:: What's your avatar supposed to be? It feels like it should be a metaphor for something, but I can't figure out what. :: Is there anything you like to celebrate? (You can be as broad or specific as you like.) :: Did you ever videotape yourself making a snow angel?
It's a reference to the Mind aspect from the webcomic Homestuck. Heroes of Mind are said to understand "thoughts and decisions of individuals and the consequences of those decisions" as well as being closely tied to concepts of karma and justice. I like to think that it describes me pretty well. Also, the symbol for it looks pretty sweet and makes a nice avatar, but that's true of all the aspect's symbols. I celebrate all the traditional American holidays, but usually not with much enthusiasm. I'm not a fan of traditions in general. I put much more energy into smaller celebrations of more notable events. The guy I live with just got a job that pays more than his last one, so I buy a few gourmet cream sodas and we play smash bros for a few hours. We survived finals, so I make up a gallon batch of my secret recipe homemade spiced apple cider and we all watch anime until dawn. I celebrate more of the nontraditional events that are nonetheless important, and in doing so I try to keep the spirits up of those around me. I suppose, to some degree, it's also for me to feel better, too. It's too easy to forget to relax sometimes when you spend all of your time under an incredible amount of pressure to do more work and get ahead. It's important to relax and clear your mind to come back stronger. Yep. I did, and I regret it. I regret it so much. I know the link is somewhere on this site and I'm so embarrassed that I'm not going to help you find it, but it is on here somewhere.
Would you take the opportunity to become the PM or president if the opportunity presented itself? #MissingNo
Nope. Can't say I recall I time I had to do such a thing. If I ever was in such a situation, I wouldn't even bother trying to do such a thing. I'd just go find a different part that fits better instead of risking damage by trying to force something into place where it shouldn't be. It depends. I would absolutely do so, but on a few conditions. First, I would have to wholeheartedly believe I actually stood a chance at success, and also that I could do the job well. Secondly, I'd have to be certain that I can do the job better than the others who are also attempting to acquire the position. If I am given reason to believe that my rival would actually be a better fit for the position than I would be, I would step down and support them to assure their victory instead of mine. Third, I would tolerate absolutely no baseless slander of my opposition unless they are truly criminals that must be exposed. I won't stand for being represented by petty insults instead of factual information and honorable action. If those I represented turned out to be only capable of drawing lines and saying, "It's them versus us!" instead of coming together for a greater good, then I do not wish to represent those people or have them representing me, and I would withdraw from the position immediately.
Time for more. :: What's a puzzle you've been struggling with recently, and you haven't made much progress in trying to figure it out? :: What's your preferred form of exercise, and why? :: How much, if at all, have you looked into the field of 'game theory'?
Actually, I have a literal puzzle that I've been struggling with recently. It's a really neat puzzle of a giant red dragon protecting its hoard of gold, but it's infuriatingly difficult because all the pieces of the gold pile look the same, as well as most of the dragons scales pieces. I'm moving soon and preemptively packing up things here and there, and I imagine this will get put away soon so I can stop agonizing over it when I have finals coming up to worry about more. Ugh. I actually hate exercise. I make myself do it (I really need to do it more if I'm being honest, but my classes keep me busy) but I really, really don't enjoy it. When I do, I prefer using the exercise bike or treadmill while listening to music. I'm not big on lifting or doing any kind of crazy workout at the gym. I'm just in there to get my heart rate up for around two hours a week and to burn a few calories. I have looked into it only a little bit, but it is quite interesting how effectively it models and predicts many different types of interactions. It's a little bit out of the scope of the areas I tend to study and focus in, but it relates enough that I understand the basics of it.
Are you more likely to buy something ornamental or practical? Do you like to go fishing? Have you ever tripped over your own feet and fallen over?
It depends on my mood. Funny enough, the thing I consider my best purchase to date was both ornamental and practical. The lights in my dorm give off this incredibly bright, harsh, white glow that hurts my eyes and gives me a headache. I bought a strip of color-changing LEDs and about fifteen feet of soft yellow rope lights. I hung the rope lights from my ceiling with command strips and hooks, then stuck the LED around the underside of my bed frame. All of those lights connect at the same power strip that I connected to a handy button to turn them all on and off at the same time. I haven't touched my normal light switch in months now, and my room has a comfortingly soft, warm glow of ambient light all around it. Also, I can make the LEDs change color and can set the speed, so sometimes I blast heavy dubstep and make the lights rush through all the colors at high speed. It's a lot of fun. Anyway, back to the main point of your question. In general I prefer function over form, practicality over prettiness, usefulness before visual appeal. That said, I have a thing for posters. I have quite a large collection of wall scrolls and posters of various things that interest me and look nice. I sort of rationalize the decoration as "useful" in a way, as they make the space I live in more mentally engaging and interesting. Without my sense of decoration, my living space would be quite dull and I hate boring things more than anything else. So, in a way, even the ornamental things I own are for practical purposes. At least, I justify it that way in order to feel good about the purchase. I'm not really sure. The only times I've ever been fishing have been with my grandparents, and we don't exactly get along. That's putting it lightly. It's certainly soured the experience for me and due to that I find myself reluctant to even try without them around. Unfortunately I think they've ruined my ability to enjoy fishing. I trip over my own feet at least once or twice a day, but I've gotten very good at recovering at the last second and not falling down. I have little sense of balance, but very good reaction time. In the past I definitely fell down over nothing pretty frequently before getting good at reacting quickly.