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Why I don't come out as trans any more [Sep. 1st, 2011|06:32 pm]
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In work, there's a receptionist who I talk to a fair bit. Occasionally she makes comments that make me bristle a bit internally, purely because she doesn't know the extent of my circumstances.

I was thinking about telling her I was trans, explaining why some comments make me uncomfortable. Just for the record, these comments were nothing big; they weren't offensive to groups at large, just that I thought they were short-sighted. Just stuff like how alopecia would affect women's self-images more than it would affect mine. That sorta thing.

Thinking about it today, I realised that there's no point coming out. In fact, I've unconsciously made it my policy not to come out as trans any more.

Some time ago, when it came to introductions, I started just ballsing it out and introducing myself one way or the other in certain groups. If you met me before that, well you already know what to call me, but if I've just met you, I've made the choice for you; your choice is not my name, but whether to stick around or not.

When I'm in work, by necessity, that choice is my male identity.

What I've realised since is that it's too much work to convince people off whatever choice I initially made for them. Either there's a stretch of difficulty, or there's fawning or some other loud acclimatisation process.

This was doubly reinforced when I bumped into someone from college a few days ago. I hadn't made that decision by then, I introduced myself as male, and then subsequently let them in on the rest of my situation later. As a result, most of what we talked about when I met her again had to do with what name she was going to put into her phone. She was reliving that same acclimatisation process as when I first came out to her.

It's gotten to the point where I think that if that acclimatisation is in the history of how we know each other, it will always be there, and it will always come back to haunt me. So I'm just not putting it in there any more. Sure, it's obvious as all hell that I'm not cis-female, but I'm just not going to introduce with a more comfortable identity and then flip it on you later; it does no good for either of us.

So: That receptionist finishes work tomorrow, and I'm not going to fill her in on my gender stuff. Sure, it might clarify some of my attitudes for her, but really... it's not going to do me any favours, so I won't go there.
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How can you call yourself a programmer if you don't know loops? [Feb. 18th, 2011|01:51 am]
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As a computer engineer, I've developed a reflex to help with my day-to-day survival. If in certain company, when I tell someone that I work with my computers, the next words to pour out of my mouth will be, "No, I will not fix your computer for free". Actually, sometimes there are variations; I leave out the "for free" bit. The general idea is that outside of friends, and the occasional trading of favours, I don't like doing my job outside the office, and not getting paid for it.

At least if you're a friend, you tend to get a free pass on that... IF you get around to describing the problem well enough for me to be intrigued. In other words, "it doesn't work" won't cut it.

However, I'm quickly developing another rule. Nobody's safe from this one. I always waver between it being harsh and it being reasonable. It sums up to, "No, I will not teach you how to use your tools (unless I already know how to use them)". This mostly is in a computer context, but applies equally.

Here's the thing: I know how to do what I need to do, and I know what I need to do it. I mean, I've kinda reached the point in my work where a computer is taken as a given. The tools I have amount to the programs and scripts that are written to make my job easier, or allow me to do things I would not be normally able to do.

There are some tools that, I will admit, I am not competant with. However, I still think I know what my tools can do in the hands of a skilled professional. For instance, if I was sculpting, one of my tools would be a chisel. Realistically speaking, I'm not going to be able to do anything particularly spectacular, maybe give you a very chipped cube, or a speck of sand that was once a giant marble pyramid that I kept messing up, and trying to "even out", gradually wearing the work down to the single white speck before you (or at least your mind's eye). That's the sum of my skill with a chisel. However, I know what it does, and what it cannot do. Firstly, no chisel would turn me into an instant artistic hit.

However, if some budding artist came to me and asked, "Right, so I'm putting a nose back onto the sphinx, how do I use just a chisel to do that?", they would earn my ire/derision/mockery (depending on how I'm feeling at the time). I, someone who has very little practical experience with a chisel, at least know that a chisel is to chip things away; it does not construct, but allows a controlled destruction/removal. It is not the chisel's responsibility to construct.

Now, if I'm talking to other professionals, I will swap tips about my tools; it's one of the best ways for me to learn. That said, they know what the tools in question do and do not do; they have gone to the trouble of learning the gross basics of the tool and its capabilities.

The problem is, when it comes to computers, they don't know where the computer (the thing I fix) ends and the tool starts; it's like how "the internet" is the mental label used for either "Microsoft Explorer" or "Facebook" in a lot of the technically illiterate.

The problem is, when someone is a professional, making money from or staking their identity in what their craft, they give up the privilege of ignorance of their tools. A mechanic who thinks they can bend large sheets of metal with just a screwdriver is useless; if a mechanic like that doesn't know the tools of their trade, why are they calling themselves a mechanic?

I am not ignorant of web browsers, as my job requires that I use one; more importantly, I know what I can reasonably expect them to do, and when they will fail to work (for instance, I happen to know that I won't be able to access my webmail without an internet connection). A carpenter should know what their hammer, nails, planks and all their other regular tools do. Musicians should know what a sequencer does, and when the problem is that of a sequencer. Similarly, a DJ should know when to blame their virtual DJ when a song skips and when to blame Windows/Linux/MacOS/Xenu. Internet PR people should know their way around twitter, facebook or whatever the social media du jour happens to be.

Similarly, a DJ can happily remain ignorant of the finer points of hammers and nails, and is allowed the luxury of thinking that you can reconstruct the nose on the sphinx with just a hammer; I'm cool with that, because nobody knows everything.

The main point is, there are tools I know how to use. If I can, I'll help you get up to speed with tools that I already know how to use. Otherwise, I reserve the privilege of invoking and hiding behind my shroud of wilful ignorance. Sure, I'll make sure it's not a problem with your computer but otherwise, like a bad workman, I'll blame your tools. This is because "knowing computers" doesn't make me an instant expert on all of the myriad of programs out there.

However, if I know even what a tool is for, even under my cover of ignorance, and you stake your reputation/identity on a profession or craft that uses that tool, and you don't know its limitations or responsibilities, a diplomatic response may not be forthcoming from me.
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Same storm; bigger teacup. [Nov. 13th, 2010|03:14 am]
It's amazing how even if you leave college, college never leaves you. I have an odd musing about degrees and the like but it's not that.

So, I was having dinner with friends, and we got talking about old acquaintances, and the shit they pulled. In fact, some things people did things that caused a major storm in a teacup, with the teacup just being a relatively small bunch of people.

After college, you move on; you meet, and work, with different people. You're introduced to different social circles than in college, and those old groups generally disperse. Such is the way of things. Sometimes you gravitate back to each other, but all of you have trod different paths, and you all see bigger pictures than when you were in college. You're different people meeting again.

Then you find someone from your college years, causing the same sort of storm as before, just in a bigger teacup. Half a decade, or even a whole one, is both a long and a short time for someone to change. So here's the rub, if you see the same storm, with the same characteristics, only bigger, can you assume they're pulling the same crap as before?
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(no subject) [Sep. 23rd, 2010|02:55 pm]
This is one of those little non-specific rants that is actually directed at nobody on my friends-list. It's more that I need to spew something, and to do so in certain media would cause problems.

I am not a font of interpersonal communication. I am a listener and a forgetter. Lots of people do not realise that I do not remember conversations with them on a day to day basis. The answer to, "What exactly did they say" will never be exact... unless I happen to be talking to the person I had the conversation with. Actually, I'm more of a compartmentaliser.

I learned to do this from college politics. Being a hanger-on to political circles meant that I came across information that shouldn't be shared, and that I couldn't use myself. I had many conversations that should be forgotten and frequently were.

I still compartmentalise. I am still willing to have a chat with people, and I am definitely willing to listen but I'm not going to pass on what one person tells me. I will listen to the both parties. However, if either want me to cross lines and tell them what the other party says, I'll have to stonewall them (yes, that's right I will bring them to Greenwich village and I will riot... actually, no) and not give them information. It brings me no joy to do so, and it's bloody difficult for me, but it's best for all that I stay quiet.

I have one friend who GETS that. The other party, also a friend, doesn't. That other party does not get the fact that I'm trying to tell them not to ask, and to respect the fact that I'm asking them not to pump me for information. They don't. They continue to ask.

It. Makes. Me. Want. To. Fucking. Scream.

Instead of screaming, I post to LJ. Sorry LJ.
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Fun with leaving [Aug. 30th, 2010|01:59 am]
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I may have mentioned that I'm leaving my current job soon, to move back to the group that I was an intern in. Despite being the first of the non-managers to state my intention to leave, I seem to be the last to be set free.

So far I have witnessed 3 sets of "leaving drinks", one being a manager, and 2 engineers. I think I'm beginning to get the idea of how to graciously leave work.

The manager did a very nice job when leaving; that's unsurprising, given that a manager's job generally involves discretion and tact. Basically, most of the night involved getting steadily drunker, talking about his home life, where he was going to work next, and generally nothing offensive. As the night went on, and the numbers whittled down, there was some gossip, but nothing majorly offensive or groundbreaking; it was just his chance to bitch when he couldn't do so as a manager, but still held his tongue, and only really covered ground that we had all figured out for ourselves anyway. It should also be said, it was very much at the prompting of the rest of us. At this point, there was only one person there who wasn't planning on leaving.

The next was an engineer who I've had very little dealing with, but his last action as an employee was to misquote Oscar Wilde on IRC (our internal chatroom): "Either these curtains go, or I do" (I can't find a definitive answer one way or the other). He exited with a certain class, and we just chatted. Nothing major was said by him about the job; it was all forward-looking towards the next one. So far, it's been the classiest exit...

...Shortly followed, one week later, by the least classy exit. You know what? Let's just make this clear, I am not emotionally neutral in this case. Basically, the next engineer (let's call him R) left the job last Friday to move within the company. I generally thought he was a nice guy, he tended to make time for you, and tended to talk and was generally nice enough. We went for drinks, but the people participating quickly dropped off. 5 people were left, and only 3 of us continued drinking in town. As time progressed, without prompting he proceeded to tell us exactly how much of a shambles that group is. Later, a team member who was laid off comes in to join us. Shortly after R decides to become even less diplomatic and tell me, "There are only 2 people in the group who I actually enjoyed working with, one is <ex-team member that just joined>, and the other is <other team member who's out drinking with us>." Cheers R. I know English isn't your first language, but I know damn well that you know enough to say something more diplomatic like, "the people in this team that I enjoyed working with most were...", rather than "the people I actually enjoyed working with". In other words, you don't pass Go, you don't get the benefit of the doubt. Screw you too, R.

He also slagged off pretty much the entirety of the system that our team developed. He specifically took time to slag off the software I was tasked with maintaining. We had to explain that developing that software always took second place to our actual paid job, which was to analyse problems. But he would not let the point go, and wanted to talk more about how the produce of the team was not well-designed etc. Yeah, those truthes are self-evident, but having actually worked in the conditions that force you to write something that works quickly, rather than plan these things for ages, you'd think he'd have had a bit more sympathy.

Being honest, if wasn't for the point that I was enjoying the company of the other 2 folks there, I would have left. Also, I developed a strange belief for the moment; in each of the cases, I stuck with the defector to the end. It just made some sort of sense in that, I'm one of those folks defecting, so I felt I should show a bit of solidarity. I just happen to feel it was wasted on R. Also, most of this didn't really sink in until the next morning, when I realised, "Yes, he basically did say, for all intents and purposes, 'I only liked 2 people, you weren't one of them'."

Yes, this is a rant about something trivial, but I think it's a lesson to me in being gracious when I leave... The advice of, "Don't follow R's example", would seem to be very good start.
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Vexed - it tried to kill me [Aug. 16th, 2010|01:52 am]
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Today, the BBC nearly choked me.

At the moment, I have one of the most unjust colds in existance: The Weekend Cold. You feel it come on late on Friday, suffer through it Saturday and Sunday, unable to use that hard-earned time for yourself on anything other lying in bed feeling sorry for yourself. By Sunday morning, you feel like you could be ready for anything again after a good night's rest. The only problem is, you're due in work the next morning. That means, absolutely zero downtime from a work perspective, at the expense of your own personal time. How fair is that? Ok, I could have called in sick on Friday, but due to the fact that I had some work that absolutely, positively had to be finished up that day (or so I thought), I hauled my sorry, sniffling and pale ass in. Turns out the work due had to be delayed until Monday, but I still ended up putting in nearly a full day before finding that out. There was no point taking sick leave for the sake of leaving an hour early, so I slugged it out, and hacked myself home and into bed - asthmatically coughing and sneezing myself to sleep.

Believe it or not, this will relevant, and isn't just some excuse to fish for pity.

Today, I watched a new BBC series called Vexed. It looked like it was going to be a police comedy/drama. From the opening scene we were sizing it up, comparing it a mad scientist's cross of Coupling, Mayo and Life on Mars.

The main characters are strange. I'm still deciding if I like one of them. Like all police-based shows, you have a pair of detectives. Like most shows, they're mismatched in some way. Unlike most shows, you see a blatant disregard for a lot of procedure. The main male character (Jack, played by Toby Stephens) seems like a cross between Patrick from Coupling and Gene Hunt from Life On Mars. The character seems like an immature student playing at being a cop whose never seen the inside of a police station, and you're just WAITING for someone to haul him away to the funny farm. He demonstrates no real inclination to follow procedure, and is a very difficult character to get to like (this is partially down to the accent). The actor, himself, has one quality that I'm sure most in the acting profession would kill for; a genuine on-stage laugh.

This is where the BBC tried to kill me. Imagine this immature wannabe-detective listening to his partner describe a killing, while he laughs at an imbecilic, purile joke worthy of Beavis and Butthead's contempt, then breaking out into a full belly-laugh that was so infectious it had me laughing despite myself, just after I'd taken a mouthful of tea. Now, just imagine the chesty, phlegmatic cough that would come with my laugh, after my weekend cold. Imagine me in a fit of the giggles, despite not finding the original joke that funny, trying to swallow my cup of tea, while also allowing myself to cough my lungs out because I've just started laughing. Something had to win out. It was the most ungraceful, phlegmatic spittake ever seen. All of this was set in motion just by Toby Stephen's laugh. That has got to be worth something.

The female partner (Kate, played by Lucy Punch - she was the initial receptionist in Doc Martin) is good. I know that sounds like damning with faint praise, I actually really want to see that character grow, and think that she has a lot of potential. Again, her character made me howl with laughter, although I just don't have as much to say about it, despite that fact that she was responsible for the most damage in total. While she was as funny and strange, and well-written as Jack, she just didn't induce that same spit-take. I was laughing at what she did and said (as one would expect from characters), but Jack just happened to have the singular effect that he made me laugh just by laughing, which slightly casts a shade over her performance.

The opening episode seems to be following in the footsteps of a lot of UK drama at the moment. There seems to be an agenda (one that I don't disagree with) in current UK television series to remind its audience (generally citizens of the United Kingdom) that Endemol's Big Brother House is wholly unrealistic, in that it doesn't have nearly as many closed-circuit cameras per square inch as your average London High Street. However, the writers treat this theme very differently to most; it doesn't try to smother you with this Big-Brother-Britain, nor does it try to wave it in your face, but takes it as a fait accompli and explores how humans use this new-found power. It's an episode that leaves you feeling like the detectives are as bad as the people they're investigating at the end.

As for the story-line, it wasn't that bad for an hour-long. The case itself was simple, they were set onto the main thread quickly, with little run-around, and set a nice rhythm and set up the characters nicely (including the fact that I'm beginning to doubt more and more if Jack actually IS a police officer) but had a nice little twist, and deus-ex-machina that avoids the cliff-hanger quite neatly.

I'm not sure the entire series will keep me as enthralled as this episode did, but it's certainly a strong start. I'd recommend that if anyone has the opportunity to see the first episode of Vexed, they should do so.
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Fuzzy bits [Aug. 10th, 2010|02:32 am]
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[mood |optimisticCautiously optimistic]
[music |Even Vast - Teach Me How to Bleed]

Ok, ok, I know I don't post near as much since I discovered facebook. And, looking back, I realise that the quality of even my stream-of-consciousness posts are going WAY downhill. So, I'll try to make an effort here.

I have bitched, moaned and whined about alopecia on here. When I finally want to sit down and have a rant, it's inflicted on my LJ f-list. Sorry about that, folks.

Even though I was posting around the Easter weekend about various matters that crossed my mind, I never stopped to mention something interesting I discovered nearly 4 months back. I found a teeny-tiny hair on one of my cheeks.

First there was one. Then there were 2, and I knew where they were. I carefully noted any others as I noticed them. I could generally only feel them, but as time went on, I began to notice tiny colourless wispy little hairs sticking out from my cheeks. At first, I could only notice them in soft lighting; generally speaking, it's still the best light for me to see them, but I can see some in harder lighting now.

One of the reasons I didn't post was because I'm still a believer in certain rules of 'magic', which could be phrased as 'managed optimism', or 'story control'. Basically, I believe that a story loses its power with the more people you tell. You also lose more and more control over how the story is spun out to others. I wasn't ready to diseminate this news to the world at large; I was more excited about telling friends in person. (For one, the internet at large can't stroke my cheek, and I was looking as much for validation that these few, solitary hairs existed... also, you know, people stroking my cheek. Nothing pervy, it's just nice)

The appearance of these hairs is, fundamentally, a good thing. It means that whatever my body needs to do to get hair back is being done. The detail I wasn't so hot on was that it was on my freaking cheek. Yeah, thanks nature. Don't stop... Really, don't. If you stop now, I'm just stuck with a minor electrolysis bill with some false hopes. However, Nature, thank you for reminding me of the feeling of a hair blowing in the wind, even if it is one single hair, and even if it's not on my scalp, I haven't experienced that sensation in far too long.

I'm still on good terms with the stubble - it's colourless, and downey - it's kinda nice. Once it becomes anything that hints at beings a beard, I cut it, but until then, I can live with it; it doesn't itch, and it's soft. Since then, I've lost count of how many live in the 'sideburn' area.

I also have a little fuzz on the ears themselves. I don't care about that one way or the other, I never have had hairy ears, and I don't expect it'll suddenly become an issue. It's bearly worth mentioning, but in the spirit of full disclosure, why not?

All this personal and follicular growth has made me a wee bit hyper-sensitive. "I feel a tingle! It feels like something could be growing RIGHT THIS MINUTE. Could this be the next site?" Thankfully most of this remains as thought, and I talk myself right down again, trying to make myself see reason, and to be patient; the next sprouting will happen when it does, and I'll notice it when I'm ready.

So, for the last month, when I'd be out in the open air, I'd occasionally feel like a single hair was being blown in the wind. Whenever I put my hand to it, I couldn't find it, so I wrote it off as my imagination running wild. Turns out it really was a hair flickering. Unfortunately, not even all the soft lighting in the world will allow me to see the back of my head, so I didn't see it for a while. It turns out the trick wasn't to find the hair with my hand, but to let the hair find my hand.

If you're confused by that mountain/*censored* parallel, try this: run your hand over your other arm (or leg, if it has hair), just high enough to tickle the hairs, but not close enough to touch the actual skin. Can you feel it? Of course you can, if there's hair, you'll feel it. That's what hair is for. It's a weird feeling when you lose that tiny little aura (it's especially weird when it's patchy). That's how I found the hair, it announced its presense as I ran my hand over it.

So it turns out I have a little furry patch at the back of my neck. In case you haven't been following the general trend here - this really is good news. For once, I don't have mixed feelings. This is something that's happening in the general area that might generally associated with the scalp.

I also got a glimpse of it in a public toilet. If I craned my neck into uncomfortable positions, I could see the tiny hairs glowing in the soft lighting, and there were more than I could count. That's got me happy.

Given that the hair loss was pretty much geometric (the scientist in me will NOT let me call it exponential without hard figures), I wonder if re-growth might be similar. Again, I can't let myself get too optimistic, but it's a good sign. What's more, I think I'm ready for it.

It's funny, it was only recently that I stopped thinking of myself as having dark hair. No, really, it sounds silly, but I realised that as far as the colours I wear are concerned, I have no allegiance to hair colour. I don't care what colour it grows back in. I don't care if it's grey. Hey, I don't even care if I don't get hair on my scalp, so long as I'm not in a half-way house; half-covered and half-not; shaving that would be a pain. But if I was to sacrifice the prospect of any future growth so that I could ensure growth just two areas - I'd give it all up to have growing, live eyebrows and eye-lashes to call my own. Unfortunately, I doubt that I'm likely to see them reappear (something tells me they're finicking little bastids). Still, I'm not going to live or die by their presense.

So, all in all, that's my semi-scheduled alopecia braindump. For once, it might actually be a bit positive rather than my usual, "Ok, I'm going to scream into the blogosphere that I have no hair, and that while I put on a brave face about it, and really am OK most of the time, I sometimes really just don't like it". Speaking of which, have I done my annual, "Don't call me f**king brave; I'm not sick, I'm not dying and, most importantly, I'm not a f**king teenager, so don't you dare f**king call me brave" rant? Note to self, must post that some time. (For some reason, in my head, that rant took on the mental voice of Amy Pond's predecessor)

Bravery rants and all else aside, with this, and a change in jobs in the next while... things are looking good.
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(no subject) [Jul. 15th, 2010|02:02 am]
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Synchronicity is a weird thing. Just this week, I was composing another "Woe-is-me" LJ post about work burnout; the essence being that I feel like I'm moving from one anti-burnout crisis strategy to the next. I just feel like I walk into my current job, work flat out, nearly burning myself out in an attempt to meet the requirements. That and the fact that even though I work doing something that I like, the aspects of the job I'm in don't really fit me.

I started reminiscing about my previous internship, and thinking that I stopped working properly somewhere around 3rd year, and never really got back to a proper working ethic or style, and that I can't really meet the pace required, or at least do it without breaking some sort of sweat.

Anyway, yesterday, I met one of my workmates from my old group. He told me that with the recent acquisition, that group is getting 3 new permanent positions. He kinda hinted that if I wanted to apply, I'd be welcome (not very overtly, just a "If you know any people who want to apply, let them know; you could even come back if you wanted to"). So now I'm in contemplation mode.

Back to a job I know, a team that I know I work well with, and most importantly, a team that I don't really have to pretend with (my current team are VERY testosterone-y). I also reckon it's easier to make a difference in that team. However, my old manager is gone, and the new one isn't used to dealing with people on our level (basically, once their original manager left, the team started reporting directly to the manager above). I know the pace is less hectic, but under the new regime, the function of the group will have a more valued role if we play our cards right, which may impact the pace. But there'll be increased visibility, and opportunities for me to deal with people outside my group; it's something that I've been missing from my current job.

So now I'm debating. Obviously, one way or the other, I'm pretty much fine. But I'm just trying to find the final cincher one way or the other (the possibility of bad management counts for a lot against the new job, especially as he's remote).

Anyway, thinking to be done, but just thought I'd let folks know.
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Prideness. [Jun. 23rd, 2010|06:13 pm]
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Over in Dublin it's Pride week, and I decided that this year I'd actually go to an event other than the march itself; so I did. I went to an event titled
Workplace Diversity - PRIDE at Work. My main thought after was, "Cripes! We have a long way to go." A lot of the people speaking covered Lesbian and Gay, very rarely touching on Bi issues (very rarley). Rarer still was the mention of trans issues. Obviously, Stonewall didn't mention trans issues (and their rep got a very bleak reception from any trans folk in the room - nothing bad, just not applauding him in any sense), but the others, who did have T in their mandate, were hard-pressed to mention it.

I could go on for ages, but what I found really interesting was when I talked to the multi-nat computer folks: IBM and Microsoft. I had a wee conversation with two of them, asking, "If I look up my employer, and yours, on HRC.org, I'll see that they mention that there is a written policy on transition in the workplace. But are you confident that you would be able to find it easily on your company's intranet?" (Most multinats - hell, even most small tech outfits - have the same setup of an intranet, a network accessible only from within the organisation, with seamless access to the internet)

The responses I got were surprising. Mostly Microsoft's was "Well, we don't have any in Ireland, but I assume we'd play it by ear - why would you have a written policy for something like that?", and IBM's wasn't much different. There again, the guy I was talking to didn't get it, and basically told me, "Well, first you'd have to talk to some doctors...". After explaining that I was assuming that the medical side was already the responsibility of the employee, and that the policy was for internal management of such a change and something that provided an outline of what the employee can expect, the answer was more or less, "We play it by ear".

In effect, both reps side-stepped the question and talked about how difficult it would be to manage, and that it's a question for individual managers and HR. Yet, both IBM and Microsoft claim to have a written policy on the matter.

Now the thing is, I'm willing to forgive them by virtue of the fact that they're just reps; they don't have any direct involvement in policies - at most, they're the ones arranging some gay events for employees, and probably wouldn't need to know about any policies unless the situation arose. So, here's an exercise that I'd love anyone (trans or otherwise) in a multinational company to try:
  1. Look up your employer on the HRC Employer Database and check if it has a tick beside the following text, "Has written guidelines or procedures concerning employees who transition on the job".

  2. Go onto your company's intranet, and search for any evidence of such a policy.


If you don't work for a multinational, pass the word onto others and see what they can dig up. What you do with the results is up to you, but I'd really love to know if anyone can easily find such a thing; I know I can't.
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Because I'm bored [Jun. 11th, 2010|06:04 pm]
I was bored, and realised I hadn't posted in ages. So I insert fluff.

Poll #1577230 Because I'm bored
Open to: All, detailed results viewable to: All, participants: 3

If you encounter the phrase, "That man knows his lovecraft", do you think he's:

View Answers
"Squamous and Rugose"
1 (33.3%)
Skilled in the (pre-)marital arts
0 (0.0%)
All of the Above
0 (0.0%)
Other (explain in comments)
2 (66.7%)


In other news, I'm going on a major reading rampage at the moment. Most of it happens to be Charles Stross' work, but that's mostly because the more I read, the more I realise he's a giant nerd. (Seriously, most people who try and write a character with a "tude", who works in a technical field, and it can be grossly overdone, either with in-jokes or supposed in-jokes... I find he hits a nice balance)
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