Wednesday March 11, 2009
Invitation
Anyone who knows me well knows that I have been a
student of metaphysics and the paranormal
since I could read.
I actually forget how and/or when
precisely
I found the paranormal-themed online radio site
Para-X
("All Paranormal, All the Time"),
but once I entered their friendly
live chat room
while listening to the shows, I knew I'd found a new home.
Similarly to when I hosted a weekly live
X-Files
chat each Tuesday night
back on CompuServe in its TVZone forum, I quickly learned that those regulars in the chat room at para-x were friendly, fun loving, and wildly satirical.
I wasted little time MSTie'ing/riffing with my horrific puns and word plays and was impressed that not only was my twisted humour appreciated, but many could toss back as well as I.
One of the earliest friends I made was
author Marla Brooks,
who eventually began hosting a weekly Thursday evening show
Stirring the Cauldron.
Sadly many of my busy times end up hitting Thursday nights, so the majority of her shows I've been missing live; thankfully most of the shows on para-x are saved as podcasts.
From another of many friends/acquaintences I've made, I got a message from
Melissa
of
Paranormal Seekers Of North Texas.
She and her friend and paranormal investigative teammate
Ladean
had just begun hosting their new show
Paranormal Insight,
and Melissa invited me to be a guest on Friday the 27th.
I accepted and quickly
notified my MySpace friends on my blog
there, only to quickly learn I'd mis-read the initial message invitation... it was for March 27th, not February 27th.
Ooops...
I submitted a
date correction blog entry,
but Friday February 27th one person came into the chat room, wondering if I was to be a guest.
When one enters the chat room for the first time, the system provides the new user with a chat room moniker, generally a very strange one at that.
Before anyone could explain to the newbie how to change the chat room name to one more reflective of the user, the new guest was a bit... offensive
(technically not by much, but for one's first couple of sentences, it was bang out of order),
and s/he left quickly on realizing I would be a guest four weeks later.
However, I suddenly realized this might be someone who knows me personally, but s/he had fled before my identity request hit the chat room.
So I have no idea who that may have been.
Next time if the same person returns, the chat room most likely will provide a different moniker/nickname.
The first few editions of
Paranormal Insight
had a few growing pains and technical gaffes.
The first show mistakenly did not get recorded, another show was recorded but the wrong file got uploaded, etc.
The shows
themselves
were very good, and the ladies all but instantly got over any "nerves" they felt they may have had.
Ladean and Melissa inquired as to What Topic we could discuss.
I pointed out I'd talk about anything from ghosts, hauntings, anecdotal adventures to metaphysics, UFOs, cryptozoology, etc., and certainly wouldn't mind a hint towards my acting, about which everyone in the chat room was aware.
At their request I provided them with a few .jpg photos from which to choose with which they created a promo banner for the show on which I'd be the guest.
It was decided that most likely I could be a return guest at some point, and we could discuss a single topic on each show.
I suspected that most likely then the first show would be on ghosts, hauntings, etc., but noting the promo banner, I figured I'd best bone up on superstitions...
The majority of the para-x shows' hosts are in the south and east.
Marla and I are both Californians, as is psychic
Bonnie Vent,
"but" the site reflects shows' times as eastern time.
Early on I missed several shows by miscounting the hour time difference.
I found it ironically amusing the promo banner mentions Central time only...
(I provided times for east, central and pacific
on my
event reminder blog
entry).
I received another message that their guest for March 13 had to switch out, and whether I could do my appearance then.
Understandably doing a show on the paranormal on Friday the 13th didn't have me hesitate for a second to accept.
As we'd be using Skype
(and we'd already set up our respective "numbers," so as to be able to call each other for the show),
using the gift certificate I got as a holiday gift from my roommate, I acquired a new computer headset with mic, so there'd be no speaker feedback or echo on my part during the show.
The Paranormal Insight promo banner
Friday March 13, 2009
On the air...
Apart from a slight gaffe on my part
(speaking too early, before officially being introduced), my time on their show went quite well.
The headset worked fine, but on playing back the show after I downloaded it, I felt my own audio was a bit muddy, but at least I'm 99% comprehensible, even if some of my jokes may not have been...
Listen to the show here
or
Right-Click on the Link
and
download it
for listening at a later time.
Enjoy!