My Name? Hayden Gibson Rodgers (or my pen name H.G. Rodgers)
Why am I starting a Blog?
Because I am trying to condense all my procrastinating thoughts into one place, therefore minimising the time I spend just thinking on things and not writing. Plus I think it could be fun to have a blog. I do love writing after all. I guess the idea of expressing my opinions is quite attractive and there is no word limit here. I can say what I want without having to worry about being invasive because this is my space.
Also, I seem to have more of a capacity for remembering random trivia and facts than actual human memories. Half the time I can’t remember if I already put sugar in my tea or not. So this is going to be some sort of an account of my life or at least my thoughts throughout it. Maybe all I need is to vent all my latent ponderings onto a page to clear my head. Anyway, I guess the underlying reason is for mental health.
Why should you read this?
Really, I don’t care if you do. What I write here is first and foremost a personal writing exercise. Of course, you should read it because it will be terribly interesting and you won’t be able to resist.
What is my favourite thing to do in the world?
In order: writing, singing (really tied with writing), dancing, acting, cooking, visual art, watching all of the above. I’m sure I’ll think of more later.
What is my favourite music?
Well, music is a very significant component of my life and most likely my soul. I can’t really function normally without it and I live in a constant submersion of music where I am either listening to a song or something is playing in my head. Obviously, I only enjoy music that is beautiful in the way that it sounds. This instantly rules out any hard rock, heavy metal, screamo and other such genres that rely on incoherence and warped noises to generate sound. I can’t be sure exactly why those genres are orange coloured in my mind, but they are.
I tend to prefer female artists because I love, to the bottom of my heart, to sing with a song. Male artists tend to sing too high on the male vocal scale for me and females — especially of the sexy black variety — have the perfect voices for me to transpose into my most comfortable range. Also, they just sound better and tend to use more interesting vocals.
As for genres, Jazz, Soul, Swing, Blues are so very very satisfying (I have a playlist on my iPod called ‘A Soulful Swing of Blue Jazz’ which is dedicated to these sounds). I also tend to thoroughly enjoy soundtracks and musicals. I think there is something incredibly appealing about music (including scores) that is an extension or integral part of a story — possibly because it combines my two greatest loves. I do occasionally collect some mainstream pop because of its great entertainment value, but I usually get bored of it quickly and can’t stand it after about thirty listens.
Purely instrumental music is just as much, if not more, appealing to me as songs I can sing to. Classical compositions really tickle my fancy. I love Greig, Debussy, some Mozart and Beethoven—I don’t want to sound too snooty so I’ll stop right there. Again, the scores of movies are just like a feast for my mind and my creativity thrives on it. They are definitely my favourite instrumental pieces and are my go-to playlist for writing music. Obviously you can see I like my music.
Am I black on the inside but unfortunately white on the outside?
Yes.
What is my favourite genre of writing?
It is the same as my favourite genre of movie, book, painting and thought. Fantasy. The genre that is larger than life. When I say fantasy, I generally mean magic and the supernatural, but anything that goes beyond the ordinary boundaries of our world fascinates me.
What are my religious views?
From a distance you would probably call me a Christian. But I am not. I think organised religion is, frankly, wrong (maybe not totally but there are definitely large portions I disagree with). Christianity is no longer what it used to be — tarnished by its very practitioners — and that God only wants a love driven relationship with us, not a ceremony. God is the only certain and real thing there is. Christianity and especially Catholicism (I won’t even touch the other religions yet) rely on too heavily on ritual, precedence, and timing. Rituals are just a way to unnecessarily complicate the seeking of God, precedence is the easiest way to stop you from doing something spontaneous or new for God, and timing is the biggest excuse for laziness in existence. What am I then? I am an adopted son of God and no one else; he owns my spirit because I gave it to him. If you think this is interesting, talk to me — or wait a couple of years for the Plan to take effect (hint hint).
Did I learn about myself by writing this ‘About Me’ section?
Yes. My master plan to clear my head is already working.
