Forums > Introductions > Vanize Intro
Login/Join to ParticipateCarpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Well, since so many people had their intro threads wiped out and are starting new ones, I figure I could use these events to start my own, ultra-untimely intro, seeing as how I've been around HoP for like 3 years.
So then:
Name: Vance
Alias: Van, Vanize, Add, Zaidou (my 'African' name) ... oh, and I almost forgot, Pixie Banger! (don't ask if you don't really want to know).
Age: 34 (35 now)
Location: Potchefstroom, South Africa (WSW of Jo'berg) presently. Grew up in Houston, Texas. Most of my Family lives in Austin, Texas. I'm moving to Berlin, Germany in January for 2 years. (ok, been in Berlin for a year now)
Favourite Toys: sailboats (been sailing 29 years), surfboards (been surfing 19 years), poi (3.5 years) (almost 5 years now)
Occupation: Reasearch scientist (Ph.D. in space physics)
Hobbies: Too many - sailing, surfing, poi, scale models, travelling, collecting stamps and paper money from places I visit, Dungeons & Dragons, SCUBA diving, tropical fish, reading, painting, drawing, getting projects ready for Burningman, ....
Your favourite website/s: www.burningman.com
Music: I'll listen to most anything except modern country music. My favorites are classical (e.g. vivaldi, beethoven), trance, classic rock (led zep, hendrix, beatles), and what used to be called alternative (foo fighters, pixies, whale, ...)
Movies: blade runner (director's cut), strictly ballroom, band of brothers (more like a mini series I guess), amelie, ... er, I know there are more, but I can't think of them just now.
Books: mostly sci-fi, fantasy, and history.
Philosophy: Technological Gaiaism, Quantum Fatalism
Favourite Colour: Burgandy ( sorry Alice!)
Favourite Quote/Saying:
From a movie: "Gentleman, we have a blind date with destiny, and she just ordered the lobster!" - the Shoveler (Mystery Men).
From literature: "The great tragedy of life is not that men perish, but that they cease to love" - W. Somerset Maughn
From personal life: "I was just telling Sara K. that I have no particular segway between being stone cold sober and really wasted. Then she kicked her glass of water across the room..." - Zouwera (Christmas day, 2002, west africa)
So that is that. We'll see if it goes anywhere, eh?
EDITED_BY: vanize (1111489303)
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
ok, but afterwards I get to demostrate on you how spankings are properly administered.
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
Mand's Girl....and The Not So Shy One
2,723 posts
Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada
Haa haaaaa!!
*runs back to her thread and hides*
Solitude sometimes speaks to you, and you should listen.
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
oooh. not a problem. not a problem.
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
and you my dear! you're just asking for it aren't ya?!
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia
What happenend to film discussion...ahh Pounce. You are such a honey
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
ooh i am? oh goodies
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
940 posts
Quote:
life does exist elsewhere. intelligent life does exist elsewhere. to think otherwise is to be so incredibly self centered and willfully blind to the facts as to border on clinical insanity. It is literally impossible for us to be unique in something so immense.
I agree. But it feels supernatural, that is, miraculous, even when it exists just down the hall.
Spankings? Am I cute enough? I wanna spank vanize, too!
E pluribus unum, baby.
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
i think you're cute enough
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Quote:
and you my dear! you're just asking for it aren't ya?!
I think she is, in fact, actually asking for it... in her own twisted little way.
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
**giggles**
ya i figured
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Quote:
I agree. But it feels supernatural, that is, miraculous, even when it exists just down the hall.
well, as I said, definition 2 of numinious is observer dependant in this particular application, but you do make a fair point...
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
Mand's Girl....and The Not So Shy One
2,723 posts
Location: Calgary, Alberta Canada
Vanize...SHHHHHHHHH. You aren't helping.
Solitude sometimes speaks to you, and you should listen.
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
haha!
**giggles**
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
member
67 posts
Location: Nottingham, UK
Good god, I go away for the w/end and I'm behind by *hundreds* of posts. How am I ever going to keep up in this place?!?
Dinner with Carl Sagan? Pretty amazing! Your Dad's an Astronaut? I'm thoroughly jealous.... I don't think they'd let me into space with my dodgy leg and short sightedness and so on, but I'd *love* to go! Who knows, maybe one day......
Andromeda, yes, amazing stuff. Intellegent life - got to be some more somewhere, the universe is *so* big. I have the Hubble deep field as my wallpaper, and it amazes me every time I look at it. That, to me, is truly numinous!
hugs,
m
"Come to the edge", he said. They said "We are afraid."
"Come to the edge", he said. They came.
He pushed them..... and they flew.
- Apollinaire
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
I know what you mean. Starting in about 10 days I am going to be touring southern africa for 3 weeks, and I can't even begin to imagine how many thousands of posts I'm going to be behind in pounce's thread!
Dad was an astronaut. He flew on STS 51F back in 1985. He died 10 years ago while trying to summit Mt. Everest. I made a web page in his honor if you are interested in learning more about him (and you can even see a baby picture of me on the site).
How dodgy is the leg and how short sighted? as long as you are better than 20/100 and correctable to 20/20, you are good to go for a mission specialist. The leg may or may not be a problem, depending on what it is exactly that is wrong with it. Of course, I am quoting NASA requirements, and you would have to go thru the ESA instead.
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
member
67 posts
Location: Nottingham, UK
Wow, what an amazing man he was! I'm sorry to hear he's no longer with you, but it sounds like he had an incredible life!
My leg has nothing particularly wrong with it - it's just dodgy! I sprained my ankle badly when I was about 3 and it's been weak ever since. Then I had a shin splint in the same leg (probably at least partly because of the weak ankle) when I was about 10. Then when I was 15 or so I did something to my knee when on a walking holiday - no idea what, but I felt something "give" as I put my foot down heavily and it's never been right since. It aches in the cold weather, or if I have to sit still for long periods, and gives me trouble sometimes when I'm going up and down stairs. So the dodgyness is kind of working it's way up my right leg, and who knows where it will lead!!!
I'm not sure exactly how bad my eyesight is, but you're probalby right, and I too have read the NASA requirements on such things (many years ago now). The fact that I'm British puts a real downer on things, as we put no money towards manned space flight (grrr - don't get me started on that rant), so if ESA have two equally good canditates for astronauts, but one is British and one from another EU country which *does* fund manned space missions, they take the one from the other country. *sigh*
But if I'm honest, all these are mostly excuses on my part. At one point I was very convinced I wanted to be an astronaut (I used to talk a lot about being the first woman on mars!), but now if I'm honest I know that really I'm not dedicated enough to become one - my hobbies take up much more of my time than my science does, and you need to be really focused for that sort of career......
hugs,
m
"Come to the edge", he said. They said "We are afraid."
"Come to the edge", he said. They came.
He pushed them..... and they flew.
- Apollinaire
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
I hope we do, one day, populate the stars. Maybe we will even find that loophole around Einstein, who knows?
But for now, I can only wish I was one of the lucky men and women who have taken our first baby steps outward.
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
I saw one of these guys yesterday evening just outside of town giving me 'the eye':
Non-Https Image Link
It's a "black footed cat". At first I thought it was a feral housecat, but it looked kinda wierd for that - was too stocky for his size, had a more 'though-guy' walk than housecats normally have, and dometic cats very rarely have lepard type spots, so I looked it up.
That is one of the cool things about living in Africa, every so often something like this is just walking on the side of the road. It is especially fun to see meercats sitting up on their hind legs in a little group watching traffic go by like they are spectators at grand prix or something.
more info on black footed cats here if you care:
https://dspace.dial.pipex.com/agarman/blackfoo.htm
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
HOP Mad Doctor
13,925 posts
Location: San Francisco, CA, USA
I love cats. Big ones, small ones. I love how they move. I love their attitude, I love the way the look. I love their eyes...
-Mike
Certified Mad Doctor and HoP High Priest of Nutella
A buckuht n a hooze! -Valura
Where ignorance is bliss, 'tis folly to be wise.
2,293 posts
Location: NJ or DE, USA
AWWWW!!!! *squeals* KAWAIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
*glomps the cat* it's soooooooooooooooo cuuuuuuuuuuuuuuute!!!!
hi vanize! Are you suggesting coconuts migrate?
Pies Jesu Domine *whack*
Dona eis requiem *whack*
Come join us and chat - we're bored! irc.newnet.net #homeofpoi
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
do wild cats like glomps? Oh well, guess he'll have to put up with it, even if he doesn't.
Good to see you again Elanna!
How's the middle of nowhere treating you?
I have so much work to do in the next week before Sprtite gets here and I leave this job for xmas vacation and my new job in Germany, and I am so not interested in doing it...
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
1000 posts!!! WoooooHooooo!!!!!!!!!!!!
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia
Congratulatins
gnor does happy dance for you
Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
WOO-HOO!!!!!
wiggles butt in that silly dancing and celebratory way
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
I have so much work to do in the next 5 days and I have absolutely no self motivation to do it.
I hate it when this happens!
oh well, off to waste time browsing threads....
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
All the neurotic makings of America's lesser known sweetheart
9,831 posts
Location: body in Las Vegas, heart all around the world, USA
oh well, then i'll have to post more paraphilias to give you more to procrastinate with
I was always scared with my mother's obsession with the good scissors. It made me wonder if there were evil scissors lurking in the house somewhere.
Do not meddle in the affairs of dragons for you are crunchy and good with ketchup.
**giggles**
912 posts
Location: Cheltenham
I thought I'd pop in here and wave hi to vanize whilst I'm doing the waving hello thing.
Hello. "We have done the impossible and that makes us mighty" - Mal Reynolds
"I can't tell the difference between an electron and a cat" - Brother of a friend
Carpal \'Tunnel
3,899 posts
Location: Austin, Texas, USA
Hey ho Faulty Neuron!
I've heard a lot about you. Glad you could drop by.
I might be looking you up in several months once I'm established in Germany and have some time to hop over the channel.
-v-
Wiederstand ist Zwecklos!
912 posts
Location: Cheltenham
I've heard a lot about you, vanize. You'd be most welcome. Would be good to put a face to the name.
"We have done the impossible and that makes us mighty" - Mal Reynolds
"I can't tell the difference between an electron and a cat" - Brother of a friend
Carpal \'Tunnel
5,814 posts
Location: Perth, Australia
to Vanize as well...I am following a neuron I think Is it the Truth?
Is it Fair to all concerned?
Will it build Goodwill and Better Friendships?
Will it be Beneficial to all concerned?
Im in a lonely battle with the world with a fish to match the chip on my shoulder. Gnu in Binnu in a cnu
© 1998 - 2025 Home of Poi
All prices converted to United States dollars using XE.com