...I finally caught up with FA:

300+ submissions -> 4 (music, will listen on proper speakers)
500+ journals -> 36 (mostly stuff I want to give a proper read to)

Remind me never to stop keeping up with FA for a week again. It seems to always take me about a month to properly catch up with the ensuing backlog. This is part of the reason I don't watch more people.

Courtesy of  midwayotter, I give you my responses to Midway's Motoring Meme:

So, I'm wondering what kinda stuff people do with their cars. Mostly this is an excuse to list the awesome shit you've done behind the wheel.
And it's an excuse to brag.
1. How fast have you piloted your vehicle?
Mine is governed at 125. I know this from experience.
2. How many tickets/outstanding warrants have you had?
I think I'm up to 7 tickets now, no warrants. I don't get done for speeding hardly at all any more, though - I figured the last time I got stopped for 92 in a 70 should be the last time I get stopped for 92 in a 70.
3. How many mpg over the EPA estimate have you gotten?
Regularly +4 city/+2-3hwy, but I've gotten as high as +7 highway.
4. Ever been airborne (all four wheels off the ground)?
Nope.
5. Run from the police?
Whyyyy? You get caught, take it like a man.
6. Race another obviously faster car just to see/hear it beat the snot out of you?
Pretty frequently.
7. Left late, arrived early?
I make it a point never to arrive early (read "I procrastinate a lot"). I have left VERY late and arrived on time, though. Many, many more times than I care to admit.
8. How many accidents?
When I was just off my learner's permit, I let my stepdad's truck drift into the ditch while I was trying to drive and eat ice cream with a spoon; slid into the back of a guy in the rain in my pickup once, that sucked; bumped into somebody panic braking in front of me in a construction zone on the freeway, but they didn't care; slid off a dry road once on a Surprise 35mph Exit Ramp; and hit a deer.
9. Done repairs yourself?
Oh, a few.
10. Done MAJOR repairs yourself (i.e. timing belts, water pumps, power steering, suspension work...)
Let's see. Timing belt three times now, water pump, power steering pump, alternator, A/C clutch bearing, driver's side halfshaft twice (never passenger's for some reason), front wheel bearings, one rear wheal bearing, rear brakes, front brakes (1. NEVER buy cheap pads, 2. DO buy ceramic pads), both e-brake cables, braided stainless soft-line set, full brake system bleed (boiling your brake fluid is BAD, kids), clutch (twice), engine mounts, trans mount, transmission entire (lost reverse gear, replaced trans w/ reman), clutch cable, pass. caliper carrier, front rotors (slotted, woo!), rear axle beam bushings (PAINFUL), full set of lifters, installed windage tray, aftermarket spark coil retrofit, both front balljoints, one inboard and both outboard tie rod ends, front control arm bushing set (HD rubber, woo!), shocks & springs (H&R/Bilstein, poly rear bushing kit, VERY woo!), rear swaybar, both headlights (remember that deer?), MissingLinkZ full shift linkage rebuild kit (you have no idea how close to awesome shifting a FWD car can be until you shift it with SPHERICAL BEARINGS), replaced UV-damaged steering wheel, rebuilt dead wiper switch while I was at it, replaced dead keyswitch while I was at THOSE, head gasket, #$*&ing coolant intake plenum, %^*&ing camshaft position sensor (buried in the distributor housing), repainted/polished intake mani, and...I think that's about it for the Golf.

Pulled the ENTIRE dash out of Warp's MkVIII during a snowstorm in St. Louis on a friend's driveway to change the blend door motor in his HVAC system. That was a riot. We had the car covered in a tarp, doors slightly open for ventilation, with a milkhouse heater running in the back seat.

Also of note, replaced the transmission output shaft bushing on a friend's Volvo 240DL in an awful hurry while we were on the way to NYC to start a banger rally in that car, just in time to drive through overnight to get to our hotel to start the rally. Later re-installed a throttle body retaining bolt after it backed out into the throttle linkage on the freeway (THAT was exciting), and later still had to re-solder a side tank back onto the radiator in a parking lot with a blowtorch. That whole experience was SO DAMN MUCH FUN, A+++, would run again!
11. Change your own oil?
Uh. Nope!
...yes!
12. Executed a J-turn (bootleg turn)?
Repeatedly, on the snow, in reverse. See also "lost reverse gear," from above - that turned out to be a bad idea in a late-production VW 020 manual transmission. Took a couple years after that for it to completely die, though.
13. Intentional use of handbrake (fwd) or POWER (awd/rwd) to go sideways?
Sooooooo many times, including hand-brake drifting around all four corners of a McDonald's, INCLUDING from the order board to the drive-thru windows. It was Oklahoma, they didn't really know what to make of that - they just knew to be afeared o' me.
14. Driven through a building (like a mall...)?
Yes, but I was driving a 10K center-articulating all-terrain forklift. Long story, but people were a) surprised I made it fit and b) walking out of the office in the building to immediately double over laughing that anyone had tried (and yes, I succeeded).
15. Put more than 100,000 miles on one vehicle?
Bought the Golf with 93k, it's got 241k on it now...
16. ...200,000miles?
...give it time.
17. Hit a pedestrian/cyclist?
Does it count if it was on purpose?
...nah, I'm playin'.
18. Intentionally dirtied up your vehicle?
One of the Only Good Things about Oklahoma: a nearby state park had nature trails in it for your car. SUPER GOLF RALLY TIME GO!
19. Have you ever stopped to help someone change a tire, give a stranded person a ride, or help them out of an accident?
Yes, yes, haven't come across anyone freshly crashed enough yet.

Now c'mon, FA, lemme see your drivin' chops.

Hotel: Either the Fairmont, or...well, I sorta live 20 minutes away.

Arrival/Departure: I live here! I may have time off, or I may not, we'll see, but either way...

Staying in the main hotel: Wasn't this covered already?

Means of transportation: I LIVE HERE. BUS, CAR, VTA TRAIN, SOMETHING GROUND-LEVEL.

Sharing a room with: Probably  Warphammer and  kyreeth

Who do you hang out with: Probably  Warphammer and  kyreeth and  Seneca and I don't know who else yet.

Gender: Dude

Preference: Ladies

Relationship Status: Oblivious

Open: Maaaaybe?

How old are you: 29

Are you an Artist: Define "artist." If your definition includes any sort of minimum productivity level, then NO.

Are you a Fursuiter: Very occasionally,  kyreeth lets me be a gryphon! Otherwise, generally not.

How many Fursuits are you going to bring/wear: An indeterminate number greater than or equal to zero.

Which Characters: [skip]

Any new suits or characters Debuting: [skip]

Attending parties: Dunno. Invite me to a party, and maybe!

Do you drink: I do, if I'm with people I trust.

Can I buy you a drink: If I know you, almost certainly. If I don't know you, give me a reason to trust you first.

Are you attending any panels: Too early to say for sure.

Stage or public performance: That's nightmare talk, that is.

How do I identify my self to you: Names work. Some idea of where I ought to remember you from is also helpful. I don't get out much in the fandom, so I will PROBABLY remember you, and if you have never met me before, I will probably remember you in the future! Just don't ask me to remember you FROM the future.

Rules of engagement (physical Contact out of Suit): I am EXTREMELY conscious of other peoples' space, but rarely very sensitive about my own (unless you're creepy). I will probably not initiate contact, but I totally do hugs (unless you're creepy!) and generally don't mind friendly contact.

Personality Type: I am generally a bit of an introvert, unless I'm with people I know pretty well. At cons, I'm either with people I know or I'm clammed up pretty good, but I'm usually looking for an excuse to come out of my shell. If you see me off being introverted, don't take that as a bad sign!

How do I know if you're not looking to socialize (angry, busy or upset): If I'm not looking to socialize, I'll either be tied up with an existing crowd already, moving too quickly to catch on an errand, or you won't be able to find me to ask. If I'm out, about, and not zipping past, chat me up!

Anything to add: Last year was my first FC, and I spent almost the entire time up helping out with the fursuit photos. Since the con photographer is my roomate (both at and away from the con), there's a really good chance I'll be up there helping out at least part of the time this year. If you can't find me and don't have my number, it wouldn't hurt to swing by the photo area! If you WANT my number, contact me out-of-band and I'll get it to you.

Your character's oddly-colored eyes now detract from their individuality. You can stop now.

Thanks.

I'm going to AC. I can't be there for ALL of AC, sadly, due to a wedding in North Carolina that I don't want to miss, but I'll be there for part of it! My flight out is Saturday kinda early-evening.

• Where are you staying?
The Westin.

• What day are you getting there?
Thursday morning! Taking an overnight flight out from San Francisco.

• Who will you be with?
Most likely I'll either be part of the mob surrounding Fizz, or with Warp, or...eh, I dunno. Most of you who'd read this have my phone number, so call or SMS if you wanna hang!

• Do you do free art?
• Do you do trades?
• Do you do commissions?
These three share one answer: I'm not really an artist.

• What is your gender?
I'm a dude.

• Can I talk to you?
Yes! Yes, you can.

• Can I touch you?
Yes! Er, well, mostly yes. I tend to be very conscious of other peoples' space, which I think makes me come off as a bit hands-off, but I care almost none at all for my own. I don't bite, but do be aware that if it's a bad touch, you may find yourself suddenly airborne or lying on the floor.

• Can I hang out with you?
Yes!

• How can I find you?
Text me! If it's urgent, call me instead. Either way works, really.

• Can I buy you drinks?
Sure? I'm still new to this whole alcohol thing, though, so I don't do that much drinking unless I'm with the right people.

There's sort of a problem one has with being an author. An illustration: I posted a story, then a revision, then a few months later, my Likeshine badge of Archai. Within two weeks, the badge had as many views as the revised story, and as many favorites and comments as both versions of the story combined.

Granted, I'm not one of the world's great authors, and I'm don't mean to whimper and say "oh boo hoo, go read my story PLEASE," but I do think there's something (very slightly) deeper at work, here. Culturally, we have created a media environment for ourselves where everything's pre-digested into imagery or video and we can pick up the subject matter at a glance and quickly move on. Writing, or other forms of less easily digestible media, require a great deal more effort from the reader and as such are harder to get people to really have a good look at - because you can't have a good look without giving up ten minutes of your life to stare at a screen.

Possibly one of the take-aways from this realization should be that on next revision, Departure gets a hook set somewhere within the first paragraph and a flow that justifies sticking around WITHOUT asking one to read halfway through it, to where the good part starts.

Also, meme!

1. ( ) Have you ever howled at the moon?
2. ( ) Have you ever barked at someone? Gryphons don't bark.
3. (1) Have you ever found yourself drawing or scribbling furry art when you're supposed to be doing something else?
4. ( ) Have you ever worn an animal costume or tail as a child and pretended to be an animal?
5. ( ) Have you ever eaten out of a dog bowl? What the fuck? Who HAS?!
6. (2) Have you been to at least one furry con?
7. (3) Do you like to look at furry porn all the time? I'm on FA, so...
8. (4) Do you RP or play second life as a furry character?
9. ( ) Do you own a fursuit or at least a tail?
10. (5) Do you know what all these words mean or have used them at least once?
11. ( ) Do you have at least 5 videos of you acting or doing something furry on youtube?
12. ( ) Has your fursona/character been drawn in a furry porn type manner?
13. ( ) Are you well known in the furry fandom?
14. (6) Do you dream furry while you sleep? Does the flying dream count?
15. (7) Would you transform into your character/fursona if you were given the chance to live like that for the rest of your life?
16. ( ) Have you ever worn a collar?
17. ( ) Do you own more than 20 art badges of your fursonas or characters?
18. ( ) Have you been to more than 20 furry cons in your lifetime?
19. ( ) Do you think that deep down you have the spirit of an animal within you?
20. (8) Do you enjoy hanging out with other furries?
21. (9) Do you think we should have a furry run for president of the USA?
22. ( ) If you ever became rich would you own a room in your house that was just to display your fursuits or furry art?
23. (10) Is your best friend furry?
24. (11) Do your furry friends call you by your furry name in public?
25. (12) Have you been in the furry fandom for at least 5 years?

1 to 5 = Furry wannabe.
6 to 10 = Furry newbie.
11 to 15 = Furry.
16 to 20 = Hardened Furry.
21 to 25 = Hardcore Furry.

Result - 12. Whee.

Stolen from  EenyuWolf!

1.Are you single or taken?
Single.

2. Chocolate or flowers?
I can eat myself sick on chocolate. Flowers too, come to think of it, but it takes fewer flowers.

3. Will you do anything special for Valentines Day?
Nope.

4.Do you like anyone?
I like lots of people!

5. Were you dating anyone last Valentines?
Nope.

6. What would be your dream Valentines date?
I dunno, I've never dreamt one.

7. Do you make a big deal about Valentines?
I do not.

8. Have you ever had a secret admirer?
Yes, if you count a note I got in high school this one time.

9. Would you ever write someone a love letter?
Someone I was in love with, perhaps.

10. Do you believe in Cupid?
Uh. Metaphorical Cupid? Sure. Literal? Heh.

11. Do your parents give you presents on Valentines?
Not generally.

12. Do you still send out Valentines cards?
No.

13. Do you like candy hearts?
To a fault.

14. Flowers or chocolate?
I inherited my mother's brown thumb. Chocolate is safer in my presence than flowers are. It's already brown.

15. Is Valentines day depressing?
Not on account of being Valentine's Day. My life is a dark hole filled with despair normally, though...
/emo

16. How do you feel about PDA?
I think they've largely been supplanted by the smartphone.

17. How is your love life?
Nonexistent!

18. Have you ever been dumped on Valentines?
Never. Is it anything like being dumped in a snowbank? I'd imagine Valentines would be bouncier to land on.

19. How many roses would you want?
How many roses feel lucky today?

20. Will you have a boyfriend/girlfriend next year?
Uhhhh. Is it just me, or is anyone who would try to answer this question either severely jaded or a weeeeee bit stalkerish? I'm neither. Ask me next Valentine's day.

Ganked from  EenyuWolf, because she's cool. Seriously, I've met her. And no, not even the mighty white gryphon can resist the sweeping sensation that is The Furry Meme.

*Are you a furry?
Yes.

*If you have a Spouse/SO - Is he/she a furry too?
I haven't got either one. I will say this, though: she would have to be nuts enough to be a furry to be up for serious consideration!

*How long have you been in the community?
Uh...wow, little over ten years now.

*How did you find furry?
I ran across it on a mostly unrelated random internet search, and then got stuck surfing all this cool art. What cemented it was also finding Watts Martin's excellent short novels about the same time, which I then devoured during every available spare moment I had for a few weeks.

*What's your reason for furry (what interested you to get into the community)?
The people, and the vast amounts of creativity. I have never seen another group of people anywhere in the world that was this creative.

*What's Furry to you?
This is really hard to answer. I think it's probably safest to say it's the culture surrounding the art.

*If someone found out you're a furry and asked you about it how would you respond?
That would depend on who it was! If it were somebody I didn't think was part of the fandom, by tradition, I'd lock up like a deer in the headlights. This is mostly because the only time it's happened recently it was a couple of /b/tard coworkers who hit it on a shot in the dark. I really have no interest in becoming an item of derision in my workplace, particularly since it's currently not one I can leave if I want.
Outside of that scenario, the response would be something more like "Yeah, actually, I am. And depending on where you heard of furries, no, I'm not like that. Neither are most of the people I know."
If it were another furry, the response would be way, way more enthusiastically yes.

*What are your favorite aspects of our community?
The way it IS a community, and the fact that there's peer pressure within it to do something creative.

*Do you use any furry terms? (i.e. yiff, paws, murr?)
Every once in a great while. If I'm speaking in a quasi-IC setting, yes, sometimes.

*What do you wish furry was NOT associated with?
Publicly? Sex. It's not that I don't like sex in the fandom - quite the opposite, in fact - just that publicly, it seems to be about ALL we're associated with. This whole thing is just far too cool to be relegated exclusively to the closet.

*How strongly do you feel about someone bashing the community as a whole?
Most answers I've seen are along the lines of "we bring it on ourselves." I think that about sums it up for me, too.

*How strongly do you feel about anyone bashing you yourself for your interest based on the media's aspect of what furry is?
It won't surprise most people to know that this can get me pretty aggravated - more aggravated the more closed-minded the basher is. People can get a little crazy and a little deaf that way.

*We all know furries have a lot of sexual aspects in this fandom, What's your opinion on it?
We're a subculture born of the internet, and it's a well-known fact that The Internet is For Porn. It shouldn't be awfully surprising, but I do wish people wouldn't keep dragging their fetishes out with them when they represent the fandom.

PERSONAL

*What is/are your fursona(s)?
Big white shapeshifter gryphon (who doesn't shapeshift much). Quadrupedal, answers to Archai or Arc (but not Arch! It's pronounced with a hard C!).

*Do you have any fetishes that pertain to the fandom?
It is my strongly held opinion that there are no fetishes that pertain to the fandom with the exception of fursuit sex, so no. Everything else we collectively are into has analogs in purely human porn. Oh, wait, I guess there's anthro/human pairings. That would make it yes, then.

*If you could magically morph into your fursona would you?
Yes.

*Do you believe you have a spirit animal?
If I do, it likes to dress up like a human.

*What other fanbases/groups are you a part of?
I'm a car geek and a part-time plane nut and an armchair engineer.

*Anthro/Feral, Therian or Kemonomimi (Not a furry, just a human with animal ears and a tail)?
A group of nouns with a question mark does not a question make. Geez, this one's retarded. Uh, therians can be super weird, but some of them are neat.

*Are you a fursuiter? If yes, how many do you own? If No, do you ever plan on being a suiter?
No, none, and yes, respectively.

*How many of your friends are furry?
Most of them.

*How many pets do you own, if any?
None. Being military and single makes it hard to own a pet.

*Aside from furry what other interests do you have?
I think we covered this one already.

*Are you confident enough in yourself to say that you're a fur, no matter what the media says?
Yes and no. I've "come out" to friends of mine that I was reasonably sure wouldn't freak out, and that has yet to go badly. Generally I'll self-ID to just about anyone inside the fandom because there's a much lower chance they're going to have a drastically different idea of what the fandom's about than mine; outside the fandom I'm a little more careful, because saying "hey I'm a furry" has a much higher chance of making someone think I boink animals and/or want to have sex with mascots.

MEETUPS

*Do you attend any cons? If no, would you attend any cons? If yes, which cons have you been to?
Yes, yes, and MFF and AC. Actually, this'll be the first year since '05 that I'll miss an MFF, but I've only been to AC one year. I intend to be at FC this year for the first time. I have yet to have a con be OTHER than massively fun and awesome, and I think cons alone would almost be enough reason to stay in the fandom if all other motivations left.

*Do you go to local meetups(bowling, public outings...etc)?
It's been my experience that local meetups, unless you happen to live in a really cool area, are FAR more hit-or-miss than online or long-distance meetups. You tend to end up more with a raw ratio of cool folks to weirdos, where drive-to-meets are more selective about who and not so much about where. Local meets are good for finding cool people near you to hang out with, but not so good in my experience for hanging out in general.

*Have you ever attended a furry party? If no, would you attend one?
Yes, and yes. It was okay; it was a somewhat more selective gathering of locals, and there were some pretty neat people there, but I wasn't very familiar with more than one or two of them. That made it a bit awkward.

ONLINE

*Have you ever met up with a fur you talked to online?
I've met up with MOST of them!

*What furry websites do you attend?
FA's the big one. I think you can almost count LiveJournal these days.

*What non furry websites do you frequent?
LiveJournal, and my family keeps pestering me to get a FaceBook, so I'll probably be there too in a bit. I also periodically haunt DailyKos.

*Has the fandom done anything for you that you're thankful for? Has it taught you anything or brought you anything you treasure greatly?
It's introduced me to some wonderfully cool people, and more than anything else I've been a part of in my life has kept me moving and motivated. It's brought me out of my shell in a lot of ways, and taught me that it's okay to do the little crazy things that make you happy but are not otherwise considered sane.

This was originally a response to a string of journals by  turbinedivinity, but I realized it stood almost well enough on its own. It's a bit involved, but it also explains in pretty good depth the whole problem I have with furry in general getting painted as a kink, and also with people pushing the "furry's a kink! Just ACCEPT IT!" viewpoint. I figured it might be worth a posting here.

---

Call me crazy, but I just can't work up all that much ire over the attacks. In a sense, I even have to admit it's a relief to see the fandom actually show itself capable of ostracising someone, but it's the same sense in which it's a relief to see a bloody revolution in an oppressed country - it's horrific, but there's an odd sort of comfort that comes with knowing a society is still at least healthy enough to excise its own cancers. So. I don't condone the rabid attacks, and I'm not about to say ChewFox was a cancer on the fandom - small harmless cyst, perhaps - but I had started to believe it couldn't happen.

But I also don't find it particularly hypocritical to bag on ChewFox. Wait, wait, I have reasons for this.

Yes, everyone - EVERYONE - in furry gets a little crazy when it can has be sexy tiems, but that's hardly surprising because everyone at all - AT ALL - gets a little crazy when it can has be sexy tiems, and furry kinks - here's a radical assertion - are not unique to furry. With possibly the sole exception of 'suit sex, macro, latex, BDSM, TG, TF, castration, tickling, sneezing, WHATEVER, are also found in perfectly human circles. But extrapolate from that in two directions.

First, that furry is not about having better or more frequent sexy tiems. If it were, the fur would be pretty damn extraneous; we're all (other than the tiny fraction that's really into 'suit sex) into things that you can get way more into (or at least into a larger practising community) as a normal human being. Yes, there's some pretty heavy interest there, but there's some pretty heavy interest in normal society. We're not unique that way, and given that, one could as easily say that being an Anime fan was about the sex, or that being a truck driver was about the sex, or a cowboy, or a sci-fi nut, or...I mean, pick a subset of humanity, and the label will stick, at least a little bit. Biologically, being HUMAN is about the sex.

But that doesn't ring entirely true, does it? Obviously if you go to a plumber's convention and assert that plumbing is all about the sex, you'll be laughed out of the room. Even though the attendants may be proportionally no less interested in boning things than an equally sized group of furries, nobody in their right mind would make that assertion. Why? Because - and this is the second bit - being a plumber isn't about the sex, and they keep the two separated.

What furry is about is escapism. Life gets annoying or you get aggravated or you're just plain not having enough fun, and it becomes much more interesting to say fuck it, I'm going off to be a bipedal fox for a while. And while you're off being a bipedal fox, what else might be fun? Oh, right, boning things. Hey look! Consenting adults!

So there is a separation there. If you'd rather go off and do something else - say, be a bipedal fox in space - that's just fine, too. But it's the bipedal fox part that people have trouble with, really. People just don't GET that. It's not really something that follows logically. If it were just textual intercourse, that'd be fine, but being a fox is weird. But as soon as someone leans over to another person whose head is exploding with the concept of going off and being a fox for a while and says "it's a sex thing," a little light comes on, they go "ahh," and you can see revulsion slide across their face, because this is just weird and wrong.

So basically here's the problem. Furry has sex IN it, like every other group of people on the face of the planet does, but that doesn't mean that's what it's about. It should be okay (if quirky) to be furry. It should be okay, furry or otherwise, to like sex, even weird sex. But you should be able to separate the two. Since we're a little more open, and increasingly explained as a perversion, that's getting really hard to do, and most of furry is externally visible. Oh shit, suddenly, that makes us those strange people who can't keep it in the bedroom (whether we actually are or not)

And I say all that basically to say this. People who can keep the bedroom bits in the bedroom and the normal bits in the open making fun of someone who cannot keep the bedroom bits in the bedroom, and therefore gets furry interpreted as a bedroom thing with no normal bits at all, are not hypocrites. They are people being angry that their genuinely awesome passtime is getting painted as a kink, so that it is impossible for them to be seen as part of it without also being seen as a bizarre deviant (even though, relative to larger society, they ain't). They may have a closet full of every product Zeta Creations or Bad Dragon has ever offered, but as long as they're not proudly on display in the living room or worn about town as a necklace, and as long as that's not all the fandom is to them - basically, as long as they're keeping the bedroom bits in the bedroom - there's no hypocrisy there.

Thiefded from  Cubi, who is awesome and I watch and you should too but who doesn't know me from Adam.

Also, I might eventually do a journal that isn't a meme. Mostly I do that on eljay, though.

A - Age: 28

B - Bed size: Twin.

C - Chore you hate: I don't chore. I despise all chores. I have to resort to lifehacking to get chores done at all.

D - Dog's name: [empty set]

E - Essential "Start Your Day" item: Get dressed. And that's about it, too. Sometimes there are PopTarts involved. I have an exceptionally short morning routine: I get up, I get dressed, and I go to work. Mornings and I don't get along very well, so we avoid one another as much as possible.

F - Favorite color(s): Next time a bad thunderstorm rolls over, look up and find the darkest blue patch of clouds you can. That's the color.

G - Gold or Silver: Silver, mostly. Gold's nice, but alone, it's too gaudy. I've discovered silver and copper complement one another exceptionally well, too. We need to give less expensive metals their due.

H - Height: 6' and a wee bit.

I - Instruments you play: Spectrum Analyzer, Multimeter, Oscilloscope, Frequency Counter. (more seriously, I took some piano lessons from Mom when I was little, but mostly, I sing or whistle or bang on things.)

J - Job title: Satellite Communications Technician. The spelling is deceptive - the way you pronounce that in the military is "hey can you come fix this," for many, many values of "this."

K - Kids: Yes! Just not right now. I hear it takes more than one person to produce children, so right now that would be really difficult.

L - Liquor, Beer or Wine: I don't generally drink. This doesn't mean I won't or don't enjoy it, just that left to my own devices, I don't seek out alcohol. However: I've tried to like beer, and hunted through a wide variety to find one I like, and I can't. Tolerate yes, like, no. I can enjoy wine somewhat, and the jury's still out on liquor.

M - Mom's name: Carmen.

N - Nicknames: TechMan, McLovin, Archai, Arc or Arcy (but never Archie because if you call me Archie, AHKEEYOO), occasionally Gryph, and once for about a week in high school, Orgasmic (long story).

O - Outie or Innie: Innie.

P - Pet Peeve: Incompetence in authority, people who try to do logic with emotions*, Oklahoma drivers.

Q - Quote from a movie: "I don't think you get it. I'm not locked in here with you, YOU'RE LOCKED IN HERE WITH ME!" --Rorschach, The Watchmen. If you haven't seen it, do.

R - Right or left handed: Right handed, slightly ambidextrous. And I don't know if this counts for anything, but for a couple months in high school I cultivated the ability to write backwards with my right hand.

S - Sibling(s): 5 sisters (1 blood, 3 step, 1 step in-law), 4 brothers (1 step, 1 soon-to-be-in-law, 2 step in-law)

T- Time to get up: About 20 minutes before I have to be at work, and I walk to work right now.

U - Underwear: Generally, yes.

V - Vegetable you dislike: To my unending dismay, my lifelong abhorence of any cooked vegetable that was not corn disolved into a grudging respect sometime in the years after I graduated high school. I can eat and occasionally enjoy most cooked veggies now; raw vegetables and I have always been tight.

W - What makes you run late: Procrastination, last-minute things, and "just five more minutes" on snooze.

X - X-rays you've had: One when I was a little kid for some weird nausea I was having, a whole mess of dentals (two or three with the nifty wrap-around machine!), and once at the emergency room about a month before this deployment for some chest pains I started getting during PT. Smallpox vaccine side-effects.

Y - Yummy food you make: Hell's Own Grilled Cheese, and Not-Quite-Reubens.

Z - Zoo favorite: Hmm. Some birds, otters, big cats.

*Emotions are a great and wonderful part of the human experience and should never be denigrated. They are, however, something to feel with, not something to think with. Although emotions frequently do and indeed should inform our thought, they should not determine our lines of reasoning for us.

So here it is, my official first use of my FA journal. Ta-da. At the behest of midwayotter, it's a meme! Go on, fill it in. Alternatively, give me a great excuse for why you can't be bothered right now. That'll be nearly as good!

1) Who are you?
2) Are we friends?
3) When and how did we meet?
4) Would you kiss me?
5) Give me a nickname and explain why.
6) Describe me in 1 word.
7) What was your first impression of me?
8) Do you still think the same?
9) What reminds you of me?
10) If you could give me anything, what would it be?
11) How well do you know me?
12) Are you gonna put this in your journal and see what I say about you?
13) Would you meet up with me?