TOSOL on WREK 91.1 Tech Talk
Mordant & McFall chat with DJ E-is-for-Energy and the Just Add Water Cats on Georgia Tech’s WREK 91.1 show Tech Talk about The Other Side of LIVE!, the No Agenda Stream, podcasting & social media, and our then upcoming Atlanta TOSOL Meetup May 2012.
Click >>>Techtalk2012<<< to hear this entertaining, edifying interview.
Welcome to MordantWorld.com—gateway to all things Possible.
Whether your journey takes you Beyond the Horizon or just Outside your Comfort Zone, these pages will put you in touch with getting out of your own way and moving forward in your life.
Here I give you an open window into my world…of dealing with the day-to-day & my own idiosyncrasies while Leveling Up My Life. Drama can be your friend as long as it’s Positive Drama. Grab a gander at the variety of ways & means I have uncovered that take “the secret” out of becoming Bigger, Badder, Better, More.
For a though-provoking looksee at what all this means, check out the different hallways, avenues & dimensions to my Quantum Manifested Life. While here, see what’s up and explore what’s new.
Welcome to my Mordant World—may it Rock Your Reality as it has mine.
Welcome to my new website. This is the part where I’m supposed to say something brilliant about how much fun I’ve been having bringing this to you and what a joy it’s been to be a big part of creating such a masterpiece.
Poppycock.
(1) This has been more work than joy
(2) I have quite a few people lending their considerable talents to something that is going to have my name all over it (even though they did most of the work)
(3) I’m not really having that much fun right now….
Okay, maybe a little. But, don’t tell anyone. It will spoil the snarky mood I’m trying to invoke. Okay (again) not really. *sigh*
What you see in front of you has come at the end of many, many months of work. It was supposed to launch in June, but we decided to give it yet another month. Not because we couldn’t aggregate our fecal matter—(again, wonderful people…working very hard). But, because life stepped in, and work stepped in…and, honestly, it just wasn’t ready. There. I said it. So…it’s ready now, right? Oh, that that were true.
(more…)
There’s been some confusion of late, as to what you should call me. You’ve seen or heard me throw out the names “Mordant,” and “Raphael,” and “Riki”—and perhaps a couple others tossed here and there into the mix. What’s up with that?! What should you call me and where do all these names come from anyway? I’m a little public for the Witness Protection Program, so it’s not that. Probably. Perhaps I’m just eccentric (read: weird), and like the thought of a ton of pseudonyms. You know…having so many people in my head that I don’t ever feel alone. But, that would be just a little too whack-a-doodle, don’t you think? The voices in my head agree with me, so it must be true.
I was adopted at birth and given the name Ronald Richard Robinson. My family goes by their middle names, and that’s where Riki comes in—from Richard. (Much better than the other nickname I could have gotten from Richard, believe you me.) It’s always been Riki and it’s always been spelled the way it is. In my teens, I tried to shorten it to Rik, but my mother said, “No! You’re name’s Riki.” And so, Riki it is.
Until I became a Tortuga Twin.
In 1987, I co-founded a comedy troupe. Known mostly as a trio (there are currently six of us on the roster), but back then we were a duo. We were portraying twin gypsy brothers looking for their lost princess—a brilliant way to meet girls according to our twenty-something minds. We needed a catchy name that sounded ethnic. The Tortuga Twins fit all that.
At the time there was an independent comic book known as Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (you might have heard of it). Tortuga means turtle in Spanish. As a play on words, and to pay homage to our geekdom, Jef took the name Donatello (he later changed it to D’Angelo), while I took Raphael. Besides, it began with an “R.” I have a fondness for “Rs.” Go figure.
To mix things up even more, if you ever happen to find a lost cell phone of mine, you’ll see the name Riki Tortuga on it. That’s how I’m known by most on the renaissance festival circuit. Again, go figure.
What does all this have to do with Mordant? Don’t worry, that’s next.
In 2003, I reconnected with my birth mother, Mary Mahon (her maiden name). While spending time with her—first in Florida, then in Spain—I asked her what name she would have given me. Being British of Irish descent, it would have been a doosie. John Edward Antony Noel Mordant Mahon, after her late brother. Wow.
As I was the only of her children that she had contact with—there is another that I know of—she asked that I do something to carry on the family name. Thus R. Mordant Mahon was born. I especially like it because “Mordant” is a reagent used on color in the dyeing process (“it makes things stick” as a friend of mine recently pointed out). Also, in literature, it is “a biting reply.” Not too shabby for a writer if I do say so myself.
There you have it. Call me Mordant. Some because I really like the name even if it doesn’t begin with an “R.” Some because as I brand it into the public consciousness, that’s how they’ll know me. But mostly, and honestly, because it pleases me dear mum.
R. Mordant Mahon
As An Addendum
Okay…to avoid FURTHER confusion – call me Mordant HERE. And when I’m out doing Mordanty things. It is my author name, but should not become a stumbling block for my old friends. The “R” in R. Mordant Mahon is for Riki after all. =)
Welcome to my Mordant World. I’ve been talking with various friends of mine about creating and continuing a blog. This to promote various aspects of my life—mostly the creative parts. After hemming and hawing, then not doing much about it, I figured I might as well put something down, thus making ready for that auspicious moment when I actually do put an official blog together.
For those of you who don’t know, I am a man of many hats. My Facebook & Twitter bios read:
Globetrotting Renaissance Man…Actor, Author, Entrepreneur…Universal Healing Tao Instructor, Quantum Manifestations Life Coach…Tortuga Twin.
This pretty much says it all. I crisscross the United States, performing comedic stage shows at various festivals—mostly of the renaissance variety. It is true that I am a world traveler. I was born in Karachi, Pakistan in the 60’s. Next came the Philippines and Laos during the Viet Nam War before settling down in Tarpon Springs, Florida. All of this before entering third grade. As an adult, I’ve hit Europe, Asia, Mexico, and Canada. Boy, are my arms tired.
I am a hopeful on-camera actor. I say “hopeful” because I haven’t gone so far as to get an agent yet (again at the time of this writing), and only worked on independent and student films—none of them paying gigs. It doesn’t sound very hopeful, but I am. You’ll have to take me at my word on this one. I’ll do my best to prove it to you later.
I have co-authored a dating/relationship self-help book titled Why Real Women Drink Straight Tequila—The Tao of Intimacy. Currently, I am working on a fantasy novel as well as yet another self-helpy type book. I’m hopeful about these, too.
I am a Universal Healing Tao certified Instructor, trained under Grandmaster Mantak Chia at Tao Garden in Chiang Mai, Thailand. Using various methods of Chi Kung meditation, I guide others in learning how to transform negative aspects of their energy and live a life of positive vitality. Sounds a little woo-woo I know, but it works for me.
Though writing this illustrious, long-winded blog, I haven’t officially set anything up yet. I’ve been thinking WordPress, but good friend and fellow writer Allison said she likes Blogger. I should probably ask Marrus what she uses, as she is a big fan of blogging to inform, promote, and entertain (not necessarily in that order). I guess you could say I’m hopeful about blogging, too. We’ll see.
Sooo…if there were a theme to my wannabe blog, it would have to be…have hope. I’m not talking about the kind of hope where you sit back and wish for good things to happen to you. No, I’m a firm believer in imagining what you can do, then doing something about it. Yes, you should dream dreams. These dreams will become the blueprints for your fantastic life if you let them. But, you can’t stop there. Not if you want to succeed. You have to visualize your success, seeing it in your mind’s eye and believing it can happen. Then comes the work part. The setting down tangible goals, then getting off your butt and knocking them out one by one part. Big steps or baby steps, it doesn’t matter. It’s the forward momentum that counts.
So, that’s the gist of this first blog. Dream your dreams and take the steps necessary to see them to fruition. Above all, have hope. It will keep you going through the character-building rough spots. Don’t worry; I’m not going to Pollyanna my way through everything I write. I’ll share some of my trials, conflicts, and failures. Besides, they’re all a part of this growing process, and extremely necessary if we want to develop into the kind of people we dream about becoming.
R. Mordant Mahon