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Remember when we used to call these memes?
Oct. 7th, 2023 09:53 pmWhat is something that's bothering you right now?
My exploding relationship. My massive ADHD.
What was the last sporting event you attended?
I think it was a Marlies game (the Leafs' AHL farm team) at Ricoh Coliseum, before the pandemic. I used to go on my own, get smashed on a couple pitcher-sized beers and enjoy the cheap hockey and the family-friendly atmosphere. If you went to a weeknight game and they won, they gave free tickets for a later game, and sometimes I was able to snag more than 1.
Do you enjoy staying at hotels?
Sure? I liked stayed in rooms in people's AirBnB homes. You got to meet a local who could tell you a bit about the place, or something. But then we got into a few rooms where the whole house was AirBnB'd, and F started wanting more privacy. She always needed a lot of privacy.
What was in the last package you got?
Zines. I'm low on zines and I've been rushing to re-stock on some stuff for the fall tabling season.
Who is/was your favorite animated character?
I can't think of clear favourite one. I remember liking Albator, known in English as Captain Harlock, but I think I liked the show's æsthetic more than anything else. They came out with a film a few years ago that I didn't watch. Maybe I'll get to watch that now.
If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you?
Moving to English Canada has always felt like moving to a different country. So I feel like I have. I could see myself move to a West European country for a lover, or to the United States for a job. I know a number of developer friends who took jobs in the Valley. But it's not something I'm seeking out. If anything, I might move back to Québec one day. The likelihood of that is going up.
Do you play the lottery?
F was dreaming of winnign a jackpot so we started buying tickets. I would sometimes bring her tickets home as a small gift. Myself, I'm in the "it's for people bad at math" category. But then again, some relatives won a big jackpot recently, so who the fuck knows. These relatives won their share of a jackpot in a purchasing group, which seems like a much smarter way of buying tickets. It doesn't seem to be a thing here, whereas in Québec tons of convenience stores manage purchasing groups.
Do you shut off the water while you brush your teeth?
Of course.
What was the last good news you received?
Getting hired for this current job was pretty cool. I might also make a big move in my life soon, it feels imminent.
Are there any projects or goals you've recently abandoned?
Repairing a relationship.
What are your top five books?
I used to read voraciously but the internet ate my brain. I don't really have favourites at this point, just some books I've enjoyed more. I used to mention Dune here but I've re-read it last year it left me wanting. Actually God-Emperor was my favourite book of the series, and that one I've only read once, though it's pretty seared in my mind. Maybe I should finish reading the series a second time. I'm curious to know whether I would enjoy Dune: Messiah more because it was really meant to be Dune's part II, and was also more philosophical, like God-Emperor.
Would you ever sky dive?
My mom did it at age 55. It was a life-long dream of hers so we bought a tandem-jump for her birthday. I'm afraid of heights but it's a balance thing, so once off the ground I guess I'd be fine.
If you could "install" three complete languages in your brain what would you choose?
Spanish or Italian. I feel lots of closeness to these languages for obvious reasons; one of these two would suffice. Turkish or Kurmanji, though these days I'm feeling like walking away from the Kurdish freedom movement, or at least the Toronto component of it. (Turkish because that's the true language of the PKK, or Kurmanji if I felt more like working on the cultural side of things.) I would have said Gujarati in the past (maybe even Hindi!) but my interest in that is now gone. Arabic.
What holiday is your birthday closest to?
Christmas. Between those two, F's birthday.
Do you use a wall calendar?
I looked at the calendar on my office wall last week, an art calendar provided by an indigenous education organization I donate to, and noticed that it was from September 2022. I took it down. I like the idea of wall calendars but that age is over.
First foreign vacation?
I don't know if the USA counts as foreign too much, and my first couple trips to the U.S. were more like gatherings with BBS folks. Ah! I went to France in October 2001, right after September 11. That was really weird.
Actually, now I remember that we went to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, when I was 6 or something. Back then we didn't speak English so that felt foreign enough, though the beach was like, half Québecois.
Do you watch any anime?
There's some hentai I find amusing but I don't seek it out. Akira remains a classic for me, Ghost in the Shell, Murakami... I think that's it. Well, when we were kids there were a number of French-Japanese animation co-produced TV series, I watched a number of these back then. There was a Three Musketeers one where the characters were all dogs, and my first contact with Treasure Island was with a French/Japanese coproduction as well. I watched the hell out of that one. The Cities of Gold, that was also a huge mainstay. (I cringe, wondering how racist/colonial that might have been? Even with a main Maya character...)
Do you prefer to keep a clean workspace or are you somewhat messy?
It's a horrible mess. Yesterday a plumber was here to fix my leaking toilet, he realized that the toilet's water valve was leaking a bit too, so I had to shut down the apartment's east-wide valve, which is in my office. Not only was it behind my bookshelf, but I had a file cabinet in front of the bookshelf, and a whole ton of crap in front of it. I think it took me 25 minutes to make space. And it was dusty, so dusty.
I might have to take all of this away soon.
What portion of your day is typically spent outdoors?
Almost none. Now that it's raining more and gardening is over, possibly less. But I'm turning into a zeppelin so I need to go out more. I need to buy a bike. I miss riding my bike.
Did you get an allowance as a child?
I *sometimes* got $5 for mowing the lawn, but rarely. I sometimes got paid for splitting and cording wood for my dad in spring, though I actually enjoyed the workout and was willing to do it for free. My parents preferred to watch me search through garbage bins at the gas station across the street to fish out cans and bottles with a return deposit. (In Québec, aluminium and glass pop containers have a return deposit so there's a lot more of them than just the alcohol containers). It was a busy gas station so during the heavy summer vacation days I could make $20, $30 bucks for an hour of work once or twice a day, which is worth about twice that much now. I think it was very cheap of them not to give me a basic allowance instead; I think with just $5 a week I would not have bothered with the garbage. My father was making good money working under the table at night on top of his daytime union job. I remember asking my parents if we were poor, because my father was so tight with money. We were not poor.
My exploding relationship. My massive ADHD.
What was the last sporting event you attended?
I think it was a Marlies game (the Leafs' AHL farm team) at Ricoh Coliseum, before the pandemic. I used to go on my own, get smashed on a couple pitcher-sized beers and enjoy the cheap hockey and the family-friendly atmosphere. If you went to a weeknight game and they won, they gave free tickets for a later game, and sometimes I was able to snag more than 1.
Do you enjoy staying at hotels?
Sure? I liked stayed in rooms in people's AirBnB homes. You got to meet a local who could tell you a bit about the place, or something. But then we got into a few rooms where the whole house was AirBnB'd, and F started wanting more privacy. She always needed a lot of privacy.
What was in the last package you got?
Zines. I'm low on zines and I've been rushing to re-stock on some stuff for the fall tabling season.
Who is/was your favorite animated character?
I can't think of clear favourite one. I remember liking Albator, known in English as Captain Harlock, but I think I liked the show's æsthetic more than anything else. They came out with a film a few years ago that I didn't watch. Maybe I'll get to watch that now.
If you could move out of your home country permanently, would you?
Moving to English Canada has always felt like moving to a different country. So I feel like I have. I could see myself move to a West European country for a lover, or to the United States for a job. I know a number of developer friends who took jobs in the Valley. But it's not something I'm seeking out. If anything, I might move back to Québec one day. The likelihood of that is going up.
Do you play the lottery?
F was dreaming of winnign a jackpot so we started buying tickets. I would sometimes bring her tickets home as a small gift. Myself, I'm in the "it's for people bad at math" category. But then again, some relatives won a big jackpot recently, so who the fuck knows. These relatives won their share of a jackpot in a purchasing group, which seems like a much smarter way of buying tickets. It doesn't seem to be a thing here, whereas in Québec tons of convenience stores manage purchasing groups.
Do you shut off the water while you brush your teeth?
Of course.
What was the last good news you received?
Getting hired for this current job was pretty cool. I might also make a big move in my life soon, it feels imminent.
Are there any projects or goals you've recently abandoned?
Repairing a relationship.
What are your top five books?
I used to read voraciously but the internet ate my brain. I don't really have favourites at this point, just some books I've enjoyed more. I used to mention Dune here but I've re-read it last year it left me wanting. Actually God-Emperor was my favourite book of the series, and that one I've only read once, though it's pretty seared in my mind. Maybe I should finish reading the series a second time. I'm curious to know whether I would enjoy Dune: Messiah more because it was really meant to be Dune's part II, and was also more philosophical, like God-Emperor.
Would you ever sky dive?
My mom did it at age 55. It was a life-long dream of hers so we bought a tandem-jump for her birthday. I'm afraid of heights but it's a balance thing, so once off the ground I guess I'd be fine.
If you could "install" three complete languages in your brain what would you choose?
Spanish or Italian. I feel lots of closeness to these languages for obvious reasons; one of these two would suffice. Turkish or Kurmanji, though these days I'm feeling like walking away from the Kurdish freedom movement, or at least the Toronto component of it. (Turkish because that's the true language of the PKK, or Kurmanji if I felt more like working on the cultural side of things.) I would have said Gujarati in the past (maybe even Hindi!) but my interest in that is now gone. Arabic.
What holiday is your birthday closest to?
Christmas. Between those two, F's birthday.
Do you use a wall calendar?
I looked at the calendar on my office wall last week, an art calendar provided by an indigenous education organization I donate to, and noticed that it was from September 2022. I took it down. I like the idea of wall calendars but that age is over.
First foreign vacation?
I don't know if the USA counts as foreign too much, and my first couple trips to the U.S. were more like gatherings with BBS folks. Ah! I went to France in October 2001, right after September 11. That was really weird.
Actually, now I remember that we went to Old Orchard Beach, Maine, when I was 6 or something. Back then we didn't speak English so that felt foreign enough, though the beach was like, half Québecois.
Do you watch any anime?
There's some hentai I find amusing but I don't seek it out. Akira remains a classic for me, Ghost in the Shell, Murakami... I think that's it. Well, when we were kids there were a number of French-Japanese animation co-produced TV series, I watched a number of these back then. There was a Three Musketeers one where the characters were all dogs, and my first contact with Treasure Island was with a French/Japanese coproduction as well. I watched the hell out of that one. The Cities of Gold, that was also a huge mainstay. (I cringe, wondering how racist/colonial that might have been? Even with a main Maya character...)
Do you prefer to keep a clean workspace or are you somewhat messy?
It's a horrible mess. Yesterday a plumber was here to fix my leaking toilet, he realized that the toilet's water valve was leaking a bit too, so I had to shut down the apartment's east-wide valve, which is in my office. Not only was it behind my bookshelf, but I had a file cabinet in front of the bookshelf, and a whole ton of crap in front of it. I think it took me 25 minutes to make space. And it was dusty, so dusty.
I might have to take all of this away soon.
What portion of your day is typically spent outdoors?
Almost none. Now that it's raining more and gardening is over, possibly less. But I'm turning into a zeppelin so I need to go out more. I need to buy a bike. I miss riding my bike.
Did you get an allowance as a child?
I *sometimes* got $5 for mowing the lawn, but rarely. I sometimes got paid for splitting and cording wood for my dad in spring, though I actually enjoyed the workout and was willing to do it for free. My parents preferred to watch me search through garbage bins at the gas station across the street to fish out cans and bottles with a return deposit. (In Québec, aluminium and glass pop containers have a return deposit so there's a lot more of them than just the alcohol containers). It was a busy gas station so during the heavy summer vacation days I could make $20, $30 bucks for an hour of work once or twice a day, which is worth about twice that much now. I think it was very cheap of them not to give me a basic allowance instead; I think with just $5 a week I would not have bothered with the garbage. My father was making good money working under the table at night on top of his daytime union job. I remember asking my parents if we were poor, because my father was so tight with money. We were not poor.
