Profile
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| User: | stormdog (882938) |
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| Name: | The mostly harmless pedant. | |||||
| Website: | http://stormdog.fdns.net/wetdog | |||||
| Location: | Kenosha, Wisconsin, United States | |||||
| Birthdate: | 1979-11-14 | |||||
| E-mail: |
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| LJ Talk: |
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| Bio: | Hi! I'm Stormdog. Perhaps you've met me. I'm the quiet guy with long hair who seems to keep hanging around ![[info]](http://p-stat.livejournal.com/img/userinfo.gif){kind=small} moiracoon (What a longsuffering raccoon she is!) Perhaps you met me with her at one of the various cons we attend. Perhaps you met me several times and it seemed like I had trouble placing you. Mayhap we even spent an hour talking about computers (or music, or photography, or urban ruins, or...) at GeneriCon and the next time you saw me I acted like I had no clue I'd ever seen your face before. This is quite typical for me so please don't be offended. I have a neurological condition called Face-blindness, or prosopagnosia. That link will bring you to a page with a very understandable, in-depth explanation and analysis and I encourage you to look if you're interested. But for now, since I suspect a lot of those who see my journal come here due to having met moiracoon or myself at a con, I thought I would offer a glimpse into my own experiences with this problem and thereby explain why, despite having met you numerous times, I may honestly have no idea who you are. Imagine being in a room at a party where, while there may be twenty or thirty people there at any one time, these people come from an even larger pool of people who are in the general area. Some stay in the room while others come and go through the night, and some simply come in briefly, look around and leave. There may be a hundred, two hundred, or more people who pass through over the course of the night, but all of them, every one, is wearing a mask. They are not all different masks either. A few people have chosen to wear a mask that is unique, a mask that you can remember. But most of them have not. Most of them are all wearing one of only four or five masks that, perhaps, were on sale at Target that week. You see many, many people, some of whom merely pass by, some of whom approach you and talk to you, and some may even flirt with you or try to pet your hair. You are not wearing a mask. Everyone knows who you are, even if only as that new guy they saw at Windycon a while ago with so-and-so, or that guy who's been hanging around with person x the last couple cons. They all try to interact with you in their respective ways and you are left to puzzle out who is who. "I think this person is the one I was talking to about computers a few minutes ago" you think. His voice sounds familiar and he's wearing the same kind of mask, but you're not sure. You pretend you know who he is and try to pick up the conversation where you left off. It's not too hard; it's a subject you know well. When it comes to the typical talk that occurrs just getting to know someone, or even scarier, when someone starts flirting with you, you're at a loss. "Is this someone I know?' you wonder. Was she the one who commented on how pretty my hair was earlier? Should I be comfortable with this person being this close to me? And what about him? Is he someone my partner knows, or my friends? Is he the creepy one they were all warning me about?" You try very hard to stare at the masks they are wearing without them realizing it, trying to find some detail about them you can remember, straining to puzzle out, from voice and conversation, whether this is someone you know.... I like explaining in more depth when I have the chance and the right circumstances. I truly do love getting to know people and making friends. I know that I often appear stand-offish or aloof, but that's really not my intent. It's just often very difficult for me to interact with and get to know people in large groups. That's why when someone goes out of their way to get to know me and talk to me one-on-one I'm very appreciative of the effort. I may seem very shy, especially at first, but that's just because I still don't have a great deal of experience at getting to know people and, unlike most people, it can take me a very long time to build a mental record of someone. I like nearly everyone, and would probably like to get to know you too! But if it seems from time to time, especially when we haven't spent much time together outside of cons and big parties, like I'm being distant or dismissive, please understand that I don't intend to be. I just have difficulty recognizing you by your face. That's also why you may note moiracoon introducing me so frequently to people who it would seem I should know. A verbal queue about the identity of someone who just joined the conversation I'm in, either from a third party who knows both of us or from the new person him or herself, is very much appreciated.If you've read that far, I thank you. I truly appreciate you taking the time to get to know a bit more about me. I assure you, there's a lot more to me than just my problem with faces. I feel a little odd writing so much about it here as I don't think anyone should define themselves by their disabilities. But after some thought, I've concluded that it might be helpful for people to understand why, on the surface, I may not seem as sociable as some. I'd love to discuss my other interests too, should we bump into each other at a con sometime. Just be understanding if, however many times I've met you before, I look at your badge to see who you are. | |||||
| Memories: | 5 entries | |||||
| Interests: | 57: abandoned places, asperger's syndrome, barefooting, bisexuality, books, clifford_the_big_red_dog, computers, cons, dadaism, dance dance revolution, ddr, dermographilia, dogs, draining, drumming, face blindness, falsifying statistics, fantasy, fen, filk, forgetfulness, furry, gaming, geeksexy, genderqueer, hair play, hippies, hot food, hot sauce, juggling, long hair, love, old computers, peace, peak oil, photography, pink floyd, pizza, plushies, prosopagnosia, rain, reading, retro technology, rhode opera house, science fiction, sex, slide rules, taoism, technical theatre, telecommunication, theatre, thrift stores, thunderstorms, urban spelunking, web surfing, writing coherently, zen | |||||
| Schools: | George Nelson Tremper High School - Kenosha, WI Grewenow Elementary School - Kenosha, WI Lincoln Middle School - Kenosha, WI University of Wisconsin - Parkside - Kenosha, WI | |||||
| Friends: | ||||||
| Mutual Friends: | 114: aiela, akreaveter, alohawolf, anarchist_nomad, animist, ankhorite, antayla, arazia, awfulhorrid, barton_fender, blithwulf, boixboi, brownkitty, butterscotchvix, chernabog69, cjdoyle, concrete_stare, crazycatladymel, crim_ferret, crm17, custardfairy, cyohtee, danieltheferret, darkwing830, darkwolf1071, datahawk, davehogg, daveqat, duncandahusky, edbook, eddiddiums, elissafox, emrldgirrl, evil_dwagon, evilviolist, farm_cat, fitzotter, foreignlegion, fuzzyjelly, gabethefool, grimdeath, hazardman, hecatesdaughter, imandunewen, infintysquared, insegnante, jenx, jimcyl, jojomojo, kellicjtiger, kritterfox, ladymeshel, landerroo, laureth, linnaeus, lisagems, magiccicada, magicpaw, megmoves, mietm, mistletoe, mocha_mephooki, moiracoon, moryssa, mrs_brnk, murstein, mutantur, netrage, onceupon, piechi, polymorphism, posicat, razorfoot, red_ceilidh, rennie_frog, renniecub, rileybear67, risabe, rooneil, ryan_fyrefox, saagaadaa, sabrinageek, salexa, samiitiger, sanjikrhys, serinthia, shaleari, sideband, siriuswolfstar, sisucore, steviemaxwell, stickyambition, stormgren, strongpawz, supergrrlie, takaza, tenebrouskate, the2wittybird, thecoddess, thegoodword, tinytroll, todd_riverden, tybis, tygercowboy, unclevlad, vandringar, vardocargo, vurtsnake, wendyzski, wolfcries, wyldekyttin, xirpha, yavanna_june, zman923 | |||||
| Also Friend of: | 9: amigator, kryssaira, lady_midnite, lovechild88, quinn_dragon, schitzie, thepiercedrose, tincrash, vology | |||||
| Member of: | 37: about_congenial, asperger, aspie_trans, barepaws, broadbandfurs, canoncameras, certification, cheddarcurtain, chicago_urbex, darksideofebay, deadmachinery, explorer, faceblind, fandom_counts, found_magazine, furryreaders, grammar_whores, grammargasm, hardware, itprofessionals, jugglers, lafflist, metalsmiths, mygirlyman, obselitism, omikuji_project, paidmembers, rsi_support, rural_ruin, saving_the_past, show_yer_sheath, showmeyourrack, techfurs, urban_decay, urban_explorers, vintagecomputer, volundsforge | |||||
| Account type: | Basic Account | |||||
