browngirl was kind enough to select seven of my interests for me to talk about. If you ask me to, I'll do the same for you.- alton brown -- He's cute, he's geeky, he doesn't take himself seriously, and he cooks. What's not to like?
- childfree -- Simply put, I'm not fond of children. I was never very good at being a child when I was one, and I have never wanted children of my own. I label myself as childfree as a statement and as a sort of courtesy. The statement is, "Yes, dammit, I am selfish. I prefer not to take on the responsibility of raising a child and being responsible for it 24/7/365.4." The courtesy is dual: first, it warns off people who are going to be horrified by that attitude; second, it makes the distinction that I recognize some women desperately want to have children and are unable to do so. (I will note that some of my friends have had children who come across, at least on LJ, as not-awful and maybe even tolerable. For short periods of time when they're in good moods.)
- gender-blind marriage -- I admit that I was rather taken aback by the concept of homosexuality when I was first made aware of it, but that was a long damn time ago. Once I realized that people I knew and respected and cared about were gay, I started wondering why in the world marriage should be limited to apparently opposite-sex couples. I have come to believe that marriage exists in two forms: a religious sacrament for those who believe in it, and a civil contract with vast benefits. I see no reason whatsoever why the civil contract should not be available to anyone who wants to sign up for it.
- long hair -- I'm moderately stubborn. I have resisted for 28 years the people who have told me "You should cut your hair, it'd be so much cuter," and "You have to cut your hair, long hair is unprofessional," and "What do you mean you never cut your hair?! You have to trim it regularly or it'll all fall out!!!!!!!" (Well, okay, no one has threatened me with it falling out, but close.) I had short hair for nine years: from just before fifth grade until I graduated from high school. I hated it. I looked even dorkier than I do now, and it was a right royal pain in the ass to take care of. When it was short, I had to get it cut and permed every six weeks, I had to use hot rollers and blow dry it and use a curling iron. Long? Never cut it, just wash it, condition it, and braid it before bed. In the morning I brush it out and put it up with a hairstick that fatfred gave me (before that, I used a pen). I admire long hair on women, and I love it on men too.
- microsoft excel -- Honestly, I think Excel is one of the best things ever to come out of Redmond. I like Access, but find Excel much friendlier. I love Pivot Tables for cross-tabulating data. I love subtotals for doing just that, automagically. I really, really love Data | Text to Columns, because I frequently need to pull just part of the information out of a cell. I probably use Excel for things that I should be doing in Access, but oh well.
- pronoia -- I think I was introduced to the concept of pronoia by Rob Brezhny. It's "the suspicion the Universe is a conspiracy on your behalf." I tend to be rather more cynical than that, but I keep reminding myself that, well, thought is a kind of force, and belief can change the world.
- renaissance faires -- Ren Faires have many of the advantages of SF cons: people in interesting garb who don't mind being stared at, interesting things to do, and cool stuff to buy, with one additional benefit: much better food. *grin*