Izulde's FTB Answers [Archive] - Front Office Football Central

Barkeep49

03-21-2007, 09:32 AM

I was going to do this by related groups of questions, but hell with it. I'll go in order. :)

Logan

How many people do you intend to scar for life by the time they're done reading your answers?

All of them! Because chicks dig scars.

Do you regret taking the infamous bed picture? Has anyone outside of FOFC seen it, and if so, what was their reaction? Do you get depressed/angry when people post it? We all know you've had issues in the past, so maybe it's a good idea that we stop piling on if it really does bother you.

Nope, I don't regret it. It was me clowning around in my room at Wyoming. Other people have seen it outside of FOFC and they laughed just as much as I and everyone else did at it. And no, I don't get upset when it's posted. I'm actually amused whenever it comes up.

Pumpy Tudors

Hell Atlantic's gotta be out of the penalty box by now, right?

Well, he was on his way out the box and back on the ice when a midget tripped him up with a stick and went all Tie Domi on him, whaling on HA with the stick and screaming, "Who's the party bitch now?!". I'm sure HA will be back out the hospital in another week or so.

Ksyrup

Is the idea of your character to provide a counterpoint to the HM character? Are you, in fact, from Dell?

Only characters I've ever played have been in RP channels and chatrooms. Well, except the one time way back in the day when I was 15 or 16. I used to hang out in this chat area named Skatetalk. My nick was Lorien and a lot of people initially misread it as Lori Ann. So whenever some moron would come in, we'd all mess with him by pretending I was a chick.

Then at just the right moment, usually after he'd spent a few minutes trying to flirt with this female persona of mine, we'd let him know the truth, which led to some hilarious rants while the regulars all laughed about it in PM. We only did that to the jerks, though.

There was a lot of good times in that place and some bittersweet memories, too. I haven't seen any of those people in years, literally, but they were some cool guys and gals, ranging from about 13 to 40something. In fact, it was the closest and least drama-free (with one exception) online group of friends I had before FOFC.

KevinNU7

What ever happened to Dreams?

I see her about once a year, during Christmas break. Last I talked to her, she was planning on going to the community college I did to get her Associate's in some type of photography field.

It's funny, she's the one FOFC knows the most about and yet in the history of my female interests, she's quite a minor note, a short infatuation that thankfully passed before it had the chance to really take off. She was important though, in the fact that she gave me hope that I might yet come out of my closed mode and develop actual friendships. I still consider her a friend, by the way.

albionmoonlight

I have a vague sense of what you do--working for Victoria's Secret doing things involving design and marketing. Is that right? What do you do?

I'm actually a full-time student. Victoria's Secret is a part-time job during vacations. I've worked there since June 2004 and I do visual merchandising (essentially setting up displays in the store), stocking, fragrance sales, and whatever else needs to be done. Basically I've done everything except fit a woman for bras, which is forbidden for male associates because of liability issues.

I -did- fix a woman's bra problem once, though. She came in during Semi-Annual Sale and explained that there was a noticeable gap between her bra and her chest and she wondered what she could do to fix it. I'd been listening to the female associates over the time I'd been on the job and based on that and what she told me, I recommended she go with a sister size (up a cup size (the letter), down a band size (the number) or vice versa).

She took my advice and it fit perfectly. She was so happy that she bought four bras that day and to me, it remains one of my favorite moments of working there.

From your somewhat inside perspective, is the model/supermodel lifestyle as unhealthy as it looks?

Yes and no. Yes in that there does to be an excessive thinness in some of the top models. No in that a lot of fashion shows are recognizing the negative image of the modeling industry and have established new requirements for shows that are tilting the bar towards more normal/healthy bodies. Also no in the sense that the models I've known all tell me that they really have to stay fit and in shape, so they spend a lot of time exercising and working out.

What are your favorite books and movies?

I could spend literally hours on each list, particularly movies, so I'll just limit myself to my top three favorites.

Books:
Lolita - Vladimir Nabokov
-The greatest novel ever written. I read it my first year of college after a friend of mine bugged me for almost eight months to read it. Nabokov is always a delight in terms of language, but here he also absolutely nails character and especially pacing in a way that he would never match in any of his other novels. If you only ever read one Nabokov novel, this is it.
Looking For Alaska - John Green
-I read this book recently for Adolescent Lit and wasn't too happy about the prospect because I'm jealous of the guy. We're both 27 and he has two successful novels already, while I'm still slogging through undergrad. That was until I read it. It's easily the best novel for my own personal tastes since Lolita when I was 18. Hilarious and heartbreaking, I really empathized with the main character.
Memoirs of a Geisha - Arthur Golden
-Every time I go to the bookstore, I look to see if he's written anything more and he hasn't, which is a shame, because this novel restored my faith in the ability of the contemporary author to write beautiful prose. I got this on a day trip down to Chicago and couldn't stop laughing at some of the humorous lines in there, though the humor is much more subtle than the other two works here. Like the other two, however, there's both comic and touching moments.

Movies:
American Beauty
-Sam Mendes became my favorite director after this movie and Conrad L. Hall my favorite cinematographer (though Hall passed away a few years ago). Absolutely exquisite cinematography and the acting and script are exceptional. Kevin Spacey is phenomenal and Wes Bentley is brilliant.
The Godfather
-There's a reason why if you ask 10 random people what the greatest movie ever made is, 5 of them will say The Godfather. Absolutely flawless adaptation and one of the very few instances where the movie is unquestionably better than the novel.
Clueless
-This one is just a really fun, enjoyable movie for me. Whenever I'm in a crappy mood, I put the DVD on and just laugh and laugh.

If you could have dinner with 3 people from history, who would you choose and why?

That depends on if we all have the ability to speak the same language or not. Therefore I'll make two lists, one if there was a common language that everyone at the table, no matter what they spoke in their day, could speak and one if I'm restricted to the people who can speak English.

English speakers
1. Vladimir Nabokov
-Yes, there's a lot of source material in his own words already to draw from, the autobiography Speak Memory and the collection of interviews Strong Opinions to draw from, but I'd love to just sit and discuss literature, history, mythology, etc with one of the two authors who's influenced my own writing the most.

2. F. Scott Fitzgerald
-My other primary authorial influence and the one I feel the greatest kinship with. I almost left Memoirs of a Geisha off the favorites list for This Side of Paradise, Fitzgerald's debut novel, that while flawed, (The Great Gatsby really is his most technically accomplished work), is the one I enjoy the most. I think the three of us would find some commonalities in our opinions on things, with enough differences to make for a lively conversation.

3. Amy Lee
-Okay, so I'm cheating here, but this table needs a beautiful, sensitive female who would likely be interested in our discussion, so I'm tabbing the lead singer of Evanescence, although really a number of actresses could go here as well, Natalie Portman especially, who has the same love for Lolita as I do. (Ironically enough, Portman turned down the role of Lolita in the Adrian Lyne directed version).

Any language

1. Bartholomew "Black Bart" Roberts
-One of the most fascinating pirates in history, one whose career spanned a few continents and involved the capture of a ton of ships. I'm sure he'd have lots of great tales to tell.

2. Hattori Hanzo
-The closest thing to an affirmed historical ninja that I could find, he was from the region of Japan most noted for ninja and I think he'd have some good stories as well, provided he'd be willing to reveal some secrets. And I wanted to work the whole pirates-ninjas thing in.

3. Queen Isabella
- I wanted a Spanish monarch and Isabella is really the strongest, most capable, and most interesting available in my opinion. After all, she was really the driving force behind the final Reconquista in my opinion and Ferdinand basically rode her petticoats while trying to get Castile away from her and failing miserably.

Shorty3281

have you ever been with a man

No and I doubt I ever will be. While I can appreciate the aesthetics of a good-looking man, I have no sexual attraction to men.

bsak16

Why did you decide to join a frat?

I'd wanted to join one ever since high school. The idea of being a part of something secret, the networking opportunities and perhaps most importantly, the social aspects attracted me.

I was pretty clueless my first year of college so rush passed me by without my even knowing when or where it was or anything like that. Subsequent schools either had no Greek system or were comprised of locals, which I did not want at all. I wanted a national fraternity and Wyoming was my first chance since Minnesota to do so.

I took advantage and went through formal rush, receiving bids from two fraternities. I accepted Sigma Chi's, but depledged when I realized I wouldn't be returning to Wyoming. UW-La Crosse has no formal rush, so it basically involved me ferreting out information and conversing with multiple people from the then-four fraternities here. (TKE lost their charter). Delta Sigma Phi was the best fit so I pledged and ended up initiating.

I've enjoyed my time in the fraternity, though it's tough right now because of how young the chapter is, but I'll get more into that later.

MikeVic

Izulde? Ever since I've been on FOFC, I've read it as Izlude. Damn.

But to ask a question: What does your name mean/why did you choose that as your FOFC name? Is this your default online name?

You're actually somewhat correct to read it as Izlude, because my FOFC name is a deliberated transposing of the two letters in my favorite minor Final Fantasy Tactics character. I chose the name because I forgot the password for my original FOFC name. Either that or someone had already taken the original name, I don't remember.

My default online name is Jestor, which was the first character I roleplayed on IRC. My first IRC name was LordDraco, which was years before that god awful Dragonheart movie came out. But my first online name was way back on AOL. I was in 8th grade and started the Knights of Lorien in Red Dragon Inn under the name Celeborn (deliberate alteration of Celegorn from Tolkien lore).

I have lots of other names though, mostly for the various characters I roleplay on IRC. Online I stick to Jestor and, with increasing regularity, Izulde, as people pronounce Jestor as Jester when it's actually Jes-tor as in ore and tore, etc.

Subby

Is it true that girls just wanna have fun?

Around me, they just wanna run!

Eaglesfan27

What is the most difficult thing you have ever done?

Answer this FTB! :D

Seriously, though, the most difficult thing I've ever done is to pull myself out of the quagmire that my early, unsuccessful years of college put me. I was falling faster and faster as the years went by and I was on the verge of becoming one of those people considered to have incredible potential but never achieved it.

And now I've climbed out of it to where I'm not only at last graduating in the fall, but I've restored my academic lustre to the point that I have multiple academic honorary societies on my resume, including Order of Omega (Greek academic honor society) and the biggest one in my eyes, Golden Key.

It's been a validation and redemption that for years I didn't think I'd ever accomplish and there's a lot of times I came damned close to giving up and walking away. But there's more to be told that I'll answer in a later question.

MrBug708

Who are you going to pick for your FTB? What criteria will you use to pick it?

You'll see when you see the next FTB thread up who I've picked. :D As for the criteria, it will involve consultation with a Magic 8 Ball, astrological charts, the Book of Kells, and twenty-four d20 rolls.

path12

I noticed you never finished your top 32 games. What would be your top five? What is your favorite type of genre? What do you enjoy most about Crusader Kings?

I had the list finished; I just never got around to posting the rest of the results. :)

My top 5 would be:

5. Dead or Alive 4 (360)
-I love the Dead or Alive series. You can make the argument that Soul Caliber is a technically better fighting game series, but for my money, the relative ease, beauty, and more importantly, story of Dead or Alive triumphs SC. It's just fun, relatively easy on the controls for a non-button masher like me, absolutely gorgeous, and with a compelling, consistent storyline that runs through the series from DoA 2 through at least DoA 4 (I'm not sure how DoA Xtreme 2 fits in the storyline, though I know the original DoA XBV did.)

4 is where you really get the big payoff for having played through 2 and 3 and you get a nice little revelation if you've played XBV. The end-tale videos are absolutely phemenonal for a fighting game and there were quite a few "Whoa" moments at the end video for the final unlockable Story Mode character when you beat the game with them. I think it left the series open to continue the storyline, but even if it never does, 4 would be a fitting conclusion. I still haven't unlocked all the costumes and stuff, because it involves beating the
end boss 2 out of 3 times and that's tough to do with a lot of characters.

4. Crusader Kings (PC)
-This is the game that forever ruined not only Civ II, but Medieval: Total War for me. The dynastic aspect is my favorite part of the game. I absolutely adore tracing families through succeeding generations and going from Count to Duke to King, seeking to always expand my territory and dealing with events that come along the way. I hear it's even better if you use one of the event mods, which throws in more events. There's other, whole scenario mods out there too that I haven't tried, although I've considered and even started a thread on an Epics and Romances mod, drawing from the national epics and
romances from the CK known world and got something of a map started, but that was it.

That said, it's not perfect. Once you get to a certain point, micromanaging your court can be a real pain and while there's large realm disruption events built in, it can get a little easy to world conquest. Also, the vanilla game can get a little tedious with a lot of the same events cropping up, which is why the add-on events are needed to inject new life in the game.

3. Final Fantasy Tactics (PS)
-If this game had multiple endings, it would be #1. The Job system is one that's so perfect, no other tactical strategy game can compare. In terms of graphics, I find the hand-drawn look of the characters to be very appealing, unlike so many tactical strategy games that have an anime style to their characters. The story is absolutely freaking brilliant and I would go so far as to say it's one of the best stories in video gaming history. You really get drawn into the political and personal stories and the encyclopediac summary of characters that updates with new information as you play the game is nothing short of genius.

Yes, the game's difficulty breaks the moment you acquire a character that one person nicknamed "Hell on Wheels" and yes, I'm simply dying to have some of the special character classes be opened up to everyone, Dark Knight especially (I -love- Night Sword "Master of all swords, cut energy! Night Sword!"), but it is compelling, deep, and fun and it was the first game in literally years that I'd invested enough time in to beat. When I solved it, I felt a crushing disappointment because there was nothing more to learn. Sure there was some stuff I hadn't done, but the story was closed.

I've been searching for a game that good ever since, but nothing has come close. The Shining Force series, while excellent, was before FFT. Disgaea, who a lot of people love, annoys me with its horrible voice-acting, unnecessarily hardcore and open-ended status, disappointing advancement system, overblown anime style in both art and humor, and the ruination of a story premise that held promise. Vandal Hearts II had the potential, but the simultaneous turn combat proved a bad design decision. As for FFTA, the story was almost as bad as Disgaea's, the characters were nowhere near as interesting and the Judge system felt contrived and stupid. Never have I been more disappointed in a game. I would give anything to see a -true- sequel to FFT, one with as simultaneously epic and intimate a story scope and
as brilliant and balanced a class and combat system.

2. Derby Owners Club (Arcade)
-If FFT is everything that a tactical strategy game should be, then DOC is everything that a horse-breeding, training, and racing game should be. It's fun, it's deeper than it looks at first glance (I still don't have any special horses) and it's one of the ultimate multiplayer games. My parents and I love this game and play it whenever we can find it somewhere. The horse cards, the breeding possiblities, the sheer joy of beating out the rhythm on the buttons and race strategy depending on the type of runner you have is a blast, as is learning your horse's mood and diet. If I had the money, I
would so buy a DOC machine. That's how much I enjoy this game.

1. Genghis Khan (NES)
-A conquer the world game from KOEI with an abstracted tactical combat map like that of Nobunaga's Ambition by the same developer, but with the generational and dynastic aspect of Crusader Kings (albeit much simplified. You can train your sons' abilities up when you make them a prince, but that's it. Daughters are just marriage bait for your unrelated princes to make them related). It covers the 12th-13th century and the rise of Temujinn into Genghis Khan if you take the Mongol conquest scenario first or if you jump right into World Conquest mode, you can take Genghis Khan, Richard the Lion-hearted of England, Alexious XII of the Byzantine Empire, or Emperor Yoritomo of Japan.

There's province management here like in all KOEI games of this ilk and like Romance of the 3 Kingdoms series in the early iterations, you can either control a province directly or, the smarter option, have princes rule it for you. But be warned: If they're not related to you, there's a chance that they can rebel and become independent, which is why marrying them to your daughters is so important. Like in the Rot3K series, when your ruler dies, you can choose your heir, but you're limited to the sons who are 10 years or older.

When you conquer a province, you can choose whether to make the ruler a prince, execute them, or let them go free. Sometimes they'll refuse to become a prince, so it's not automatic.

One of my favorite parts about it is that say a faction has a domain of two or more provinces and the province with the ruler in it gets taken over, the ruler executed. The dynasty dies out and the other provinces become independent, with new kingdom names, the rulers the new kings. So after a while, it's all second, third, fourth generational kingdoms and dynasties fighting it out and charting the lineage of kingdoms is absolutely fascinating.

Anyway I've blabbed on way too much about all those games, but there my top 5 list is. :D

Favorite genre is probably tactical strategy, though I like role-playing and sports games too.

DeToxRoxDVHStyle

Would you watch me while I sleep?

Sure! Actually, I find that watching a person while they sleep is an absolutely fascinating exercise because there's no pretense, no mask to them then. You see them as they are and you can study the physical details of their face, hair, arms, legs, etc (depending on how they sleep and what coverings they use of course). It's an interesting way to get a little insight as to their nature and their general emotive state. I also suspect it's a little bit of the closet portrait artist in me, the one that never got developed because I have absolutely zero artistic talent.

Desnudo

Square peg in square hole, or round peg in round hole?

Square peg implies solid, strong, so basically a damage-eating and dealing tank. Round peg implies subtle power in a weaker physical frame, so ranged and area attack specialists. You can't build the best force without both, so I'll take both.

dawgfan

General background question - you are or were recently in college IIRC, but are/were an 'older' student (26 or so, right?) Can you give a description of your college journey - did you attend school after graduating H.S. or did you take some time off?

I started off right after high school and made an unfortunate compromise that I never should have made. I wanted to go away to school as far away from my hometown as I could. My family wanted me to stay relatively close, so as a middle point and because I thought I liked the school okay, I decided on the University of Minnesota.

It was a disaster from the start.

My roommate and I didn't get along, I quickly fell into a depression that was accelerated by the fact that U of MN was a 36,000+ student campus. I tried to make inroads, as I joined the fencing team and became a copy editor at the Minnesota Daily, which for a first quarter/semester freshman was the highest position you could get and essentially tabbed you as a rising star in the daily student newspaper. I was fired after two weeks when I told them I wouldn't be able to make it one night because I had to pick up a friend at the
airport. It was not to be the only time I'd be treated in a somewhat unfair manner by a student newspaper.

I even had my first date there, with a cute Dutch girl in my German class who everyone else in the course had asked out and been rejected by. The rest of the guys in the class bet me 5 bucks a piece that if I asked her out, she would say no, as I was initially reluctant to ask her due to my shyness. She said yes and I made about 15 bucks profit. We had a fantastic, lighthearted meal of pizza at Davanni's by Middlebrook Hall, where I was staying and I even made the hugely stupid mistake of bringing her back to the hall and very uncooly showing her my cluttered side of the room.

She had a good enough time that she asked me out again, but by then I was already in the grips of depression and so I ignored her emails, ignored the times she came to the door and stopped going to classes, period. I quit the fencing team and just stay locked in my room, sleeping all day and sitting online all night. I often wonder what might have happened had I simply reached out to Daphne and explained what was going on with me. Perhaps I would've gotten help sooner and come out of the fog earlier in life. I don't know how I would've turned out then. Maybe having crazy European sex with Daphne somewhere, writing for some newspaper... I don't really know.

But I didn't. And so the depression lingered on, consuming me. I don't remember this, but apparently I wanted to transfer here to UW-La Crosse at semester, but my parents told me to just stick it out and keep working at adjusting there. A 0.62 GPA and three cry for help type suicide attempts later, I was suspended for a year from the University and invited to come back after that, as I'd come in with strong enough credentials to be an Honors student.

Ironically enough, I'd gotten help two weeks before the end of the year, when I finally dragged myself to student health in the spring. I kept telling the guy who interviewed me that I was bipolar, but he diagnosed me with dysthymia, a form of depression and put me on an antidepressant, Zoloft to be exact. Bipolar people + antidepressant alone = bad news.

So back home I went, in a state of great depression and exhaustion. I actually had to appeal to get into UW-Parkside, when just a year before, they would've jumped at the chance to have me. I hated it there and didn't want to be there, but there I was for the next four years, wandering in a fog from 100 level to 100 level course, with no aim, no focus, and no real awareness of what I was doing or where I was going. There was no advising, maybe a handful of professors who were actually worth anything, and a student ability and mentality that prove the university's nickname of "UW-High School."

I also bounced between accepted academic standing and academic probation until finally I just gave up and got myself kicked out after a fall semester. I did nothing at all that spring and summer. Didn't work, didn't go to school, didn't do anything. Fall rolled around and my dad gave me two choices: Go to Gateway or get a job.

And so I went to Gateway, because I wasn't ready to give up to the point of going to work. Gateway Technical College has a few campuses and the one I went to was in my hometown of Racine. I was just going to take the gen ed track but Dad said, "No, take something you'll be able to use in case you don't go back for your bachelor's." I wasn't happy about it, but I saw the wisdom in what he said and chose Marketing, as I was really good at it in high school and just missed qualifying for National competitions my senior year.

Long story short, I suddenly took off. The less-pressured academic expectations of a community college, coupled with a lot of older and more mature students who saw a ton of potential in me and surprisingly good instructors, led to a resurgence. Two years later, I had my Associate's Degree with a 3.5 GPA, the highest grade point in my program. It was the first time since high school where people truly believed in me and I began to believe in myself again.

I looked around at different colleges, but in the end decided to go back to Parkside for a year. I wanted to prove to myself that I'd conquered the ghosts of the past. Two straight Dean's list semesters went by and I widened my scope, looking for a place that was far away. I knew I didn't want to go back to Minnesota, but I also knew I had to get away and prove that I could make it on my own, conquering another failing in my past.

I eventually chose Wyoming. I'd liked it out there when I checked it out during my high school years and its out of state cost was low compared to everyone else. There was also the small matter of Princeton, my dream school that I'd been too scared to apply to out of high school, not accepting transfers until the fall of 2008 at the earliest.

Financial considerations led me to return to Wisconsin just a semester later, but I'd once again made the Dean's List, gone through formal rush and pledged a national fraternity and I'd made it on my own. In short, I was doing everything that I'd wanted to when I was younger and never did. I also joined the fencing club team, but quit because nobody fenced saber, I hated foil, and epee just didn't fit my style anymore.

I chose UW-La Crosse, not remember that's where I'd wanted to transfer to during the Minnesota year, because they had the only coaching program in the state. I've been here a year and a half now and will graduate in December. A 3.67 GPA after two semesters is building on what I started back at Gateway, and like I said earlier, I've even joined a couple academic honor societies, so it really feels like I'm back to the type of success I had in high school, with the same promise and possibility for graduate school that I had back then.

I'd have to say it feels like an exciting time to be me right now, even if I'm restless to be graduated.

To the extent you are comfortable discussing it, how is the medication going? Are you moderating your drinking?

I'm back off the medication, precisely because it gets lonely here not being able to drink. You see, Wisconsin has the highest collegiate and underage drinking rate in the entire country, so unless you have friends who don't drink, if you don't drink yourself, there's not much in the way of social opportunities. It's no small coincidence that the strongest political organization in the state is the Wisconsin Tavern League.

That said, I do moderate drinking, because I hate being excessively drunk. I much prefer other methods of consciousness alteration.

Do you find the gay jokes/insinuations to be getting tiresome?

A little bit. They don't bother me, but in a lot of my online hangouts, that joke/insinuation comes up and it's like yeah I get it, but some new material would be nice.

Were you upset at all by this thread?

Not in the least. I thought it was absolutely brilliant and hilarious to boot. It gave me a laugh, that's for sure.

JeeberD

How horrid was Laramie? Do you still follow Mountain Worst sports though you no longer go to school there?

Laramie, as you probably know, is an extremely small town, with the only real shopping places a 24 hour Wal-Mart and a K-Mart. There's no transportation system to speak of, which meant a lot of long walks in my case, including about an hour each way from my dorm to the bus station at Thanksgiving time.

But it's beautiful country and the winters are a lot warmer than people expect. I also loved the fact that there was a current movie theatre three blocks from my dorm that had great popcorn and comfortable seats. Some decent places to eat, my favorite of which is O'Dwyer's, hands down.

I couldn't see myself living there as I like my cities bigger than that, but it's a pretty cool college town. I don't follow Mountain West (nice pun there, btw ;) sports nearly as much anymore, but I try and keep tabs on how Wyoming does in football and basketball, especially football. If I end up going to San Diego State for grad school, my interest in the MWC will pick up again, even though I'll have conflicted loyalties, having gone to two MWC schools. :D

MIJB#19

How is your screen name pronounces?

Iz like in showbiz, ul like in hull, de like in day.

M GO BLUE!!

How do you keep your girlish figure?

A high metabolism that's not so high anymore because of only eating once or twice a day, too many late night meals, eating too fast when I do eat, not enough exercise, and the general slowing that comes with age.

Do you like gladiator films?

I like historical films generally unless they're modern war movies. That said I've yet to see Gladiator itself for reasons which are unknown to me. Although the Roman imperial period isn't necessarily a favorite era of history, I love the series and enjoy movies set in that time period.

Ever take the Pepsi Challenge?

No, but my Marketing instructor at Gateway told us once that they have you drink something that refreshes your mouth and cleans out the prior taste before you drink Pepsi because generally speaking, people like the first soda of whatever they drink the best or something like that. It's been a while.

What I do know is that I can't stand Coke. It tastes like it's rotting your teeth and Cherry Coke is nasty compared to Wild Cherry Pepsi.

Dark Cloud

Who are you gonna hire to replace Steve McClain?

I don't have a name off the top of my head, but it should be someone who would really like the Laramie area and want to stick around for a while and one who can handle the recruiting challenges that Wyoming inherently faces. Oh yeah, it'd help if they had some actual coaching talent too. :D Ideally it'd be someone who doesn't necessarily have the ambition to go to a big-name school, but who has the burning desire to rebuild a program and stick with it.

Should they replace War Memorial stadium with a domed stadium paid for by oil and gas company largess?

Hell no! War Memorial Stadium is a terrific place to watch a game for one and for two, I hate hate HATE domed stadiums. That kind of thinking is a problem that's plagued Wyoming for virtually the state's entire existence. They have a boom or bust economy and aren't smart enough to bank and build during a boom phase to either soften the blow of the bust phases or you know, actually diversify the economy enough so the state gets out of the boom-bust style economy.

What one sport should UW add that they don't have?

A decent sabre program to the fencing club team.

Senator

Favorite day of alltime?

Since Antmeister included what's essentially a personal best day question below and the all-time element suggests a historical and universal scope, I'll answer this from that larger context.

After thinking about it a bit more, I'm going to answer in terms of the historical event I most wish I could've been there for and for that, I'll go with... hmm probably Ferdinand and Isabella's wedding day. I like weddings and royal weddings are incredible, not to mention the great parties afterwards. While Spain was still not Spain contrary to popular history, as Aragon and Castile still remained separate and independent political entities, I'd like to believe that there was a lot of hope that day among the people there for the future
of the kingdoms and of course, they went on to be two of the greatest monarchs in Spanish history.

Dodgerchick

Give me 3 words.

snow, gimcrack, canon

Did you ever pursue Ballet or Ballroom Dancing and how did that go?

I student-taught ballet in high school, but that was the extent of it. As for the thread you're referring to, I went to the ballroom dancing place and the woman said I needed to have a partner or I was out of luck. Having no dancing partner prospects, I abandoned the idea. That's not to say I won't revisit it in the future, though.

You seem to have a knack for writing, any plans on pursuing some sort of career involving this?

Thank you for the compliment! :) And yes, I'm going to be trying to get accepted into an MFA program in Creative Writing for the fall of 2008. Since I should be fresh off a semester abroad, I'll probably have lots of ideas and experiences to draw from. :) I don't intend on pursuing the field other than creative writing, though, unless it's to teach collegiately, which would require the MFA. Journalism, which was my first major at Minnesota, quickly became tiresome. I hated the plain style, the bullshit politics of the newsroom which hit me both at Minnesota and at Wyoming. Dark Cloud can tell you about the
ineptitude of the Branding Iron staff.

You have to be insane to go into publishing these days. It's not a happy business, especially if you're an editor, where they're paying kids fresh out of MFA programs $20,000 a year to be editors in New York because it's a lot cheaper than paying a senior editor $85,000 a year. There's pressure to find the big bestseller in a world that seems to be reading books less and less these days, with a few exceptions.

In this vein and I agree with the person I met up with this weekend, J.K. Rowling not only singlehandedly saved a publishing company that was on the verge of bankruptcy, but sparked new interest in reading, especially among children, that may save the published hard-copy novel. I hope that's the case anyway.

Out of all the dynasties you started, which one is your favorite?

Although it's not in its full form here, Tim Moungey and the Octopus League, which can be found in its entiriety on the OOTP boards. It was that dynasty, more than anything else, that convinced me I had some writing talent. That's not to say I don't enjoy my other dynasties that have lasted more than a few posts; it's just that that one was something really special to me.

What is your favorite movie quote of all-time?

"So which is it gonna be? Are you a faithless preacher or a mean motherfucking servant of God?"

When and where were you born?

June 16th, 1979 in Racine, Wisconsin. I was born three months premature and was given less than a 5% chance to live. I weighed two pounds and was so small, I fit in the palm of my dad's hand.

I had open heart surgery when I was a year old at Milwaukee Children's Hospital, what was then and I believe still now to be one of the top pediatric hospitals in the state. The doctors told my parents it was a routine procedure and that I'd be fine. Then after the procedure, Mom and Dad were looking through the glass at the surgical team and they're all shouting and cheering, celebrating and clapping each other on the back. That's when my parents knew it was no ordinary procedure and I was damned lucky to survive it.

Incidentally, it was the first set of circumstances where I beat the odds to survive. November 1st in 6th grade, I was walking to school, thinking about something I had to tell the Student Government adviser after school that day. I had to cross Wright Avenue, which in my hometown has horrible sightlines because the way the cars are parked, you can't see the road until you're already out into the street past the parked cars.

Well I looked both ways, didn't see anyone coming and darted across. Got three quarters of the way to the other side when I was hit by a car. I went sailing 50 feet through the air and crashed down, screaming in pain and rolling around. They took me to the hospital and I strangely had no head injuries and only some real nasty bruises here and there. I found out later that the cop who covered the incident said somebody must have been looking out for me, because with as fast as the kid driving the car was going and as far as I flew, it should've killed me and the fact that I escaped with the relatively low injures I did was on the order of a miracle.

If Hollywood made a movie about your life, what would the title be and who would you like to play you?

I'm terrible with titles, but let's see here... Wandering Dreamer would be an appropriate title, given my extensive travel and the rich interior world and unique way of looking at things I have. As for who would play me, I have no idea, as I don't know for certain who really looks like me. Johnny Depp, maybe? :D He'd certainly fit the acting quality bill, as I imagine I'd be a difficult character to play.

Who do you admire the most and why?

My grandfather, Wally Klukas, who passed away in 2003. He was a tough, smart, stubborn man who although he lived a pretty simple life left a lasting legacy and has something of a hero worship status surrounding him on both sides of my family. He cared deeply for his family, fought in World War II and was a part of the D-Day Normandy invasions and was awarded the Purple Heart and the Bronze Star while he was over there.

If you came across a significant amount of money to where you don't have to worry about working anymore, what would you do?

That depends on what you mean by significant. In the millions? Billions? Trillions?

If it was just enough to where I didn't have to work if I didn't want to, I'd write and be a patron of the arts. If we're talking serious money, I'd either buy my own sports team, start my own sports league, or found my own four year university. And if we mean bigger than the GDP of some countries, I'd found my own country, which would have domestic policies decided by an elected legislature, with foreign policy solely the province of an aristocratic class where the heir could be anyone the current titleholder designed as their successor.

What do you do for fun?

Read, play video games, mini-golf, write, travel, go to movies and plays, and a bunch of other stuff I can't recall offhand.

What is your most treasured possession?

My old Pooh bear and Pooh blanket from when I was a little kid. This sounds silly, but because I traveled a lot when I was younger and took them everywhere with me, they even went along with when I was 14 and toured through Europe. That bear and blanket have been more places than a lot of people ever will be.

If you could travel through time, what single mistake would you correct in life?

It depends on if I could experience everything that happened after that or if I would just immediately jump to the present point.

If I could experience everything that happened after that, I'd have applied to more schools, including Princeton, coming out of high school and I wouldn't have gone to Minnesota.

If I had to jump immediately to the present, I'd have gone to Normandy beach, which had their 50 year D-Day memorial the summer I was in Europe. My grandfather wanted me to go, but I, being stupid and self-centered as only a young teenager can be, didn't want to go and so didn't. That and not applying to Princeton are the two biggest regrets I have in life and the Normandy beach thing is something I intend to correct when I study abroad. It won't be the same since Grandpa's not alive anymore, but I need to do it for my own peace of mind.

If you had friends coming over, what would you cook?

I'd take them out to a local restaurant that I knew to have good food. I can't cook. In fact, when my turn to cook Sunday dinner came up for the fraternity last semester, most guys ate beforehand, figuring I either wouldn't make anything, or it'd be inedible.

My old roommate was in town that weekend and he was like "Oh God, you have tonight to cook?" I said, "I know a way you can make sure the food doesn't taste bad." He looked at me a minute and swore, "You're going to make me cook for you aren't you?" "Yep!"

So he made spaghetti and I made salad, rolls and cookies. It turned out really well and the few people that ate really loved the cookies, even though I wound up taking a bath on the cost of dinner because only a handful of people bought in. Not that I blame them or anything. :)

Antmeister

What prompted you fascination with perfume and colognes?

My job at Victoria's Secret. I became fascinated with figuring out how exactly each scent smelled and the images they evoked. When I started incorporating my own interpretations of how the scents smelled when assisting clients, I sold a lot more product because I was able to more accurately and quickly figure out what they'd like.

I find the designations of fruity and floral to be largely useless and while I understand the poetic appeal of all those notes and rattling off all the ingredients, in my opinion the ultimate question a client wants answered is: What exactly does this smell like and will it smell good on me?

Another thing that intrigues me about fragrances is how you can take two different people and spray the same scent on them and because of their individual body chemistries, the smell will be totally different coming from each one. So it's really about finding the custom fit for each client.

What is the size of the family you grew up in and what are the differences in age to any siblings?

I grew up with my half-sister (Dad's first marriage) who's 10 years older than me and the next youngest in a family that includes me, her, and five half-brothers whose ages I can't remember at all.

Do you know much about your family's history that you care to talk about?

My mother's side of the family is the most well-documented. The Klukases are able to trace their geanology back into sometime in the 1800s in Germany and are more or less universally German Lutheran farmers.

My great grandparents or great great grandparents came to the US (I think it was great-great actually) sometime in the late 1800s and took a farm in northern Wisconsin through one of the homesteading acts. While the official reason for the emigration was to escape religious persecution, when my grandmother and mother were doing research, they checked the dates and discovered that my great-great grandmother was in fact pregnant before they were married and it's believed now that's why they emigrated.

The Klukases stayed German Lutheran and farmers pretty much until the second half of the 1900s, when my grandfather and uncle both eventually got out of farming. Nobody in the family farms now that I'm aware of, but a lot of them still do work with their hands, largely mechanical.

Of my father's side of the family there's virtually no documentation. There's a vague sense that they were English, Irish and Scottish in terms of ancestry and largely seafarers. My great grandfather was from Canada and my great grandmother was from Tennessee but how they met and got married, my father never knew.

But what I do know is this---My father had to live through an experience I can't even begin to comprehend the horrors of.

Dad and my paternal grandfather worked in the same factory and one day, my grandfather slipped and fell down a tube. He was dead by the time he hit bottom, but that wasn't the worst of it. The worst of it was that the tube he fell into led directly to the incinerator.

They ran and got my dad and he and a co-worker had to saw through the piping. They got my grandfather's body out shortly before it was about to hit the incinerator. I can't imagine that feeling, knowing your father's dead and you have to get his body out before it gets burnt to nothingness. After the day my dad told me that story, I gained a whole new respect for him.

What is your favorite genre to read and/or watch?

Read:
Family sagas
Colonial novels
Dystopian novels
Historical novels that don't revolve around famous people

Watch:
Thought-provoking, multi-perspective dramas
Raunchy comedies
Teen sex comedies
Romantic comedies
Historical epics

What is your real name?

Timothy Lee Moungey officially, Tim for short. I also have a plethora of nicknames not online-related, including Snoop Dogg, Timbo, T-bo, and Travelin' Man.

Do you have any hobbies that we don't know about?

Collectible card games used to be a huge hobby of mine. Not so much anymore, though if I find people to play with, I'll get back into it. My biggest closet hobbies are shopping and mini-golf, which I play every single time I get the chance. I've even considered proposing a book where I would go around, touring the different mini-golf courses in the United States and rating them in different categories.

It's still something I'd like to do someday.

How do you feel about how you currently stand in your life?

Pretty good, actually. I'm close to graduating and I have hope for the future. A lot of times I almost gave up in recent years but the memory of my grandfather Klukas and his strength and toughness kept me going in a lot of cases.

I also briefly flirted with a job for a marketing firm in Baltimore last year about this time, but after I found out it was commission only, I discarded it.

If you could take two Polaroids of the best and worst days of your life, how would you describe the images?

I'm going to say this question is asking for a Polaroid of the best day and one of the worst day, rather than two a piece. :)

Best day of my life:

My first girlfriend in the door frame of our hotel room at the Howard Johnson's in Tucson. The mid-March morning sunlight is streaming in on her black hair, making it sparkle and shine. She's looking at me, who is still mostly sleeping in bed, with an affectionate, tender smile on her light pink lips. The maid who has come to do the room cleaning assignment stands just outside the door in the standard black and white outfit, having just been told that "Could you come back later? He's pretty tired and just got in last night."

It was the most secure and most happy I'd ever been and I could go on and on about that, but that's not part of the question. :D

Worst day of my life:

I'm staring at an old man's back with hate in my eyes in an adult store in Vegas. He's laughing and flirting with the clerk, not caring that he just touched me in the most inappropriate place in one of the rooms in the arcade. I'm longing to grab something and kill him with it. I've never felt so violated and so worthless in my entire life. I feel like a coward, because when he did that, rather than doing or saying something, I just dropped the quarters I had left and ran out of the arcade, fighting the nausea, fighting the knowledge that I've just been unwantedly touched and wasn't man enough to do something about it.

Where do you currently reside (city, state)?

I split my time between La Crosse, WI and Racine, WI now, but I plan to study abroad in Granada next spring and from there, I'll live in hopefully a city where I've been accepted into an MFA program, but if not, I'll probably move to San Diego.

What was the most empowering moment in your life?

When I was part of the Quiz Bowl team for Gateway in Marketing competitions. I singlehandedly led my team to the state championship, scoring 7 of our 9 points in one round and then proceeded to lead them to third place at Nationals in the last Quiz Bowl competition. It included a white-knuckled overtime thriller against Nebraska in the opening round when I scored four straight points to them away and survive the scare.

I loved that. I loved the feeling that I was a superstar and that nobody, except this cute Asian girl on the Michigan team that went on to win the championship, could beat me in that competition. We only lost the chance to go the championship by a single point. It was heartbreaking, but I still felt damn good, because without me, and my teammates all said this, we never even would have made it to Nationals, much less placed.

As an older student in college, do you feel that you have a different perspective on the college scene that the younger crowd?

I do. My life experiences and the maturity and wisdom (however minuscule) that come with simply being older mean that I have a different take than the younger crowd. This is especially true this semester with the fraternity, where we have maybe three or four guys over the age of 21 and that's it. I think the oldest besides me is 22 or 23 and he's the lone senior that's graduating.

It's tough. I'm not much of a party person and while I like the guys in the chapter, it's being run by the young guys which leaves me feeling a little on the outs and like it doesn't matter, especially when they don't listen too much to the advice that I occasionally give.

They're more than happy to have me edit their papers, though. :D

How many times have you mixed your medications by accident?

None.

Do you have any phobias?

Snakes and death. One of the toughest things I've done in life is to pet a pale yellow boa constrictor at some reptile store in a mall. I also touched the belly of it and was surprised at how it felt squishy and spiny as it undulated against my fingers, though I couldn't see underneath to see what it was that had that texture.

I'm afraid to die. I don't know for certain that there's an afterlife, though some very bizarre circumstances and unexplained events have led my mother and I to believe that my grandfather Klukas is around and helping us out occasionally in spirit form. Even if there is an afterlife, I love having this body, flawed though it is, and the experiences that come with earthly living. I'm very much a sensualist in that respect and the truth is, if I could have any power in the world, it would be the power of eternal good health and
immortality.

Would you consider yourself to be religious, spiritual or neither?

Certainly not religious. Spiritual, I'd have to say yes. The pagan roots of Catholicism are what make it the only Christian denomination that's ever had any appeal to me and if I do become a true believer in a religion, it'd be a form of paganism.

This gets into two experiences of mine, however. First, one night in Minnesota, I was outside looking at the moon when I saw the image of this beautiful woman with silver hair and a silver dress come out of it. She told me to trust in her and everything would be all right. I wasn't under the influence of anything, so it can't have been that. But to this day, I wonder if it was real or my imagination. My pagan friends naturally said it was the moon Goddess, most likely Diana/Artemis. My Catholic friends believed it was an angel trying to lead me to God. As for everyone else, they thought I was insane.

Experience number two:
My senior year in high school, I let some friends talk me into going to their evangelical church's youth group. Long story short, I ended up believing enough that I did the whole "I believe Jesus is the saviour, dedicate myself to Christ, etc, etc." That belief quickly passed, but even now, I find myself wondering if in reciting those words, I committed myself to the Judeo-Christian-Islamic God and would be risking damnation if I turned to the pagan religion that appeals to me much more and that I feel much more at home with.

And then I wonder if maybe there isn't multiple afterlife planes of existence, one for each religious group. And I wonder if, in becoming pagan, I'd be denied the J-C-I Heaven and would never see those I knew who were Christian again. Then my thoughts turn to Hell and I wonder if it's real and if all non-believers are really sent there or if it's based on the life one's led. And that leads to wondering if I'm being good enough, so on and so forth.

I think about religion and the afterlife a little more than I should at night, though thankfully I can usually find enough to keep me busy so that I don't have panic and anxiety attacks wondering what my fate will be upon death, or indeed, if there is anything after this.

My greatest fear would be that there is no afterlife and this is it. That when we die, we cease to exist. That's terrifying and I hope that isn't true.

But I don't know for sure. The incidents that suggest Grandpa Klukas is around as a spirit and watching over us would lead me to believe that there is and that's a great comfort and reassurance to me... but like I said, I don't know for certain and that keeps me up at night.

What type of music are you into?

All kinds, though the genres I listen to most are 90s R n B, Korean pop, American pop and pop rock, and country.

To me the 1990s were the last decade of the pure R and B sound, before hip-hop came in and took all that away. Boyz II Men and Shai are the two classic examples of the type of R&B I'm talking about, but for Boyz II Men, it's their body of work from Cooleyhigharmony to Evolutions that I mean. Everything after that is terrible and they lost the sound that made them so great.

Evolutions was really the high point of Boyz II Men. Vocals, instrumentals, and lyrics were all at their peak on that album and "4 Seasons of Loneliness" and "Girl in the Life Magazine" are still two of my favorite all-time songs.

TLC's another favorite group from that era and style. "Red Light Special" is their greatest song and the one I always recommend to my female friends when they ask me what music they should use when putting on shows for their boyfriends. It's always worked, too.

Korean pop I strongly favor BoA Kwon, the single "Hey! Girl" by Dong Bang Shin Ki and, my new favorite artist, melody. . (yes there's a period after melody in the name). I got started listening to it on last.fm when I was listening to artists similiar to Japanese pop artist Ayumi Hamasaki and eventually grew to like the K-pop sound better than the J-pop one.

For American pop and pop rock, there's way too many to list. Same thing with country.

Are there certain things that people do that drive you up the wall?

Get me started on this and my FTB will never end because I'll immediately think of something else.

So I'll just limit myself to my single biggest pet peeve in my years of working retail: People who don't put things back anywhere near where they're supposed to go and just set it down wherever. This is especially bad in discount stores.

The seasonal job I had at Target once confirmed this. The worst was when a woman in the toy aisle picked something up and looked at it. She walked down the aisle with it, apparently debating whether to get it. I was helping another client at the time which is why I didn't ask her if she needed help. She got to the end of the aisle and set the toy down. Immediately after this, she looked up, met my eyes and walked off.

I wanted to strangle her. The inconsiderateness of the thing was unreal, as bad as the time a few weeks before that when some kids had pulled out a scooter of its box in Sporting Goods, set it up, and rode around on it in the store while their mother just stood there chatting away with a friend.

But enough of that. I promised myself not to get started so I'm ending here.

Do you have any quirks that others may find odd?

My tendency to stare off into space, my ability to be absolutely silent for hours at a time, and what people find the most strange, my compulsion when I'm thinking intensely about something to pace for hours. I try to negate the pacing somewhat by going out and walking randomly when I'm in that frame of mind, but I much prefer pacing as the repetition and rhythm of the movement help train and concentrate my thoughts.

It has to be a long enough stretch to pace, though. Too short and I start feeling thought-claustrophobic.

Have you had a long history of depression in your lifetime?

When I was a kid, I was manic a lot and really happy and energetic. I also had an extremely short temper which would get me in trouble a lot, but overall, I'd say my elementary school years were the happiest of my childhood, especially when I was part of the in-clique in fourth grade before it split in two factions in fifth grade, but even then I was pretty popular.

Then middle school hit. Because I was and still am hearing impaired, the elementary school I'd gone to was on the north side, which had the only hearing impaired program at the elementary level in the district. I was fully mainstreamed by third grade, so I got to go to my neighborhood school for middle school.

I knew absolutely no one there and everyone else had gone to neighborhood elementary schools. I did develop a few good friendships, but they were with popular kids who were friends with everyone. I was also teased and ridiculed a lot for my smartness. It didn't help matters that while I was a really cute kid, puberty was extremely unkind to me and made me ugly. Middle school is when the depression first hit though I didn't know it by then.

High school had potential, but the depression from middle school came back towards the end of freshman year and I became suicidal my sophomore year. Oddly enough, sophomore year was the best year of high school for me. I got into therapy and started playing tabletop AD&D with some friends as part of recovery. I discovered a love for roleplaying tabletop (I already did it online with AOL and then IRC, remember) and especially for being the DM. To this day, the one friend I talk to in that group still talks about the campaigns we used to play in, especially the one I ran after our normal DM wanted to
play as a PC.

College has already been covered. I still do struggle with it on occasion, but I've come a long way, especially since after the first time I was suspended from Parkside for academics, part of the appeal that allowed me to keep going there was meeting with a therapist and psychiatrist who *finally* after about three years of people not listening to me, agreed with my assessment that I was bipolar.

It's something I'll struggle with periodically throughout my entire life, I'm sure, but show me the fiction writer who doesn't have demons of a kind to deal with and I'll show you Sally from Poughkeepsie, N.Y. who obsesses over yaoi and writes terrible, formulaic, boring erotic gay vampire fiction.

What events in your life led you to go back to college?

I never left. :D

Why do you believe you struggle when it comes to trying to establish relationships?

Because I hate small talk and never know what to say. I also have a considerable degree of social anxiety. Put me in front of a hundred, a thousand, ten thousand, people and have me give a speech and I'll be absolutely cool. Put me in a small group project and I start looking for a way out. I'm the inverse of most people that way I know.

People have speculated over the years that it's a result of my hearing impairment and that may be part of it. I know in crowded bars and dance clubs, I can't hear a single word, which is why I prefer smaller, quieter settings. Excalibur in Chicago still remains one of my favorite dance clubs for that reason.

When it comes to women, it's for three reasons. First, I don't trust most women and it takes a lot before I'll let myself open up to them. Second, most girls act like I'm not even there at social gatherings and their sole source of interaction with me is navigating around me like I'm a piece of furniture. This gets particularly bad at sorority-fraternity social functions. In fact, I've quit going to them because it just isn't worth the hassle anymore.

Third, I tend to be romantically attracted only to the most beautiful women. Yes, that's extremely superficial of me, I'm passing up great girls, etc, etc. But my particular personality is such that I draw a large part of my creative inspiration from physical beauty, not unlike the whole F. Scott-Zelda situation. I also have a very wanderlusting aspect to my personality and even though I frown on adulterous interludes, I can't say with absolute certainty that I would be able to resist a beautiful woman if the one I was with was not also
beautiful in my eyes. It's a horrible thing to say and I'll likely rightfully get some flak for it, but it's who I am.

What do you wish to do in a future time?

Immediate future: Graduate, study abroad, fall in love for the first time in years, get into an MFA program

Distant future: Beyond getting at least one novel written and published, I'm not sure. I change my mind a lot and like to jump from idea to idea. Move to San Diego is certainly on this list, but that's the only firm thing besides the novel.

As a dynasty writer, do you write as a way to release stress or just purely out of the joy of writing?

It's both. I love getting out ideas in dynasties and exploring them, developing character and situations, etc. On the flip side, some days the only thing that keeps me going is the chance to advance a dynasty.

Antmeister: the Asswhite Sequel

How exactly would you describe the FOFC?

Short answer: The most wonderful online community I've been a part of since Skatetalk.

Long answer: FOFC has a pretty high level of intellectualism, higher than just about every other board I've been on. It's also extremely hilarious and yes, there's the ribbings and occasionally the squabbles and the dislikes, etc, but it never devolves into a strong board-wide drama. Most importantly, the teasing almost never takes on a mean-spirited cast and when it does, people are extremely quick to jump on the person doing it.

That's vital to a healthy online community. Another message board I've frequented that I won't mention by name also had a lot of higher level discussions, but they were extremely vicious and cruel in their jokes and liked to gang pile on people not in their little clique (this happens on IRC too, which is why I talk to only a select few people out of character and rarely play in public channels anymore). It eventually led to the board's de facto decline.

Do you find how you are treated here similar to how you are treated in life?

No. My professors like me and I get along great with them, but my classmates generally aren't too fond of me, probably because I talk too much. I have virtually no social life and I can't express myself in real life like I can with a keyboard (see earlier social anxiety bit).

I get along fantastically with my co-workers too, but the overall feeling in all areas of my offline life is that while I'm part of a lot of things, I don't really belong anywhere. A lot of it is because I simply don't like my home state and don't feel at home here. San Diego would be different, I think, because my best friend and her husband, who I have the deepest respect and liking for and the feeling is mutual, live there and I suspect the community there would be much more open to a person of my nature and inclination than is the case
here.

What decisions have you made that turned out very well for you, but seemed to be a horrible decision at the time?

I've been thinking about this question ever since I saw it and to be honest, I can't really think of anything, probably because I try to avoid making decisions that I would believe to be horrible at the time.

One thing that I did that I didn't like doing that I was later glad that I did was a small thing, but it's come to mean a lot to me. The last time I was up by my Grandpa Klukas's, I, my parents, grandfather, grandmother, aunt, uncle, and grandmother's boyfriend (long story as to that - not really worth going into here. He himself passed away a few weeks ago and my grandmother is still in mourning), and I, all went to the casino because that's what the old people liked to do.

I had my choice of hanging around with my parents, grandmother, uncle, and grandmother's boyfriend in the casino area or playing Bingo with my grandfather and my aunt. I hate Bingo and I'm not fond of casinos in the first place, but something made me choose Bingo.

It was the last time I would see him alive, as the next time I went up north, he was gone. He'd had a heart attack the week before and my parents went up to see him. They came down to get me. While they were en route, the hospital called the house and the nurse told me he wasn't likely to make it through the night.

We were two hours away from the hospital when I woke up to the sound of my mother's crying. I wasn't alert yet so I asked what happened. Dad said, "The hospital called. Grandpa just died."

I started screaming and sobbing and Dad pulled over to the side of the road where my dad sniffled to hold back the tears and my mom and I just absolutely fell apart. It was the single worst moment in my life to that point and I almost chose that as my worst day. I, who was afraid of death, who had never been to a funeral and though I'd known people who died, it'd never hit home like this one did. All I could think was how stupid I was not to go to Normandy when I had the chance and he wanted me to.

But I'm thankful the last time I saw him alive, I did something he enjoyed with him. Sure neither one of us won and I swore a lot when I came close to winning and falling short, but I had more fun than I thought I would, though I still hate Bingo. :D And he lives in on in the memory of both sides of the family, as I said, as a hero figure and a source of inspiration and strength for us all.

What is the ratio of friends that are male and female?

It's overwhelmingly more male friends than female friends taken as a whole. That being said, my two closest friends are both female, so it balances out in the end.

Do you normally grow you fingernails long?

Yeah. Just habit, really. :D

Lathum

Does Antmeister ask to many questions?

Not at all! They're really great questions, as a lot of these questions are from everyone. :) I apologize for the verbosity and the repetition that comes up with a lot of the answers, but hope you all enjoyed reading them anyway. :)