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5 More Questions
Nov. 30th, 2015 09:43 amMy new aquaintance & neighbor ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
tylik asked me 5 questions.
1. So, like, would you care to introduce yourself? I know you so randomly as a friend of
mimerki's, a poster here, and occasional usually distant figure. (Though passed you as closer range twice recently - once you were with someone and I didn't want to intrude, once I wasn't feeling well and was slow on the uptake.) I know you live really close by, and you game, and um... yeah, not much else.
Well... There's always the 16 years of collected Livejournal that I can point to as my manifesto of identity - but that's a silly thing to expect anyone to care about. Let's see. I'm from the Past (1975) and from the Future (3000) in this sense: In 1995 I was having a fairly straightforward 90's style post-teen boy's life & then I decided that I'd be different & make sense of myself by channeling my existential angst in a novel direction. I decided that I'd invent (maybe, imagination is a hell of a thing and I'm always and forever fond enough of the Socratic method to at least suspect reality & it's veracity) the person Kingtycoon. This person I realized would be from 1,000 years into the future, would be my descendant and would be exiled psychically into the past as punishment for some unthinkable 31st century crime. So, I decided I'd be a different way and find a different path & I did that. It worked out for me, being Kingtycoon - I guess it still does. Since then I've had to have a job - which wasn't always the obvious course things would take - and in the square world I have to go by Jeremiah. Jeremiah's father is from Egypt & his mother is from Geauga County - the weird mixture of ambitious immigrant & complacent WASP patrician made for attractive but not very well adjusted or assimilated children. Add to that the well intentioned but ruinous manipulations of those manipulative & somewhat conniving people & it's no wonder I'd invent my own mythological identity & self in place of the story that was decided for me by others.
Weird ideas about identity aside - I'm from the west side of CLV and made it to the east side now 6 years ago? I've always lived in the Coventry neighborhood because I like to walk and disdain cars - and I'm the IT guy at an asphalt factory in the Buckeye neighborhood. I really like the post-apocalyptic look of Cleveland's most ruined neighborhoods - and I really respect the kinds of attitude that prevail there.
I never meant to be in IT - but it turns out it's an easy kind of work that is reasonably well compensated. In the past I've had these jobs: Realtor, Car Salesman, Pornographer, Dispatcher, Teacher. IT is the only job I've had where it seemed like you could be paid for what you know rather than explicitly what you do. I resent the late-capitalist era that values people for their work exclusively & I've come to the conclusion that the 20th century is largely based upon the 3 principles of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality & Brotherhood- with each of the 3 being overrepresented in one or more the competing societies- the US emphasizing Liberty, the Soviet Union Equality and the Fascists Brotherhood- I think that Liberty seems to devolve into displeasing hierarchies & I have grave resentments concernign hierarchy, obligation & the idea of ownership.
I have 1 kid who is super important to me, and who is now old enough to have her own life - I talk about her here, but her life is her own, and not for me to document - only to share.
Oh - I'm a science-fiction writer and game designer too. Sometimes I paint & do other kinds of artsy-crafts. Too often I just want to chill out and be calmed by video-games though - so I'm kind of like, a regular boy.
2. What field of Asian Studies, then?
19th-20th Century China. Mainly. I did 19th & 20th Century Japan as well - a little of SE asia - but mainly revolutionary China & specifically I studied a lot of the different waves of revolution with a certain emphasis on the Cultural Revolution. When I started looking at it - I was very interested in the CR because of how... Well how nutty it was - horror & destruction aside- the idea of letting idealistic & uninvested teenagers run wild & turn society on its head - that was like the premise of an old Corman movie - I was hooked. From all of that it was a short trip to Confucious & Mencius and the rest of the classics of the Middle Kingdom. I'm a little self taught in Han Zi - having once learned the first 3,000 characters. Without regular use for this information it's largely gone to seed - but these are the things that I was driven to know about in the last decade of the 20th century.
3. So, you must live somewhere else. Anywhere else, except that it has to be not on this continent. (Islands really close to the main lands mass probably still count as this continent unless you want to make specific geologic arguments.) Where do you live?
It's easy to think about because I hate winter so much. I've always thought about Equatorial Africa as the right place for me. I used to really have an interest in Mali. I'd live there if I had some means of being productive & useful to another society. I really doubt that Mali needs what I have - but yes, I'd go there. 1st choice. 2nd - probably the Sechellys (or what-have-you). Funny story - the one person I know from there is Chinese! The Chinese diaspora is pretty interesting as a phenomenon.
4. Is there a period of time, other than our own, that you find particularly appealling (it does not have to be appealling across the board)? Why?
The future. Absolutely. I've studied the ancient world, the modern world - a lot of history - I'm an historian, after all, with a couple of degrees - so I'm pretty wise to what's gone before - and I gotta say - this is the best time so far. I follow & am persuaded by the forward & upward arc of human civilization & progress. I think the future would be terrifying & difficult & I can only imagine worthwhile.
5. What single kitchen implement do you value (or in the case of something that you do not possess, would you value) above all others? Why?
Maid. A maid or cook would rule to have. Butler a distant 3rd. Sure there's some gross sexism there - but just imagine, I could have said wife... But for real - in matters of the household I need, more than anything else - help. As a loner I do alright but I'm always behind and a mess about housework & kitchen-stuff. My main implement is the humble drip-coffee maker, it is unassuming, easy to use and makes coffee in very large quantities. I'm fond of french presses & other coffee-making contrivances, but in the end, the Mr. Coffee does what's needed and doesn't ask for more than a place to sit & some electricity.
tylik asked me 5 questions. 1. So, like, would you care to introduce yourself? I know you so randomly as a friend of
mimerki's, a poster here, and occasional usually distant figure. (Though passed you as closer range twice recently - once you were with someone and I didn't want to intrude, once I wasn't feeling well and was slow on the uptake.) I know you live really close by, and you game, and um... yeah, not much else.Well... There's always the 16 years of collected Livejournal that I can point to as my manifesto of identity - but that's a silly thing to expect anyone to care about. Let's see. I'm from the Past (1975) and from the Future (3000) in this sense: In 1995 I was having a fairly straightforward 90's style post-teen boy's life & then I decided that I'd be different & make sense of myself by channeling my existential angst in a novel direction. I decided that I'd invent (maybe, imagination is a hell of a thing and I'm always and forever fond enough of the Socratic method to at least suspect reality & it's veracity) the person Kingtycoon. This person I realized would be from 1,000 years into the future, would be my descendant and would be exiled psychically into the past as punishment for some unthinkable 31st century crime. So, I decided I'd be a different way and find a different path & I did that. It worked out for me, being Kingtycoon - I guess it still does. Since then I've had to have a job - which wasn't always the obvious course things would take - and in the square world I have to go by Jeremiah. Jeremiah's father is from Egypt & his mother is from Geauga County - the weird mixture of ambitious immigrant & complacent WASP patrician made for attractive but not very well adjusted or assimilated children. Add to that the well intentioned but ruinous manipulations of those manipulative & somewhat conniving people & it's no wonder I'd invent my own mythological identity & self in place of the story that was decided for me by others.
Weird ideas about identity aside - I'm from the west side of CLV and made it to the east side now 6 years ago? I've always lived in the Coventry neighborhood because I like to walk and disdain cars - and I'm the IT guy at an asphalt factory in the Buckeye neighborhood. I really like the post-apocalyptic look of Cleveland's most ruined neighborhoods - and I really respect the kinds of attitude that prevail there.
I never meant to be in IT - but it turns out it's an easy kind of work that is reasonably well compensated. In the past I've had these jobs: Realtor, Car Salesman, Pornographer, Dispatcher, Teacher. IT is the only job I've had where it seemed like you could be paid for what you know rather than explicitly what you do. I resent the late-capitalist era that values people for their work exclusively & I've come to the conclusion that the 20th century is largely based upon the 3 principles of the French Revolution - Liberty, Equality & Brotherhood- with each of the 3 being overrepresented in one or more the competing societies- the US emphasizing Liberty, the Soviet Union Equality and the Fascists Brotherhood- I think that Liberty seems to devolve into displeasing hierarchies & I have grave resentments concernign hierarchy, obligation & the idea of ownership.
I have 1 kid who is super important to me, and who is now old enough to have her own life - I talk about her here, but her life is her own, and not for me to document - only to share.
Oh - I'm a science-fiction writer and game designer too. Sometimes I paint & do other kinds of artsy-crafts. Too often I just want to chill out and be calmed by video-games though - so I'm kind of like, a regular boy.
2. What field of Asian Studies, then?
19th-20th Century China. Mainly. I did 19th & 20th Century Japan as well - a little of SE asia - but mainly revolutionary China & specifically I studied a lot of the different waves of revolution with a certain emphasis on the Cultural Revolution. When I started looking at it - I was very interested in the CR because of how... Well how nutty it was - horror & destruction aside- the idea of letting idealistic & uninvested teenagers run wild & turn society on its head - that was like the premise of an old Corman movie - I was hooked. From all of that it was a short trip to Confucious & Mencius and the rest of the classics of the Middle Kingdom. I'm a little self taught in Han Zi - having once learned the first 3,000 characters. Without regular use for this information it's largely gone to seed - but these are the things that I was driven to know about in the last decade of the 20th century.
3. So, you must live somewhere else. Anywhere else, except that it has to be not on this continent. (Islands really close to the main lands mass probably still count as this continent unless you want to make specific geologic arguments.) Where do you live?
It's easy to think about because I hate winter so much. I've always thought about Equatorial Africa as the right place for me. I used to really have an interest in Mali. I'd live there if I had some means of being productive & useful to another society. I really doubt that Mali needs what I have - but yes, I'd go there. 1st choice. 2nd - probably the Sechellys (or what-have-you). Funny story - the one person I know from there is Chinese! The Chinese diaspora is pretty interesting as a phenomenon.
4. Is there a period of time, other than our own, that you find particularly appealling (it does not have to be appealling across the board)? Why?
The future. Absolutely. I've studied the ancient world, the modern world - a lot of history - I'm an historian, after all, with a couple of degrees - so I'm pretty wise to what's gone before - and I gotta say - this is the best time so far. I follow & am persuaded by the forward & upward arc of human civilization & progress. I think the future would be terrifying & difficult & I can only imagine worthwhile.
5. What single kitchen implement do you value (or in the case of something that you do not possess, would you value) above all others? Why?
Maid. A maid or cook would rule to have. Butler a distant 3rd. Sure there's some gross sexism there - but just imagine, I could have said wife... But for real - in matters of the household I need, more than anything else - help. As a loner I do alright but I'm always behind and a mess about housework & kitchen-stuff. My main implement is the humble drip-coffee maker, it is unassuming, easy to use and makes coffee in very large quantities. I'm fond of french presses & other coffee-making contrivances, but in the end, the Mr. Coffee does what's needed and doesn't ask for more than a place to sit & some electricity.
