Five Things
Blergh. Horribly, horribly ill today. Like not "he has man flu, he's just bitching", properly ill. Hating it.
So, writing Jhereg plot docs, wasting time on the internet and napping it is.
Thought I'd give this a go. zero_pixel_coun has kindly furnished me with a list of five subjects to waffle on. Please let me know if you want me to do the same for you.
1. Would you consider yourself a techie?
Interesting question. Inasmuch as I am a techie by profession, and I have an industry certification (CTS; you most likely haven't heard of it) attesting to my techiehood, then yes. Inasmuch as I can hook up most pieces of lighting/display/sound equipment, given all the right pieces of kit and cables, and can troubleshoot simple problems, and can explain (in fairly crude terms) what the difference between NTSC and PAL is, and between composite video and RGB, then yes.
But... Inasmuch as I know a number of techies who have more experience than me, and know more than me (about tech, natch), and can solve problems more deftly than me, I hesitate to number myself among them. Inasmuch as I define myself chiefly by my eloquence, my questioning mind and my academic approach, I hesitate to define myself by an actiivty that neither tests nor particularly benefits by those qualities.
2. Other than Highly Intellectual things, what do you like to read?
Thank you, but don't overestimate the highly intellectual nature of my reading. :)
I read anything that tickles my interest, and that can vary wildly. It goes in trends. Recently I've had trends in (very simple) books on economics, in books on secular humanism, in books on quirks in human behaviour.
I love the Harry Potter books, while being completely conscious of how rubbish they are; hence my post a while back about logical inconsistencies. I like Golden Age Sci Fi, especially Asimov (especially his short story anthologies); I like modern Sci Fi (especially Iain M Banks).
I have a fierce and profound love for all of Terry Pratchett's works: for all that he writes digestible comic pulp, he's actually an unusually challenging author for traditional fantasy. Consider that Fantasy and Science Fiction, from a strict narrative point of view, are the same genre: action/adventure stories about people with extraordinary qualities, living in extraordinary places or times and/or confronted with extraordinary challenges. As Clarke said, magic and high tech are interchangeable. But while science fiction has a long tradition of political commentary, philosophical speculation and psychological analysis, fantasy has mostly told the same two stories for the entire time the genre has existed: a motley crew unite to overthrow a tyrant or a child with a mysterious past quests to fulfil his destiny (often both). Pratchett's books, on the other hand, discuss the nature of faith and the divine, engage in moral and ethical discussions, and hold up a mirror to our world. And yet he'll never be considered a serious author, because he writes comedy and is very popular.
I'm a massive fan of contemporary/near-contemporary gothic fantasy (obviously Gaiman, but anyone else playing around with the same ideas, such as Susanna Clarke and Marie Phillips).
I have long avoided traditional epic fantasy, because for abouty forty years almost every author has been telling the same story over and over again with only the most trivial variations (see above), but I'm chancing Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt at the moment and enjoying myself. Read them; especially Adrian's books, as he's a friend of Andy C's and we're all about supporting mates.
3. Can you read middle english?
Yes. It's really not that hard. There are a few words that are very different from their modern equivalents (such as eek for also), but mostly you can figure out what it's trying to say by sounding the word out loud. Context is harder; you can often only get the jokes if you know the right bits of medieval history.
4. LRP: a hobby which is widely considered socially unacceptable to talk about enjoying by other people who share the hobby, wtf?
LRP creates a social network. A lot of my current friends are people I met through LRP; a few more are people I met outside LRP but have managed to recruit into the hobby. As a result, the majority of the people I socialise with are people I share the hobby with. But I am a complete creature in my own right, with interests and a life outside the few weekends a year when I slay mighty foes with rubber swords; and I guess I (like most LRPers) want to connect with these many friends of mine on some level other than the rubber sword level. Especially since, the hobby being attractive to fairly similar people, I am sure I have other interests in common with them.
Hobbies create an instant bond. I'm sure you've been in a game shop and have had an extended and engaging conversation with someone who was also browing there about your favourite game and experiences with it, and then walked away to realise you don't even know the other person's name. It's very easy to talk about nothing but a common hobby with someone you meet, for hours at a time, even if you're not a particularly obsessive or socially awkward person. I guess most hobbyists want to show themselves they are capable of talking to people about something else, and that they're not like those selfsame obsessive and awkward people. I tend to agree that we should all just relax about it a little bit. Mix it up a bit, for sure, but don't shout down anyone wanting to raise the hobby.
5. LRP: a hobby in which emotional investment is a major part of enjoyment, but any sign of said is pounced upon as a weakness nonetheless. again, wtf?
I guess, see above. You have to get into it to be a "good roleplayer", but you need to demonstrate that you capable of caring about other things, or risk being one of the socially awkward outcasts. The ideal is to turn it on to engage in it, but turn it off afterwards.
Part of this is also cynicism; I think you may be in a non-ideal position in Northampton, because most of the crowd there (including yourself) have been playing for many years, and many of them (again, inlcuding yourself) have actually written/run/crewed events. There's a sense (not so much you, here :) ) of world-weariness, in which being surrounded by "nerds" all those years has given many of that crowd a strong desire to disassociate themselves with the "frothers" who get too much into it.
Righto. Lemsip, Bath, and more writing.
So, writing Jhereg plot docs, wasting time on the internet and napping it is.
Thought I'd give this a go. zero_pixel_coun has kindly furnished me with a list of five subjects to waffle on. Please let me know if you want me to do the same for you.
1. Would you consider yourself a techie?
Interesting question. Inasmuch as I am a techie by profession, and I have an industry certification (CTS; you most likely haven't heard of it) attesting to my techiehood, then yes. Inasmuch as I can hook up most pieces of lighting/display/sound equipment, given all the right pieces of kit and cables, and can troubleshoot simple problems, and can explain (in fairly crude terms) what the difference between NTSC and PAL is, and between composite video and RGB, then yes.
But... Inasmuch as I know a number of techies who have more experience than me, and know more than me (about tech, natch), and can solve problems more deftly than me, I hesitate to number myself among them. Inasmuch as I define myself chiefly by my eloquence, my questioning mind and my academic approach, I hesitate to define myself by an actiivty that neither tests nor particularly benefits by those qualities.
2. Other than Highly Intellectual things, what do you like to read?
Thank you, but don't overestimate the highly intellectual nature of my reading. :)
I read anything that tickles my interest, and that can vary wildly. It goes in trends. Recently I've had trends in (very simple) books on economics, in books on secular humanism, in books on quirks in human behaviour.
I love the Harry Potter books, while being completely conscious of how rubbish they are; hence my post a while back about logical inconsistencies. I like Golden Age Sci Fi, especially Asimov (especially his short story anthologies); I like modern Sci Fi (especially Iain M Banks).
I have a fierce and profound love for all of Terry Pratchett's works: for all that he writes digestible comic pulp, he's actually an unusually challenging author for traditional fantasy. Consider that Fantasy and Science Fiction, from a strict narrative point of view, are the same genre: action/adventure stories about people with extraordinary qualities, living in extraordinary places or times and/or confronted with extraordinary challenges. As Clarke said, magic and high tech are interchangeable. But while science fiction has a long tradition of political commentary, philosophical speculation and psychological analysis, fantasy has mostly told the same two stories for the entire time the genre has existed: a motley crew unite to overthrow a tyrant or a child with a mysterious past quests to fulfil his destiny (often both). Pratchett's books, on the other hand, discuss the nature of faith and the divine, engage in moral and ethical discussions, and hold up a mirror to our world. And yet he'll never be considered a serious author, because he writes comedy and is very popular.
I'm a massive fan of contemporary/near-contemporary gothic fantasy (obviously Gaiman, but anyone else playing around with the same ideas, such as Susanna Clarke and Marie Phillips).
I have long avoided traditional epic fantasy, because for abouty forty years almost every author has been telling the same story over and over again with only the most trivial variations (see above), but I'm chancing Steven Erikson's Malazan Book of the Fallen and Adrian Tchaikovsky's Shadows of the Apt at the moment and enjoying myself. Read them; especially Adrian's books, as he's a friend of Andy C's and we're all about supporting mates.
3. Can you read middle english?
Yes. It's really not that hard. There are a few words that are very different from their modern equivalents (such as eek for also), but mostly you can figure out what it's trying to say by sounding the word out loud. Context is harder; you can often only get the jokes if you know the right bits of medieval history.
4. LRP: a hobby which is widely considered socially unacceptable to talk about enjoying by other people who share the hobby, wtf?
LRP creates a social network. A lot of my current friends are people I met through LRP; a few more are people I met outside LRP but have managed to recruit into the hobby. As a result, the majority of the people I socialise with are people I share the hobby with. But I am a complete creature in my own right, with interests and a life outside the few weekends a year when I slay mighty foes with rubber swords; and I guess I (like most LRPers) want to connect with these many friends of mine on some level other than the rubber sword level. Especially since, the hobby being attractive to fairly similar people, I am sure I have other interests in common with them.
Hobbies create an instant bond. I'm sure you've been in a game shop and have had an extended and engaging conversation with someone who was also browing there about your favourite game and experiences with it, and then walked away to realise you don't even know the other person's name. It's very easy to talk about nothing but a common hobby with someone you meet, for hours at a time, even if you're not a particularly obsessive or socially awkward person. I guess most hobbyists want to show themselves they are capable of talking to people about something else, and that they're not like those selfsame obsessive and awkward people. I tend to agree that we should all just relax about it a little bit. Mix it up a bit, for sure, but don't shout down anyone wanting to raise the hobby.
5. LRP: a hobby in which emotional investment is a major part of enjoyment, but any sign of said is pounced upon as a weakness nonetheless. again, wtf?
I guess, see above. You have to get into it to be a "good roleplayer", but you need to demonstrate that you capable of caring about other things, or risk being one of the socially awkward outcasts. The ideal is to turn it on to engage in it, but turn it off afterwards.
Part of this is also cynicism; I think you may be in a non-ideal position in Northampton, because most of the crowd there (including yourself) have been playing for many years, and many of them (again, inlcuding yourself) have actually written/run/crewed events. There's a sense (not so much you, here :) ) of world-weariness, in which being surrounded by "nerds" all those years has given many of that crowd a strong desire to disassociate themselves with the "frothers" who get too much into it.
Righto. Lemsip, Bath, and more writing.