JocelynSilver

JocelynSilver


  • 7
  • Something uncommon about me

    If you'd like to be my penpal you can write to me at
    Jocelyn Stengel
    PO Box 116
    Durham, CT 06422
    USA

    if you don't mind going first, or send me your address if you'd like me to write first. If you write to me PLEASE write your return address very clearly so I can reply, it's hard to read sometimes and I have had mail returned as undeliverable because of that.

    I'm a NEW dj that plays OLD music. Vinyl only =) I learned to play music using the sync key on a controller about four years ago when i re-entered my local rave scene after an 8 or so year break and found no one was playing what I wanted to hear, so a friend gave me a little controller to hear my tunes and BAMMO! I was hooked on DJing. I switched to vinyl 2 years ago as I began to care about the art of DJing itself and wanted to learn my fundamental skills and became hooked on vinyl, it really does sound better even though it's much harder on you as a dejay.

    What's not uncommon but I feel should go in the first section about me is that I love to read. I'm a huge fain of Neil Gaiman, George R.R. Martin, Orson Scott Card's Ender series, and I'm just staring and falling in love with Terry Pratchett's Discworld.

    Music and books take up most of my time and now I've added good old fashioned pen and ink snail mail letter writing to my pass times. Be my penpal, I'm entertaining!

  • Personal skills

    I'm a vinyl DJ... that means I DJ like you see at the club but I do it in the manner it was done in the 90's with two records and a mixer, no laptops on my dj booth! I'm not wonderful (only two years experience) but it's my top activity! I love to talk about old school house music (and all music, very interested in theory) and the old days of raves when they were so different than they are today... but you don't have to come from my world to write, I'd be glad to learn about a whole new perspective or share my world with someone who doesn't know about it.

  • I always enjoy talking about...

    I love talking about things that are new to me, that I don't know about yet. I alspo always enjoy talking about the details of subjects I do know.. the how and why of things, the words themselves and their origins. I love talking about day to day life as well.

  • Life regrets

    I regret that I was not able to finish college and that i did not take my education more seriously before hand. Now I cannot afford to go to school and I'm afraid to take aid based on my past bad results, so I regret not learning how to be a good student when I was young so I could learn more about my interests now.

  • A trick or piece of advice

    If your listening to a record and it skips, don't worry, it's probably not scratched! It's probably dirt you can't see (those grooves are 1/10 the width of a hair). Just use some d4+ record cleaner and it solves 90% of skips.

    If you have hiss and pop noises on your records, that's from static more likely than anything else. Get a can of GruvGlide to treat your records so they don't accumulate static during play for a cleaner noise,

  • A career without obstacles

    If I could have any career it would be as a Dj so I could teach the younger, newer ravers that they love old school house!

    The current generation of ravers, when you talk to them, say they don't like old music, but if you play them old house without telling them that it's old, they love it... so I'd love to be the ambassador of old school house music to current raver kids.

  • Improving the school system

    There was no music education in the school I went to, that would have been a plus for me.

  • Childhood pleasures

    I have always loved to read. I didn't have many friends when I was young so i learned early how to get sucked into a book. It would be great to find a penpal to "read books with" and discuss!

  • It is better now

    Access! Access to almost everything is easier now. While I bemoan the loss off record stores, it is easier and cheaper for the average person to buy music and even become a dj. It's easier to see art without spending a lot of money, it's easier to see theater, just about everything has become more accessible for a lower cost with the digital age.

  • I recently learnt...

    I recently learned that I love having pen pals! I asked a few friends if they'd like to exchange letters just to pass some time (I don't have many hobbies) and I've enjoyed writing so much that here I am, searching for even more people to write to!

  • I wish people knew more about...

    I wish more people understood that raves are not drug fueled orgies but a celebration where some of the world's most talented musicians preform. And even when drugs are present, i'd rather people do them together in a group where there's help if needed than home alone where someone would be in real trouble if they do too much by accident.

    Come to think of it I wish more people understood the concept of Harm Reduction.

  • My proudest accomplishments

    Many years ago in the mid 90's raves were a lot more dangerous than they are now.. lots of bad chemical combinations going on while people dancing way harder and longer than they tend to now. I started a first aid group called Rave-Aid and my staff saved several lives.. the fact that there are people alive on this earth because of something I did is the thing I'm proudest of.

  • 10 years from now

    I hope to be back out on my own (currently living with my folks while on disability), working, playing music, and hopefully playing that music in front of lots of people! In that time I'd like to make friends around the world and maybe even visit them and go to rave or festivals with them!

  • My parents and me

    I'm a NOW person and they FOR YOUR FUTURE people. It's a big difference in the way we approach so many parts of our lives...

  • A personal challenge

    Learning to mix records on vinyl is by FAR the hardest things I have done in my life. Everything else always came naturally to me, but to learn to mix vinyl you are honestly rewiring your brain as to how you hear music and developing hand/ear coordination. Imagine trying to learn to drive but instead of seeing the road you are hearing it.... that's learning to DJ vinyl; except you are of course playing two songs so you are driving two cars down two roads by your ears, not one.

  • As a child, I wish...

    I wish there were more girls my age near where I live or that the boys were more willing to play with girls. I was pretty lonely in my neighborhood.

  • Favourite books/authors/films

    My favorite author is Neil Gaiman, by far. Second is Orsen Scott Card and third is George RR Martin. I'm currently reading a series by Terry Pratchett that I'm thoroughly enjoying. I like modern day fantacy like Gaiman, High fantasy, and hard sci fi.

  • I feel concerned about...

    All issues of inequality, speaking from the standpoint of social justice. I'm an intersectional feminist which means not only am I concerned with women's issues but also issues of class, race, gender, and so on because all of those things impact women as well. We are also concerned with how they affect men, obviously, and look at men as our partners in the fight for equality, we love them!

  • Over or underrated

    overrated: "EDM" underrated: old school house and other rave music.

    Note I put "edm" in quotes. I do NOT hate all underground electronic dance music by far, I live for that stuff, but I hate the cheaply produced big room, too many build, junk that we've come to call "edm" as a genre in my area.

  • My opinion on human nature

    We're all trying our best. With the exception of a few ill individuals, no one is setting out to be bad, mean, or evil. We're all just trying our best to get along with one another, some are just better at it than others. Most people aren't trying to screw you over and it's a shame we have to vet new people to make sure they aren't among those few.

  • My interests in other cultures

    I'd love to learn more about other cultures, from different American subcultures than my own all the way through the national and ethnic cultures of the world. I'm fine writing to someone who does not have the best English as long as they are ok with the fact that I use a lot of English idioms. I'd love to help you get better at English!

  • Something to tell the world!

    Ok, here it is, it's not a snob or old person thing... Vinyl really does sound better. There are aspects to the sound that are simply cut out for compression sake on an mp3 (and I doubt anyone is writing them into songs stored in the high volume file types either). You are losing sub-base and pink noise, and the tipiest highs of the highs... that sub-base is the "warmth" people are talking about with vinyl and it can't be duplicated digitally as far as I know.

    Yes, there's work to caring for vinyl, but it's worth it to hear the whole song =)

  • It was better before

    People had less "friends" and more true friends when they spent less time on social media and more of their focus was on the people truly important in their lives.

  • I'm an expert at...

    Vinyl.

    But really, compared to old school vinyl dj's I'm just a baby but compared to the average adult today I know a LOT about playing and caring for vinyl records. When I get into something I go at it whole-hog and this is just another example.

  • Cities and countries I have visited

    I went on a cruise on my honey moon (now divorced) but I don't remember where we visited other than Mexico! Bad on me for that! I've only traveled through the north eastern part of my own US. It would be great to have more friends near me and new friends from far away to visit some day!

  • My feeling about the future

    I'm scared as H--- about the future. Have you been following the US presidential election campaign? Yah, you'd be scared too if you lived here.

  • I'm excited about...

    I'm excited to make friends around the world, learn about new place, learn about cultures and new subcultures, and even to help people practice their English.

  • Living abroad for one year

    If I could go abroad for a year, no question, I'd go to the UK but I'd have to bring my turntable rig with me! The line ups they have for summer festivals are a dream come true for an old school raver who loves house and drum and bass. I'd spend the rest of my time hitting your old-school geared clubs and raves and record shopping at real stores (for now, here in America, I'm stuck shopping online). I'd take mini trips across Europe and do at least two weeks in Ibiza. There's lots of other reasons to go lots of other places, but as a DJ, the UK is where it's at for me.

  • Making the world a better place

    If we all viewed each other as equals, with equal rights and responsibilities (locally and globally) the world would be a better place. If we owned the privileges that we have and understood that not everyone is as lucky, the world would be better. Google "intersectional feminism" for more on what I mean =)


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