do ask, do tell
Nov. 4th, 2005 09:38 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
ironymaideni asked for five questions from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
buhrger. you know the drill.
1. you're starting to interact with my local (edmontonian) crew more on lj. what do you think caused the increased interaction? what're your impressions so far of the freaks i hang out with here?
what caused it? more daytime opportunities to read posts/email and build conversations in comments. T-Land blocked lj, so i couldn't even reply to comments in my email. my current corporate masters are more trusting, and i try to be respectful of that. anyway, it feels a little more like running into your friends' friends at a party or dinner and having a conversation that's good enough that you'd like to see them again.
i like 'em. it's interesting to know people only by what they write. strange, when you know them only from their reactions to what someone you are more familiar with has written. incomplete, when it's only what they show the public. i'm always a little honored when someone "friends" me.
next to vast amounts of searchable info at my fingertips, near-instant almost free long distance communication is the best thing about the internet. it doesn't mean i'm not curious to see people in person or go on a riverwalk.
2. you said "one of my resentments about Valentine's Day (among the many) is that we are expected to smash what should be a daily observance into one yearly spendgasm." if that's one of the many resentments, what are some of the others? feel free to rant.
i hate VD. i think it started when i was in elementary school and we were supposed to send a valentine to everyone in our class, even people we didn't like. what was the point of that? what affection was i showing if i showed it equally to everyone? the school event led to a sort of valentine arms race, with novelty (stickers), branding (Disney! Care Bears!) and sugar (lollipops, cookies).
i wasn't one of those kids who had a tiny dating life. i was bemused by the whole process and probably considered unattractive due to my being scary smart and my failure to display stereotypical sex characteristics like long hair. and really, i failed to conduct a romantic relationship in my own geographic region until my last year of high school (summer nerd camp probably kept me from major depression, but that's another story). all the flower sales and dances and such made me feel worthless and even more of a freak for about a week a year.
and that was the thing: i started to recognize the crassness. not only was the "holiday" a business event, but it was also a way for inattentive assholes to stock up on brownie points for the rest of the year. meanwhile, it seemed to produce more angst than New Years for the unattached. for surely there must be something wrong with you if you didn't have a Valentine. for those in a relationship, bring on the competition, expectations, and the inevitable hurt feelings.
the "holiday" seems like an arbitrary excuse to go out. C and i go out as often as we can anyway, and choosing a really busy night to do so actually isn't romantic at all.
my parents articulate a philosophy that i believe in strongly - every day is valentine's day. you should show and tell your appreciation for the people you care about right now, and again tomorrow. there's no need for a bogus holiday if you're doing right by the people you love.
last year i posted STD testing info on LJ for Feb 14th, and i think that i may start a tradition of it. prevent VD.
3. if you were going to play in a role-playing game set in New Crobuzon (or elsewhere in China's world), what sort of entity would you play? race and occupation, please, and perhaps a little back-story.
khepri. Arcane Mechanik (this is a character class from Iron Kingdoms, which i think is a reasonably good fit). in technical terms, she can have a fistful of sorcerer/wizard spells (only up through 6th spell level) to go with mechanical engineering skill. i’m fascinated with the mentions of elaborate khepri clockwork machinery. lots of plot hooks available; i’m thinking she’d be the Q of an adventuring party.
of course, she doesn’t talk, so in-character gaming would involve passing notes except where it was agreed that another character took sign as one of their language slots. this would also require some collusion with the DM on spells that require a Verbal component. i’m usually not in favor of something so elaborate, but i like the idea of a mixed race party.
the tentative name is Tock. that’s probably a nickname. she’s worked as an apprentice and risen through her clan hierarchy, but her interest in non-khepri machines and desire to create a meeting of clockwork, magic, and programmable punchcard technology has led to adventuring in search of new bits of technology and led to more interaction with humans. she has a small workshop in Brock Marsh and a badger familiar. she does custom fabrication to make money. she’s very intelligent (prime attribute for an Arcane Mechanik), and reasonably wise; her charisma suffers due to her silence and her tendency to obsess. (C points out that there should be a -4 racial charisma modifier BECAUSE HER HEAD IS A GIANT BUG. i think this depends on the region.) she makes small parts that would normally require custom machining out of khepri spit, and could probably be called upon to produce darts, caltrops, or arrowheads if there was enough time to prepare them. She can (and will) dismantle things – this is useful for disarming traps, but if she’s really interested in the mechanism, she will try to stay and play with it, reset and improve it, or take as many interesting pieces along as she can carry. she's fascinated with the plague diaspora and always ready to trade for information on lost clockwork technology. she likes to play practical jokes.
4. when did you first notice your affinity for violence? how has it expressed itself?
i don't remember a revelation. i know that it started with biting one of the other kids in playschool hard enough that it scarred. i don't have "soft paws" if i percieve any physical threat or malice. i caused a lot of bruises and broke someone else's tooth in gym class. i'm very careful now, but when i was young i lashed out at friends on a few memorable occasions. mostly these days i think about hitting people and lose a few hours off my lifespan from the stress of resisting.
5.how many letters have you written in the last three weeks? did you use the same colour ink for all, or is there a variety?
i'm working on number nine (seven and eight went in the mail today). variety. the color i don't use is blue. i used to write exclusively in black, and then with the adoption of the fountain pen came cocoa brown, with a brief but unsatisfying foray into raven black. (i've had bottled olive for some time, but it was unsatisfactory due to my converter-fill learning curve.) since discovering that relying on cartriges exclusively is bad for the capillary action over time, i'm playing more with other colors. right now i have J Herbin olive and moon dust (which is a burgundy with grey tones), and the current load is Pelikan brilliant brown, which appears to be a bit warmer than the cocoa (although that could be influenced by filling in a hurry at work and contamination with traces of burgundy). the paper store in my neighborhood is going online-only, so i'll probably pick up some random colors in their clearance sale. i love that damn pen.
buhrger. you know the drill.1. you're starting to interact with my local (edmontonian) crew more on lj. what do you think caused the increased interaction? what're your impressions so far of the freaks i hang out with here?
what caused it? more daytime opportunities to read posts/email and build conversations in comments. T-Land blocked lj, so i couldn't even reply to comments in my email. my current corporate masters are more trusting, and i try to be respectful of that. anyway, it feels a little more like running into your friends' friends at a party or dinner and having a conversation that's good enough that you'd like to see them again.
i like 'em. it's interesting to know people only by what they write. strange, when you know them only from their reactions to what someone you are more familiar with has written. incomplete, when it's only what they show the public. i'm always a little honored when someone "friends" me.
next to vast amounts of searchable info at my fingertips, near-instant almost free long distance communication is the best thing about the internet. it doesn't mean i'm not curious to see people in person or go on a riverwalk.
2. you said "one of my resentments about Valentine's Day (among the many) is that we are expected to smash what should be a daily observance into one yearly spendgasm." if that's one of the many resentments, what are some of the others? feel free to rant.
i hate VD. i think it started when i was in elementary school and we were supposed to send a valentine to everyone in our class, even people we didn't like. what was the point of that? what affection was i showing if i showed it equally to everyone? the school event led to a sort of valentine arms race, with novelty (stickers), branding (Disney! Care Bears!) and sugar (lollipops, cookies).
i wasn't one of those kids who had a tiny dating life. i was bemused by the whole process and probably considered unattractive due to my being scary smart and my failure to display stereotypical sex characteristics like long hair. and really, i failed to conduct a romantic relationship in my own geographic region until my last year of high school (summer nerd camp probably kept me from major depression, but that's another story). all the flower sales and dances and such made me feel worthless and even more of a freak for about a week a year.
and that was the thing: i started to recognize the crassness. not only was the "holiday" a business event, but it was also a way for inattentive assholes to stock up on brownie points for the rest of the year. meanwhile, it seemed to produce more angst than New Years for the unattached. for surely there must be something wrong with you if you didn't have a Valentine. for those in a relationship, bring on the competition, expectations, and the inevitable hurt feelings.
the "holiday" seems like an arbitrary excuse to go out. C and i go out as often as we can anyway, and choosing a really busy night to do so actually isn't romantic at all.
my parents articulate a philosophy that i believe in strongly - every day is valentine's day. you should show and tell your appreciation for the people you care about right now, and again tomorrow. there's no need for a bogus holiday if you're doing right by the people you love.
last year i posted STD testing info on LJ for Feb 14th, and i think that i may start a tradition of it. prevent VD.
3. if you were going to play in a role-playing game set in New Crobuzon (or elsewhere in China's world), what sort of entity would you play? race and occupation, please, and perhaps a little back-story.
khepri. Arcane Mechanik (this is a character class from Iron Kingdoms, which i think is a reasonably good fit). in technical terms, she can have a fistful of sorcerer/wizard spells (only up through 6th spell level) to go with mechanical engineering skill. i’m fascinated with the mentions of elaborate khepri clockwork machinery. lots of plot hooks available; i’m thinking she’d be the Q of an adventuring party.
of course, she doesn’t talk, so in-character gaming would involve passing notes except where it was agreed that another character took sign as one of their language slots. this would also require some collusion with the DM on spells that require a Verbal component. i’m usually not in favor of something so elaborate, but i like the idea of a mixed race party.
the tentative name is Tock. that’s probably a nickname. she’s worked as an apprentice and risen through her clan hierarchy, but her interest in non-khepri machines and desire to create a meeting of clockwork, magic, and programmable punchcard technology has led to adventuring in search of new bits of technology and led to more interaction with humans. she has a small workshop in Brock Marsh and a badger familiar. she does custom fabrication to make money. she’s very intelligent (prime attribute for an Arcane Mechanik), and reasonably wise; her charisma suffers due to her silence and her tendency to obsess. (C points out that there should be a -4 racial charisma modifier BECAUSE HER HEAD IS A GIANT BUG. i think this depends on the region.) she makes small parts that would normally require custom machining out of khepri spit, and could probably be called upon to produce darts, caltrops, or arrowheads if there was enough time to prepare them. She can (and will) dismantle things – this is useful for disarming traps, but if she’s really interested in the mechanism, she will try to stay and play with it, reset and improve it, or take as many interesting pieces along as she can carry. she's fascinated with the plague diaspora and always ready to trade for information on lost clockwork technology. she likes to play practical jokes.
4. when did you first notice your affinity for violence? how has it expressed itself?
i don't remember a revelation. i know that it started with biting one of the other kids in playschool hard enough that it scarred. i don't have "soft paws" if i percieve any physical threat or malice. i caused a lot of bruises and broke someone else's tooth in gym class. i'm very careful now, but when i was young i lashed out at friends on a few memorable occasions. mostly these days i think about hitting people and lose a few hours off my lifespan from the stress of resisting.
5.how many letters have you written in the last three weeks? did you use the same colour ink for all, or is there a variety?
i'm working on number nine (seven and eight went in the mail today). variety. the color i don't use is blue. i used to write exclusively in black, and then with the adoption of the fountain pen came cocoa brown, with a brief but unsatisfying foray into raven black. (i've had bottled olive for some time, but it was unsatisfactory due to my converter-fill learning curve.) since discovering that relying on cartriges exclusively is bad for the capillary action over time, i'm playing more with other colors. right now i have J Herbin olive and moon dust (which is a burgundy with grey tones), and the current load is Pelikan brilliant brown, which appears to be a bit warmer than the cocoa (although that could be influenced by filling in a hurry at work and contamination with traces of burgundy). the paper store in my neighborhood is going online-only, so i'll probably pick up some random colors in their clearance sale. i love that damn pen.
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no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 01:53 pm (UTC)we'll have to organize one the next time you come up here.
we were supposed to send a valentine to everyone in our class, even people we didn't like.
suddenly ralph wiggum is in my head saying "you choo-choo-choose me?"
it seemed to produce more angst than New Years for the unattached.
for the last [insert pathetically large number here] years, i've been referring to it as "C.A.R.P. appreciation day", mostly cuz irony is one of my favourite flavours.
in-character gaming would involve passing notes except where it was agreed that another character took sign as one of their language slots.
hadn't thought of that - indeed, it could make things difficult/complicated/interesting.
i like the idea of a mixed race party.
any ideas on the rest of the group?
C points out that there should be a -4 racial charisma modifier BECAUSE HER HEAD IS A GIANT BUG.
this one made me LOL. thank him for me.
bas-lag rilly would make for some great roleplaying, wouldn't it?
it started with biting one of the other kids
ah, so you're a biter too! good to know we have that in common.
party!
Date: 2005-11-05 06:01 pm (UTC)any ideas on the rest of the group?
i think having a cactacae fighter is wise. a vodanyoi monk (with an ondine) maybe? otherwise, humans, although it would be cool to have a machine as a regular NPC. definitely need a (i really dislike this shift in terminology) rogue, would be nice to have a straight-ahead magic user. i toyed with the idea of a Garuda, but they seem to be more insular than the rest and it felt preposterous. (like there's RP that isn't, really.)
Re: party!
Date: 2005-11-05 06:06 pm (UTC)and what about having an anopheli party member?
i know i read some stuff somewhere on the www about doing Bas-Lag roleplaying, but i can't find it now. the more i think about it, the more interested i get.
Re: party!
Date: 2005-11-05 06:20 pm (UTC)you do mean him, right? because a female is just wrong. but wouldn't that be a cool thing for a gangster to keep chained up and starved in the city to be used as ultimate punishment while others watch?
or they could charge admission. yeah.
Re: party!
Date: 2005-11-05 06:26 pm (UTC)failing that, yes, the gangster scenario sounds reasonable. you wanna GM this?
no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 06:03 pm (UTC)and that's why i maintain that you are simply not meeting the right kind of women.
no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 06:04 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 06:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 06:25 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-05 09:23 pm (UTC)I agree. He's meeting those "wholesome" types that are just lying to themselves. Get those girls into a little liquid latex, and whoa!
no subject
Date: 2005-11-09 05:35 am (UTC)Of course, I've never been bitten by a man, so I have little reference. And I'm not advocating muzzles for women either.
Just warning labels of some kind.
Now that biting is on the table, I'm almost afraid to ask for another 5. But I'll do it anyway, because it's my way.
like Burger King, but tasty.
Date: 2005-11-10 12:19 am (UTC)2. why Lombardi's?
3. have you ever been in a car accident? if so, what happened? if not, are you lucky or careful?
4. what's the best food at Safeco Field?
5. if you had the power to destroy/remove from the world the complete works of a particular musical artist, who and why?
VD (heh heh)
Date: 2005-11-05 03:36 pm (UTC)Having dated a lot, VD only presented itself as stoopid merchandise. I have ended relationships over what was presented to me as a love token.
But then there are cinnamon hearts. I really do enjoy cinnamon hearts. The little hot ones... not those oversized sweet things that don't even have kick.
Re: VD (heh heh)
Date: 2005-11-05 06:04 pm (UTC)hooray for the 14th for you! my semi-cousin Elizabeth is from Korea, so her parents celebrate Airplane Day.
Re: VD (heh heh)
Date: 2005-11-05 09:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2005-11-23 04:48 pm (UTC)