venta | Query quintet

Current Music: Coldplay - Yellow (live) (courtesy of MTV2)

Query quintet

Questions kindly donated by

nalsa.

1: How did you get into Rapper sword dancing? It is a fairly peculiar hobby.

I'm second-generation folkie, I'm afraid. I was very nearly born at a folk festival, and was regularly dragged along to them for the next eighteen years of my life. Unlike many people to whom this happens, I actually enjoyed it, and emerged as enthusiastic for the whole thing as my parents are.

I've tried, at some stage, most different kinds of dancing that there are - usually at workshops and so on at festivals. Except Cotswold morris - I always gave the hanky-waving nonsense a very wide berth :)

Although there are other things I enjoy doing - clog dancing, for example - rapper is by far and away the most fun to perform. For a start, it combines naturally with a pub crawl, and in addition it's short, fast, and tends to be accessible to people who have no idea about the whole thing. Also, at the time I'd left university and was looking for a new hobby, I found out there was a rapper team very near to where I was living, and they were short of people.

Particularly living in the south, rapper teams are relatively uncommon, which means that you're far more likely to get invited to perform at festivals. I didn't calculate this in advance; with hindsight, I suspect one of the reasons I've enjoyed it so much is the number of places it's taken me.

I think the really odd cases are the people who suddenly take up morris/rapper aged 35 or so - I mean, I've got an excuse, I grew up thinking this shit was normal!

2: Did you get asked any interesting questions last time 'round?

I can't possibly say "no", I'll offend

mr_tom :)

I think they were interesting question to ask, though they were mostly short-answer rather than particularly thought-provoking.

Hang on...
<searches>
Judge for yourself.

3: What is it that you do, as a day-to-day thing?

<short answer for technophobes>I'm a computer programmer<short answer>

Nominally, I'm a kernel programmer. Actually, since

bateleur got stolen by another department, and my boss decided writing a web browser was more fun, I am the kernel team :) (But a rather ill-educated one.)

In practice, I seem to be spending most of my time at present trying to mend shell utilities and doing the technical review of the browser documentation.

I work in a proprietary language, which is some sort of bastard offspring of C and assembler. Or occasionally C/C++, but I only do that (a) badly and (b) under protest.

4: You really don't come across as being a goth, despite the Whitby attendance and the - somewhat eclectic at times - musical taste. Would you say this is something quite common amongst UkGoffs?

Er... first off, I don't know, really, any non-UK goffs. (

reddragdiva,

redcountess, anyone else I've forgotten, you're in the UK, all right ?)

However, the whole UK goth scene is something of a chimera, anyway. (Do I mean a chimera ?) If you look at it closely, you'll find out there's actually nothing there and it's only some sort of consensual delusion on the part of the participants holding the thing together. Of course, the fact that finding anyone who'll bloody admit to being a goth is tricky makes the whole thing impossible. There's absolutely no coherent musical sound either - apart from the whole trad/cyber dichotomy, you can sneak practically anything in.

zotz used to play Idlewild at The Calling, for heaven's sake.

Although the "look" does vary a lot (again with the trad/cyber thing, and with people wanting to look "different" :), it's usually easy to spot goths. A lot of the people I know do look the part 24/7 - and a lot of those who don't only don't because their workplace won't let them get away with it. On the other hand, there are plenty who'll turn up at Whitby looking completely un-gothy.

So, if you discount what someone looks like/how they dress, what makes a goth ? I've encountered gratifyingly few droop-by-gravestone stereotypes, so most it seems to boil down to being a bunch of people who, er, go to the same clubs. There seem to be sufficiently few defining characteristics that I reckon it's difficult to "come across as a goth" short of slapping on the white face and the black velvet.

In my case, it's down to indecision :) I like a lot of music that turns up in goth clubs; I also like a whole load of other stuff. I like the daft makeup and silly clothes, but I also quite enjoy wearing different stuff. Oh yeah, and I'm lazy: combats and jumper, none of this faffing about with foundation and eyeliner for hours :)

5: Should you become instantly rich with no pain involved to anyone, what would be the first things you'd do with the money?

Well, much as I'd like to come out as a philanthropist who'd put others' needs first, I think the honest answer is: buy a house.

Firstly, I want more space. I live in a room in a shared house - OK, so stuff of mine is scattered about the kitchen, front room, etc, but fundamentally, my life is squashed into a 12'x10' box. My books, CDs, and clothes are spiralling way out of the confines of my storage space.

I also want the space in a less specific way - I was a series of rooms I can wander through, and them all be mine. (Mine! All mine! Ahahahahah! Ahem.) I'd like to have a room to sleep in, and a room to use as a study, and still have space left over for a sitting/dining room. I want the chance to choose my own furniture and so on, make my surroundings how I want them to be. My definition of luxury is being able to put your stereo's speakers in sensible places rather than where they'll fit :)

Secondly, I've been living in shared houses since I left university. There are many good sides to this, and my current housemates are lovely (and I'm not even obliged to say that as neither of them read LJ :) However, times like tonight when I have the house to myself I really enjoy. Of course, living by myself may have me missing the spontaneous carnage of Frances and I cooking when we get in from work, but at present I feel as if I'd far prefer to live by myself.

---

Whew.

Everyone else, you know how the game works. If you want questions from me, leave a comment in the usual manner.

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

FIFTH generation folkie - paternal great=grandfather was a broom dancer; paternal great grandma played the anglo concertina; maternal grandmother was a longsword dancer, never mind the Aged Ps. Don't stand a cat in hell's. do you pet?

Good grief.
It's worse than I thought.

Go on then, give me some questions. And stop listening to Coldplay.

Coldplay: you have to take what you're given on radio/TV :) I've now got BRMC, is that OK ?

1. Where, ideally, would you be living at the moment ?
2. If you had an unlimited amount of money to purchase yourself one outfit, what clothes/shoes/accessories would be involved ? Would you care about the labels of the clothes ? Would you want anyone's advice, or would you just go for it ?
3. If you could remove one - just one - currently living person from the world as if they had never been, who would it be and why would it be a better place without them ?
4. If you were asked to defend the current state of UK goth music, which three bands/artists would you produce as evidence ? For bonus points, which three bands/artists would you remove to increase the overall credibility of the scene ?
5. Which day, with hindsight, did you enjoy most last year ?

Done. And the telly is no excuse, one should change the channel as soon as that smug get Chris Martin hoves into view.

one should change the channel

Channel hopping is Just Wrong.

If I switch as soon as Coldplay begins, I'll possibly find something better on another channel. Which will end in .35 seconds and begin playing me something equally dire. Forcing me to change channel. Rinse. Repeat.

The only sensible way to ensure a reasonable amount of goodness is to stay in the same place. Assuming, of course, that you were on a station with a decent playlist in the first place.

People who constantly change channel drive me round the bend.

However, the whole UK goth scene is something of a chimera, anyway. (Do I mean a chimera ?)

you might mean chimera if you want it to have a lion's head, a goat's body, a serpent's tale and to breathe fire (oh alright, you might mean chimera anyway . . .)

Er, yeah, one of them :)

I thought it got used metaphorically to mean thing-that-looks-like-it-exists-but-doesn't-really ?

You're right. He's just being a classicist at you.

Etymology: Latin chimaera, from Greek chimaira she-goat, 
chimera; akin to Old Norse gymbr yearling ewe, Greek 
cheimOn winter -- more at HIBERNATE
1 a capitalized : a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek 
mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a 
serpent's tail b : an imaginary monster compounded of 
incongruous parts
2 : an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially : 
an unrealizable dream

[Error: Irreparable invalid markup ('<a [...] fancy,>') in entry. Owner must fix manually. Raw contents below.]

You're right. He's just being a classicist at you.

<pre>
Etymology: Latin chimaera, from Greek chimaira she-goat,
chimera; akin to Old Norse gymbr yearling ewe, Greek
cheimOn winter -- more at HIBERNATE
1 a capitalized : a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek
mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a
serpent's tail b : an imaginary monster compounded of
incongruous parts
2 : an illusion or fabrication of the mind; especially :
an unrealizable dream <a fancy, a chimera in my brain,
troubles me in my prayer -- John Donne>
3 : an individual, organ, or part consisting of tissues
of diverse genetic constitution
</pre>

Go on, give me a few questions.

Er, right. Hullo.

1. Unlike many of the RPGSoc Irregulars, you broke ranks and left Oxford as soon as you graduated. What was the best thing about moving somewhere new ? What was the worst ? Would you worry now if work or similar compelled you to move somewhere where you didn't know anyone ?

2. You're about to embark on a long train journey (upwards of eight hours). What do you take with you for the journey ?

3. What would be your reaction if your workplace required you to look like a sensible grown up (cut your hair, wear a suit, etc). Would you mind ? Would it make you consider changing jobs (assuming you were otherwise happy with the work) ?

4. Best album of 2003 ?

5. Someone suddenly offers you the chance of a weekend away, expenses paid, anywhere in the world. Where would you go (bearing in mind travelling time) ?

Well, I'll be interested to see what you ask, certainly :-)

But are providing no guarantee you'll answer :) Fair enough.

1. From your LJ, you're clearly participating in some kind of photography course. Why did you take this up, and is it to any particular end ? Just because you were interested/felt like it ?

2. It also sounds as if you're a vegeatarian. If this on ethical grounds, practical grounds, or something else ? Is your wife also veggie, if not does this cause eating controversy ?

3. Why are you so keen to point out at every available opportunity that you're Not A Goth ?

4. What's your favourite time of day - both in the sense of what happening (leaving work, etc) and in an abstract sense (eg. because of the lighting conditions, or what have you) ?

5. When was the last time you got the giggles uncontrollably ?

Go on, then, I'll jump on the band wagon cos it's Friday....and I'm in curious mode today.

*thwap*

1. Is you use of 'V' as a name (which I think is not limited to LJ?) at all related to V in V for Vendetta ? Even post-datedly ? Where did your LJ tag come from ?

2. If you were found wandering, suffering from memory loss, how much of your life/persona would you be able to piece together from the contents of your pockets/bag/etc today ?

3. If you were forced to choose one thing you'd learned during your time in America, what would it be ?

4. How do you see people (eg. me) whom you now communicate with on LJ, but haven't seen for years ? Do you consider the LJ-relationship to be an extension of what was already there, or is it a separate thing ? If you have any LJ-friends whom you've never met, do you consider them differently from people who've reared up from the distant past ?

5. Vanilla, chocolate, or strawberry ?

All answered and posted....

If you get two, I reckon I'm allowed two too !

Five of

venta's finest please bartender !

(My first set are here in case you care about avoiding duplication.)

I'm allowed two too

One pink, frilly frock for Bateleur, then!

1. Whenever a serious debate starts up on a mailing list, or so on, you tend to wade in, guns blazing. Would describe yourself as opinionated ? You often seem, when doing this, to be very well informed - is this a result of generalised reading/taking notice, or do you read up specifically before joining in an argument ? How often do you, when arguing, find yourself agreeing with your opponent and changing your own views ?

2. To an outside observer, it seems like you and Lathany get a lot of grandparent-help with bringing up the twins. How do you think you'd manage if that support wasn't there ? Would it have affected your decision to have children if you'd thought there'd be no one to help the two of you out ?

3. Compared to your yoof, you don't seem to do much in the artistic direction. Do you miss drawing, or does the creativity involved in designing games fill the gap ?

4. What would you like to be your epitaph ? Apologies for morbidity - perhaps a better question might be: for which things would you like to be remembered ?

5. Have you any idea how wrong you are about Tea ?

Thanks, good questions. Some answers.

Oh no. I just asked for some from

bateleur. So should I not ask you?

No, no, you're allowed as many sets of questions as you can be bothered to answer :)

Still want some ?

Sure!

1. Many people appear to be intermittently bearded out of laziness; you've always appeared to switch from cleanshaven out of choice. What makes/has made you change ? Do you regard either as the way you "really" look ? Which are you at the moment ?

2. In a few decade's time, when you are a famous political figure, someone decides to publish Condign, the Early Years charting your life up until the time you began law school. What resources would you give them ? Would you be happy to hand over any correspondence/diaries ?

3. What is your favourite piece of classical music ? What is the ideal situation to listen to it in ?

4. If everyone's idea of a stereotypical Southern American were visiting London for a weekend, what would you recommend they do there ?

5. If you had some means of delivering them consistently, and distinctly, what perfumes would you choose to scent your bedroom, living room, study and bathroom ?

Flat | Top-Level Comments Only

Query quintet

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Bite at the Cherry

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