newnumber6

LJ's been a bit weird on comment notifications. Occasionally I'll not get notified about a response to a comment, and then suddenly later that day I'll get it. Okay, that's not so bad. But last night I got like 6 comments at once, all of them a little old, and one 2 weeks old!

Someone was doing their turn on the old Interview meme (which I already did so follow the link and comment if you want the rules or want to be interviewed by me), and so I got a few new questions to answer (and I know I asked to be interviewed by somebody else but they haven't given me questions yet, ahem ahem):

Interviewed by

araceli_maura...

1. If you could travel back in time to change one moment in history, what would it be and why?
Hmmm... I don't know. I mean, sure, if I had free access to time travel I'd go around and try to avert disasters, but just one moment? I'd be too concerned with unintended consequences (stop disaster A, it, through some complex sequence of events, leads to disaster B which kills 10 times as many people). So I'd probably go with something personal, maybe try to kick myself more into gear in highschool and try to ask someone out like I should have. Although it's not a particular 'moment'.

2. Who's your favorite talk show host?
I don't really watch daytime talk shows that often, but I guess I'd have to say Montel Williams because you know he's gotta be stoned while doing it. He always tries to fill in the stories for the guests, and then getting corrected on the details. "You were 14 years old." "12." "Right, you were 12 years old, and you were out with your brother.." "My cousin." "That's right, your cousin, and..."

In terms of nighttime talk shows, probably the Daily Show, if that counts. There is a 'talk show' segment, anyway. I used to watch Letterman, and while it was still on network TV, Politically Incorrect with Bill Maher was kind of interesting.

3. What is your middle name?
I have two. My first name was originally going to be Kirk, after Captain Kirk, but then at the last minute my parents change it (to more follow the family tradition of naming children after saints), so Kirk got shoved into another middle name. My previous middle name, Evan, was an englishization of my paternal grandfather's name.

4. If you could be famous for writing anything (existing or not) what would it be and why?
The first treaty between Earth and extraterrestrial life! Or treaty between humans and sentient AI.

Or maybe a big science fiction epic, considered one of the best works of fiction (both in genre and out). Either would be good.

5. How long have you been on livejournal?
According to my userinfo, I created it on September 13th, 2003 (which I guess means my 3 years LJ anniversary is coming up).

Gifts are accepted.

The Link-To-Your-Past meme! Stolen from

maggiebloome
Chances are people you don't even know are being introduced to your journal every day, either randomly or through someone else. In addition to recent entries, people can get to know you better by what you posted in the past. With that in mind post a link to your entries on this day three months ago, six months ago, nine months ago, a year ago, and two years ago. If there was no entry on that day, link the closest date.

3 Months Ago... Based on the networks fall scedules, I planned my fall TV viewing, and did another edition of the XET Diaries (about an online RPG I used to play)

6 Months Ago... I wished a happy birthday to

angelophile (Happy half-year birthday I guess that means!), and wrote about dinner with my mom who was visiting town for a short time.

1 Year Ago... (August 17th was the closest) I did another meme (envy meme) and it was New Comic Day so I wrote about that (and also I had a Gyro, which does not go without comment)

2 Years Ago... (19th was closest) Another New Comic Day, I had a dream about losing my shoes, and considered going to the Fan Expo 2004 (as it turns out, I did wind up going).

Book Foo!
Finished: Children of the Mind, by Orson Scott Card (reread)
Started: Ender's Shadow, by Orson Scott Card (reread)

Pretty much mostly vague non-spoilery thoughts behind the cut (plus the quote in the book that struck me on a tangent unrelated to the book).

Yeah, CotM really was where the series let me down, for a couple reasons. First a lot of solutions seemed to come out of nowhere rather than being organic to the plot (though much of this was carry over from Xenocide). Also, I never really could buy into OSC's conception of aiua's and how they work with the body. Just bounces off my suspension of disbelief. Finally, the story felt unfinished. Sure, some of the main plot points were resolved, but it felt like with others he just decided to stop rather than provide any resolution.

All in all it's like when you watch a TV show that has a compelling plot but really bad acting, or that's got great acting and drama but makes basic grade school science mistakes - I still enjoyed it for what it was, but I wish it could have been more.

The quote in the book that struck me most: It was better, she thought, to be able to select from the whole menu of human achievements than to be bound within one narrow range.

In the book the character is talking about going back and forth between ancient and modern traditions on worlds, but the quote encapsulates one of the big 'impossible yearnings' of my existence. I want to do so many things, but some I'm excluded by nature and others I want to do but I don't want to make it my whole life, or are mutually exclusive.

I want to be an artist, a rock god, a pauper, a prince, a president, a king, a revolutionary, a super spy, an astronaut, a caveman, a doctor, a lawyer, a writer, an actor, a producer, a hero, a villain, a thief, a police officer, a soldier, a healer, a don juan, a one true love, a traveller, a saint, a sinner, a father, hell, a mother, and so much more. I want to live in
every time from the past to the far future, including pasts
that never were, or futures that never could be (or should be).

But in my heart of hearts what I want is to be able to dip in here and there in each of these lives and not have any one be my whole life.

It's hard to call it unfair because I'm only bound by the exact same restrictions as every single human being since the beginning of time, but it just constantly depresses me that the closest I'll come to any of it is in my imagination (unless of course my ideal afterlife turns out to be true), such that even the ones that are achievable don't inspire me to try. I suppose that's why I spend so much time obsessing about fiction, because at least there I can hop from idea to idea. But imagination just doesn't satisfy most of the time.

And again, I realize I'm doing about the ultimate in whining here, as I'm effectively complaining that the nature of reality isn't structured more towards my whim, but hey, part of the reason I do this thing with choosing a quote is that it gives me an excuse to write about things that I wouldn't ordinarily write, and sometimes that means it's going to be pointlessly whiny.

No work social interactions to report alas, it seems pink girl might have shuffled off to a schedule that doesn't match mine.