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[Liz]

Ah curses. There goes my evil plan to seduce Dovey and steal his heart while he is on a whirlwind trip to America. Also, if you stop here I offer floor space. There is room for one more in my bed, if you catch my drift.

[Ballard]

Dovey, I don't live in Fargo and will not try to force you and your girlfriend into a menage a trois. These are things to consider when planning your trip!

Basically what I am saying is NYC is a fun place.

[yelley]

Ah curses. There goes my evil plan to seduce Dovey and steal his heart while he is on a whirlwind trip to America. Also, if you stop here I offer floor space. There is room for one more in my bed, if you catch my drift.

man. guys can we switch this? shouldn't liz be the internet predator now? really, all i ever do is steal a jason now and then... liz just goes after all of them!

also jonas... that bit about being younger than all your peers and trying to compensate for that... that was me too. i skipped kindergarten when i was 5, so by the time all my friends were driving i was still 14. by the time all my friends were out at the bars i was still 19. totally lame.

[Bushbr]

i know what its like, i hang out with alot of older people too,

lucky for me i look like.. 5 years older than i actualy am, so its not as huge of an inconvienence

[Liz]

Yelley I don't go after all the boys, just a select few. Also I think we are kind of both the internet predators?

[tania]

oh come on yelley and jason have been living together for like FOREVER. she hardly counts as a predator anymore.

[Verergoca]

Hi Darr!

I am Erik, born on the 15th of august in the good year 1985. This makes me 23. Soon i will be very close to a quarter century. This fact frightens me quite a big lot.

Other things that make me worry, is the fact that i am currently working on my graduation project in Aquatic Ecotechnology, (kinda Bsc lvl, exept ill get to call myself Engineer (as in, the title)). Im kinda looking at getting a jorb that combines working for the government (i love a 36hr workweek), with Urban Watermanagment and some environmental engineering. Luckily, here in ye olde dutchlandia, such jobs are relatively sought after. Itll be awesome

Anyway, im out of beer, so time to hit this post button, and get me a new one

[sean]

Will (Pack of Wolves)

Man what happened to this guy? He was a really good dude.

And mr david dovey not all of us teenagers are whiny >=(

[The Voice]

Dear Internet,
   My name is Jason, I am 22 years old and have posted on and off since about 2006.  I origionaly posted as someotherguy until I was preyed upon by yelley.  I then stopped posting for a long time for some reason or another.  Recently I decided I should start posting again so I opened up this account because I did not like my old account name.  I only like this one slightly more but count not think of anything better.

  I currently live in California with yelley.  I work as a courier for a food testing lab.  I am also going to school for I don't know what yet.  I have also met quite a few forum members in real life.  I am not a very interesting person.

[KvP]

Yeah, I'm John. 22 years old, attending a public university in northern Colorado. I was asked to join this forum by a friend from another forum, who was going to join but never did. So I'm in the somewhat unfortunate position of being part of a webcomic forum despite finding webcomics to be dumb.

I am in school for political science. It's pretty okay, don't know if it's what I want to do for a living. I like electronic music almost exclusively these days. I started making music with Reason about 2 months ago and it's pretty fun but it's fairly simple at this juncture, due to my complete lack of prior musical training. At this point my aspiration is to send out a demo to a label, Warp or Planet Mu or something, which is just another way of saying I'd like to have 3 or 4 high quality songs.

[Dazed]

Yelley I don't go after all the boys, just a select few. Also I think we are kind of both the internet predators?

There be enough prey on the tubes for all of ye.

[Ozymandias]

Yelley I don't go after all the boys, just a select few. Also I think we are kind of both the internet predators?

Liz, I think there is someone at the door for you.

[mooface]

ugh you guys already know way too much about me.

all you need to know here is that i am a fucking BADASS. 

(plus i stopped reading your posts halfway through the second page because they are way too long so i figured i would keep it short and sweet, i am not that interesting anyways)

[Inlander]

Pfft, I gave up long before that. Let me know when somebody performs and records a self-penned rap lyric in answer to this thread.

[mietteissass]

Dia duit Darryl,

It is me, the one that goes by Miette on this forum. Though it is not my first name, it is a nickname that I am rather fond of, meaning "lil crumb". It fits me well since I am only 5'1 and possess some of the traits of both my parents. I am now 27 and living life to the fullest in New Orleans, married to the man of my dreams and raising to incredible girls. I also own a coffee shop which is amazing.


Growing up, I had many great experiences. I have lived on 6 of the 7 continents. I have met people and have seen things that have changed my life for the better. I have danced in the sand in Egypt and have danced in the rain of the amazon. I have kissed a prince, bowed to a shaman and laughed at conjoined twins.

I graduated high school at a younger age then most and attained a masters in classics, which we can all see I am putting to good use

I have had many jobs in my life. I was an exotic dancer, a receptionist, a dog walker, a babysitter. I have modeled. I have entertained and I have been bored at work.

Life gets better each year and I can't wait to see what it brings to me in the future.

There, now you know a lil more about me. If you have any questions, im always aroung somewhere.

Miette

[jhocking]

oh come on yelley and jason have been living together for like FOREVER. she hardly counts as a predator anymore.

Once you earn a reputation, it tends not to change unless you move away to attend college in a different state.

[onewheelwizzard]

Hello!

My name's Joe.  I'm 21.  I'm 5'8'', 140lbs, dark-haired, and usually bearded.  I hold a BA in psychology from the University of Pennsylvania but I have not yet gotten a job in which that is a factor.

I am an extremely happy person.  I am also in the habit of having conversations with people about things that really matter in their lives, quite a bit more than the average person would expect.  I like to think that this combination raises the general level of self-awareness and comfort among the people around me ... it's certainly my intention to do so.  On the flip side of this, I am sometimes considered annoying by people who have known me for a long time because I tend not to shut up about feelings and that sort of thing.  I'm pretty steadfast in my pursuit of a healthier, more conscious community of people around me, and that can grate on people sometimes if they consider my "let's all improve ourselves/each other!" efforts to be "work" or something like that.  I have a lot of fun with it myself, but I sometimes come off like a therapist and I hate that.

I identify as an psychedelic drug enthusiast in the sense that they are extremely important in my life and I take them very seriously.  I probably know more about drugs in general than most people you've ever met.  I have done a great deal of research in and out of school (I did my psych assignments on drug-related topics whenever I could) and I think there is a great deal of potential in psychedelic medicine.  It's something I talk about often and care about a lot.

I really like dancing.  I will dance virtually anywhere, anytime, to anything.  The more people dancing with me, the better.  The fact that I have taken drugs at dance parties has a lot to do with this.  I attend the Burning Man festival every time I can (this coming Burn will be my 3rd since I started in 2007) and it is a really important part of my life, and the reason why dancing is so important to me.  I consider it sacred in a way that most people probably would not understand.

I'm a huge nerd, in that I work for a summer camp that is based around LARPing, I am an active player of Magic: the Gathering, and I will not shut up about science fiction if you let me start talking about it.  I am exceptionally interested in science fiction that has to do with interesting ideas about consciousness manipulation and variation (Philip K Dick being the gold standard example), or chaos.

I'm kinda of a goddamn dirty hippy, if you haven't gathered.

[onewheelwizzard]

Aw thanks!

[Drill King]

Hello!

My name's Joe. I am basically one of Andy's favorite people that she has never even talked to based upon this description

Dia duit Darryl,

Me too!

Miette

[Jawshooah]

Hey, people I've never talked to before. I'm Josh. I suppose I'm pretty much a newb around here, considering I just joined yesterday. I only found out about QC this past week, and I spent a considerable amount of time sequentially going through each comic until I finally finished them all yesterday afternoon.

I'm 16.77 years old (17 in April ), currently living in South Carolina, otherwise known as the Shithole of the United States of America. I'm a junior in high school, and currently the top of my class. I don't consider myself particularly intelligent, I just know how to grasp concepts quickly, and I'm a decent writer. I've been a member in various online forums, and most of them tend to be filled with complete idiots and douchebags. Hopefully this one will be a welcome exception.

There are very few activities in my life that I would consider hobbies, but among them would be drumming, reading, Rock Band expert drums, and listening to music. I've wasted so much cash on Rock Band DLC it's not even funny. That's really all I have time for, as my school classload is murderous at best. AP Computer Science, AP Calculus, German 3, AP Chemistry, AP U.S. History, Honors English 4, and weight lifting.

Personality-wise, I can be somewhat introverted. I have a difficult time trusting people, and usually by the time I realize someone is trustworthy I've already alienated them. Among my friends, however, I'm pretty outgoing and lively. There are probably only two or three people I could consider my true confidants. I'm not particularly attractive either, and I'm well aware of that fact. I do have wicked awesome curly hair though!

Anyways, that's me in a nutshell. Look forward to chilling here.

[est]

Hey guys, I'm Ben.  I really don't know what to write in this.  I mean, I have been around here since the forum started 2003 and posted fairly consistently throughout, so if you don't know much about me by now then dang what is your problem.

[Inlander]

Hey guys, I'm Ben.

Stop being silly, est.

[Ballard]

Tell us where your screen name comes from.

[Slick]

Hey Darryl,
I've been here mostly consistently since I think the summer of 2006 when I lived in Richmond Hill which is just north of Toronto and totally lame. Then I stuck around for a while with a few periods of not being here in between. Back when I first joined I would have jumped at the idea of painting a picture of myself for everyone else to see but now I am just kind of eh towards it.
I think you remember my name? You have probably seen me naked on facebook.
I am just about done a BMath degree (yes a BMath, not a BSc or BA in math) in Applied Mathematics from the university of Waterloo. I felt some kinship with that James from Australia who was also in math and is going bald (not actually bald, as he might have you believe) as well but he is not here anymore. I think he is off doing exciting things?
I like to bake and am at a loss for what to do with my life. Maybe I will bake. People tell me I should and that this is a good thing to do, but honestly I am kind of scared and it is a little weird to just branch out and do a thing like that even though I kind of want to and that's sort of what I had in mind when I started this math degree four and a bit years ago but still I find myself a little bit irritated every time someone says 'you should be a baker' because I am afraid of change and that'd be a big change and a big thing to do and man is it your life you're suggesting should just go in this weird different direction it is easier to hide from reality than face it ugh whatever.
I keep trying to sort out some music. I may end up making music with a friend from ages ago if he moves out this way and I haven't left.
I am unhappy a lot of the time, and I think this is because I am not doing enough with my life (I feel like I am doing very little and I feel like I don't have enough of a social net) but I am doing not enough because I don't care enough about my life.
Apparently I am Roast Beef. I don't read Achewood.


P.S. I am 22 and it sounds like that is the age to be?

[est]

Tell us where your screen name comes from.

It is a suitably geeky story.  When deciding on a name for my Wizard in EverQuest way back in uh, I dunno, 1999?  I used Estarriol, as one of my favourite fantasy series' is Wizard of Earthsea.  My guildmates would shorten it to "Est" because people are generally lazy.  I liked it, so I used it as my online alias from then on.

[Katherine]

Hello there.  My name is Katherine.  I am 30 years old and I live in Upstate New York with cats and my ex.  I am trying to move to a city three hours away to take over the main decision making responsibilities for my father, who has Alzheimer's Disease and is (finally) in the dementia unit of an Assisted Living facility, but now is a really bad time to be looking for a new job so I have been living in limbo for about a year now.  I work as an accounting clerk for a non-profit agency that provides services to the mentally retarded.  It is an okay job, but I am really bored out of my skull here.  I went to school for Environmental Management upon graduating high school, but quickly realized that I didn't want to spend the rest of my life in a laboratory.  After drifting about for a while, I went back to school for Accounting.  I graduated in May of 08.  My ultimate goal is to become a CPA and work in auditing (as in financial statements for companies, not people's taxes).

I spend a lot of my free time listening to music, and try to go to as many concerts as possible.  I also like to read a lot and watch horror movies and I would like to get back into drawing but haven't really had the time to sit and really work on it due to all the driving I have had to do to take care of stuff for my Dad. I would like to travel more but can't really afford it currently, so I tend to take road trips to Boston or NYC every so often.

I have been around here for a little over a year but I lurk mostly as is evidenced by my low post count. Some of the posters here can be pretty mean and I'm far too sensitive for my own good, so I usually choose to not enter into conversations at all rather than risk dealing with comments from someone whose opinion really shouldn't matter to me.  I am incredibly sarcastic, with a dry sense of humor, but it is hard to convey sarcasm on an internet message board so when I do post, I generally keep it light and pretty boring. 

[Sox]

You're doing good, you guys! I've read every post so far. You're all doing great. Except for those dicks who have actually taken the time to post about how they're not going to take the time to read anybody elses introduction. Those people are the reason there is darkness in the world.

[Reed]

Hello, my name is Reed. I'm a 24 year old grad student in microbiology at the University of Connecticut. I'm a fairly introverted person when in new company, so I do more lurking on the boards than posting. I joined less than a year ago, started posting, but then became too busy because I had far too much work to do. Just like a lot of people who have already posted I love to read, but don't do it nearly enough (hurr hurr Reed loves to read). I consider these forums a savoir of sorts in terms of my musical taste. Before I came here I was listening to crap crap and more crap, but reading through the music forums has definitely allowed me to improve my selection. I like to cook, but I only have one pot, one pan, and limited other kitchenware, so I usually stick with fairly basic stuff. I also watch far too much TV, and enjoy going to the movies enough that I have been known to see absolute shit just because it's the only thing I haven't seen yet.

[Lila]

um hi

I'm Rachel (but I hate my name). I'm a teenager living in a wealthy suburb in the north-eastern US. I'm semi-short (around five three), I have shortish blondeishbrownish curly hair, I'm freckled and bespectacled. Despite the fact that I do an assload of stuff (three honors courses, hebrew school, two dance classes, tech for school plays, skiing many weekends and shul every single one I'm not skiing), I'm desparately bored with my life. I really want to grow up, get out of high school, and start taking care of myself. Next year, I'm going to (hopefully) to on an awesome program in Israel, TRY (tichon ramah b'yrushalayim... something along the lines of "ramah school in jerusalem"). I'm pretty bad in social situations, and no matter how hard I try I can't get a boyfriend. I have a perfectly good number of normal friends though, so I'm (semi) content.
I'm a huge fan of music... I couldn't live without the Mountain Goats. I went through a huge musical phase and a huge a capella phase (I still love a capella.... musicals sometimes). I mostly like mellow rock, some indie, and a small amount of metal. I'm looking for more (metal), so if you have any that you like that doesn't involve a lot of roaring (I don't like that... I like singers, not yellers), let me know please.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

Hi guys!

My name's Danny, i'm a 22 year old "student" living in the BEAUTIFUL northwest Washington State. i say i'm a student but that's not really true, i haven't taken a class in over a year. i just stay enrolled at a local community college for insurance purposes (shhh).

i spend my days running the office of a gymnastics center (yeah, i'm hella important), and i spend most of my free time playing video games, reading, skateboarding, shooting cans and other such riff-raff, and more recently, throwing axes. i smoke cigarettes and pot, but am planning to give up the former. i really love hallucinating. i really hate insomnia (unless it makes me hallucinate).

i guess it's also worth mentioning that i'm a fairly accomplished acrobat and tumbler since i pretty much grew up in a gymnastics center and have been around it for my entire life.

i love sunsets, rainbows, puppies, unicorns, and (most importantly) kittens. i am madly in love with music in almost any format, but sadly am pretty shitty at actually playing music. i do try to play drums but it's only fun to play drums by yourself for so long before you get kind of over it.

well, i think that's me in a nutshell.



Pleased to meet you.

[yelley]

hey reed, what sort of microbiology are you studying?

[Sox]

Something's come up, I won't be posting for a while. I gotta say though, don't stop on my account, I think you're all really interesting people! Lately people have been expressing concern over the way new people might have trouble inserting themselves into the forum community, or about how there's no niches left for them to fill. Ignore all of that. It's all bollocks. Yes, there are certain individuals that are skeptical of new blood, but they're a minority with an unfortunately loud opinion.
Read this thread and ignore usernames, avatars and post counts. Your introductions will stick, even without them. Nobody needs to worry about fitting in because they already do. I went back and read a few older threads after reading this one, I found they were more fun and interesting the second time around, after I knew who a lot more people were. A community of interesting people is way more fun than a community of strangers, so don't be strangers, y'all.

Nows I gots shit to do, thanks everybody, you've been a tolerant crowd.

[Masterbainter]

Edit:  I decided to be more serious.

I work overnights 4 days a week 10 hour shifts, hence me on here at these hours.

I'm generally nice in person, unless you give me a reason not to be.

I like to diffuse situations with my wit rather than my might.

That last statement is completely true lack of other person touching me.

I love snowboarding and doing things that seem extreme to others.

I am an accident waiting to happened (or as my dad would say, has happened)

[mooface]

i love sunsets, rainbows, puppies, unicorns, and (most importantly) kittens.

we should be friends.

[Reed]

hey reed, what sort of microbiology are you studying?

In terms of classes and lots of studying (Just passed my general exam....YAY!) we are required to take a very broad view to microbiology. In terms of what I actually research, however, I study succinate mediated catabolite repression in Sinorhizobium meliloti. I'm working on the biochemistry side of the project right now, because our lab has gone just about as far as it can go with just genetic work. I'm also working on a side project trying to isolate novel cellulose degrading bacteria from beetle feces (don't ask me why, one day my advisor walked in and said "hey I found these beetle feces when I was chopping wood, I think it would be really cool if you could isolate some aerobic cellulose degraders from here"). I think it's all very interesting, but it seems these days that the only "sexy" microbiology is working with human pathogens, so our lab is fairly small.

[Scandanavian War Machine]

i will totally be your friend, Mai.

[ruyi]

Hello, I'm Catherine. I'm in my last year at UC Berkeley, and hopefully I will have a BA in Rhetoric by July. I would say I am best described as slow and deliberate in person? I've only met a few of you so far and you can probably attest to my poor first impressions.

Sorry to be quoting something from page one, but this -

Sometimes I worry that my relative youth--I'm 18 now--is the only thing I've got going for me, and once I'm the same age as my colleagues, a gong will sound somewhere in the cosmos and everyone will realize that I'm not actually very interesting at all.

This is exactly how I feel! By the time I graduate I will be 18. The experience of skipping so many grades has heavily informed my personality. I over-analyze things because for most of my life I felt a pressure to come across as older, and that behavior was necessarily cerebral rather than natural. It can be hard to unlearn but it's an ongoing process. I'm slowly becoming better at making decisions organically in my life.

I can also get kind of anxious about making friends in part because I've changed peer groups so many times. (The other part is because I am dumb and worry about things I shouldn't.) I guess that might be a funny way to put it but it's the same experience as anyone who's ever moved while growing up, I'm sure.

The other big thing shaping me is my family. I grew up with mostly just my mom taking care of me and my older brother, who has high-functioning autism. I feel very strongly about having to take care of both of them, but especially my mom. Actually, since I've only stopped living with them for just over a year, I think I still expect other people to be heavily defined by their families and I find myself needing to ask about their parents when I'm trying to get to know them. Obviously most people I meet are pretty much (becoming) adults in that regard, so I should probably stop.

These days my week is spent between school, work, volunteering, and going to the gym. The last thing is a recent development. I have been getting pretty chubby (uh I mean thick) for a long time now but I am finally starting to lift weights. It's pretty enjoyable!

[the_pied_piper]

Hi all, i'm Rob and i'm a student at university in the UK. I study Maths and Spanish but i'm not a great student and in my spare time i volunteer as a maths teacher in a local school. I mostly post on the music board due to the fact that i listen to enough music daily to make me seem like an addict and i have terrible sleep problems so i'm here at stupid o'clock in the morning UK time quite often.
I am told i'm quite cynical and blunt but i try to be inoffensive, if possible.

I also love photography but am lacking a sufficiently functional camera to take good enough pics.

[Barmymoo]

I'm interested in what you are all saying about skipping grades, I missed a year out during primary school and went back down again at the start of secondary school, meaning that I spent four years a year ahead and then repeated a year. I've often thought that might have had an impact on the way I make friends, and a lot of my friends are older. Quite often they're significantly older and I sometimes have trouble convincing myself that they aren't just tolerating me because I make a good mascot. That might have been the case when I was younger but now they would tell me if I was being annoying.

Ruyi, can you tell me more about the volunteering you do? I had a look at the website and it seems really interesting but also incredibly controversial. How did you get into it?

[Elizzybeth]

my older brother, who has high-functioning autism.

Ruyi, this is eerie.  My older brother also has high-functioning autism.

[SirJuggles]

Umm, hello cool forum people.

I'm Justin.  I actually registered almost a year ago now, but sadly spent my first few months in the Weekly Comic Talk. I have since strayed into the deeper end of the forum pool, and borne witness to the massively superior amount of fun had over here. I tend to not be so original in my thinking, and thus usually feel that the things I have to say don't have much value. I do however lurk here almost 24/7 sadly, partly due to my physical situation.

I'm 18, a first-year student at University of California Santa Barbara. One of the prettiest, partyiest schools on the West Coast, if not the entire country. Except that I don't drink, or smoke, or really party in any way. To keep my long self-involved story short, I tend to hide out in my room whenever I'm not in class and lurk these forums until 4 in the morning. So while you probably don't know me, I tend to know most of you.

[Scrambled Egg Machine]

Hello, Darryl. I'm SEM for short, but my family calls me AJ. I used to post regularly, but now I mostly lurk. I'm about to turn 18, and have been accepted to Texas Tech University. I will major in Biochemistry, and I think Neal Stephenson is one of the better writers out there. I listen to crappy industrial music, techno and Dragonforce. I am a classic type c nerd, and have been around lots longer than my postcount would suggest. I used to cause drama, but since I am rarely online, that is no longer the case. I work at Wal*Mart, and am happy to be here. I like science. Adios.

[Mr. Skawronska]

a doctor that is supposed to help people but actually hates people, i guess.

There are more of us out there than you might think.  Comes from working the streets and dealing with self-important, self-entitled system abusers who take up emergency resources for their bullshit reasons while people in real need, suffer and die.

See if that doesn't make you a little bit fucking bitter.

I think it would be really cool if you could isolate some aerobic cellulose degraders from here

How about Clostridium acetobutylicum?


S

[Reed]

The point was to isolate novel cellulose degraders. Anyways, Clostridia are typically anaerobic.

[ruyi]

Elizzybeth I am sorry I am copying you!!!! With like, my life. But yeah, wow, that is an odd coincidence.

Ruyi, can you tell me more about the volunteering you do? I had a look at the website and it seems really interesting but also incredibly controversial. How did you get into it?

It's a program based on the philosophy of harm reduction. Drug addiction is a complex problem, and while it may not be possible to get people to stop without changing a lot of things in society, offering clean needles and supplies can and does reduce the rate of HIV and Hepatitus C transmission. The program I volunteer with also offer wound care, HIV testing, and resources/referrals to stuff like free clinics.

To be honest I didn't really consciously seek out this kind of opportunity or think that much about it when I started. I was just looking for hands-on experience related to health care, and this program didn't have an extensive period of training, so I can commit to it for now even though my plans after graduation are still up in the air. After I started doing it I stuck around because I like the other volunteers and the stuff we did for our clients seemed actually very helpful to them. I meet a lot of interesting people through it 

Last semester I did it twice a week, and now I'm doing it only once, though hopefully that will change soon. Our program operates out of a van. We have three different sites weekly in various parts of Berkeley, so I just show up a little early and help unload stuff. When clients come they usually know what kind of needles they want so we'll give them a couple hundred, and we take their dirty needles to dispose of safely. We also offer supplies like tourniquets, cookers, ascorbic acid as breakdown (to make crack cocaine injectable), and Narcan (for opiate OD).

I sometimes help train new volunteers a little bit (e.g. what are the different kinds of needles, client confidentiality, etc) and hopefully I will be taking on more responsibilities in time.

If any of you guys are interested, there is a bill that would lift the current ban on federal funds being made available for these kinds of programs! Currently we just operate on state funding, private grants and donations. For more info on the bill go here and if you want more info on why these programs are worth supporting wikipedia actually has a pretty good article on it and there are many other google-able resources I'm sure.

[Boro_Bandito]

I'm about to turn 18, and have been accepted to Texas Tech University. I will major in Biochemistry, and I think Neal Stephenson is one of the better writers out there.

Dude, Lubbock's my home town! o/


Also, My name is Phil Boelsche, I'm a junior at Towson University in Maryland, and I'm a Film major/Creative Writing minor. I joined up with the forums my freshman year of college in fall of 06, was a really weak poster for the most part but hopefully I've grown on people enough by this point.

I'm 20 years old, turning 21 at the end of this semester, and I'm really starting to worry about just what the heck will I be able to do with my degree. When I signed up for it at first, it was really just an Arbitrary thing, I didn't have any idea of what to do with my life at that point (still don't) and so just picked something off of the towson websites list of majors that didn't sound like it would bore me to death, took a couple classes, stuck around. I think I actually want to write, and more or less I want to write a little bit of everything. When I was a kid I would read every book that I saw and as a result I've always had the sort of vocabulary and in-brain archive of trivial information about a lot of subjects that tends to make other people label me as a know-it-all, which is true to some extent. I was a bit of a drifter back in high school, and even now I tend to only stick with relationships with other people out of convenience(aka proximity) so since I commute I really only have a couple friends that I hand out with at all. Basically the reason I turned to the internet. I've managed to meet a lot of really cool people on these forums and its really been a community that I could feel a part of, and while I don't post all that often this is pretty much the first place I check everyday to see what everyone's been saying/up to.

Originally I wanted to go to school for Game Design, but most of the places that offer it just don't really seem all that trustworthy, especially since its such a new field that my parents just downright wouldn't pay for it, so I agreed to go to a four year college. I'm still really interested in games, and on top of other projects that I hope to be able to do at some point in the future such as writing novels, graphic novels, possibly movie scripts since I went ahead and took classes on scriptwriting, I also really would still like to go into game development, and there isn't a day that goes by that I don't have some idea for what might make an interesting game (at least to me).

I also really like to cook a lot in my spare time, play way too many video games, and I really really like the idea of tabletop gaming but have so far not really been able to get into it. Most of my real life friends have no interest in that type of stuff and I'm really hesitant to reach out to other hobbyists at shops or like school meet-ups or something, mainly because I'm a little leery of strangers and I'm (probably a bit hypocritically) afraid that they'll just be a bunch of weirdos.

[yelley]

I'm also working on a side project trying to isolate novel cellulose degrading bacteria from beetle feces (don't ask me why, one day my advisor walked in and said "hey I found these beetle feces when I was chopping wood, I think it would be really cool if you could isolate some aerobic cellulose degraders from here"). I think it's all very interesting, but it seems these days that the only "sexy" microbiology is working with human pathogens, so our lab is fairly small.

this sounds brilliant.

i am sort of a microbiologist. sort of. i do not do any exciting research though, because i am not a competitive candidate for graduate school. did you know that if you want to go to school to learn to do research, you have to have already spent years doing research? i did not know this! or i guess you have to be indian or chinese. this is what the admissions lady at the university of san francisco or whatever told me. srsly.

[Reed]

Yeah, it can be really hard to get into a lot of micro grad programs. I was really lucky as an undergrad and I was hired as a research assistant in a plant molecular biology lab, where they gave me way more responsibility than I deserved. Also, the PI was a member of the National Academy of Sciences and he wrote me a glowing recommendation. If I hadn't worked there I really wouldn't have been able to get into grad school. Have you tried looking for research assitant jobs at a university? It might be a little bit of a pay decrease, but I think that grad schools would really like that kind of research experience.

What is involved in food testing anyways? Is it mostly classical microbiology, or do you use any molecular techniques (PCR screening, etc).

[Radical AC]

I'm Andrew Livingstone Crawford (I always add the Livingstone to sound like a pretentious prick... It's also Livingstone as in David Livingstone, as in Doctor Livingstone I may presume, as in I'm related to him) I'm 22 and am double majoring in Biochemistry and Molecular/Cellular Biology at Boise State University.  I'm hoping to get into a Ph.D/MD program at either Johns Hopkins or University of Minnesota.  I want to get a surgery specialty and either an Epidemiology or Genetics Ph.D.  I'm pretty much just a tall white kid from the north. (Northern MN)  I can has type 1 diabetes since I was fourteen so that doesn't help with getting any less skinny.  I play guitar and have my own solo project right now. (Because that says soo much about me)  I also play the synth/piano, bagpipes, trumpet, trombone, and can program a mean drum beat in Logic Pro.  I do a lot of relief effort/volunteer work.  I wrote pretty much the entire health plan (w/ a lot of doctor consults) and epidemiological analysis for norther Sierra Leone where I'll likely be headed to help out next year.  I'm trying to learn Arabic right now, and if I'm able to do all the crap I want I'll probably join Doctors Without Borders and work in Darfur when I'm out of school and in debt up to my eyeballs.  (The stories are lies, I've never met a rich doctor.)  Several times a month I go out shooting in the hills with my room mate, who was a Marine Recon sniper, and have gotten to the point where on a very (very) good day I can get sub MOA groupings at ~1500-2000yds.  I'm also a nerd, above and beyond spelunking on internet forums.  (I'm new but I think I'll stick it out here a while, my kind of place)  I've seen my share of anime and like a bit of it, but don't identify with the culture.  I also play DnD with my punk friends occasionally. (Less often the further out of high school I've gotten)  I've grown discontent with Idaho and toy with the idea of packing up my stuff and leaving, but probably will wait until I get my undergrad degrees.

Seems like more until I read over it...

[celticgeek]

All people who play the bagpipes are cool.