From Liv
So, Liv got me in the "respond and I'll give you 5 things I associate with you" meme I did here, and here they are:
Cooking: I'm a fan of food, and I find that the best tasting food is that which is made with care and by hand. There's something about cooking that's just, well, neat. It holds the same fascination for me as brewing mead; I understand the scientific processes occurring, but the fact that they're occurring at all and their end results are fascinating for me. Plus, there's also the communal aspect of cooking for my friends. It's a point of pride for me to be able to say "Here's something I made, enjoy!" and have them actually enjoy it. Just because it's an essential element of living - eating, I mean - doesn't mean that it needs to be commonplace. Like anything, if I'm going to cook something for someone, I'm going to make damned sure I do my best at it. Finally, there's the fact that I enjoy being self-sufficient and, if a man can't cook his own food, then a man can't call himself self-sufficient, regardless of whatever else he can do.
Socializing: This is a funny one, really. I'm not, by nature, a terrifically social guy, I don't think. I like to hang out with my friends and with people who make me feel welcome, but if there's someone who makes me feel less than welcome, I'll just hang out by myself, that's cool. Now, those of you who've heard my voice carrying across a crowded bar-room (typically shouting something offensive or embarrassing toward the intended recipient) will say "But Jim, I've not seen you hide yourself away from anyone!" and to you, I say "Well, that's because you've not seen me around people I'd rather not associate with." Still, I do enjoy hanging out with my friends, whether in person or online, as I do consider you all part of my family in one way or another.
Warhammer: Like I said when I talked about gaming when I answered Doug's questions, I find that Warhammer allows me to create a narrative that is consistent and allows me to stretch out my creative muscles. That, and I think model tanks are badass, which is why I play Imperial Guard.
Emotional Coverup: I don't really do emotions, apart from joyous exultation (when there is Glorious Victory), stoic resolve (when shit gets bad) or sympathetic shoulder upon which you can cry (when there is sadness). I mean, I do have emotions, I'm not a robot, or a cyborg, even, but I figure that emotions are a way of exposing myself, and exposing myself means revealing vulnerabilities. By revealing my vulnerabilities, I expose myself to massive harm, which is why I only give way to my emotions with people who I trust to not hurt me. If I've revealed to you at any point an emotion other than the three I mentioned above, then I consider you someone who I care very deeply about and trust completely. But, Liv wants me to talk about my 'emotional coverup' so I will. I guess that it's kind of based on the way my Da acts and acted when I was a kid - when things when down, Da was the go-to-guy. He was calm, cool and collected, always did what was best for the family, regardless of what was best for him and never complained about it that I could recall. Of course, as I've already mentioned at great length, I figure that if I can be half the man my Da is then I've not done too badly. Of course, I don't want to throw this all at my Da's feet, there's also my personal philosophy of the Knight Errant, for lack of a better term, that I try to abide by - "What is sickness to the body of a knight-errant? What matter wounds? For each time he falls he shall rise again and woe to the wicked! "* is a good example of the philosophy - so I say "let's ignore the way I feel, there's stuff I need to do" in pretty much every situation. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how I feel in the grand scheme of things, so for the most part I don't talk about it. And that's that about that.
Geekery/being a geek/geeking: Well, being a geek has always meant to me that I don't do what is expected of me in a social context and having the wherewithal to do what I like, when I like because I like it. It doesn't mean being a dick - although a good number of you may think that I am, indeed, a dick - it means that I engage in gaming, writing, teaching myself maths and sciences, learning languages on my own, translating stuff, watching bad movies, watching musicals, etc. because I enjoy it, not because it's what's expected of me. Plus, there's lots of people who think that being willing to learn stuff you don't need to/aren't supposed to know makes you a geek and, frankly, I'm fine with that. If I don't learn something new each day, the day's a failure I say.
*That's a quote from "The Impossible Dream (Reprise)" from The Man of La Mancha, possibly my favourite musical ever.
Cooking: I'm a fan of food, and I find that the best tasting food is that which is made with care and by hand. There's something about cooking that's just, well, neat. It holds the same fascination for me as brewing mead; I understand the scientific processes occurring, but the fact that they're occurring at all and their end results are fascinating for me. Plus, there's also the communal aspect of cooking for my friends. It's a point of pride for me to be able to say "Here's something I made, enjoy!" and have them actually enjoy it. Just because it's an essential element of living - eating, I mean - doesn't mean that it needs to be commonplace. Like anything, if I'm going to cook something for someone, I'm going to make damned sure I do my best at it. Finally, there's the fact that I enjoy being self-sufficient and, if a man can't cook his own food, then a man can't call himself self-sufficient, regardless of whatever else he can do.
Socializing: This is a funny one, really. I'm not, by nature, a terrifically social guy, I don't think. I like to hang out with my friends and with people who make me feel welcome, but if there's someone who makes me feel less than welcome, I'll just hang out by myself, that's cool. Now, those of you who've heard my voice carrying across a crowded bar-room (typically shouting something offensive or embarrassing toward the intended recipient) will say "But Jim, I've not seen you hide yourself away from anyone!" and to you, I say "Well, that's because you've not seen me around people I'd rather not associate with." Still, I do enjoy hanging out with my friends, whether in person or online, as I do consider you all part of my family in one way or another.
Warhammer: Like I said when I talked about gaming when I answered Doug's questions, I find that Warhammer allows me to create a narrative that is consistent and allows me to stretch out my creative muscles. That, and I think model tanks are badass, which is why I play Imperial Guard.
Emotional Coverup: I don't really do emotions, apart from joyous exultation (when there is Glorious Victory), stoic resolve (when shit gets bad) or sympathetic shoulder upon which you can cry (when there is sadness). I mean, I do have emotions, I'm not a robot, or a cyborg, even, but I figure that emotions are a way of exposing myself, and exposing myself means revealing vulnerabilities. By revealing my vulnerabilities, I expose myself to massive harm, which is why I only give way to my emotions with people who I trust to not hurt me. If I've revealed to you at any point an emotion other than the three I mentioned above, then I consider you someone who I care very deeply about and trust completely. But, Liv wants me to talk about my 'emotional coverup' so I will. I guess that it's kind of based on the way my Da acts and acted when I was a kid - when things when down, Da was the go-to-guy. He was calm, cool and collected, always did what was best for the family, regardless of what was best for him and never complained about it that I could recall. Of course, as I've already mentioned at great length, I figure that if I can be half the man my Da is then I've not done too badly. Of course, I don't want to throw this all at my Da's feet, there's also my personal philosophy of the Knight Errant, for lack of a better term, that I try to abide by - "What is sickness to the body of a knight-errant? What matter wounds? For each time he falls he shall rise again and woe to the wicked! "* is a good example of the philosophy - so I say "let's ignore the way I feel, there's stuff I need to do" in pretty much every situation. As far as I'm concerned, it doesn't matter how I feel in the grand scheme of things, so for the most part I don't talk about it. And that's that about that.
Geekery/being a geek/geeking: Well, being a geek has always meant to me that I don't do what is expected of me in a social context and having the wherewithal to do what I like, when I like because I like it. It doesn't mean being a dick - although a good number of you may think that I am, indeed, a dick - it means that I engage in gaming, writing, teaching myself maths and sciences, learning languages on my own, translating stuff, watching bad movies, watching musicals, etc. because I enjoy it, not because it's what's expected of me. Plus, there's lots of people who think that being willing to learn stuff you don't need to/aren't supposed to know makes you a geek and, frankly, I'm fine with that. If I don't learn something new each day, the day's a failure I say.
*That's a quote from "The Impossible Dream (Reprise)" from The Man of La Mancha, possibly my favourite musical ever.