(no subject)

[liralen]

A meme, courtesy of diony. I used the questions she answered, as I didn't like the ones that she left out, either.


Artistic Talent: Painting and writing are well-buried. Piano when I was young, hit state championships, though perhaps more on technical capability than talent.
Career Aspirations at Age 6: Electrical Engineer. I knew that I was going to be one from when I was four.
Dreams, Recurring: Complex, living building complexes filled with people, stores, slums, machines, all that I know and work with... sometimes in a concrete bunker of a shopping mall, sometimes a sunlit open city, and I'm always busy in them doing investigative work, sometimes ending in solutions, often times ending with wetwork in specific, exact detail.
Elementary School, name of: Cumberland Elementary in West Lafayette, IN.
Fabrics and Materials, favorite to wear on body: Knits, cotton. "The Fabric of our lives..." I love the softness, the comfort, and the easy care and lack of worry.
Gym, work out at one?: The Longmont Rec. Center is where I work out. They have fantastic aerobic, weight, and swimming facilities along with $2/hour kid care. Can't beat it. Plus a very low per-visit rate when we buy in the 20-visit package.
Happy Memory: Lots. Most ecstatic was birthing Jet. Lots of others, though. Favorites include walking in the rain with Rosty and Fezzik.
Introvert or Extrovert?: Introvert. No question.
Jewelry/Trinkets Worn Regularly: Wedding ring welded to engagement ring. Two cubic zirconium earrings (used to be triangular stud earrings, but lost one) with gold posts. One tragus ring that throws some people, but not the ones that have seen me with waist-length turquoise hair.
Killer App, Favorite: Vi. *laughter* It'll kill anything! Sometimes as slowly and painfully as a dull hatchet, but, heck, it works even when an OS doesn't...
Latest Book Read: Perdido Station by China Mielville.
Nickname(s), current: Liralen
Operating System of Choice (for desktop): Anything that works for my users. I presently use a Linux box, a Solaris box, and an XP box, all for different things. I don't see why anyone thinks any of them is the Ultimate OS, when they all have strong and weak points.
Pets, current: None. Other than a bunch of plants. Four herbs, seven house plants, two African violets, and two Mexican killer tequin chile trees.
Queer?: Yes. I fall hard for people regardless of gender; however, with age and a child I've become, for all practical purposes, monogamous.
Role Models, current: Rev. Michael Liete. He's the pastor of our church whose battling an immune system problem that's killing his lungs. He's retiring this weekend to pursue his life, as it is. He's on disability, but he's living fiercely. Walking into the fire of his pain and problems, and coming out... more human...
Sleepwear, typical: Summer: nothing. Winter: long-sleeved stretch Old Navy t-shirt with waffle weave long-underwear tights.
University Degree(s): BSEE Caltech. MSEE University of Washington
Weather, favorite: Rain. The slow-falling, mist rain of the Pacific Northwest, filling the lungs with the scent of water, dripping slowly from all the trees, filling the brooks, the streams, the lakes, and slaking the thirst of decades in the Southern California desert.
X-SO's you're on speaking terms with, numbers/percentage of: 20/23
Yard/Rummage Sales, do you go?: Yes. Often. Best place for a new kid's clothing. Every other season I have to replace everything Jet wears, might as well be cheap or some other kid's clothing. It's not like a two-year-old wears anything out he hasn't grown out of already.
Zen Moments: Making gung-fu style tea. Picking strawberries tai chi style. Practicing my Chinese calligraphy. Playing fullback on a soccer field. Knitting. Spinning. Birthgiving. Having a massage. Making crepes. Making pie crust. Coding. Kneading dough. Painting cookies with Jet. Debugging. Listening to the rain. Sitting by the ocean. Focusing my camera. Everything where I can concentrate on the doing and shut down the stupid frantic worry of my brain in thought. I do as much of it as I can.

Comments

[a-machine.livejournal.com]

That description of recurring dreams is /eerily/ close to my own. The open city part of mine is always slushy and grey/brown, though, and the indoor parts are often glass-walled, sunny and warm.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

Wow. My indoors are always concrete bunker types... and the outdoors is always sunny and beautiful... there's one ocean 'mall-house', huge, white, right by the ocean teaming with old-fashioned beachfront/boardwalk businesses... and a bank-like brick building, but with glass atriums and roof areas...

Interesting that they're opposite to your settings, but the same kinds of work.

[a-machine.livejournal.com]

AND we just read the same book.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It took me a while, too, though a lot of it is two-year-old and work getting in the way, and having to swap mental gears a lot. crunch grind

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

I didn't even know what EE or CS was when I was six years old.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

My dad was a EE, with a PhD. He did speech recognition work when computers were still using punch cards. I remembered going into work with him and seeing all the tape drives, playing with the card punches, and deciding that I was going to do what he did.

[gregbo.livejournal.com]

Interesting. I wonder what it would have been like to have a parent in my profession. Despite going to a very good high school (http://www.stuy.edu/), I don't think I was well-prepared for my undergraduate studies.

[liralen.livejournal.com]

It's been very interesting, especially when my dad took my masters degree research and used it to get another level of performance out of his projects. It was kind of weird and cool and gratifying to have him decide he could learn something from me.