QUILTBAG'S FIRST ANNUAL TRICK-OR-READER CONTEST!

[Alice Macher]

Y'know, whether intended by T or not, this contest has also turned out to be a fun "Introductions" thread. It's really cool to learn more about so many of my fellow Tea Roomies, and to see what they look like. Tamar and I were reticent for a while, despite the many requests leading up to the date, to post a wedding photo, partly because we were both like, "Well, no one else has revealed what they look like IRL, so it'd be awkward [*pout pout*]." We posted one anyway, because we felt in the face of all the love and sweetness and good wishes you guys have given us, we couldn't say no. In any case, now that more people have shared photos, we don't feel like we awkwardly stand out in that respect anymore. ♥

Oh BTW, since we're all sharing, my real first name is Rachael. ("Macher" is just me having a bit of fun; it's Yiddish for "big shot.") But here and elsewhere online I still happily answer to Alice. (I like the name, not least because of the Lewis Carroll association.)

[Mec]

I look like the bearded Unix guy in Dilbert ("Here's a nickel, kid. Buy a real computer."), except taller. And 49 years old, old enough that even Lisa wouldn't want me.

http://www.perturb.org/display/462_Dilbert___Unix.html

Although I'm really antipathic to Dilbert. Its leitmotif is frustration.

I have an enormously geeky job and some side interests that match. I have a prediliction for improving the world.

I have a taste for classics -- a little for real classics, and things a couple of decades old that people call classics.

I still can't figure out why I like P&A better than Faans.

And since lots of other people have uploaded actual photos:

http://img12.imageshack.us/img12/4203/mec1.jpg

[sgtrock]

I finally could no longer hold out (though I'm still in mourning). My name is Dan, I teach high school English and Journalism, and I'm 53 (by far the eldest here I believe).

Nope, I'll be 53 in March. Baby Boomers unite!

[wideheavyload]

I'm pretty new around here but here's my bio:

My name is Chris and I'm a 33 year old guy who lives in a suburb of Atlanta. I've been married for almost 10 years, with a three year old son.

I grew up in Dothan Alabama, which is a bit of a backwards place. More churches, banks, and lawyers than anything else. I was a nerd and so were all of my friends. We did what nerds do: video games, drew comics, played RPGs. Anything to help us keep our heads above water.

In Dothan there wasn't much of an alt community. Anyone with anything close to an alt lifestyle generally kept it quiet. And so I didn't really know or have any experience with that at all, until I moved to Mobile AL to go to a boarding school for the last two years of high school.

I ended up at the Alabama School of Math and Science. Remember the nerds and outcasts from when you grew up? This was a school full of them. It was fantastic! Everyone who went there, who had been so buttoned up all their lives, got a chance to unfold and explore themselves in a way impossible in their old cities and environments. I loved it there and met so many different types of people.

I'm pretty straight, but I'm thankful for the friends I made then who weren't.

After high school I ended up in Athens GA, which is a nice oasis in a desert of ignorance. Spent a few years at college but ultimately dropped out. Got a job doing light networking and progressed to my current level, with a CCIE In VoIP, and working on a second in routing and switching.

I've been fortunate to grow up exposed to different things, which is what I want for my son. He's only three. He likes typical boy things, but one of his favorite toys is a pink princess radio. When he plays with it, I think about the future,and I want him to grow up in an environment where he will have the opportunity to understand himself without fear.

I suppose that's why I enjoy this comic, and reading the forum.

I'm typing this on my iPad, so I'll edit and add a pic later.

http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/155/11433741.jpg/ **Added URL**

[Sphinx]

Hmm... Well, I've like never posted on here, but I lurk every once in a while and I really don't feel like doing my homework right now. So what the hell? http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/capturenn.jpg/

I'm a 22-year-old Journalism student. I'm Arab American (dad's American, mom's American) and I'm a Muslim at a Catholic college in Indiana. That sounds a little more interesting than it actually is, since everyone on campus is super tolerant and not all that interested in how or if everyone else worships. My best friend here is actually an atheist (who didn't realize she had applied for an all-girls school until she was accepted... tee hee). More people are curious than anything else; a couple girls have asked me to a put a scarf on their heads to see how they look, and I happily oblige. I've lived in the Middle East for most of my life, so some American things are completely foreign to me (for instance, I still haven't been able to figure out American clothes sizes and, while everyone rushes up to pet strange dogs, I'm too scared to touch them); at the same time, my mom IS American and I've visited the states a bunch of time before, so I didn't experience any profound culture shock coming here for school. There are just a few random gaps in my U.S. knowledge.

I'm super into politics, particularly things affecting the Middle East. Generally, I'm conservative in my own life but liberal in my politics. I don't expect people to share my beliefs and it's not my job to try to convince them to live by my moral code. I'm a firm believer in free will and everyone's right to sin; government shouldn't regulate things that depend on personal ideas of what's right and what's wrong. I cover my hair AND I am a Feminist. Some people don't get how those things can go together, but Feminism is all about women having the right to choose their own destinies and this is my choice. So I oppose governments that try to institute dress codes (whether we're talking France or Saudi Arabia).

[sgtrock]

@sgtrock: you're never too old to be in college, especially in a comic, lol. And might I say your pic reminds me of Billy Bob Thornton in "Mr. Woodcock." Awesome.

Heck, I know that. My family pretty much defines that notion. Well, at least the women seem to. My grandmother got her BA in Education at 55 after teaching on a 3 year teacher's certificate for more than 30 years, one of my aunts finally completed her BA when she was 58, my youngest sister completed her BA when she was 42? 43? and her MA when she was 46, my other sister completed her MA when she was 47.

My dad, bless his heart, never did get around to completing a master's in Spanish literature despite traveling to Universidad Iberoamericana, Ciuadad de Mexico (Ibero University in Mexico City) every summer for several years to attend classes. (Hates completing anything. Claims it gets in the way of having a good time. )

(Edit: I just remembered the year he took a class that concentrated on Don Quixote. They had to read the novel in the original early 17th century Spanish, then write a paper in modern Spanish addressing the story's impacts on Mexico. THEN, defend the paper in front of the rest of the class of a half dozen or so grad students and a Mexican professor. Personally, not really my idea of a good time, but Dad got a kick out of it. Except writing the paper, that is. (What, finish something on time?? )

He made up for the lack of a master's degree by continuing to pick up other languages over the years. He considers himself fluent in Spanish, adequate in French, can get by in German and Korean, has a smattering of Chinese, and is currently learning Serbian.

As for the Mr. Woodcock comparison? Thanks. I think.

All of that is sort of besides the point, though, for the topic at hand. What are the odds that an older freshman would be living in the dorms and therefore attending a 'get to know your floormates' sort of bash? As a guy I used to know would put it, "Slim and None, and Slim is walking out the door."

[Mr. Brightside]

Sent to T, probably much too late.

I'd never put my photo here; I try to keep my profiles separate, including that damnable meaty one. It's bad enough that I'm pretty sure that members of this forum have guessed my name on a much larger site. At the same time, though, I'm an absolute attention whore, so... yeah. I think I gave him enough that people would be reminded of me, but wouldn't find a clincher.

[oenone]

Sent to T, probably much too late.

I'd never put my photo here; I try to keep my profiles separate, including that damnable meaty one. It's bad enough that I'm pretty sure that members of this forum have guessed my name on a much larger site. At the same time, though, I'm an absolute attention whore, so... yeah. I think I gave him enough that people would be reminded of me, but wouldn't find a clincher.

I did the same -- I feel like I really know and care for you guys, but I got internet stalked pretty badly a few years ago and am a little gun shy.

[bridgetvoid]

i might as well, though i'm guessing this is late

my name is bridget
i'm 33
when i went to college i got my BS in communication with a minor in psychology, i did some grad studies in psych but am taking a break for health stuff
i teach hoop dancing and do fire spinning (aka hula hooping where the hoop is on fire)
i've been learning poi
i play the ukulele and piano poorly but with love
i moved recently, but prior to moving i used to dj idm/electronica on web radio and at goth clubs. but i'm not really gothy as i am in general a huge music nerd. i consume it like air
i have 2 geckos, 3 cats and 1 husband (none of these things would work in a dorm ;p)
i am a huge horror & foreign movie buff
i am an avid gamer who hates the phrase "girl gamer" since really, i think i'd be able to kick ass at most games whether or not i was a girl
in my spare time i make jewelry (wire wrapping, wire crochet, chain mail, beading)
up until a couple weeks ago my hair was black and purple and i looked like this: https://twimg0-a.akamaihd.net/profile_i ... mememe.jpg
(it's now sort of black and blonde as i just got tired of the upkeep)
i totally love skeletons and day of the dead stuff (and am wondering about the not being gothy comment i made earlier

[Ollie]

Hmm... Well, I've like never posted on here, but I lurk every once in a while and I really don't feel like doing my homework right now. So what the hell? http://imageshack.us/photo/my-images/713/capturenn.jpg/
[snip]

Which Arabic country is your dad/are you from? If I may ask.

I like your profile, I look forward to more of your posts.

He made up for the lack of a master's degree by continuing to pick up other languages over the years. He considers himself fluent in Spanish, adequate in French, can get by in German and Korean, has a smattering of Chinese, and is currently learning Serbian.

where did the interest in Serbian come from?

[Ghostfingers]

Also probably too late, but since I'm pretty new here I may as well call this an introduction.

My name is Squee (my real name is Sara Love, but even my bosses and parents call me Squee by now) and I'm 19, currently living in the good ol SL,UT. (Salt Lake, Utah)

Here are a few pictures. You get a few because I have a problem with obsessively changing my appearance. This was my post-apocalypse phase, this was my hippie phase, this was my raver phase, and finally, my rather more current punk phase.

My ears are currently stretched to a 6g, I have two tattoos and ten piercings, I work at a haunted house, I shadowcast Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Repo the Genetic Opera, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I'm somewhere between bi-casual and demisexual, whatever that means. My worst traits are that I can be annoying, I invade peoples space, I try too hard, and I'm one heck of an attention whore. My good traits are that I can keep any kind of secret, I enjoy listening to people, and I'm very steadfast.

I'm very frank and open about who I am and where I've been. I have absolutely no filter- I've gotten in trouble at my haunted house for telling a customer she looked like she was wearing the fleshmask of a dead hooker and I've gotten a detention for what I considered to be a mature and straightforward discussion of my sexual practices to one of my teachers (it was even on topic!) I don't want to make people uncomfortable, but I come from a background where everyone was very open and I run my mouth without thinking. I usually then suffer from extreme guilt, because I'm a people-pleaser at heart. (Why else would I care so much about my appearance?)

I've come to the conclusion recently that I must be either gay or straight, because the way I feel and react sexually to men and women is entirely different. Which one I am, I have no idea. Until I figure it out, I date and sleep casually with both and try to do as little damage as possible on the journey.

At my haunted house, I act in all roles. My favorites, however, are Regan from the Exorcist, Samara from the Ring, and the Midway Clown. I'm five feet tall which is why I get put in the little girl rooms a lot. I'm not afraid of harder jobs, though- Midway Clown is in a half-inch thick latex mask that form-fits over your head and shoulders (this one!) and is about the hardest thing to work in, but I love it. I'm small enough that my entire body fits inside the pants for that role.

I can't think what else might be useful, though I'm sure there's something... in any case, hello there!

[Ollie]

My ears are currently stretched to a 6g, I have two tattoos and ten piercings, I work at a haunted house, I shadowcast Hedwig and the Angry Inch, Repo the Genetic Opera, and the Rocky Horror Picture Show, and I'm somewhere between bi-casual and demisexual, whatever that means. My worst traits are that I can be annoying, I invade peoples space, I try too hard, and I'm one heck of an attention whore. My good traits are that I can keep any kind of secret, I enjoy listening to people, and I'm very steadfast.

I'm very frank and open about who I am and where I've been. I have absolutely no filter- I've gotten in trouble at my haunted house for telling a customer she looked like she was wearing the fleshmask of a dead hooker and I've gotten a detention for what I considered to be a mature and straightforward discussion of my sexual practices to one of my teachers (it was even on topic!) I don't want to make people uncomfortable, but I come from a background where everyone was very open and I run my mouth without thinking. I usually then suffer from extreme guilt, because I'm a people-pleaser at heart. (Why else would I care so much about my appearance?)

Haha, so in other words, you're Lisa? :p

[Adrishiana]

I've lived in the Middle East for most of my life, so some American things are completely foreign to me (for instance, I still haven't been able to figure out American clothes sizes and, while everyone rushes up to pet strange dogs, I'm too scared to touch them); at the same time, my mom IS American and I've visited the states a bunch of time before, so I didn't experience any profound culture shock coming here for school. There are just a few random gaps in my U.S. knowledge.

Honestly, American clothes sizes are... not easily figured out; between vanity sizing and the lack of standardization your best bet is often to eyeball what you think your size MIGHT be and then just take the next largest and smallest sizes into the dressing room.

[Ghostfingers]

Haha, so in other words, you're Lisa? :p

I'm nothing so self-aware as Lisa! I'm also terrible at interacting with people because deep inside I'm a sad little fat 15-year-old who's terrified no one will like her.
(Also, orange and red? Boring, you could find those colors at a drugstore. )

[sgtrock]

He made up for the lack of a master's degree by continuing to pick up other languages over the years. He considers himself fluent in Spanish, adequate in French, can get by in German and Korean, has a smattering of Chinese, and is currently learning Serbian.

where did the interest in Serbian come from?

His paternal grandfather and grandmother were Serbian peasants. (The family centennial reunion that I mentioned earlier was for that side of the family.) In fact, my great-grandfather went AWOL from the Kingdom of Austria's army (for personal and very painful reasons) and emigrated to northern Minnesota in 1902. Great-grandma came over a year later with their eldest surviving toddler in tow.

On a side note, think about the fact that not only has my dad learned how to converse in several languages, he has also learned to read to some degree in each of them. We're talking not just the languages, but four different ideograms; the Latin and Cyrillic alphabets, and Korean and Chinese pictographs. The man may never have had too firm a grip on reality, but boy is he SMART. Scarily so, in fact.