associations meme
Association Meme: Comment to this post and I will give you 5 subjects/things I associate you with. Then post this in your LJ and elaborate on the subjects given.
From: silentq
1. Tanks
I was a member of an armoured regiment for quite some time, mainly as a tank gunner. I don't often get nostalgic for old army days, but the smell of diesel fumes, grease, or burnt cordite will always bring me back.
There was this one live fire exercise where we were supposed to be supporting a dug in infantry platoon. We got the call and went bounding across the fields and through copses at about 80km/h until we skidded to a halt on the firing pad, about 3 feet away this poor entrenched infanteer.
We had a round out the tube before the chassis stopped rocking, and then sent another four down range in the next 15 seconds. Our voices were hoarse from screaming gun commands back and forth to one another in the thick cordite smoke.
The look of fear and awe on that infanteers face was incredible.
Fire and noise and bucking steel.
2. Detroit
Since the first time I went there, Detroit has been a favourite place of mine to go. I feel for the residents, but I love the desolate feel and the look of decaying wealth. Beautiful buildings with plywood for windows. Hotel lobbies with massive elephant tusks.
I'm certain that I'm looking at the place with rose coloured glasses. I've only ever gone with very good friends.
3. Music
Music pervades everything I do. If my ears are working, then I'm trying to find an underlying rhythm. If I find a rhythm, then I'm trying to write a melody to go over it. And then a harmony line.
I think what fascinates me about music is how fuzzy it can be. The physics behind it is fairly straight forward, but if you make music using the "rules" it ends up lifeless and dull.
4. Programming
I'm a self taught programmer. I've been coding since 1982 (give or take a year) but I didn't start seriously working at it until 1995 or so. That's when I figured out that I could not only make this damned machine do what I wanted, but also that I was fairly good at it. And I was happy that I didn't have to POKE bytes into memory anymore ;)
I found up a copy of Knuth's _The Art of Computer Programming_ at the local Goodwill for $1.50 (!!) and found that even though the math was a bit above me at the time, I could easily follow what he was trying to say.
Being self taught means that I have some glaring holes in my educations. For example, I've never taken a compiler course and I've only recently started using functional languages. This doesn't normally bug me, but every once in a while I feel that I just don't know what I don't know.
5. Star gazing
Dark sky's on a beach with a coffee cup full of rye. Good times :)
I love star gazing, but I don't get to do nearly enough of it. Living in the city, I don't get many chance to just walk outside and take a look at the sky. I also have to be in the right frame of mind.
Star gazing makes me feel large and small at the same time. Small whan faced with the enormity of what I'm looking at, and large when faced with the prospect that I actually *understand* the enormity of it.
I should really take another trip out sometime.
From: silentq
1. Tanks
I was a member of an armoured regiment for quite some time, mainly as a tank gunner. I don't often get nostalgic for old army days, but the smell of diesel fumes, grease, or burnt cordite will always bring me back.
There was this one live fire exercise where we were supposed to be supporting a dug in infantry platoon. We got the call and went bounding across the fields and through copses at about 80km/h until we skidded to a halt on the firing pad, about 3 feet away this poor entrenched infanteer.
We had a round out the tube before the chassis stopped rocking, and then sent another four down range in the next 15 seconds. Our voices were hoarse from screaming gun commands back and forth to one another in the thick cordite smoke.
The look of fear and awe on that infanteers face was incredible.
Fire and noise and bucking steel.
2. Detroit
Since the first time I went there, Detroit has been a favourite place of mine to go. I feel for the residents, but I love the desolate feel and the look of decaying wealth. Beautiful buildings with plywood for windows. Hotel lobbies with massive elephant tusks.
I'm certain that I'm looking at the place with rose coloured glasses. I've only ever gone with very good friends.
3. Music
Music pervades everything I do. If my ears are working, then I'm trying to find an underlying rhythm. If I find a rhythm, then I'm trying to write a melody to go over it. And then a harmony line.
I think what fascinates me about music is how fuzzy it can be. The physics behind it is fairly straight forward, but if you make music using the "rules" it ends up lifeless and dull.
4. Programming
I'm a self taught programmer. I've been coding since 1982 (give or take a year) but I didn't start seriously working at it until 1995 or so. That's when I figured out that I could not only make this damned machine do what I wanted, but also that I was fairly good at it. And I was happy that I didn't have to POKE bytes into memory anymore ;)
I found up a copy of Knuth's _The Art of Computer Programming_ at the local Goodwill for $1.50 (!!) and found that even though the math was a bit above me at the time, I could easily follow what he was trying to say.
Being self taught means that I have some glaring holes in my educations. For example, I've never taken a compiler course and I've only recently started using functional languages. This doesn't normally bug me, but every once in a while I feel that I just don't know what I don't know.
5. Star gazing
Dark sky's on a beach with a coffee cup full of rye. Good times :)
I love star gazing, but I don't get to do nearly enough of it. Living in the city, I don't get many chance to just walk outside and take a look at the sky. I also have to be in the right frame of mind.
Star gazing makes me feel large and small at the same time. Small whan faced with the enormity of what I'm looking at, and large when faced with the prospect that I actually *understand* the enormity of it.
I should really take another trip out sometime.