50 more things about me
Sep. 1st, 2004 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
edgIgnoring #51 from the last list for the sake of simplicity, and lj-cut for your pleasure.
51. As of Friday, Sept. 3, I will have been working at Johns Hopkins for two years. This is the longest I have ever held a paid position. (The second-longest is 13 months.)
52. The longest that I have held a non-paid position is five years and counting.
53. I have all of the instruments I need to start a one-man rock band. (I do not own a bass guitar, but there is a way to tune down electric guitars to simulate bass guitars.) The only equipment I don't own is drum mikes.
54. When I look at the work of people who are good at the things at which I want to be good (like diagramming sentences - hi, Beth!), my reaction typically isn't "Wow, I wish I could be as good as they are!" Instead, it's "Wow, I can't ever be that good".
55. I don't like having clothing stick or cling to my body; it makes me self-conscious and physically uncomfortable.
56. For the last three or four days, I have been making an effort to be cheerful and give people - including myself - the benefit of the doubt. It seems to be working.
57. I grow a beard specifically in order to define the line of my lower jaw. I grow a mustache because I look weird with a beard and no mustache.
58. I have several target weights in my goal to get in shape. At the second-to-last of those goals, my reward to myself will be shaving my beard again.
59. I don't like to be in the middle of any sort of interaction between two or more people unless I'm firmly in the middle, with all of the information I need and nobody going around me or behind my back. If I'm not the only conduit of communication, I don't want to be in the middle of all. This has little to do with control issues; I simply get frustrated when people ask me repeatedly for information I don't have or when I find out that I only have part of the puzzle.
60. I have a small desk lamp on my work desk next to my monitor. The light bulb in that lamp burned out over a year ago; I never use the lamp, so I never replaced the bulb.
61. I have dated three women, ever. All three were older than I by at least a year. One was older by eight years.
62. My first sexual experience was, by a two-week margin, statutory rape - on her part. (Nobody got in trouble for it - in fact, it literally only occurred to me as I was writing #61 - and the statute of limitations has expired.)
63. I am a self-confessed nihonaijin (a word I just made up, which means, roughly, "Japan-lover"). Language, culture, art, music: I can't get enough of it.
64. Each year for the last five years I have intended to send Christmas cards. I've never followed through on it.
65. I am constantly amazed by the breadth of material covered by the books in my local library. I am constantly frustrated that they never have the specific subject that I'm looking for.
66. I believe firmly in the principle that just because a million other people do or believe something, that doesn't make it right. Conversely, I also believe firmly that just because a million other people do or believe something, that doesn't make it wrong.
67. In the dark, I prefer "cool" colors: blue, purple, green, etc. In the light, I prefer "warm" colors: red, yellow, orange, etc. This is a general preference, not just what I tend to wear.
68. In fact, I tend to wear monochromes - black, white, grey - regardless of where I am and what time of year it is.
69. In what may be the effect of too much In Nomine on the brain, I have a lot of trouble describing people as "good" and "evil"; to me, everybody has motives which shape their actions, and just taking an action that hurts people isn't evil. Evil requires taking an action that hurts people, knowing beforehand that the action will hurt people, and taking the action *in order to* hurt people - and even then, there are exceptions. (This is, of course, simplified.)
70. It has been the case both times that I've taken breaks from (most of) the Internet that as soon as I started, I found things that I wanted to do that require the web, IRC, etc.
71. I intend to attend cultural (or "cultural") events - film, theatre, opera, concerts, etc. - at least twice a month from now on.
72. This includes attending my old high school's concerts and theatrical productions.
73. One of the things that disappointed me most about Otakon was not being able to see L'Arc en Ciel in concert.
74. The first modem I ever owned was a 300-baud ISA model. The first modem I ever bought, a 2400-baud ISA card, was acquired from a friend for $15 and a copy of Nirvana's "Incesticide" album.
75. I first connected to the Internet through a proxy connection on a Baltimore, MD BBS. I gave up BBSing for the Internet about a year later, when we finally bought an ISP account. (This was with SmartNet, a small Baltimore ISP that folded about a month after we abandoned it for BCPL.net, the Baltimore County Public Library's ISP.)
76. I don't still keep in touch with anybody from the local BBSes, or anybody from the first year or two I was on the Internet.
77. I regret not traveling more than I do, and have resolved to change that (the not traveling, that is) in the coming year. Before I do that, though, I should probably acquire a new car.
78. I have a tendency (much like Dave Barry) to write notes to myself and then not be entirely sure what they mean when I look at them later. At the moment, though, I actually understand what all six of the Post-It notes on and around my monitor mean: "YOU CAN DO IT!" is actually a reminder to myself to do work instead of goofing off (oops), "LEAVE NOTES" is a reminder to myself to put comments into my datasets so that I remember how certain variables and decisions were made; one note is a list of things that I had to do on the 23rd of July; one is salient characteristics of the target population of a dataset I haven't worked with since March; one is a reminder that I paid GameFly $20.95 on the 20th, that Veronica from Comcast owes me a call about surveying to put a new cable line down our road, and the cryptic note "space elevator" that's reminding me of a setting idea I had; and one lists the rhyme pattern of a sonnet.
79. On the walls of my office I have a Hellboy movie poster, a Megatokyo "ph34r t3h cute ones" poster, a list of important phone numbers, the text of an email that Alex and Jessica sent me in February, part of the text of "Pippa Passes" by Robert Browning, and the entirety of "The Old Astronomer To His Pupil" by Sarah Williams. I also have a number of figurines: Belldandy, Skuld, Urd, Peorth, and the little motorcycle-robot from Oh My Goddess!, Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan, and EVA-00 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. (Urd keeps falling off of her pedestal for no apparent reason; what's stranger is that every time she falls off, I'm not here, and I always find her propped up against it.) In addition, I have a small fabric newt on top of my monitor.
80. I have .hack//infection and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time currently checked out from GameFly. I have had them since June and have never played them.
81. Since Alex arrived in June, I have been to the gym twice. Most of the time, I have other things that I need to do in the free hour that I have before I have to pick him up from day care. Despite this, I have lost 7 pounds since he arrived.
82. I'm really looking forward to going back to a Monday-Thursday, ten-hours-a-day work schedule.
83. I have never seen Dr. Strangelove all the way through. Similarly, I have never seen more than the first ten minutes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The former is a matter of circumstance; the latter is because, due to a number of bad experiences wherein I sat down to watch the movie and invariably had people come in and start shouting lines at the screen, I actively avoid seeing it. I don't care if "participation" is part of the fun; I just wanted to watch the goddamned movie without being interrupted, and now I doubt I ever will.
84. On a related note, I have - not once, but twice - seen Manos: the Hands of Fate outside of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 context. I will be happy if it never happens again.
85. Without going into too much detail, I can honestly say that one of the most in-depth, heartfelt talks I've ever had came about as a direct result of lesbian gladiator porn.
86. I have not attended a costume party in costume since I was twelve years old, although I have attended a toga party in street clothes with a nametag that read I'M NOT A TOGA, BUT I PLAY ONE ON TV. Strangely, this is not due to any dislike of wearing costumes.
87. There are only two sodas (that I've tried) whose diet version I don't prefer: root beer and Mountain Dew.
88. I have not actively cried about anything since Memorial Day weekend in 1991, when one of our puppies died. This is partly by choice and partly by temperament. I do tear up occasionally, but I don't cry.
89. I can go days without contact with another living creature, but this doesn't mean that I enjoy it.
90. For a long time I had an extensive bottlecap collection on my desk at work. Recently I threw them all out because they were taking up space and contributed to my fidgeting.
91. I use canned air on my keyboard perhaps more than is strictly necessary.
92. I believe firmly in the infinite utility of index cards, and keep a box of them on every desk at which I work, and a 100-count package in my laptop case.
93. I sometimes wonder if I view my art negatively not because I think it's necessarily bad but because it's mine.
94. I carry a large number of objects with me when I leave the house: a ballpoint pen, a roller-ball pen, a mechanical pencil, a double-ended broad/fine Sharpie marker, a nail clipper, and a Pink Pearl eraser in my left hip pocket, my wallet in my right hip pocket, and my checkbook and a notepad in my right rear pocket. Occasionally I have a handkerchief in my left rear pocket. My keys go in my left breast pocket.
95. I have, in my life, owned (or my family has owned) two cats, four dogs, many fish, three guinea pigs, a gerbil, a spiny lizard, a snake, and two iguanas, among others. Of these, the second cat is still alive, and lives with my parents in Michigan.
96. I crack my neck loudly enough that it bothers my therapist if I do it in front of her.
97. I update my checkbook almost compulsively, and check my online statement weekly to make sure I haven't missed anything.
98. I check my friends list daily (well, when I'm allowed to access the internet) to see whether anyone has added or removed me.
99. In two weeks I will have had this journal for two years.
100. One of the reasons I most look forward to having Secret Project Q in the can is so I can tell people about it.
Kinda shallow, but hey. :)
51. As of Friday, Sept. 3, I will have been working at Johns Hopkins for two years. This is the longest I have ever held a paid position. (The second-longest is 13 months.)
52. The longest that I have held a non-paid position is five years and counting.
53. I have all of the instruments I need to start a one-man rock band. (I do not own a bass guitar, but there is a way to tune down electric guitars to simulate bass guitars.) The only equipment I don't own is drum mikes.
54. When I look at the work of people who are good at the things at which I want to be good (like diagramming sentences - hi, Beth!), my reaction typically isn't "Wow, I wish I could be as good as they are!" Instead, it's "Wow, I can't ever be that good".
55. I don't like having clothing stick or cling to my body; it makes me self-conscious and physically uncomfortable.
56. For the last three or four days, I have been making an effort to be cheerful and give people - including myself - the benefit of the doubt. It seems to be working.
57. I grow a beard specifically in order to define the line of my lower jaw. I grow a mustache because I look weird with a beard and no mustache.
58. I have several target weights in my goal to get in shape. At the second-to-last of those goals, my reward to myself will be shaving my beard again.
59. I don't like to be in the middle of any sort of interaction between two or more people unless I'm firmly in the middle, with all of the information I need and nobody going around me or behind my back. If I'm not the only conduit of communication, I don't want to be in the middle of all. This has little to do with control issues; I simply get frustrated when people ask me repeatedly for information I don't have or when I find out that I only have part of the puzzle.
60. I have a small desk lamp on my work desk next to my monitor. The light bulb in that lamp burned out over a year ago; I never use the lamp, so I never replaced the bulb.
61. I have dated three women, ever. All three were older than I by at least a year. One was older by eight years.
62. My first sexual experience was, by a two-week margin, statutory rape - on her part. (Nobody got in trouble for it - in fact, it literally only occurred to me as I was writing #61 - and the statute of limitations has expired.)
63. I am a self-confessed nihonaijin (a word I just made up, which means, roughly, "Japan-lover"). Language, culture, art, music: I can't get enough of it.
64. Each year for the last five years I have intended to send Christmas cards. I've never followed through on it.
65. I am constantly amazed by the breadth of material covered by the books in my local library. I am constantly frustrated that they never have the specific subject that I'm looking for.
66. I believe firmly in the principle that just because a million other people do or believe something, that doesn't make it right. Conversely, I also believe firmly that just because a million other people do or believe something, that doesn't make it wrong.
67. In the dark, I prefer "cool" colors: blue, purple, green, etc. In the light, I prefer "warm" colors: red, yellow, orange, etc. This is a general preference, not just what I tend to wear.
68. In fact, I tend to wear monochromes - black, white, grey - regardless of where I am and what time of year it is.
69. In what may be the effect of too much In Nomine on the brain, I have a lot of trouble describing people as "good" and "evil"; to me, everybody has motives which shape their actions, and just taking an action that hurts people isn't evil. Evil requires taking an action that hurts people, knowing beforehand that the action will hurt people, and taking the action *in order to* hurt people - and even then, there are exceptions. (This is, of course, simplified.)
70. It has been the case both times that I've taken breaks from (most of) the Internet that as soon as I started, I found things that I wanted to do that require the web, IRC, etc.
71. I intend to attend cultural (or "cultural") events - film, theatre, opera, concerts, etc. - at least twice a month from now on.
72. This includes attending my old high school's concerts and theatrical productions.
73. One of the things that disappointed me most about Otakon was not being able to see L'Arc en Ciel in concert.
74. The first modem I ever owned was a 300-baud ISA model. The first modem I ever bought, a 2400-baud ISA card, was acquired from a friend for $15 and a copy of Nirvana's "Incesticide" album.
75. I first connected to the Internet through a proxy connection on a Baltimore, MD BBS. I gave up BBSing for the Internet about a year later, when we finally bought an ISP account. (This was with SmartNet, a small Baltimore ISP that folded about a month after we abandoned it for BCPL.net, the Baltimore County Public Library's ISP.)
76. I don't still keep in touch with anybody from the local BBSes, or anybody from the first year or two I was on the Internet.
77. I regret not traveling more than I do, and have resolved to change that (the not traveling, that is) in the coming year. Before I do that, though, I should probably acquire a new car.
78. I have a tendency (much like Dave Barry) to write notes to myself and then not be entirely sure what they mean when I look at them later. At the moment, though, I actually understand what all six of the Post-It notes on and around my monitor mean: "YOU CAN DO IT!" is actually a reminder to myself to do work instead of goofing off (oops), "LEAVE NOTES" is a reminder to myself to put comments into my datasets so that I remember how certain variables and decisions were made; one note is a list of things that I had to do on the 23rd of July; one is salient characteristics of the target population of a dataset I haven't worked with since March; one is a reminder that I paid GameFly $20.95 on the 20th, that Veronica from Comcast owes me a call about surveying to put a new cable line down our road, and the cryptic note "space elevator" that's reminding me of a setting idea I had; and one lists the rhyme pattern of a sonnet.
79. On the walls of my office I have a Hellboy movie poster, a Megatokyo "ph34r t3h cute ones" poster, a list of important phone numbers, the text of an email that Alex and Jessica sent me in February, part of the text of "Pippa Passes" by Robert Browning, and the entirety of "The Old Astronomer To His Pupil" by Sarah Williams. I also have a number of figurines: Belldandy, Skuld, Urd, Peorth, and the little motorcycle-robot from Oh My Goddess!, Spider Jerusalem from Transmetropolitan, and EVA-00 from Neon Genesis Evangelion. (Urd keeps falling off of her pedestal for no apparent reason; what's stranger is that every time she falls off, I'm not here, and I always find her propped up against it.) In addition, I have a small fabric newt on top of my monitor.
80. I have .hack//infection and Prince of Persia: Sands of Time currently checked out from GameFly. I have had them since June and have never played them.
81. Since Alex arrived in June, I have been to the gym twice. Most of the time, I have other things that I need to do in the free hour that I have before I have to pick him up from day care. Despite this, I have lost 7 pounds since he arrived.
82. I'm really looking forward to going back to a Monday-Thursday, ten-hours-a-day work schedule.
83. I have never seen Dr. Strangelove all the way through. Similarly, I have never seen more than the first ten minutes of The Rocky Horror Picture Show. The former is a matter of circumstance; the latter is because, due to a number of bad experiences wherein I sat down to watch the movie and invariably had people come in and start shouting lines at the screen, I actively avoid seeing it. I don't care if "participation" is part of the fun; I just wanted to watch the goddamned movie without being interrupted, and now I doubt I ever will.
84. On a related note, I have - not once, but twice - seen Manos: the Hands of Fate outside of a Mystery Science Theater 3000 context. I will be happy if it never happens again.
85. Without going into too much detail, I can honestly say that one of the most in-depth, heartfelt talks I've ever had came about as a direct result of lesbian gladiator porn.
86. I have not attended a costume party in costume since I was twelve years old, although I have attended a toga party in street clothes with a nametag that read I'M NOT A TOGA, BUT I PLAY ONE ON TV. Strangely, this is not due to any dislike of wearing costumes.
87. There are only two sodas (that I've tried) whose diet version I don't prefer: root beer and Mountain Dew.
88. I have not actively cried about anything since Memorial Day weekend in 1991, when one of our puppies died. This is partly by choice and partly by temperament. I do tear up occasionally, but I don't cry.
89. I can go days without contact with another living creature, but this doesn't mean that I enjoy it.
90. For a long time I had an extensive bottlecap collection on my desk at work. Recently I threw them all out because they were taking up space and contributed to my fidgeting.
91. I use canned air on my keyboard perhaps more than is strictly necessary.
92. I believe firmly in the infinite utility of index cards, and keep a box of them on every desk at which I work, and a 100-count package in my laptop case.
93. I sometimes wonder if I view my art negatively not because I think it's necessarily bad but because it's mine.
94. I carry a large number of objects with me when I leave the house: a ballpoint pen, a roller-ball pen, a mechanical pencil, a double-ended broad/fine Sharpie marker, a nail clipper, and a Pink Pearl eraser in my left hip pocket, my wallet in my right hip pocket, and my checkbook and a notepad in my right rear pocket. Occasionally I have a handkerchief in my left rear pocket. My keys go in my left breast pocket.
95. I have, in my life, owned (or my family has owned) two cats, four dogs, many fish, three guinea pigs, a gerbil, a spiny lizard, a snake, and two iguanas, among others. Of these, the second cat is still alive, and lives with my parents in Michigan.
96. I crack my neck loudly enough that it bothers my therapist if I do it in front of her.
97. I update my checkbook almost compulsively, and check my online statement weekly to make sure I haven't missed anything.
98. I check my friends list daily (well, when I'm allowed to access the internet) to see whether anyone has added or removed me.
99. In two weeks I will have had this journal for two years.
100. One of the reasons I most look forward to having Secret Project Q in the can is so I can tell people about it.
Kinda shallow, but hey. :)
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2004-09-01 01:21 pm (UTC)Interestingly enough, that sounds an awful like the definition of mortal sin I recall from grammar school: something that is bad, that you know is bad, and that you've actually done (as opposed to thought about doing or intended to do, but never actually did). Not identical, but an awful lot like it.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-03 05:51 pm (UTC)98. Why would anyone want to remove you? You write some very interesting entries, and post some very informative and humorous info. I look forward to reading your entries.
85. I don't think I've ever see lesbian gladiator porn, or had any discussions about it, but it sounds pretty fun!