Worm Meme

[jamesq]

• Reply to this meme by typing "WORMS".
  
• I will then give you 5 words that remind me of you.
  
• Then post them in your LJ and explain what they mean to you.

And without further ado, the five words assigned to me by wendy_licious.

Funny

I love being the class clown. Making people laugh makes me very happy.

The humour comes from two places. First, my dear departed mother, who had a quiet but very dry and twisted sense of humour. If she was reincarnated, I think she's like the irreverence of the 21st century - growing up in the fifties was not her style.

The second place is the fact that I'm an uber-geek. From the Nerd Handbook:

Humor is an intellectual puzzle, “How can this particular set of esoteric trivia be constructed to maximize hilarity as quickly as possible?” Your nerd listens hard to recognize humor potential and when he hears it, he furiously scours his mind to find relevant content from his experience so he can get the funny out as quickly as possible.

Of course, with great humour comes great responsibility. I've spent years developing the filters that prevent me from putting my foot in my mouth or otherwise being a total prick. I'm still not very good at it, but I'm way better then I was 20 years ago, when my attempts at humour damn near got me ostracized.

Wow that was deep. Why did the suicidal chicken stop in the middle of the road? To get to the Other Side.

Hey, they can't all be gems.

Computers

Funny thing about computers, I wasn't into them when I was younger. I didn't really discover them until university, when I took a programming course as an elective and discovered that I was actually really really good at it (and sucked at Geology, hence why I switched majors).

My first computer was a MacPlus that I (or rather, my parents) bought off of bunglelord. My first new computer was a Macintosh LCII

Working at Office Despot got me into hardware. Here's the dirty little secret about computer hardware for all of you people who think it's black magic: All the pieces are standardized and there's really only one way to put them together. Are you willing to get your hands dirty and play around and look things up on the intertubes? Then you can build your own computer.

As time has gone on, I've lost that urgency to proselytes the Macintosh way. They're all just tools, and I would no more say never buy a Mac|Windows|Linux computer then a carpenter would say never use a saw|hammer|pliers.

Currently I own a Macbook, a Linux Netbook and a Windows box. They all have their uses, though all confess the first two are used 49.5% and 49.5% of the time respectively.

Archery

Have I thanked you and wackynephews for introducing me to the activity that convinced me to stay in the SCA? Without it, I wouldn't have the majority of my current friends.

Archery remains a wonderful passion that I wish I could devote more time to (like two or three times a week instead of just once). It also continually frustrates me. I know I can do better, but the pieces just don't fall into place. Lack of arm strength, last year's shoulder injury, my own self-esteem problems. They all act as barriers to what I know I can do if I was just a tiny bit better.

Sigh.

It will come someday. In the meantime, I enjoy the precision of archery. In that it is a lot like computers. You try something out and the feedback is near-instantaneous, like programming. If it doesn't work you try something new, or make small refinements until everything is just so. Unlike computers, I'm limited by my bodies limitations.

Archery is very much a solitary activity, which suits my introverted nature. But it has a social aspect in the context of the SCA - Montengarde (and Avacal) has a wonderfully supportive community that I'm proud to be a part of.

Running

Ah yes, running. That thing that I hate to do 5 minutes before I start and love to do 5 minutes after I've finished. Like archery it continually frustrates me because I know I can do better, but my bodies limitations hold me back. Some runs are slogs where every step is like you've got cinderblocks strapped to your feet, and others are a dream where you race over each hill faster then the one before, with your heart pounding, your lungs full of air and your limbs pumping - happy to be wonderfully, joyfully alive. The former happen more often then the latter, but that's just a matter of fitness. There was a time I could run 10k in less then 55 minutes. I'm going back there someday.

Giving

If my mom gave me my sense of humour, then my dad taught me everything I needed to know about giving.

1. Better to see your stuff used by someone else then sit unused by you.
   
2. Pay attention when people tell you what they want.
   
3. Don't expect anything in return. That's not the point.

I'm nowhere near as good at it as he was. Maybe someday. In my defense, I've been burned by people taking advantage of me many times, so I'm not so quick with it as he was.

Gifts aren't always physical things. During University, my father gave me a ride to every 8 am exam that I had, so that I wouldn't have to get up an hour earlier to catch the bus. When I worked at the gas station, he drove to work (and bought me breakfast) every Saturday morning 7 am shift. For five years. He gave of his time more then anything. It took me a long time to realize just how much more precious that was.

Well, this whole post was way more introspective then I thought it would be. I blame the lack of time to really write over the last few months. I've got lots to say, but I find it hard to be creative after a ten-hour day at work.