Entry for friending meme

[rattfan]

I decided to enter a friending meme friending-memes.dreamwidth.org/1083.html   but had trouble with the formatting, so decided to put my entry here and just include a link over there.  It was set off by the mass migration now happening from the Russian-controlled Live Journal but anyone can be in it.

General
Name/Nickname: Alex
Age or Age Group: 50's
Country: Australia
Pronouns: He/him

You

Single person, probably ACE, never did get the hang of relationships.

Do you have any hobbies?:   Reading [sf/fantasy/crime/horror]  I have a particular fondness for post apocalypse fiction.  Even though we’re sort of living in one. 

Writing [though rather in the doldrums atm]

Gardening.

Looking after my pet rats.  I’ve had rats for a very long time!

Riding my e-bike, Rocket.

RP gaming.

Ticket to Ride boardgame.

Do you have any interests, that wouldn't fall under a hobby?: 

SF conventions.  When they happen again!  I've been to more than I can count, despite living in WA, which has now been tagged as The Hermit Kingdom/aka North Korea after closing its borders for two years to keep out the plague.  Cons attended include eight Worldcons and one Dragoncon.

Photography [have an actual camera but no way expert.  Member of Crap Bird Photography]

Trying to sort out my diet to include both high cholesterol and bone density difficulties! 

Filk

Tracking what’s going on with the climate.

Disaster prepping.

Trans issues

Wicca

 

Any dislikes?:  Religious people who try to convert me without knowing I’m (a) trans or (b) Wiccan and therefore in the ‘burn at the stake’ category! 

Fanatical dog people.  I had a landlord who was such and it got very tiring.  I don't mean people who just have dogs for pets but rather those who talk about Nothing Else and expect one to be fascinated while they don't stop their creature from mining one's groin.

Our Prime Minister.  I will start swearing when he becomes the topic of conversation.

Badly behaved/screaming children. [I’m quite sensitive to noise, see anxiety]

Are you into fandom?: 

Not so much now.  Have been into Star Trek [Klingons!] and Babylon 5 [Psi Corps]  You may notice a trend.  These days I watch and enjoy a lot of stuff but don’t get serious about it.  I do have a fixation of sorts on Crowley in Supernatural but less about the show itself these days..  Last binge watch was Vikings and one of my rats is named Ragnar.  Since his species is the Norway Rat, I think this is quite appropriate!

What does your day to day look like?: 

Depends on the day.  I work part time so if that’s happening I ride the e-bike into the city and spend the day hooked up to a computer, transcribing courts.

If that’s not happening, I mess around online at home, take care of the place and garden, ride to do shopping/bookstores/library visits.  Some evenings there is a RP game at a friend’s place.  I ride there also.  Some Sundays there is another game via Discord.  Things are fairly quiet, even quieter now that our state is finally experiencing large COVID outbreaks.  We have been isolated for two years.  I chat to folk online and play Lexulous.  Some days I have to do what I call parental wrangling as my mother needs assistance.  Yes, despite being anti-trans, voting for the PM's party without thought and generally being a huge pain in my fundament.

Entertainment

What do you like to watch?

[From my DW bio]

I don't watch live television any more, except sometimes the news, but have moved online to follow shows. My growing list of favourites includes Supernatural, The Walking Dead, Fringe, Helix, Lost Girl, I Zombie, Sons of Anarchy, Outlander, The OA, West Wing, The Strain, 12 Monkeys, Homeland, Vikings, Babylon Berlin, Occupied, The Handmaid's Tale, The Blacklist, The Man In the High Castle, The Purge, Stranger Things.

What movies do you enjoy?

Can’t think of many in particular.  Only one I saw recently was the latest Dune remake, which was very good imho.  Felt odd wearing a mask to watch it, with the Fremen also wearing masks!   I don’t get into superhero movies at all;  they all seem the same to me.  Like cricket, I don’t get why they’re so popular. 

 
Do you play games? If so, what do you like?: 

Not into computer games at all.  I played Scrabble online until they wrecked it and then shifted to Lexulous, where I’m happy to take on all comers.  I play in person GURPS and an online Call of Cthulhu at the moment.  Also Cards Against Humanity with a few select and depraved individuals.

If you like to read, what do you read?: 

[From DW bio]

Space travel futures, alternate histories, apocalypse, dystopias [will read anyone who writes these well, plus a whole bunch of trashy zombie e-books!] Reading at the moment: Seanan McGuire, J.D. Robb, Jonathan Maberry, Joshua Guess (and plenty more).   I’m at Goodreads under my real name of Alex Isle if anyone is inspired to have a look!

 
What kind of music do you listen to? 

Folk music/filk, some traditional.  Not really up to date in this sphere at all!

Journal & Friending

What do you post about?:

Daily life.   History. [have studied international politics].   Some opinions about what’s happening further afield.  Books.  My rats.  Ranting about my job at the institution I refer to as “the gulag”  which is a court transcription company.  I am also an institution, having been there for 30 years this year.  Complaining about my mother, who is 90 plus and still tries to run my life.  She made things as difficult as possible during my transition.

I’m a published author, but as stated, this is becalmed right now.  Have written some Crowley fanfic on A03.

How often do you update?: 

Often daily or nearly so when on leave.  Other times it can be once or twice in the month.  Will answer comments fairly promptly.

What do you look for in a DW friend?: 

Somebody who posts interesting stuff and is into discussion.

What do you like to read about on your friends page?: 

The daily life of people from other places.  What you’re reading, what you’re watching.  What you’re thinking.

Do you have any kind of friending policy?: 

Not that organised.  A lot of my journal is friend-locked;  especially angsty posts when I am depressed/anxious or else when I’m ranting about my job and don’t want to risk them seeing it.  If anyone wants to check out my full journal,  let me know.  I’ll add you temporarily and then no worries if you don’t want to stay.  I actually moved over from LJ as soon as Russia took it over, being most uncomfortable with the official views.

Do you have any deal-breakers?: 

Anyone who’s anti-trans, being as I’m transmale.   Anyone who is too politically correct, as in will jump on me for ‘incorrect’ comments.  I don’t have to always agree with you or you with me;  it would be weird if one always agreed with everything one’s friends said or thought.

Is there anything others should know before friending?: 

I have depression and anxiety and sometimes worry about offending people without meaning to.  I actually miss lockdowns because they were so peaceful.  I especially enjoyed the lack of traffic.   This doesn’t mean I don’t get how damaging the lockdowns have been to our society.  It felt like a world better suited to introverts who may possibly be on the autistic spectrum.  I haven’t been diagnosed but when I was having therapy, my psychologist did agree that it was a possibility.

I’m a bit of a technological holdout.  It takes me a while to get hold of something and I have just been obliged to acquire my first smartphone [work security stuff] so I anticipate I might carry on a bit about that. 

I couldn’t suss out the formats for this friending so,  seeing that someone else had put a link to their own journal, decided to do the same.  Not many of my posts are public but some;  if you want to check out the rest, happy to add you so you can do so.

I did try to add a version of this to the meme:  If the creator finds it, I’m happy for you to delete it.  I would but I can’t locate it.