Ugman look forward to first-person pronouns

tis funny. watch it.

2008-10-05T21:12:05Z

stolen from http://mightygodking.com/index.php/2008/06/17/traditional-cat-speaks

2008-06-18T05:09:55Z

Ps make degrees

2008-05-30T17:25:50Z

well, with a passing mark of 790, I think my score of 819 counts as just scraping it in, but it'll do me just fine. Now if I can just get in contact with someone I've got a legitimate reason to inform that they can suck it, I'll be sorted.

skunkboy @ 2008-05-29T17:37:00

2008-05-29T21:43:08Z

my eyeballs may actually be bleeding.

that is all.

Whoo!

2008-05-28T16:55:02Z

two down, one to go. I should really be studying right now.

Distracted

2008-05-26T00:08:13Z

So, anyway, I got distracted from study and found me a meme.

Go here and find five quotations that represent you. post them to your LJ.

As an adolescent I aspired to lasting fame, I craved factual certainty, and I thirsted for a meaningful vision of human life - so I became a scientist. This is like becoming an archbishop so you can meet girls.
M. Cartmill

Stoop and you'll be stepped on; stand tall and you'll be shot at.
Carlos A. Urbizo

Go after a man's weakness, and never, ever, threaten unless you're going to follow through, because if you don't, the next time you won't be taken seriously.
Roy M. Cohn (1927 - 1986)

Electricity is actually made up of extremely tiny particles called electrons, that you cannot see with the naked eye unless you have been drinking.
Dave Barry (1947 - ), "The Taming of the Screw"

Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence on society.
Mark Twain (1835 - 1910)

One exam down, two to go.

2008-05-25T18:40:29Z

I've gone on hiatus for the job searching while I study for my CCNP. I've passed the first exam, after a sleepless all night cramming session, and a week of virtually non stop study. I've got the next two exams scheduled for wednesday and friday of this week, and in about 10 minutes will return to studying frantically for them (for those of you wondering why I've got such a short lead time on the third exam, its because its mainly security focused, which is an area I've already done a metric shitload of study in, and study for it will be more a matter of revision than learning new things). After that, I'll get back to applying for jobs. Expect two more posts this week, letting you know how I go in the exams, and bugger all, since I'm going to be Fucking busy.

Book Review: Little Brother (Cory Doctorow)

2008-05-07T06:07:01Z

Little Brother is Cory Doctorow's latest book. Anyone familiar with his earlier works, or his postings on boingboing should probably just go and get a copy, available from the Young Adult section of all good bookstores or freely downloadable here.

Little Brother is set in the very near future, and tells the story of Marcus, a 17 year old boy, who gets caught up in an authoritarian overreach by the DHS in the wake of a terrorist incident in San Francisco and his efforts to fight back. Like a lot of Cory's work, this book gets major points out of the blocks for pure neat technology bits. If you're already enthused or entertained by the use of ingenuity and smarts to defeat poorly thought out security and surveillance, you'll find yourself nodding along to a lot of the ideas in the book.

The plot ticks over at a reasonable pace, with occasional interruptions for infodumps. I have to admit that I skimmed past the infodumps for the most part, due to having a pretty thorough grasp of the technologies and activities detailed in them.

The book is unabashedly political. It pays homage to the anti-authoritarian movements in the Vietnam era, it features debates which allow the viewpoint character to make the good points while the defenders of authoritarianism resort to using their postions to quell debate, and it depicts the harms produced by an increasingly authoritarian system.

Many of the characters, and all of the pro-authoritarianism characters, felt faily one dimensional, with the pro-authoritarian characters feeling like straw men. None of the supporters of the authoritarian actions of the DHS is presented as anything except evil or misguided, with the strong implication that the misguided ones can easily be brought around once they're on the wrong end of the DHS.

I'd recommend this book with anyone who has political issues with abusive authoritarianism, anyone who likes a decently written Young Adult story, but mostly I'd recommend that anyone who knows a nerdish young kid get this book in their hands.

Anyone thats still interested in the book should head off now and download a copy. I'll be interested in everyone elses thoughts on it.

Another random sighting

2008-04-18T02:07:43Z

XKCD, one of the best comics in the world, has a news section. While reacquainting myself with its archives, I stumbled across another Eric TF Bat comment. Further comment sightings will only be mentioned if they occur on more obscure corners of the net.

Additionally in the small world category, I attended the local SCA meeting last night, my second attendance at said meeting, and was given some tim-tams from a member of the local SCA group who had just returned from Australia.

And now I want a house I can build things in.

2008-04-17T23:12:55Z

For consideration. 5 geek points shall be awarded for appreciation of the heavy petting exception, 10 points for knowing why the "No Heavy Petting" illustration is funny.

Been busy

2008-04-15T06:58:06Z

Well, I've not been doing much, but I've been working on a post for my other blog, the one where I say things that will probably qualify me as first up against the wall when the revolution comes, and I only tend to post things to one journal at a time.

This, however, needed to be shared with my friends list.

Thats all. I'll now return to our regularly scheduled posting fuck all.

You keep using that word. I do not think it means what you think it means

2008-04-13T16:47:55Z

There are many things people just don't seem to get on the internet, but the one I notice most often is a fundamental failure to understand Godwin's law.

I think a major cause of the problem is a fundamental misunderstanding of what sort of law it is. It is not a law in the legal sense, its a law in the scientific sense. It applied originally to usenet threads, but can generally be applied to any sort of message board or discussion forum where comments are structured in threads. And all it says, to use the exact wording, is "As a Usenet discussion grows longer, the probability of a comparison involving Nazis or Hitler approaches one." Meaning that there is a chance of a comparison of something under discussion to hitler or nazis in any usenet thread, and this chance increases with every post to the thread.

What Godwins law does not say is "If you mention Hitler, or Nazis, the thread is over and the other guy won". It doesn't even say "If you mention hitler or nazis, the thread is over and no one won". There is a social convention that it means the thread is now unfit for its original purpose, and a reasonable usenet tactician can manufacture a win by gracefully, and without comment, or with some sort of reasonable farewell, cease posting to the thread. Jumping up and down and going "You said Hitler, Godwin's law says I win" will usually take the thread off into a churning, messy discussion of Godwin's Law, and why this reference to nazis was significant and appropriate.

So, just in case you have been misusing and misunderstanding Godwin's law, now you know.
And knowing is half the battle.

The games I (theoretically) play

2008-04-11T05:53:39Z

Just to clear up possible misinterpretation of the post title, I mean Role Playing Games. The ones with pencils and paper and dice. Not the computer ones, not the sexual ones. I say theoretically, because I haven't had a regular campaign going on in quite some time. And because what I end up playing is usually Dungeons and Dragons, because persuading people to learn a new system just because it happens to be better, well that takes work.

Not that I'm saying that D&D is always worse than the other options. If what your group wants, and what D&D provides are the same things, then it is a good option. possibly the best option. And there are always things that are worse than D&D. F.A.T.A.L, for one. D&D gives people the ability to create moderately complex characters quickly, and generally gives them a push in one direction or another on how to roleplay their character, which can be a big bonus with starting or casual gamers. In the more recent editions, its become a crunchy game as well, it gives characters, through feats and class and racial abilities, "bits" that they can perform, usually in combat, that allow them to shape the way the story or the action flows and make things more interesting than a straight slugfest.

But the one thing that really defines D&D for me is less about how the game plays in a session, and more about how the characters grow and change over the course of a campaign. The growth curve for D&D characters, especially at low level, is incredibly sharp. A characters ability to take damage, to fling spells around, to thump the snot out of their opponents, really, to do almost anything, increases at a blindingly fast pace for the first 5 or so levels. This is partially an effect of the low starting point and the linear growth rates, and partially an effect of the fact that low level encounters are quick. There are less shiny powers on either side, which speeds up the players options, and reduces the tendency for the monsters to have abilities that stalemate the combat, or slow it down while the frustrated players look through their grab bag of magical one shots to find out what can take these things down. At higher levels, parties can easily go through a session with only one fight thats actually worth a damn thing as far as XP goes. Hell, parties can find a fight thats worth a significant chunk of XP taking up an entire session. Not always, of cause, since wizards and sorcerers often start breaking out the Save or Die type spells somewhere around this point, but after a certain Challenge Rating, creatures that will succumb to these sort of spells tend to be the exception rather than the rule.* But a high level slug fest is always slower than a first or second or third level fight to the death.

But I digress. Often. The point here is, if you want to take a farm boy who can be overwhelmed by a pair of kobolds, and, in under a year end up with a character able to tear a dragon a new arsehole, D&D can do that for you. If you'd like to have a few special moves thrown in there to make your character able to do something for the group that no one else does, D&D can do that too.

One of D&D's main faults is a direct consequence of the radical growth curve. when the Designers were working on the game mechanics, they couldn't just balance and tune them for one power level. A mechanic that simulates something perfectly at 10th level, but is horribly unrealistic at high levels or low levels can't be used. And a game mechanic that works great at 10th level but is just kinda OK at low levels or high levels, well that should probably get thrown out, but if they can't come up with a better way to do things, might just make it in.

The other thing that really turns me of D&D is the brokenness of the skills. I don't know that any skill system is ever going to feel perfect, but D&D's D20 + skill vs CR is just plain painful. (For a comparison of the maths, take a look at this. Then read the rest of the critical miss site (less maths, more humor. Do not read at work, you will laugh out loud at some point. And if you read while drinking anything, don't hold me responsible if you spit liquid all over the monitor. And then buy the writer's book*** )). If you're going to play a mainly combat based game, the skill problem will probably annoy you from time to time. If you play a very roleplaying heavy game, with a lot of diceless resolution, the skill problem will possibly annoy you from time to time (and why the hell are you playing D&D). If you want to have a game where skills matter, you probably want to play a different game.

The other thing that tends to shit me is the definite tendency for things to be on or off. Most characters will have put almost all of their skill points into the same skills every level, because if you spread them round, you don't keep up with the way difficulties ramp up. If you're on 1 hit point, you fight exactly the same as if you're on 1000.

Now that I've bitched about D&D, what do I do about it. Well, lets bullet point what I want, and I'll show what games I use to match this desire. I'll introduce a couple of things here, but they aren't things I think are wrong with D&D, but just preferences.

No Levels - Radical jumps in character growth Vs gradual character growth? I'm picking the second

Related to the No Levels, no feeling penalized for being better at some skills than others

Fully customizable power/skill sets (Pre-packaged templates optional) - I like guides to stereotypical characters, I don't like being forced into a box

Damage Hurts - in ways other than possible death

Less/No Resurrection - Its a staple of D&D from way back, but I like character death being a big thing. (yes, I know you can change this by arbitrary DM fiat. I'm listing it anyway, since I think the possibility of resurrection influences the way Death is treated in the rules and in game)

Non-Lethal victory - Injuring someone out of a fight. Knocking them unconscious. Not for all game worlds, but some genres dont want to kill everything, all the time.

Skills on a Bell Curve - see above

A different world - Sometimes you just want to play in a different world. D20 can cover most genres, but sometimes another game does it better, and some people wont play a custom setting, they want the game to be provider of both fluff and rules

A consistent world - If I want to DM a world, I want to nail the genre and mood down as far as possible. And if the fluff of the world pushes a particular genre and mood, both as a player and a GM, I want it enforced.

Powers should not be given an arbitrary limit - no "use this spell once a day" for no other reason than game balance.

And its time for the games.

Shadowrun - Shadowrun breaks a couple of these rules. Kind of. The skill resolution system, while not feeling as broken as D&D, has some issues. prior to the current edition, almost all characters had starting skills at 6 (the starting max) or 0. No in between. This was mainly due to the fact that its far more expensive to buy an increase in a skill thats already high than to start the skill from zip. The latest system has changed things up, which is good. Damage hurts. If you get injured, you start taking penalties. if you use magic, you might get by throwing spells all day, particularly low powered spells. you try throwing big juju, you can hurt yourself (stun damage, which knocks out, but doesn't kill) really push it, or use the wrong spells? you can fry your brain.
But mainly, shadowrun has a genre. and it enforces genre. to a given extent. Some people read the background and become fringe dwelling, dystopic future, noir-ish, hard shelled but with a core of humanity, complex examples of meta humanity. And some people become psychopaths. Hell, sometimes a couple of psychopaths, especially if they're built as a roleplaying exercise, can add to the storyline. But when its a psycho made up by a player who read the background and saw machineguns as an option and decided that the whole point of the story line is to "absolutely, positively, kill every mother-fucker in the room". Every single encounter, every single playing session. This is bad because a) the story can often be railroaded by the lowest common denominator quite easily, especially when that LCD has enough weapons to supply a revolution and b) because the system has certain susceptibilities to min-maxing (no, I'm not going to teach them to you). And a min-maxed PC vs a ton of grunts stands a pretty good chance, but his even slightly less combat monster fit-out pals usually have a choice between red paste on the floor and running away. Which will probably end up with at least one pissed off player.
The biggest advantage, as a player who normally plays a gunslinger of some kind, to having one combat monster in your group is as a decoy. Both in game, since the NPC bad guys are likely to direct most of their fire at the big hulking armored monster than the sneaky shooter in the stealth suit, and in the meta-game since giving a reasonable length (long enough to show willing, short enough to not piss off everyone) description of how you're sneaking into position, while the combat monster elects to jump out of a helicopter and through the sky light, the GM tends to not even bother rolling to chose between having the NPCs focus on looking for stealthy threats or opening up with AK97s at the barely moving lump on the floor (kind of underestimated the falling damage). Thereby giving you time to calmly and coldly shoot every mother-fucker in the room, without them getting a shot back.
I've had a few appallingly bad shadowrun sessions, but its also given me some of my best RPG stories. (and I know, no one cares about RPG stories, but I think they make a good indication of a decent game). I hope that if I ever snap and start shooting people I have the presence of mind to tell some dude, just before he gets shot in the chest, "here's your fucking club sandwich".

Champions/Hero System. This is one of the great generics. Its complex. you will do maths. You may need a spreadsheet. And what it does, it does well. It is the most customizable roleplaying systems out there. It is, usually, well balanced (I had dedicated competitions in min-maxing it with a friend of mine. he won almost every time. But I made the character who could beat people who were, on paper, many times more powerful than him. (250 points, capable of beating pretty much anything below Dr Destroyer, Hell, He had a reasonable chance of taking Destroyer down, on a good day) ). The mechanics lean towards characters getting knocked unconscious, rather than dying. 99% of all superpowers, ever written can be replicated by the right combination of basic powers and modifiers on that power. And it is remarkably well balanced. It is a great system for high powered, hugely customised, characters. I've never used it for anything except superheroes, but there's a great post here on using it as an alternative to D20, in a D&D setting, especially for high level play.
One final note on champions. Its a big scary system. Its a stone cold bitch making the first couple of characters. But honestly, as a player? Once you know what your character is capable of, its probably easier, and plays at about the same speed as D&D. Mind you, it can be a cast Iron Bitch to DM.

GURPS. One of my favorite systems that I almost never get to play. Its flexible. The skill system is a 3d6 bell curve (honestly, I'd prefer a larger spread on results. If I ever win the lottery, I'm paying some game design/maths wonk to re-design the system and balance it to be played with 3d10 or 4d6 or whatever works best balance wise. And if a major part of your system is centred on characters using skills to do things, GURPS is a natural choice. And once you finally manage to teach people the system, they can use it for anything. (well, except for high level stuff. I've always found that it breaks at high levels). The only real things to remember, when considering GURPs are a) Being hurt kills. not always, and not automatically, but in most cases, if you get shot, or king hit with a sword, you risk death b) there are lots and lots and lots of optional extras. Expect your GM to set some strict limits on which books can be used, or say no a whole lot during character creation. There's a few opportunities for cheesy cheesy min-maxing, but despite its genericness gurps is one of the best systems I've found for creating a world designed for a short to medium storyline type campaign and letting people make a wide variety of characters within that setting.

Honourable mention goes to Warhammer Fantasy Role Play, a system that feels horribly broken and punitive for a whole raft of the reason listed above, but still holds a place in my heart for giving me a home for one of the longest running campaigns I've been in, for the fact that a cruel and broken system of rules kind of fits the warhammer world, for having a whole raft of well written scenarios, for allowing a drunken and violent elf to rise to a position as an admiral, but most of all for the fact that James Wallis didn't manage to burn my barge before I'd made my pile as a river captain.

* I'll just note here that this tends to lead to one of the other less desirable aspects of a D&D campaign. DM Combat Juicing. (I'm really really open to changing that term, its just the best one I can think up now) At lower levels, its easy to determine if you're overdoing the toughness of the fights, or underdoing it. Look how healthy the characters are at the end of the fight. Check how many die**. At higher levels, one round of damage can be enough to wipe out most characters. Sometimes a single monster will be capable of doing enough to take down a party in one or two rounds. But just as reasonably, if the characters play to the enemies weak points, or fluke a save, or the DM softens up the possibility of descending from a perfect ambush and shredding the whole party like tissue paper, the characters can rip the monster a new one without giving the impression of breaking a sweat. And if this happens to three or four encounters in a row, the more adversarial DM will start thinking "they're beating my guys without it troubling them..." and the DM who tries to cater to his players wants will think "wow, that combat didn't seem challenging. I would have been bored out of my skull..." and they both finish on the same point "I better start making the fights a little tougher." And amping up the battles from walkover to tough without hitting Total Party Death is a fine line to walk at that level.

**Not ones who die doing something stupid. sometimes, thats just going to happen. Watch any RPG for long enough, and you'll see at least one Darwin award rehearsal.

*** Jonny, if you end up reading this, I'd like you to take note of the fact I plugged your book. And not so much notice to the gloating in the honourable mention

Six Degrees my Arse

2008-04-11T01:18:12Z

So I was reading one of my most regularly read blogs MightyGodKing dot com and I found this post, a discussion about the various areas that people consider themselves experts. I will digress here a moment, and point out that I have no idea how I started reading this blog, and that it is written by one of my fellow Canadians. And you should be reading it. It delivers a regular dose of what we call amusement.

So I'm reading through the comments, (you can find my comment about 1/2 way down, if anyone should really care), and I found a comment mentioning such things as SCA heraldry, filk and programming languages. Hmm, thinks I, perhaps I should add a comment to the thread about there being two SCA people reading this blog, truly demonstrating the crossing over of nerddoms. So I scroll up and check for the name of the man making the comment.
...
Eric TF Bat.

Its a small world people, a small small world.

Just so everyone knows

2008-04-07T18:45:02Z

this is my back.

what not to do at the "anything to declare point"/things that make customs people ask questions

2008-03-24T05:49:54Z

when flying into Canada, and you're going through the "do you have any of these to declare" checklist, don't pause to think "I definitely got rid of all the snacks I had before I got off the plane, didn't I", just confidently answer "no, I have no food."

I'm fairly sure thats what got me diverted into the full bag check, where I was asked pointed questions (by a cute girl, but still a customs person) about the following items; my riding boots and crop, my set of d6s with a heraldic design where the 1 normally is, my collection of comic books, my laptop ("can you power this up", "why does this not look like windows", "where is the My Pictures folder" (ah, thank you paranoia, as all my vaguely questionable data is encrypted and stored in inobvious locations when crossing borders)), my cable ties. by the point that we unearthed my stuffed cow, and my bottles of ink, and my pieces of original art, and about the 5th notebook, and my massive collection of power cables, the customs person was pretty much reduced to giving me funny looks.

I was also asked long questions about what my plans were in Canada, and had people look unsatisfied by my responses, at both the preliminary customs point and the bag search. This is not particularly surprising, since my total plan was "I've got a place in Montreal for a few days, then I'll head to a hostel in Toronto and start looking for work". The part that got me was that the immigration person, who issued my visa and is supposed to ask pointed questions about my ability to find work and my level of funds allowing me to support myself and then piss off out of the country when I'm done, asked very few questions and was not at all disappointed by answers like "I'll work wherever I can get a job", but the customs people, who aren't really in the position of having to worry about anything other than "does he have a shipment of coke stuffed up his arse" asked more probing questions and appeared more disappointed by the answers. Despite the fact that I have enough money to spend the entire year in this country and get by without working a damn day, if I wanted to blow my savings (spoiler: I do not want to blow my savings).

Anyway, I'm now in canada, hanging round at a hostel and starting to apply for jobs. I've been to a B grade hockey game, but I doubt I'll make a leafs game this season, cause they keep hanging on to the outside chance of making the playoffs, thus making every game a fascinating do or die affair, and greatly reducing the chance of getting a decent price scalped ticket. At least there is bugger all chance of them taking the cup this year, the level of support and ticket prices are bad enough as it is. As every hockey fan I've talked to here has said, "Imagine how big their fan base would be if they'd managed to take a cup in the last 40 years"

I'm liking it here. the people are friendly, the snow is neat, job market looks OK, poutine is interesting, hot wings are good, pancakes and syrup and bacon is a complete breakfast, beer is expensive. I'm planning on doing a wineries tour at some point before leaving Toronto, mainly to see what Icewine is like.

read it, I promise its worth it.

2008-03-22T04:16:16Z

http://scienceblogs.com/pharyngula/2008/03/expelled.php

Last Day of work

2008-02-08T11:58:45Z

This is my last day of work in the UK. I've got touristy stuff left to do, then I'm off for the next country I work in. And this is where you come in. I'm interested in hearing everybodies opinion, should I come home to australia, or galivant off to canada.

I can't make up my own mind, this is your chance to convince me. This is not a binding vote, this is an opportunity to pursuade me one way or the other. If you want to make your opinion known to me alone, email me.

Stolen from elsewhere

2008-01-30T01:57:46Z

I've been entertained by this on some other Lj's so now I pass this on. We're going to play the classic game of Shag, Marry and Cliff. essentially, one person proposes a set of three people, and everyone else (well its usually a one on one thing, but this is the internets, so its more of a free for all) selects which one they would sleep with, which one they would marry and which one they would push off a cliff. When you're selecting people for the set of three, the choices shouldn't be obvious. (eg, Hitler, Eliza Dushku and Jessica Simpson is a really bad set (if there is anyone who cant guess who gets what in that set, you are fired as my friend))

I will note that I'm operating under the assumptions that shag means a one night stand, or at most a short and entirely physical relationship, marry implies sex, unless there is a really good reason why not (hes a man and I dont swing that way is not a good reason. He is in jail for life, and I'm fairly sure super-max prisons don't allow conjugal visits is a decent reason why not). And push off a cliff means splat.

just to kick things off, the two sets I actually bothered posting answers too when someone else made this post, and my personal choices.

Buffy, willow & faith. (Cliff, Shag, Marry)

Mal, Jayne & Wash. (Shag, Cliff, Marry)

You are encouraged to discuss your reasoning for any choices made.

now go and play in the comments section, ya'll

Californication

2008-01-30T01:34:58Z

So I've been catching up on Californication, which means I watched the whole first season over the course of 3 days, and I have to say, I generally enjoyed the show. The presence of naked breasts may have been a contributing factor, along with some thoroughly amusing moments. But there were two fairly major bits of plot that sucked some of the entertainment out for me. The whole "stealing his book" storyline had some really good moments, but it also had huge swathes of things being done wrong just to move the plot along. Most noticeably for me was the fact that she took the manuscript to his agent, which was just pure daftness on her behalf, and it was pure dumb luck that the right person was reading the slush-pile. But that was mainly a fridge moment, and really didn't interfere much with my enjoyment during the show. The majority of the BDSM stuff, on the other hand, really jarred me. Mainly because I have trouble believing that a) its possible to find two hip, LA culture type people that have no idea about BDSM and B) that anyone could do that bad a job explaining the general idea.

easy answers to silly questions.

2008-01-12T15:28:50Z

there was a smh article today, asking why we recognise the achievements of great athletes and sports people, but not, for example, those of great mathematicians.

http://www.smh.com.au/news/opinion/nerds-geeks-superstars/2008/01/12/1199988640627.html?page=fullpage#contentSwap1

personally, the answer is simple. because it is far harder to understand the achievements of great mathematicians. or scientists, or the majority of artists. and it is getting harder, as the work of those who stand on the shoulders of giants is getting further and further away from those who do not have the time and/or ability to climb up the giants in the first place.

Sport, on the other hand, is generally easier to understand. especially sports we have competed in at some level. we apply an understanding of how far our best efforts take us in order that we can be amazed by the efforts of those at the top of their game. Even when we have no direct experience with a sport, if we understand the basic skills that make it up, it can still serve to amaze us. This works far better in sport than it ever would with appreciating science or maths or art, since excellence in sport is often a matter of simply applying the same basic set of skills, just with a measure more of speed or strength or willpower.

Thats my thoughts on the matter anyway.

skunkboy @ 2008-01-11T15:28:00

2008-01-11T15:31:09Z

"The kind of Unitarian
Who having by elimination got
From many gods to Three, and Three to One,
Thinks why not taper off to none at all. "

stolen from _tonylee_

2008-01-09T17:03:57Z

1. What curse word do you use the most?
Bugger. I'm not allowed to say Cunt in nearly as many situations, and those are the two swear words that I nearly always say multiple times any time that I have occasion to use them (I rarely just say "bugger", its usually "Bugger bugger bugger bugger. Bugger!". occasionally the really emphatic "Bugger!" goes at the start instead of the end)

2. Do you own an iPod?
Yep. it gets used about 20% for music and video, majorly for extra HDD storage. will change once I finish travelling

3. What person on your Flist do you talk to the most?
tuiredan.

4. What time is your alarm clock set to?
800 ish. it often gets moved when I'm setting it at night. I'm trying to start getting up with the sun, since winter is really doing a number on my brain.

5. Do you still remember the first person you kissed?
Yup. I actually have a short list of different milestones, like first "quick peck" type kiss, first snog, first shag. Interestingly, first shag came well before first snog. Get me drunk and you might even find out the story of how that happened.

6. Do you remember where you were on 9/11/01?
I was at my parents house, chatting on #atbuffy, my brother called me into the tv room and showed me the news, and I went back online where we started betting on the number of casulties. I won.

7. Would you rather take the picture or be in the picture?
well, at the moment the standard pic in my collection is a pit of english scenery, and my bike helmet.

8. What was the last movie you watched?
If double episode/TV movies count? Graduation (kim possible finale). TV movies? A sitch in time (also Kim possible). download pirate stuff? superbad. At the cinema? I have no idea. its been ages.

9. Do any of your friends have children?
Yes.

10. Has anyone ever called you lazy?
Oh hell yeah. I regard myself more as excellent at procrastination, blessed with a poor attention span, and with a poor ability to find goals which adequetly motivate me. Which comes to about the same thing, but means I've got three problems to tackle instead of one. Biggest problem is my tendency to settle into a rut, both in my hobbies as well and in my work.

11. Do you ever take medication to help you fall asleep?
Not specifically. I have drunk to excess, and I have torn up half a house trying to find pain killers so I could go to sleep despite my headache

12. What CD is currently in your CD player?
MP3 is the only way I listen to stuff. Currently listening to the Cruel Sea

13. Do you prefer regular or chocolate?
Regular? what the hell is wrong with the word vanilla? And the answer is choc mint.

14. Has anyone told you a secret this week?
Nope.

15. Do you sleep on your side?
Yes. Usually. depends on the available bedding. I require a stack of good quality pillows to sleep in the manner I am most comfortable with.

16. Do you watch the news?
I mainly read it.

17. How did you get one of your scars?
The first girl I had a proper crush on turned me down, decided she was a lesbian, and moved to another state in the couple of months after I asked her out. whats that? physical scars only? The scars on my face (and the busted teeth) are all from mistaking my it for an appropriate set of brakes for a bike going full speed downhill.

18. Do you have any siblings, how many, sex?
One sister (who has been a great freind the whole time I've been in a different country to her) and three brothers (one has the energy to counterbalance my lazy, one reminds me of most of the things I don't like about myself, and one who keeps astounding me by how well he is doing)

19. Do you have any children?
No. Well, none that I know of.

20. What is the last thing you purchased?
Cigarettes. I fell of the wagon, but I regard it as self medication. I'll try again when there is more sunlight.

And another piece of advice

2008-01-05T20:34:51Z

this is for all children who live at home, and all parents who have their children living with them.

Yes, the house belongs to the parents, and yes, they can enact the "my house, my rules" system. But usually, the rules have to change as the children get older. The thing is, most parents do it by changing the rules whenever they get around to thinking of it, or by some sort of strict age thing.

I think there should be more negotiation to it. figure out what living at home provides them, and how it restricts them, and be prepared to negotiate one thing away for another. allowances have to be made for the capabilities of their age, but try and start early on. And try to keep as few non-negotiables as possible.

skunkboy @ 2008-01-05T20:15:00

2008-01-05T20:19:54Z

(you can read the preamble, or skip to the bottom for the question)

So, anyways, I've been all brooding of late. Too much free time or something.

Like I'm guessing a lot of people do, one of my major themes of brooding is dumb shit I've done. bad decisions that I've made. And theres a lot of "well that was really stupid _but_" type statements in there. Things I'd do exactly the same, cause it was a dumb decision that I like some of the good results of too much to throw away the baby with the bathwater, even mentally, by wishing I'd never done it. I met one of my best friends while I was doing a course that I never should have signed up to (first year out of high school, I should have been working. hard. getting a little bank, getting a license, and getting eligible for the govt to actually provide some income support when I started study. scrabbling for money at uni is a shitty shitty way to spend a few years.

And some of them are dumb decisions that I'd like to have done differently, but even a Myself From The Future type message wouldn't have changed what I decided to do. cause there are some decisions that you just have to make when you're young and stupid. Religion. I should have abandoned my faith way before I actually did.

But thinking of what I'd change, time machine permitting, in my own life, is not nearly as useful as thinking what sort of advice and guidance I'd give to other people in my position. Ya'know, just in case I get round to having some, or get allowed to advise my potential nieces and nephews, or godchildren or whatever.

Unfortunately, most of my advice is only suited for kids who are like I was. and I'm pretty rare. (bright, physically not particularly ept, not particularly socially ept, motivation problems around schoolwork, INTP personality type, male)

stuff like
"If its genre fiction (or TV or whatever) that reads like wish fulfillment, it is. And wish fulfillment fiction is a shitty guide to how to live. This applies especially to anything that leads you to believe everything would be perfect if you were In college/japanese/found that perfect outfit."
"never go to a single sex school"
"find a sport you love and do it" (actually, that ones a good piece of advice. in the case of someone with my limited physical talents, add "make sure its not one of the most popular local sports" niche sports, solo sports, that sort of thing is great for someone with minimal talent. I highly recommend ice hockey to australians. its marginal, the basic skills are a great experience on their own (Ice skating on an almost empty rink is good for the soul), and you get to use a regulated level of violence).
"university is great, but start with a really general degree, and kick arse at it first."
"take 1 subject more than your required load, and drop one by this HECS census date" (if you're really kicking arse, hang onto them all)
"learn to drive. sometimes its just essential"
"learn to ride a motorbike. not at all essential, but so much fun"
"in everything you do, in organized education there will be some crap. and there will be some things that seem like crap but are essential. get the best advice possible on sorting out the difference, and do whatever you have to to get past the crap (I draw the line a little north of blackmail) and kick arse at the rest."
"get a job. early. bias towards jobs in the same place as a group of other spotty teens. Don't let this stop you trying to wrangle money out of the parentals"
"never do a subject just because its easy."
"avoid subjects that mark on groupwork. its just as bad for you to be carried as it is to carry the group"
"do subjects which need small group interaction. preferably with a female bias to the gender balance. make friends."
"most people are shit. suck it up, princess. be friendly to everyone who aint insufferable, but only make time for the best of them"
"Minimize single sex hobbies. defacto or dejure"
"try and find a hobby that lets you blow shit up from time to time. legally"

So, Question time. Advice you'd give to a young person. (anything up to and including university student). Advice based on things you wish you'd done differently. If it only applies to a small group of personality types, make a note.