Who are you, and what do you do?

[Cato]

I'm Jim. I just turned 45 and still don't know what I want to be when I grow up. Although I enjoyed the submarine service (makes me odd), I left after 12 years of service in 2001 when my son was starting high school; no regrets. Despite my engineering and succeeding business management background I find myself being pulled in the direction of project management. My specialty is herding cats and I seem to derive a great deal of satisfaction from it. Before the era of self promotion via personal branding, this trait used to be known as leadership; alas.

My favorite hobby is spending time with my wife. It's not hard. She loves sports, is hot as hell, drinks beer, has broad musical tastes and detests bullshit (her version of Christianity is that the Bible is bullshit and Jesus is a righteous dude that will one day carry us all off to the perfect beach for all eternity).

I am called Grandpa by a five year old (I also have a 1 year old granddaughter and another grandson due next month). The only reason I settled for Grandpa was that the powers that be vetoed my idea of being called MoFo. The powers were of course more reasonable, but I still can't get over how cool it would have been to stand in a check-out line having a short person sincerely say "Hey MoFo, can I please have some candy?". Alas, like Led Zeppelin said, 'what is and what should never be'.

That said, this more summarizes my life:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=I1wg1DNHbNU

Life has not always been, nor is it now or ever will be, a bed of roses. I don't suppress memories of bad times. I'm also not so naive to think that I've exhausted my quota of bad times. I simply decided never to brood about paths not taken or paths that are impossible (I can never be King of England). If you strip the supernatural and helplessness from the Serenity Prayer, I find it a very good guide to life.

[Thumpalumpacus]

You're a smart sonofabitch, Jim. Many happy returns!

[KUSA]

I'm retired. I don't do shit.

You bitch and whine a lot.

[Allnewoutlook]

Real names Austin, really am 14, and really do live in Buttfucknowhere, USA. I'm a junior high student who does a shit ton of extra curricular stuff like sports and student government. I enjoy gaming and spending time with my dad. I do not enjoy Fox News and Algebra 1. My dream is to be a film maker and script writer. I've already written a few scripts and plan on making a youtube channel. My parents despise the idea and want me to be a scientist. My favorite movie is Jurrasic Park and I hate the Transformers movies. I'm a kinda sorta geek who like anime and video game culture, but can't draw for shit. I like Internet forums where you can be an atheist and no one goes bat shit crazy.

[TubbyTubby]

Interesting to see the varied mix we have here.

I'm 46 yo male from the shire of Lincoln. I'm currently an Electrical engineer with a batchelors degree in the same. I also have a telescope, a very nice Meade 8" Cat but not really been out much this winter - my fear of the cold seems to grow each year.

I have promised myself to study astrophysics to some level for a long time but always backed out. I've just got hold of a good text book though, so I'll see if my brain can still cope with learning.

1 wife, 3 kids, 2 cats, 1 car, 1 house. More impressively, I recently counted the number of devices that use my wireless router as 17.

[Alex K]

I feel a bit left out with mah 6 inch refractor

---

Real names Austin, really am 14, and really do live in Buttfucknowhere, USA. I'm a junior high student who does a shit ton of extra curricular stuff like sports and student government. I enjoy gaming and spending time with my dad. I do not enjoy Fox News and Algebra 1. My dream is to be a film maker and script writer. I've already written a few scripts and plan on making a youtube channel. My parents despise the idea and want me to be a scientist. My favorite movie is Jurrasic Park and I hate the Transformers movies. I'm a kinda sorta geek who like anime and video game culture, but can't draw for shit. I like Internet forums where you can be an atheist and no one goes bat shit crazy.

Well Jurassic Park... there we have something in common
You don't have to become a scientist (science be a harsh mistress, believe me), but please learn the Algebra 1 anyway and become the first screenplay writer in history to know maths

[One Above All]

My name is Ozymandias, king of kings. Look on my works, ye Mighty, and despair!

...But you can call me One (no, that's not my real name). I'm a college student - I'm studying engineering physics and have an endless amount of curiosity. I like cooking and eating (though I don't get fat or any other issue associated with eating too much/eating "the wrong stuff"), I like writing (I'm planning on writing three books, one of which I've already completed 20%), playing games, and I pretty much do whatever I feel like doing at any given point.

Some people consider me "very antisocial". Those are the acquaintances whom I barely know. My friends only consider me "a little" antisocial. I assume they mean to say I'm an introvert.

My ultimate goal is unattainable, but the foundation for it is to revolutionize physics in at least one area (I'm thinking fusion first, then quantum mechanics, then something else I don't know the name of).

My political views don't have a single name that I know of. Same goes for my worldview. The very idea sounds ridiculous to me, since there are many facets to both things.

Several words in the English language are meaningless to me when used by others (in the literal sense that I have no idea what others mean when they use them), starting with "geek", "nerd", and any other such interchangeable terms. Also "[insert any word here] culture". I have no idea what the fuck people mean.

I have no idea what GamerGate is, and at this point I'm too afraid to ask. Every time I read about it, I get more confused. I don't know who's saying what because each side just states their opinions on the other one, and I can't seem to find a single thing actually said by either group that isn't an insult to the other one so that I can formulate an opinion.

[robvalue]

It's wonderful reading about you all Thanks so much for sharing! Now I can visualise people as more than just their avatar sitting on a chair all day.

Hey Ben, I was born in Norfolk Lived there till I was about 30 too. Probably still would if I hadn't met my wife.

[pocaracas]

I guess I've refrained from writing on this thread for too long, now...
My name's Pedro, but you guys can call me poca. I'm 34 and I always set my holidays so that my birthday is in there.

My formal education is in physics engineering, like the One up there.... hey, One, you don't happen to be in Portugal, too, do you?

I'm portuguese and, in spite of our ruling class, I find it to be one of the finest countries in the world... and I've been to many!... err.... 4 or 5.
Many nice sceneries, many nice foods, many nice peoples, many nice weathers... and yes, portuguese people do have a particular accent when speaking english.... especially news-people... it sounds horrible!!!
(but my accent is tame, I'm awesome!)

Been working on algorithms to improve the results of a diagnostic used in nuclear fusion... it measures stuff in hot burning magnetically confined plasmas by using microwaves as a sort of radar.
That means I know my way around programming... yeah for me!
Also, there's so much data to process that, sometimes, I just stare at the computer... or come here and read some of your musings.

Got myself a wife and 3 kids.
Hobbies include groping the wife, yelling at the kids, teaching them new stuff, playing a few computer games.... and watching the occasional tv series.
I don't like to spend money on stupid crap, but I did get a 40" tv some time ago... everyone says it looks a bit large in the living room, but I did the math and it's perfect for all possible viewing distances in that room. I always do the math! >.<

[Dystopia]

If you think we speak bad English go listen to Spanish prime ministers

More things about myself:

I am 21 years old (my birthday was about a week ago) and I come from a torn apart family - I live in a great household and I have the greatest mom, she remarried after divorcing my dad and now she has another kid (2 years old) plus my 14 year old sister (same dad as me), we all live together; the issue is that members of different family houses are mad at each other so in a nutshell my mom doesn't talk to my 6 or 7 aunts, my cousins don't talk to me, everyone is mad at each other for stupid past things. This is something that always made me feel weird because most people have lots of family to spend special times like Christmas but for me it was always mom and dad (and my sister after she was born).

I was raised with a Christian mom (now an atheist) but aside from making me read the bible from time to time (it was boring) she never forced anything down my throat. My stepdad (read - Dad) is also an atheist and an anti-theist, despite not being very educated himself (he has this catchphrase about "how god diminishes when human knowledge grows").

I was a terrible student until highschool when I became an A+ student, and now I managed to enter one of the best law schools in the country (public school); I plan on finishing my degree and maybe work in something related to legal issues like previously stated but I'm also considering a degree in philosophy just for fun. My biggest problem with studying is that if I'm interested I'm capable of studying 10 hours per day, but if it's boring I don't study shit (even if it's a really easy subject)

I can't say my life is perfect, I've been on the lower lower lower end of poverty, my dad died when I was 15 and I suffered bullying for some years so I've been trough some shit, but I'm overall happy with my life. In 2012 I met this wonderful girl that I still love and I plan on getting married (not necessarily on paper, just figuratively, aka living together) and maybe having kids.

It's been one hell of a journey and I consider myself very lucky compared to other people who live in oppression, poverty, extreme violence, etc. Those who've talked to me know I'm very humble (despite my narcissism) and I genuinely believe that the more I know the more doubts I have about everything. It is rarely safe to be 100% about something and admitting your entire worldview or ideology may be wrong is important to help you grow as a person.

I'm a very calm and sympathetic person, even for individuals I strongly dislike. I rarely support or engage in violence, and I basically never scream. Be careful though, the few times someone made me lose my mind I was capable of becoming really violent.

I don't like sports though I've enjoyed watching some basketball (NBA) matches and at some time I was a fan of WWE. I dislike monotony, boredom, soap operas, ignorance, routines and annoyances. I like a lot of videogames, technology, movies, TV series and anime, and I'm hyper-sexual (not sex addict). I'm also an enthusiast by any science and I enjoy learning, learning is one of the things that motivates my life. I have a special affinity by legal matters and economics, but I also enjoy other sciences, though I suck at some (like mathematics).

I don't know what else to say...