Here's a bunch of stuff about me. It's very rambling and opinionated. If you get bored, skip to the next paragraph or something.
As of this writing, I'm a 26-year-old guy named Asa who lives in Portland, Oregon. I once received a degree in Computer Science from Ithaca College in New York, my home state. My hobbies include sitting at the computer for long periods of time, listening to music, and reading.
I like music a lot, just like the average young person. I've played bass clarinet and flute in various student music ensembles, and I hope to do similar things in the future. A little while ago I got a used bass guitar, and I've been trying to learn how to play that. The music I listen to is very diverse, from stuff you've definitely heard of to stuff you've definitely never heard of, much of which is not in English. Here's a big ol' list of musicians I like, with links to their Wikipedia articles:
I also like reading books, although I don't do it very quickly. Occasionally I write stories, but mostly I just think about writing them. Here's a list of authors I like:
About the name: I'd been using "Mandaliet" as my online name for a few years without knowing what it meant or how to pronounce it. It's from Carmina Burana, a collection of Medieval poems that were set to music by Carl Orff in the 1930s. The word is in the song Circa Mea Pectora: "Mandaliet, mandaliet, min geselle chumet niet." This is generally (and unhelpfully) translated as "Mandaliet, mandaliet, my lover comes not." I've been told that the word means "song of joy" in middle high German. Another possible translation might be "call forth a song". I think the correct pronunciation is MAN-da-LEET, although everyone seems to come up with their own pronunciation.
I'm just about as white as you can get. Perhaps I'm a bit effeminate, but I'm straight, although I'm okay with gay people. Politically, I'm very far to the left, much further than the Democrats (not that that's hard). I consider both major political parties in the United States to be horrible, shameful, disgraceful, evil, and many other bad things, so I try not to vote for them. To me, the greatest politician out there now is Ralph Nader, whom I voted for in the 2008 presidential election in spite of protestations and mockery by numerous alleged progressives who are terrified of going against the mainstream, as if the Democratic Party has any reason to pay attention to them if it will get their votes no matter what it does. Anyway, other old white guys whose political philosophies I tend to agree greatly with include Noam Chomsky, Howard Zinn, and Mike Gravel.
I don't know what "normal" is, but I'm fairly sure I'm not part of it. Some people say that there is no "normal", but I disagree; I think it exists, but it's not what most people think it is. There are many reasons why I don't think I'm normal. For one thing, I'm fine with not having many friends in person; most of my friends are online. Making friendships in person is not my thing. I'm very nervous around people, especially normal people. I didn't really have a girlfriend until I was almost 20, and that relationship lasted over 2 years. We met online but I visited her in person many times. Also, I'm currently living with a friend I met online and that seems to be going well.
Conversations with me tend to be difficult. I have a minor hearing impairment, and I don't speak very clearly, so there tends to be a lot of repeating going on. It's also often difficult for me to explain my thoughts coherently, although I notice that people often think they understand me fine when they really have no idea what I'm talking about. I have a lot of trouble remembering people's names, faces, indentities, etc., so don't be offended when I forget who you are.
I like cats.
I've met most of my online friends on various They Might Be Giants fan communities, LiveJournal, and Furcadia. Many Furcadia users are part of the furry fandom, and many are not. Furries generally are interested in anthropomorphic animals—in other words, fantasy animals with human minds and characteristics. They often create artwork and stories based on this, and some even make animal costumes and wear them. Furries tend to have the reputation of being obsessed with sex, but that's not true for most of them. Here's an article that explains them pretty well. I like the artwork, but otherwise I don't consider myself to be a furry, despite my interest in their culture.
Another thing that I think is unusual about me is that I hardly dislike anyone. I've gotten in arguments with people and lost friends but I still find it hard to dislike people, even if they seem to hate me. However, I do dislike certain groups of people—by which I mean groups they've chosen to be in. When people get into groups, they often lose their individuality and do things they wouldn't normally do, sometimes very bad things. I think individuality is the most important thing about a person, but people are too willing to give it up, at least in the US.
Speaking of the United States, I don't really like it. There are a lot of things I think are good about it, but they are outweighed by the negatives. I don't quite feel like getting into specifics, but I think this country is becoming the opposite of what it pretends to be. Of course, I can't know everything; I admit that I could be wrong about this and everything else I've ever believed, but it's hard to really know what's real. Another big reason why I don't like living here is that, according to me, it's pretty much impossible to be a part of American society without contributing to some sort of evil (and it's my opinion that you're naïve if you think you know about more than a little bit of the evil that goes on).
On the subject of recreational drug use: I don't think you should do that. I've never even been drunk, partially because I've seen what a life of drugs and alcohol can do to you. Still, it's your decision and I don't think they should be illegal. I also think it's absurd that the legal drinking age in this country is 21. People under 21 are going to get drunk no matter what the age minimum is, and having it illegal just makes it worse. I think the biggest problem with drugs is that they're illegal; if they were legalized, things like drug-related violence would basically go away. I'm not saying that there wouldn't be problems with the legalization of drugs, but I would prefer those problems to our current ones.
I value honesty. I try to be as honest as possible (partly because I'm just terrible at lying). I think we'd all be better off if everyone were able to just speak the truth all the time, but that's not how our society functions.
The end.
Last Update: December 5, 2009.