Things to talk to me about
Following on from piqueen 's and anadel1976 's posts on this subject...
I'm most interested in these things:
Music: OK, the goth thing is pretty obvious with a username like mine - my music collection runs from Abney Park to Zero Le Creche - but I also like quite a bit of less obvious pop, folk, indie, rap, metal and dance. I haven't managed to do a lot of it this year, but I love gigging and clubbing. My favourite kind of gig is an all-day gig with some bands I already know I like and some bands I've never seen or heard anything of at all, where I might find a new favourite band (Flag Promotions has one that looks good at the end of August). My favourite kind of club is one where I want to dance lots - no amount of conversation with friends or fabulous eye candy can substitute for there being nothing I want to dance to. If I don't dance, the club has failed.
Psychology, philosophy, religion,ethics, sociology, politics, law: I'm putting these together, because they're all about how people work (individually and as groups). I always found people baffling as a child, and I spent years trying to figure out the 'rules'. It turned out both rules and people were mutable, which struck me as a bit unfair, but I still find all this stuff fascinating. :)
Language/Linguistics: This one gets a separate listing, although I suppose it could fit in the above group, too. When I started learning French at school at age 11, it felt rather as if I'd found out what I was for. It was like learning English, only even better! Since then, I've picked up bits of various other languages, and been enormously frustrated by how badly languages tend to be taught to adult learners, but I've never stopped being amazed by how cleverly languages work and how they're all the same...but different. I don't know if I'm ever going to finish the last wretched tedious module of my law course, but it's a pretty safe bet that one of these days I'll take up another language (or two), or go back to one (or more) of those I didn't get very far with.
Films and TV: A and I spend a lot of time watching TV, and would see a lot more films if only they showed more of the good stuff at our local cinema at the late night showings, when he's not at work. In both TV and film, there's a definite bias towards sci-fi and thrillers and such, but I also see a fair bit of drama and comedy, although generally at the darker end of the spectrum. We'll even see the odd (carefully selected) rom-com or watch some American teen drama once in a while, and every now and then we'll manage to get to an indie film (although I try to avoid anything where there's no coherent plot). I also quite like quiz programmes, now and then - things like Mastermind, University Challenge or Only Connect.
Books: Books have been some of my best friends for as long as I can remember, and I don't really understand people who 'don't like reading'. I mostly read sci-fi, fantasy and thrillers/police procedurals these days, partly because I spent years trying to read the entire western literary canon, give or take, and have read most of what looked interesting to me. That said, I'm never going to object to re-reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses (I used not to understand people who could manage to pick just one favourite book, until I read that one...) or one of my Jane Austens, and I could definitely cope with reading more Trollope, based on the one I have read. Joining a book club has been an interesting experience, and looks set to have me reading things I might not normally read, which is good.
I'm most interested in these things:
Music: OK, the goth thing is pretty obvious with a username like mine - my music collection runs from Abney Park to Zero Le Creche - but I also like quite a bit of less obvious pop, folk, indie, rap, metal and dance. I haven't managed to do a lot of it this year, but I love gigging and clubbing. My favourite kind of gig is an all-day gig with some bands I already know I like and some bands I've never seen or heard anything of at all, where I might find a new favourite band (Flag Promotions has one that looks good at the end of August). My favourite kind of club is one where I want to dance lots - no amount of conversation with friends or fabulous eye candy can substitute for there being nothing I want to dance to. If I don't dance, the club has failed.
Psychology, philosophy, religion,ethics, sociology, politics, law: I'm putting these together, because they're all about how people work (individually and as groups). I always found people baffling as a child, and I spent years trying to figure out the 'rules'. It turned out both rules and people were mutable, which struck me as a bit unfair, but I still find all this stuff fascinating. :)
Language/Linguistics: This one gets a separate listing, although I suppose it could fit in the above group, too. When I started learning French at school at age 11, it felt rather as if I'd found out what I was for. It was like learning English, only even better! Since then, I've picked up bits of various other languages, and been enormously frustrated by how badly languages tend to be taught to adult learners, but I've never stopped being amazed by how cleverly languages work and how they're all the same...but different. I don't know if I'm ever going to finish the last wretched tedious module of my law course, but it's a pretty safe bet that one of these days I'll take up another language (or two), or go back to one (or more) of those I didn't get very far with.
Films and TV: A and I spend a lot of time watching TV, and would see a lot more films if only they showed more of the good stuff at our local cinema at the late night showings, when he's not at work. In both TV and film, there's a definite bias towards sci-fi and thrillers and such, but I also see a fair bit of drama and comedy, although generally at the darker end of the spectrum. We'll even see the odd (carefully selected) rom-com or watch some American teen drama once in a while, and every now and then we'll manage to get to an indie film (although I try to avoid anything where there's no coherent plot). I also quite like quiz programmes, now and then - things like Mastermind, University Challenge or Only Connect.
Books: Books have been some of my best friends for as long as I can remember, and I don't really understand people who 'don't like reading'. I mostly read sci-fi, fantasy and thrillers/police procedurals these days, partly because I spent years trying to read the entire western literary canon, give or take, and have read most of what looked interesting to me. That said, I'm never going to object to re-reading Les Liaisons Dangereuses (I used not to understand people who could manage to pick just one favourite book, until I read that one...) or one of my Jane Austens, and I could definitely cope with reading more Trollope, based on the one I have read. Joining a book club has been an interesting experience, and looks set to have me reading things I might not normally read, which is good.