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diff --git a/.md/about/whoami.md b/.md/about/whoami.md index 0394a8b..cf8cd32 100644 --- a/.md/about/whoami.md +++ b/.md/about/whoami.md @@ -1,79 +1,42 @@ -<p>Last I checked:</p> -<code> -$ whoami -mjf -</code> -<p>There's a lot of ways to go about this question, honestly.</p> -<p>I could start with my name, but that doesn't really tell you much and it's -on the site anyway. A lot of people answer "who they are" with what they do. -I'm working in an IT department right now trying my best to wrap my head around -securing their network. I suppose that tells you something, even if I haven't -been at this long. I got here after I fell down the rabbit hole of -understanding how the hell this whole Internet thing works, and I've been -trapped ever since. Cybersecurity people seem to touch a lot of things in this -area so I naturally sort of stumbled in this direction. -</p> -<p>At this point, though, I still don't think I've really answered the -question. I'm not my job title to probably most people I know. And I think it's -a little unwise to base my identity on something that could taken away by a -financial crisis or an EMP blast. -</p> -<p>I could get more vague and go for a meme-y tribal identifier like "nerd," -"metalhead," "hacker," "warlock," or whatever classes people are running these -days. -</p> -<p> -None these are really true though either. I was never really smart enough to -hang out with nerds and I never much liked keeping up with them anyway. I -certainly have enough of a music snob streak to fit in with metalheads, but -I've gotten over that illness for the most part, where most of my peers have -not. If we're going with Richard Stallman's notion of -<a href="https://archive.is/epjm4">hacking</a>, then maybe I share some of the -same spirit. But I didn't grow up in that culture. I knew of a computer mostly -as Windows--and even that I didn't understand well. My parents were luddites so -these were all magic boxes to me growing up and I was far to afraid to try to -look inside and risk breaking it. I had a vague notion that I wanted to design -games, but I spent my time playing Runescape and Elder Scrolls instead of -botting and modding them. Maybe I'm gatekeeping myself, but fitting into any -sort of tribe has never really been on my mind. -</p> -<p> -A lucky few will have biographers write their final word, but most of us -will have to settle for the obituary. Either way though, I think it's important -to remember in the long term, all we really have is our history. Hopefully, -that won't include web history... -</p> -<p> -So I think it's probably better to start with who I am, with where I've been. -I was born in the US in 1993 about two weeks after the World Wide Web was -released to the public domain. Our family didn't get online until I was around -five or six when people started handing out free Windows and America Online CDs -around public places. Pokemon was also released around that time so that -computer was primarily used for Pokemon-themed version of Print Artist and -reading fake articles on how to get Mew in Blue version. As I grew up, my -school assignments went from stacks of notebooks to folders full of .doc files. -It became expected by around middle school/high school that you had a Windows -PC or at least had access to one to write essays. Runescape was a thing, so -that same computer still saw it's fair share of play, but study crept in when -it could. -</p> -<p> -I never bothered studying the computer itself though. Any tutorial I could find -on messing with Windows (like getting a stupid cursor or soemthing) started in -big bold letters with "DON'T TRY THIS IF YOU DON'T KNOW WHAT YOU'RE DOING." -Well I didn't know, so I didn't try. I did fall in love with Wikipedia though -and just hopping through history and philosophy articles. I couldn't always use -the PC downstairs so I learned to use the PSP and eventually the PS3 browser -instead so I could read up until late. God knows how much crap was on there -back then... -</p> -<p> -I got into guitar around eighth grade since Guitar Hero was popular and I -wanted girls to like me. I was also into band and chorus at school and somehow -got the idea that I was pretty good at all that. The idea of playing music or -composing started to really look like a serious thing after two years at it, -but when I first started to write music, I had so much trouble drawing the -freaking clefs and fancy stuff that I would waste too much time to write half -of a score. I need like Microsoft Word for music, but I didn't know if such a -thing was even real -</p> +<center> +TL;DR Above everything I'm a lurker. And I mean that in the traditional +forum/mailing list sense. You could put it a few ways and still be +right: a reader, a people watcher, a listener, maybe a coward if you're +cynical. But all in all, not anyone in particular really. +</center> + +When I first came up with a writing a page with this title, it devolved +into a kind of personal essay. The kind of unwelcome nonsense you no +doubt encounter (and I no doubt supplied) in comment sections on the +Internet or the paginated newsfeeds written by faceless names or in +the rambling profiles that start with birth and forget where they're +going around college. It seems to come easy to a lot of us. + +Now, I'm not sure I've earned the right yet. + +I'd rather just let my work (and my play) stand for itself, for whatever +it's worth. You'll get it as you go I'm sure. That said, there are some +things that probably help for context's sake: +- I'm born, raised, and hosted on the US East Coast. By most countries' + standards, that means I have no sense of the world outside of my own + country, which despite my best efforts, is probably true +- I'm raised and hosted (not born) on free software (unless you count + whatever my VPS is running). This server is running OpenBSD with + nginx and httpd working together to host a small git repo and this + flask app I threw together +- I'm born and raised (not hosted) by Luddites, for the most part. And I + don't mean that in entirely bad way. What I mean is I grew up around + mostly people who didn't know and didn't care to know about advances + in technology or the merging of that technology with culture. In + fact, that might be the appropriate view to have in light of + recent circumstances. +- By trade, I'm best at data recovery and writing good documentation. + I'm self-taught at programming software design so by most metrics, + I'm probably not great at that, but I'm getting there. I love a good + math problem, and though I only got a B in my college circuits class, + I still find time to make some lights blink. +- I spend a lot of time on the Internet lost. And in the process, + sometimes find useful things; though I largely find nonsense, which + has it's own value, but it's separate. + +Here is as close to home as I'll get for now. |