Yet annother leap upon the bandwagon
Respond to this post if you want me to ask 5 questions about you -- I'll post them in response. Post the answers to those questions in your own LJ, along with these instructions, and keep the meme going!
jiyu asked...
>1. I like geography as a first question. Where do you live currently and why?
Currently I live in Pocatello Idaho, and I'm here because I'm stuck here. Actually, the story goes like this: I more-or-less grew up here, and when I got out of the Navy in 93 I returned here for school. My plan was to do 2 years here at Idaho State and get some of my core req's finished, then spend a year as an international courier and do some travelling, then finish up a BA in Film from Evergreen in Olympia WA. However, it didn't take me very long after I got here to hook up with the neighbor chick, and not a tremendous amount of time after that did nature take it's course. It's somewhat telling that my son's birthday happens less than a year after I returned to Pocatello. Having a family made a lot of changes to my plans, so I finished my degree in TV production here, and I just happened to slide into a good position at the Public Access station doing what I essentially have been trained to do. Kids, decent job, and house all have made it difficult to get away from here, even though I generally dislike the area.
>2. I am a former SCAdian -- Kingdom of Caid, Darachshire. What draws you to the hobby, and what keeps you in it?
No such thing as a former SCAdian, only inactive ones. My wife and I became involved in the SCA when we realized that we had divergent hobby interests (she wasn't ever going to be a gamer, and I wasn;t ever going to be a karaoke fan), and we actively sought somthing that we could do both together, with the kids, and separately. Especially in our minds was the idea of having a common activity that we could do when the kids eventually grow up and leave. So, we joined the SCA very much intending for it to be a long-term part of our lives. Some of the aspects that we consider draws are that there is a huge variety of activities you can do, you can always 'play at your own level', meaning you can increase or decrease your level of participation pretty much as you need or want, and that we can do it anywhere in the country (in the eventuality that we move). Currently my main areas of interest are heavy fighting and metalcasting. I also have dabbled in brewing, cordial making, rapier fighting, archery, and some other things. I've held local and kingdom-level offices. I've built siege engines, crossbows, and a yurt. I wrote the current rules regarding combat archery in our kingdom (adopting the caidan standard, as it were), and generally feel responsible for the current level of missile weapon interest in the kingdom. I fully intend to be a triple peer, and think I'm progressing well on all three of those tracks. My wife is currently heavily involved in bellydance, and in the past she has also held local office, fought both heavy and rapier, and served as lady-in-waiting. We continue to have a good time, and that's what keeps us in. Very early on (like within a year of us starting), we learned a very important lesson about playing the way we want to play. If we do, then it's a good time. If we don't and let other people's opinions and ideas dictate what we do, then it's not fun. So we always strive to play the game the way we want it played.
>3. What is your favorite game and why?
Pretty much the unqualified answer to that is 'Mechwarrior'. Once upon a time I played all kinds of games, both tabletop wargames and RPGs. However, the time requirement to play many games (especially RPGs) really made them difficult to do. MW has enough simplicity to be workable in a reasonable amount of time, but enough complexity to not be stale. Plus, I loves me some little bitty tanks. Horrorclix is a lose second, just because of the game's light tone and awesome figures. I was always more a fan of a Steve Jackson-style game than somthing serious.
>4. Do you feel that gamers are unfairly sterotyped? What kind of impressions do you think we give the general public?
I feel that any kind of stereotype is unfair. That's one reason that I like you... you're goth, but you don;t fit many of the goth stereotypes. I think some of the public has the general idea of the gamer geek as the 35 year old fat dude who lives in his parent's basement and has poor hygene habits, but I don't feel that is the major public's image any more. Simpler games like clix and MTG have helped draw more mainstream people into gaming, which both dilutes the actual percetange of Gamer Geek, plus it exposes more that the typical gamer really is not like that.
>5. Do you like ice cream? If so, what's your favorite flavor?!
Dude, who dosen;'t like ice cream? I generally are more of a chocolate person, but lately (read: since I been on the diet), I've been partial to a no-sugar-added mint chocolate chip. My wife thinks I'm goofy because I always mash my ice cream up until its soft, and eat it like that. Man, I loves me some soft serve.
jiyu asked...
>1. I like geography as a first question. Where do you live currently and why?
Currently I live in Pocatello Idaho, and I'm here because I'm stuck here. Actually, the story goes like this: I more-or-less grew up here, and when I got out of the Navy in 93 I returned here for school. My plan was to do 2 years here at Idaho State and get some of my core req's finished, then spend a year as an international courier and do some travelling, then finish up a BA in Film from Evergreen in Olympia WA. However, it didn't take me very long after I got here to hook up with the neighbor chick, and not a tremendous amount of time after that did nature take it's course. It's somewhat telling that my son's birthday happens less than a year after I returned to Pocatello. Having a family made a lot of changes to my plans, so I finished my degree in TV production here, and I just happened to slide into a good position at the Public Access station doing what I essentially have been trained to do. Kids, decent job, and house all have made it difficult to get away from here, even though I generally dislike the area.
>2. I am a former SCAdian -- Kingdom of Caid, Darachshire. What draws you to the hobby, and what keeps you in it?
No such thing as a former SCAdian, only inactive ones. My wife and I became involved in the SCA when we realized that we had divergent hobby interests (she wasn't ever going to be a gamer, and I wasn;t ever going to be a karaoke fan), and we actively sought somthing that we could do both together, with the kids, and separately. Especially in our minds was the idea of having a common activity that we could do when the kids eventually grow up and leave. So, we joined the SCA very much intending for it to be a long-term part of our lives. Some of the aspects that we consider draws are that there is a huge variety of activities you can do, you can always 'play at your own level', meaning you can increase or decrease your level of participation pretty much as you need or want, and that we can do it anywhere in the country (in the eventuality that we move). Currently my main areas of interest are heavy fighting and metalcasting. I also have dabbled in brewing, cordial making, rapier fighting, archery, and some other things. I've held local and kingdom-level offices. I've built siege engines, crossbows, and a yurt. I wrote the current rules regarding combat archery in our kingdom (adopting the caidan standard, as it were), and generally feel responsible for the current level of missile weapon interest in the kingdom. I fully intend to be a triple peer, and think I'm progressing well on all three of those tracks. My wife is currently heavily involved in bellydance, and in the past she has also held local office, fought both heavy and rapier, and served as lady-in-waiting. We continue to have a good time, and that's what keeps us in. Very early on (like within a year of us starting), we learned a very important lesson about playing the way we want to play. If we do, then it's a good time. If we don't and let other people's opinions and ideas dictate what we do, then it's not fun. So we always strive to play the game the way we want it played.
>3. What is your favorite game and why?
Pretty much the unqualified answer to that is 'Mechwarrior'. Once upon a time I played all kinds of games, both tabletop wargames and RPGs. However, the time requirement to play many games (especially RPGs) really made them difficult to do. MW has enough simplicity to be workable in a reasonable amount of time, but enough complexity to not be stale. Plus, I loves me some little bitty tanks. Horrorclix is a lose second, just because of the game's light tone and awesome figures. I was always more a fan of a Steve Jackson-style game than somthing serious.
>4. Do you feel that gamers are unfairly sterotyped? What kind of impressions do you think we give the general public?
I feel that any kind of stereotype is unfair. That's one reason that I like you... you're goth, but you don;t fit many of the goth stereotypes. I think some of the public has the general idea of the gamer geek as the 35 year old fat dude who lives in his parent's basement and has poor hygene habits, but I don't feel that is the major public's image any more. Simpler games like clix and MTG have helped draw more mainstream people into gaming, which both dilutes the actual percetange of Gamer Geek, plus it exposes more that the typical gamer really is not like that.
>5. Do you like ice cream? If so, what's your favorite flavor?!
Dude, who dosen;'t like ice cream? I generally are more of a chocolate person, but lately (read: since I been on the diet), I've been partial to a no-sugar-added mint chocolate chip. My wife thinks I'm goofy because I always mash my ice cream up until its soft, and eat it like that. Man, I loves me some soft serve.