I am unconventional, sui generis, and like pushing buttons.
My Self-Summary
Where to start? I have a wide variety of interests that I tend to
cycle through, sometimes juggled simultaneously, sometimes
sequentially. College educated, spent far too long bouncing between
different sciences, then considered being a pilot, then fell back
to electronics...squandered my education for some years before
finding work that actually uses what I learned.
Similarly complicated with other aspects of my life. I believe in
being fully open with any matters of importance, so yes, just in
case you were wondering (hah), I'm genetically male. I consider
myself genderqueer and frankly wish society could wake up and quit
insisting on binary anything. Lately I've been leaning towards
expressing this side of me more openly, but in some ways I'm just a
chicken.
Speaking of being open, I've recently left a long term polygamous
relationship. I both feel that love and intimacy are not finite
quantities, and that open talk about outside relationships is the
best way of making anything work - and it can!
What I’m doing with my life
Last year, I learned to
unicycle, in some ways, yes, it is as
hard as it looks, but it took more time for the training wheels to
come off my first bike than to get rolling on a uni, so don't be
afraid to try it if someone offers!
Currently involved with the SCA
traditional archery group,
and having a blast. Just bow, arrow, and skill (maybe a bit of luck
thrown in.) I found I've enjoyed making my own accessories for it
almost as much as the shooting itself. So I"m now the proud owner
of a hand-worked leather quiver and fur lined arm bracer ^_^.
It's rare that I'm not learning something, whether through just
reading on the internet, journals, or whatever happens to catch my
fancy this week.
More long term learning interests include:
Japanese - I'll currently studying up
for the Japanese Language Proficiency exam level 2. I passed level
3 last year and am hoping to kick things up a notch....or several.
Also
saxaphone -
I pick this up every few months, love it, and then somehow I always
end up losing the time to play. Not that I'm any good, but if one
day I could play the sax solo from Pink Floyd's "The Gunner's
Dream" I'd be able to die happy.
I work to live, rather than live to work. I'll admit money is nice
but it's just not that much of a motivator for me. That said I'm
happy to finally be out of a long string of
call center jobs (tech support
hell!) and into an
electronics technician
position with a major oilfield services company. Now I just have to
get over the evil oil karma hit, but I drive a small car, so it
sorta balances....right?
I’m really good at
Modesty. No really, I suck at self promotion. Let's say I'm pretty
good at:
Scuba diving. What's not to love? The poor landlubbers have no idea
what they are missing. People ask me "Is there anything to see down
there?" and I'm caught flatfooted. It's an entire universe. It's
nothing like the surface. It's beautiful, and it's quiet, and it's
brutal. Quite literally everything is trying to kill and eat
everything else. Quietly.
Computers. We get along quite nicely. People forget it's a tool, it
takes some tie to learn how to use it, but once you do, it can do
anything for you. Of course, I end up gaming far too much but it's
a far sight better than TV.
The first things people usually notice about me
In my life situation people tend to notice me a lot...but the
reason can vary. I seem to get almost as many looks when I'm out
presenting as male as when female....but I recently realized I was
counting a full length black canvas skirt as my 'male' garb...so
that might be part of it.
My favorite books, movies, music, and food
Authors: William Gibson, Neal Stephenson, H.P. Lovecraft, David
Brin, Matsume Shirow, Rumiko Takahashi, Art Spiegleman, Vernor
Vinge, Nancy Friday (though technically she herself didn't write a
lot of that..), Mary Gaitskill, Susie Bright. Looking forward to
getting my hands on a copy of "The Wisdom of Whores" as I've read
some other books on epidemiology and this one looks good -*edit*
read it and loved it! Highly recommended. Quqte "I used to tell
people I was in epidemiology, which got blank stares. Now I just
say I'm into sex, drugs, and rock 'n' roll."
Movies: I like to be surprised, managed to avoid the hype machines
for both the Blair Witch project AND the Matrix, and think I
enjoyed them more for it. I like foreign flicks for their
diversity, and because it reveals the 'language' of movies that we
take for granted. Subtitles only, please! And sometimes I'll just
clear the backlog of movies that sounded ok, but that you'd never
go to a theatre for. In general, I'll give anything a try, but
you're not likely to find me renting summer comedies.
Food: Coffee! (not tea, really, just not my thing...) Sushi! Butter
Chicken! Popcorn! Can be spicy but not too spicy. Pretty flexible
overall.
And I nearly forgot music...I go through phases, and find myself
enjoying a wide variety, but if was to try boiling it down to 'lost
on a desert island' music, I'd say... Tom Waits, Pink Floyd (but
never got into the Beatles, funny eh?), Holly Cole, Ani DiFranco's
earlier stuff, Sarah McLauglin, Winston Marsalis; something for
aggression release, like the Dead Kennedys...and some things you
can dance to, like Covenant or the Chemical Brothers.
No country, life's just too short to waste. Folk yes, country no.
Oh and play Nickleback and I'll smack you. Friends don't let
friends do CanCon for CanCon's sake.
The six things I could never do without
Coffee, cats, computers, cute outfits, constant learning, and
consensual sex (it all its' splendid forms). *Whew* wasn't sure I'd
be able to keep the alliteration up.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
I like to think about thinking...seriously. Perception of the
physical world, perception of virtual worlds in dreams or gaming -
the thought processes of someone playing a complex FPS ties in to
strategy, experience, situational awareness, evaulation of
achievable goals, estimation of teammates abilities - and it all
happens at lightning speed.
On a related note, I'm very interested in both human factors
engineering (how people interact with computers/systems/machines
and how to design such devices so that users 'do the right thing'
without having to think - eg Panic bars on doors: You're panicking,
you run straight into the door, it opens, just like you wanted it
too but without conscious thought.
Oh, and sex.
On a typical Friday night I am
Probably only vaguely aware that it's Friday night due to years of
shift work.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit here
I've probably already admitted if you read the rest of my profile.
You should message me if
You don't mind the duality of a grammar Nazi with a soft spot for
lolcats-speakzez.
You have interesting or just random bizarre ideas that you'd like
to bounce off someone.
You actually just want to chat.