You wanted a picture? You are sick! ;)
i grew up in brisbane but now live in sydney. i like them both despite their faults.
i'm definitely a geek and i no longer consider it a bad thing - geek and proud! :) i work as a web developer. i'm a Standards Guy and take a relatively active role in the industry - i've spoken at conferences, i attend lots of industry events and so on. my interest in standards started a long time ago, back when we were struggling with netscape 4 (as we now struggle with IE6). by chance my rewording of the old WaSP upgrade page got used for a while - i've since been told it's impressive that i convinced zeldman to change it :) i'll get around to fixing the atrocious code on this site one day, really i will.
i wear a lot of black and identify with the goth/industrial subculture; not to be confused with emo (hint: even goths think emos are wet and need to get over it). i don't live my life in the subculture though and a lot of my friends are really definitely not goth. i generally don't have much in common with really mainstream types. not saying anyone's better, just that i've learned that not everyone's compatible - and that's fine.
despite the whole geek/goth thing i'm a mad rugby league fan (broncos supporter). i like cars too. a lot of people can't cope with the idea that i can be both geeky and blokey. that's pretty much their problem though - it took me a long time to accept the contradictions of my own personality, i'm not about to change it to make people feel better :)
my musical taste has been described as ecclectic. i mostly like industrial, trance and electronica. i also like goth, rock, 'eavy me'al, acid jazz, trip-hop, blues, soul, a little hip-hop and anything else which takes my fancy. i hate 99% of pop, especially talentless female wailers and shitty pop doof.
it's not a big deal or a moral stance; but i don't do trips, speed, e, or any shit like that. some people think that's weird (!). but consider the best advice i've had on the subject: if you're thinking of taking something, watch people who are on it. that removes the gloss from most substances ;) there's also the risk factor that you simply don't know who made the drugs or what they've been cut with - it's just not worth it. frankly if the music isn't enough to get me going, drugs aren't going to help. conclusion: seek good music.
i spent part of my childhood living in a large heritage-listed sandstone house; the rest on a deer farm near brisbane (about 40mins out on the highway). obviously growing up on a farm gives a different perspective on life than growing up in the suburbs. either way has compensations. (most of) my high school friends didn't lug haybales or fight a grassfire with a wet sack... i couldn't jump on a bus and go into the city, or even just walk up the street to hang out with friends - but then i didn't have to listen to the neighbours' music.
i lived at college for two years during university and i loved it. i lived at The Gap for a while and i'll probably move back there one day.
i eat meat (i will respect your choice as much as you respect mine). i believe in equality. i don't believe that "reverse discrimination" is justifiable. i laugh at the things i find funny, whether everyone else in the world would laugh or not. i'm straight (i guess i was just born that way). i don't like children, nor do i find your hellspawn "cute". i hate greedy multinational corporations, banks and telcos.
i have a tendency to type "i" in lowercase and i find it kinda strange that someone might get bored enough to read this information :)
Name: heretic. i do answer to it in real life but i don't insist on it. i don't especially like my real name and besides, it was way too common when i got into the goth scene so a handle made life easier :)
Some other names: cheshrkat, spaceman, deranged pygmie, thumper, t'grand masta. most of them are in-jokes, so don't worry that they don't make sense...
Born: 1978. thankfully i turned out to be Y2K compliant.
Relationship status: engaged.
Physical location: Sydney, Australia.
Occupation: Web Developer (ironically it doesn't leave me much time to work on this page).
Bit of paper: Bachelor of Arts (Journalism and Philosophy) from the University of Queensland.
What I can actually do: Web development, copywriting, editing, desktop publishing, basic marketing, "creative". I have a pretty strong interest in web standards and tend to spend a lot of time cursing and swearing at crap browsers.
Common pastimes (other than work): Wasting inordinate amounts of time on internet, reading, writing, listening to music, going to clubs/parties/coffee, wondering where all my time went.
Less-common pastimes: Black & White photography, playstation, paintball, industrial dj.
Websites I currently maintain other than this one: www.tycho.com.au, cheshrkat.blogspot.com, team random.
Likes: My friends (especially my girlfriend), without whom i'd have been locked up long ago by people in white coats. Good comedy. Good music. Good stereos. Writing. Fast computers; fast internet connections; technology that actually works. In fact, just about anything which is designed well. Trenchcoats. Cars which are cool without being dick replacements. ...plus a few things that I'll spare you from reading about here.
Dislikes: Public transport, fuckwits, pretentious gits, the Australian cultural cringe, Top 40 shit "music", being broke, gluttonous corporations. Not necessarily in that order.
Preferences (no, not *that* kind): Boots not shoes, night not day, winter not summer.
Music: industrial, goth, trance, triphop, acid jazz and many others. I can find at least one example that I like from most genres. Specific bands that I like (in no particular order): the cure, nin, pwei, snog, marilyn manson (early stuff), depeche mode, supergroove, dead can dance, prodigy, feeble's junky, pigface, custard, pink floyd, morphine, enigma, regurgitator, tom waits, leonard cohen, ministry, klute, björk, jamiroquai, garbage, chemical brothers, KMFDM, cubanate, covenant, man with no name, leftfield, iron maiden ('eavy me'al!), william orbit, project pitchfork, delerium, mc 900 ft jesus, velvet acid christ, the avalanches.... *runs out of breath*
Movies: The Blues Brothers (the greatest moofie ever made!), The Crow, the Star Wars trilogy, Aliens, Blade Runner - Director's Cut, Clerks, Pump Up The Volume, Jean De Florette, Manon Des Sources, Pulp Fiction, Reservoir Dogs, Unforgiven, James Bond movies, Papparazzo, Wall Street, Platoon, Cinema Paradiso, crappy vampire movies (eg Twins Of Evil), the Evil Deads, Jackie Chan movies, Blade, The Matrix... the list goes on a tad.
TV: D-Generation's THE LATE SHOW, Red Dwarf, American Gothic, X-Files, Red Dwarf, Liquid TV, Red Dwarf, The Maxx, Aeon Flux, The Goodies, Red Dwarf, Frontline, Ren & Stimpy, Red Dwarf, Northern Exposure, Twin Peaks, Hamish Macbeth, Pie in the Sky, Red Dwarf, Club Buggery, The Clive James Show, The Games (the satire, not the shitty athlete-worship show of the same name), Red Dwarf. Despite this list I really don't watch much tv; and even then it's mostly videos. I've found that if you don't have a TV guide you'll rarely think to watch the box.
Alcoholic drinks: Irish whiskey, scotch, bourbon, white rum - generally with cola. Premium beers. A good gin & tonic is about the best drink in the world in summer. Red wine (merlot or blends; but the preference is not particularly informed).
Non-alcoholic drinks: I rarely drink soft drink these days although we do go through San Pellegrino by the case. I'm a coffee snob - I like really good coffee (as in, I'll walk several blocks to the good coffee shop; we have our own espresso machine at home... etc). I drink loose leaf tea sometimes, particularly green tea.
Foods: I particularly love thai and italian. I also love the occasional yum cha or pub grub. I notably love noodles, especially thai noodles. Special mention to "Up And Go" breakfast drinks for greatly increasing my QOL.
Horoscopish Stuff: Libra; Horse; Enneagram Four. I get a different result every time I try the Kiersey temperament sorter (or maybe i just forget what i got last time, every time).
#!/hhof/heretic/
This introversion was last updated 2008.05.03
it's over. really. you need help if you read this far.