invention drawings. My husband and I have a business doing this together.
I used to be a fine art painter and sculptor and had gallery shows for years before I started to draw commercially for a living.
I play old-time fiddle tune music on banjo and mountain dulcimer with my husband who is an excellent fiddler. I also sing old murder ballads without instrumental accompaniment. I can yodel a little too.
I have a small cactus collection.
I can ride horses, shoot rifle, and catch giant snapping turtles with my bare hands. I know a lot about animals and plants and nature, having studied them all my life, and have raised/bred many kinds of animals. I used to collect mushrooms in the woods as well, and cook the edible ones.
I do like to shop for good clothes.

[7rider]

I also sing old murder ballads without instrumental accompaniment.

Hey!
I can murder ballads, too!!!
Oh, wait. I don't think that's what you were saying.
Okay....what is a "murder ballad"???

I'm a one act show. Bikes.
Okay, well maybe not.
I have a boring job managing projects associated with the implementation of an act by Congress.
I volunteer with rabbit rescue groups.
Ask me about bikes or bunnies, and I can't shut up. Ask me about my job, and I'll tell you...yup...it's my job!
I enjoy skiing and kayaking.
I'm not much of a cook, but enjoy torturing guests...er, feeding them...every so often.

[TsPoet]

I hate ABBA - 15 years ago I drove from Arizona to North Carolina with all my possessions and a cage full of budgies (parakeets). My dad helped me pack and was furious when he showed up to find I wasn't farther along, he threw everything into boxes, including the CDs I set aside for the 4 days of 12+ hr driving. The only CDs I had were a 4 box set of ABBA.
4 days of ABBA with budgies chirping along (for those not familiar, budgies are unusual in the bird world in that they can't carry a tune and aren't terribly melodic).
Then again, I used to love ABBA, maybe I can listen to them again and the inadvertent aversion therapy has warn off!
Back on topic - my Meyer's Parrot would love those shoes!

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Hey!

Okay....what is a "murder ballad"???

A VERY short definition from Wikipedia:

Murder ballads are a notable portion of recorded medieval ballads from Scandinavia and Great Britain. In those, the victim overcomes the murderer, tricks him and stabs him to death while sleeping. Thus, justice is fulfilled, and the murderer is punished. Many of those ballads mention a row of dead brides, from seven and up to ten, until the final surviving heroine.

Often the details and locales for a particular murder ballad change as it is sung over time, reflecting the audience and the performer. For example, "Knoxville Girl" is essentially the same ballad as "The Wexford Girl" with the setting transposed from Ireland to Tennessee - the two of them are based on "The Oxford Girl", the original murder ballad set in England.

American murder ballads are often versions of older Old World ballads with any elements of supernatural retribution removed. For example, the English ballad "The Gosport Tragedy" of the 1750s had both murder and vengeance on the murderer by the ghosts of the murdered woman and her unborn baby, who call up a great storm to prevent his ship sailing before tearing him apart. In contrast, the Kentucky version, "Pretty Polly", is a stark murder ballad ending with the murder and burial of the victim in a shallow grave.

Here's just one example out of thousands, this one recorded in 1953:
http://www.lyon.edu/wolfcollection/s...blood1233.html
(I also sing this one)

[light_sabe_r]

Not much of a fashion nut but I am an Anime and Cartoon nut.

I love cartoons. Can't get enough of them. I was even serialised in 2004 for my own comic which I wrote and drew myself. (but then my other career took over)

I could easily spend days in front of the TV watching the entire series of Fruits Basket or Dragonball Z. Or sitting on our balcony reading graphic novels!

I've actually started drawing again recently- Trying to draw cartoon people on bikes.... :P My sketchbook's starting to fill again.

[TsPoet]

I was even serialised in 2004 for my own comic which I wrote and drew myself. (but then my other career took over)

You can't get away with not showing us a sample!

[OakLeaf]

Huh. I always thought of songs like "Banks of the Ohio" or "Cruel Mother" when I heard the term "murder ballad." Do those count? "Cruel Mother" at least includes the divine retribution. Or are those just ballads about murder, not murder ballads?

[light_sabe_r]

You can't get away with not showing us a sample!

Okay Poet - Just for you!

http://light-sabe-r.deviantart.com/a...-page-17780688

http://light-sabe-r.deviantart.com/a...Page13-7711769

and one of my Fave sketches.... A father meeting up with his delinquent son...

http://light-sabe-r.deviantart.com/a...wrong-16654048