question game
Sep. 9th, 2004 07:24 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
planktondreamsquietlyhey if anyone wants to play the question game with me (5 questions (or more/less, whatever you want), i'm game. seeing the response here makes me want to play along too...
planktondreamsquietly
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no subject
Date: 2004-09-09 12:04 pm (UTC)2) who was your most/least favorite characters in the buffyverse and why
3) has living in the UK made moving cross country more feasible to you?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 03:18 am (UTC)part of me does feel like i should have had more short relationships when i was younger. i did stick through that relationship longer than i should have, it's one of the biggest regrets i have. i think i knew when v left for NY that things really should have ended, but we stayed together for at least another year for the wrong reasons. i think it would have been good for both of us to move on at that point.
i realize that i'm not exactly answering your question here. let me try again. ;p
i think it was good for me to have a long relationship (because that's what i'm most comfortable in), but i do wish it wasn't so long, and that i was able to have some other shorter relationships afterwards. mostly, because i believe that if i had dated a couple more people earlier on, i wouldn't have been quite such a 'fraidycat later in life.
2) who was your most/least favorite characters in the buffyverse and why
most favorite - probably willow. i like her personality and i think the writers did a great job of developing her character over the years. i don't think anyone else really progressed like her (except perhaps spike, but i either didn't buy all the changes or there was one fundamental change to him (his soul) which completely reversed his character). i also really liked oz, but more in the way that i wanted him to be my buddy rather than really getting into his character. anya and andrew were good too, pretty 1-dimensional but very funny.
least favorite - errr, that's tough. there were redeemable aspects of everyone, and i really liked nearly everyone. oh i guess i could say riley, he didn't do much for me. him and faith, the writing for her character seemed out of place in the show.
3) has living in the UK made moving cross country more feasible to you?
hah! in general, i'd say yes. while i've missed the things i expected to miss (my dad, friends, media lab work, having a home with cats and stuff), i've also seen that it's pretty cool to live somewhere new and, to a certain extent, live a new life. plus when we move, we'll have all our stuff w/ us, which will make things easier than this. i don't miss boston itself too much, though there are some restaurants that can't be matched (el pelon!) and part of me likes the comfort of having a city you really know.
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 04:39 am (UTC)2 more questions:
4) if you could have any kind of dog, what would it be
5) currently, where in the world would you want to live?
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 07:01 am (UTC)heh, nice phraseology to make it sound like i really want a dog. ;)
i like different aspects of various dogs, but i don't know what my favorite would be. i think a lot would depend on living situation. i've been impressed by devon, but he's so big! which is cool but also difficult, because he takes up a lot of room and you need to be aware that anything could fall with a whack from his tail. aesthetically i like bulldogs, they're just very cute. but i don't know if i'd like their temperment or if they'd get along with a wingnut.
sorry, i don't know breeds very well, so it's hard to give specific comments. i like a lot of dogs for that minute when you get to hang out with them on the street, but i don't know what i could live with.
5) currently, where in the world would you want to live?
errr, hard to say! i like the northeast and (most likely) the west coast for being liberal and having good smart geeky people around, plus lots of job opportunities. but i'd like to live somewhere cheaper and have space and nicer weather. iceland and wales are gorgeous and have plenty of space, but i feel like i'd be isolated out there. might be a good thing at some point, but i don't think i'm quite ready for that. amsterdam was a lot of fun and i loved the people, but i don't know if the overly touristy aspect of the city would wear on me.
so yeah, i think what i really want is:
a) space, both in an apartment/home and around me. trees, grass, all that kind of stuff
b) cool smart people around who i can talk to and work with
c) some interesting cultural opportunities (nothing grandiose - clubs, nice restaurants, etc)
oh and i want it to be cheap, or at least cheaper than boston. the holy grail of living arrangements, i know! parts of the west coast probably fit most closely, but i can't really tell for sure.
for now, i think i'm willing to trade a bit more of a for b & c, but as time goes on i can feel the shift towards wanting space and quiet. it's all just a bunch of tradeoffs, hopefully we can find the right balance...
no subject
Date: 2004-09-10 07:12 am (UTC)sorry!
Date: 2004-09-10 08:45 am (UTC)oh there are a lot of wrong reasons, but the one i'm talk about here was that i didn't want to hurt v's feelings, i wanted to wait for a better moment when she wasn't so fragile. i put both our emotional lives on hold, which was just terribly irresponsible.
ummm...
Date: 2004-09-09 12:19 pm (UTC)2) do you enjoy what you do? do you see yourself going on a different career path? do you want to extend your education? these all tie in if you look closely :-)
3) what first drew you to bridget? i don't know anything about how you two met, though i probably should, and i would love to know the story in depth because you two really do seem good together.
4) do you have any idea of what you miss food-wise from the us that i can get for you and ship over there in your care package?
5) do you think you two might actually get a chance to come and visit us here?
(now if you have any for me you can ask them too)
Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 04:39 am (UTC)Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 06:18 am (UTC)1) i have a basic idea of what you do for a living, i think, but i would like it if you could clarify it for me? you do engineering for phones? the sound thingees in particular? does your company work in competition with beatnik (where my oldest and best friend works as lead guy for the sound thingee for nokia sound thingees in phones all across europe last i checked, but he never gets to go over there or anything). so yeah, what exactly do you do for a living?
i work for analog devices, which is a semiconductor manufacturer; basically we make all sorts of chip from simple single-purpose chips to microprocessors as complex as a pentium IV. i work on the more (but not most) complex chips, which are quite often used in cellphones, as the main processor. i write all sorts of programs for these chips. i've worked on the operating system (yes even phones have an operating system!), algorithms which manage data such that it can be transmitted through the air without losing too much information, and lately i've spent some time working on programs which compress the amount of information in a speech signal. think of it as winzip (or perhaps more accurately a constantly running mp3 encoder/decoder in your phone), except that the compression algorithm is specifically written for voices rather than music (mp3) or generic data (winzip). all phones have these algorithms inside them, so i'm not working on anything revolutionary, though it's still pretty cool. :)
also, i sometimes have the chance to write technical articles and book chapters on techie stuff. it's fun and i get paid a bonus for getting published, which is all sorts of awesome.
as for beatnik, they're not a competitor, we'd be a customer of theirs. we actually spoke to them about a year ago about buying their software, but i think we opted out of that and wrote our own. in fact, i bet i have their code on my PC. beatnik is cool, one of the founders is none other than thomas dolby! my music making hobby involves me writing software rather similar to beatnik, except they're working on a traditional MIDI synthesizer, while i'm sorta designing my own custom audio language and framework.
2) do you enjoy what you do? do you see yourself going on a different career path? do you want to extend your education? these all tie in if you look closely :-)
that's a hard question. as with most any job, sometimes it's good and interesting, sometimes it's dull. there is a certain segment of engineering fields that i'm interseted in, and what i do now is within that range, but what i do not is not my first choice. i really like this sort of "low-level" programming that i do at work, but speech compression algorithms aren't my favorite thing. i'd rather work in music, ideally in synthesizer development or less ideally in some other field related to audio (compression, automated computer 'comprehension', etc). i'd also consider doing other jobs at a synthesizer company, but i think i'm best at software development.
music jobs are really hard to get and a lot of people that have them don't like them (long hours, takes away you desire to work on music on your own time). still, if someone from clavia or access offered me a job, i think we'd have to talk. ;)
as for additional schooling, i go back and forth on this. i think i could have a lot of fun somewhere like the MIT media lab or CCRMA, but i'm not sure that's where i want to spend my money, or if i really want to work on music in such a codified environment. i think it could be more fulfilling to take some time off from work, partner up with another like-minded engineer or two for a while, and see what we could make. (i've tried to do this with 3 guys at the MIT media lab, and while a lot of fun, we just need more time than we have to get things done). school would be a more codified version of this, but you're also paying $$$ for the privledge. some people i've talked to who attended these programs really loved them, others thought they were a waste of time. so yeah, i'm undecided, but if i go for more schooling, that's the sort of thing i'd look most closely into.
Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 06:18 am (UTC)as for total career reversals, i think i could do tech writing/editting fairly competently, espcially after seeing how my articles are butchered by some trade magazines. :) i look at this as something i could do from home as a contractor, give myself more free time to work on my own projects. if b & i live off in the woods, this is something i would need to consider more closely. i probably need a year or so of schooling to put myself in a good position to seriously pursue this field.
3) what first drew you to bridget? i don't know anything about how you two met, though i probably should, and i would love to know the story in depth because you two really do seem good together.
we first met through whitney at a goth night (reverie). bridget had just been to a show that i was considering going to but forgot about (i believe cex, dismemberment plan, death cab for cutie). i thought it was cool that she knew about these bands, and was surprised i hadn't seen her at other shows in boston (since cute girls who like that kind of music are pretty rare). then she mentioned that she had just come back from iceland, which i also thought was neat, since i had been there a couple years previous and thought it was supercool. pretty soon after she left to get some sleep.
at the same time this occurred i was spending some time on nerve, looking to meet some new people and date. about 6 weeks after our initial encounter i stumbled on her profile, recognized the picture, and liked what i read. i wrote to her, and after a couple weeks we got together for indian food and chess. we had a wonderful time and made further plans. for the first few weeks we weren't really sure where things we going to lead. i was reserved because i was really involved in my music project and didn't know if i wanted to push things forward. fortunately bridget made the first move, we kissed (near the boston public gardens late at night in the rain, perfect!), and it was wonderful. i still held back a little while longer, but i was pretty sure that this would turn into something real and long lasting. and it did. yay!
as for what drew me to bridget, i'd say the biggest thing was the sense of comfort i felt around her. it felt like we'd known each other for years from our first date. our personalities just fit together. normally when i feel comfortable, i tease the other person pretty relentlessly (which happened that night). bridget was wondering if i was mean, when in fact it meant that i really connected with her. hah! of course there's a lot more that draws me to her, from her being a genuinely wonderful, intelligent, beautiful, and caring person, to the fact that we share so many common interests. it just makes perfect sense to me.
4) do you have any idea of what you miss food-wise from the us that i can get for you and ship over there in your care package?
burritos! ;p mexican food is pretty non-existant out here, and that stinks. oh, and send some good sushi too.
seriously, i'm not so sure. i don't really have a favorite snack or something i'm craving. i'd like to have some stupid thing that is quintessential texas. maybe bridget has some ideas, i'll ask! you could send us a mix cd of what you're listening to these days, i think we have pretty complimentary tastes.
5) do you think you two might actually get a chance to come and visit us here?
honestly i think there's a good chance of this happening. my mom lives in galveston and i've been talking to her more (that situation is a long story), so we will probably be in texas relatively soon after our return to the states. getting together would be fun. because you write so much in LJ i feel like i know you fairly well, when in fact i think we've spent 2 hours in the same room, and 2 mintues talking. sorry if i forgot a longer conversation, i'm terrible at remembering encounters! :)
i'll try and think of questions for you...
Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 06:27 am (UTC)Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 07:03 am (UTC)i think both of those things reflect more poorly on me than you!
Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 07:13 am (UTC)Re: ummm...
Date: 2004-09-10 08:43 am (UTC)Questions for you!
Date: 2004-09-09 12:38 pm (UTC)2. What's your favorite item of clothing and why?
3. You and your brother both strike me as pretty high-achieving type dudes, but not particularly Type-A. Do you think that's accurate, and do you think it's a product of your upbringing, or just a personality quirk?
4. Did you know that George Steinbrenner sent a bill to MLB for all the hot dogs and pop he gave away to fans waiting for the first game of the double header that never happened? Could he be any more of a prick?
5. If I just, like, show up in England 'cause the last-minute flights are cheaper than actually planning ahead at this point, how annoyed would you be?
If you ask me questions I might answer them next year sometime!
Re: Questions for you!
Date: 2004-09-10 08:41 am (UTC)i think that i'm a country mouse at heart who's sticking it out in the city as long as he can. there are a lot of things that i love about the city, but there's a real pull to run to the hills whenever i make it out to the country (wales, iceland, new hampshire, berkshires, etc). i just love the peace and beauty. but i also know that if i move to the country, i'll miss the vitality of the city. i'm pretty extroverted, so i fear that the lack of energy in the woods would cause me to stagnate. so yeah, i think i want a country place to live in, but still be reasonably close to the city to get some life in me when i need to recharge.
this is a constant conflict in me. i think moving to watertown was a small placating step, i like having a larger-than-i-could-afford-in-boston apartment and i get a little more peace. but at some point i'm going to need more.
2. What's your favorite item of clothing and why?
hmmm, hard to say. i really like my black hoodie & used to wear it all the time, but the zipper broke and i now feel like i'm slumming it when i put it on. i have this weird grey corduroy pant fetish, bridget and mike and attest to this. i think i own 5 pairs, and they are all special snowflakes. also, i really like a couple of the tshirts my friend eugene made, they're important and cool. lastly, i really like my velvet jacket - i get a lot of compliments on it, though it's definitely showing its age.
3. You and your brother both strike me as pretty high-achieving type dudes, but not particularly Type-A. Do you think that's accurate, and do you think it's a product of your upbringing, or just a personality quirk?
hmmm, well my bro is more type-a than me. definitely. he's a driven guy. i'm much less so, unless it involves a personal project that i really care about. and i don't always feel that high-achieving; i think that i've had a bit of luck, a bit of skill, and have some talents that aren't remarkable in the general scheme of things but within the engineering field are more unique (ie can write fairly well, have some basic artistic aspirations). i think that if i was doing what i really love, i wouldn't be quite so laid back at my job, though i suppose i'd still be me outside of work.
my parents probably influenced us too. they're both supportive but not pushy. neither one had real brainy jobs, but i respect their intelligence and capability.
4. Did you know that George Steinbrenner sent a bill to MLB for all the hot dogs and pop he gave away to fans waiting for the first game of the double header that never happened? Could he be any more of a prick?
yes and fuck no.
5. If I just, like, show up in England 'cause the last-minute flights are cheaper than actually planning ahead at this point, how annoyed would you be?
hey i'd be psyched! just don't show up the weekend of oct 2nd, we'll be in berlin. and the next weekend (columbus day weekend i believe) clevernonsense will be around, which may or may not be a good time to stop by. but other than that, we're free and we'd love to see you... see if you could slip luna through security too, ok? :)