Hello, I’m darms and I’ve decided to stop lurking. I didn’t stumble on to this “old jasmine tea-sipping party” by accident, it turns out that your KTStew & I have a strange & wonderous bond from a very, very long time ago (we’ve known each other for two years over the last thirty-four) and she invited me to pop in & have a look. I appreciate decorum and have a strong interest in discussing various topics but have no patience for the screaming, yelling & name—calling that seems to pass for public discourse these days, no patience whatsoever. The place looks interesting, perhaps I have something to offer.

I work as a senior tech/designer at a small consulting firm in Austin, TX, and obviously have quite a bit of free time, probably too much. I have a house in South Austin where I live with my wife of two years and four cats, one of whom, Mr. Fearless, is the boss of us all. No children, ever, and no regrets, either. What I do when I’m not at work is surf the net, play computer games, watch movies & listen to music plus from time to time I play music, either bass or noise-synth. I have been creative & productive in the past but I’ve had a rather solid creativity-block for a number of years, one I’m looking to remove or somehow work around. I’m one of those people who knows a little about a number of different things/genres plus I’ve done about everything one can do in electronics/recording/video production at one time or another. I’ve worked with vacuum tubes, bleeding-edge CPUs and everything in between. Take me to an art museum and I know what I’m looking at but drag me to a ball game and I’m clueless and will escape at the first opportunity! I have been to much of the US midwest, Paris, TX as well as Paris, France and have made 4 trips to the place of my dreams, Amsterdam, NL. But I’ve lived my life entirely in TX, probably due more to inertia than to anything else.

The internet for me is a wonderful source of news and information, and as a daily newspaper reader since about 1966 I have a pretty good grasp on what is true and what is not. I am a rather rabid partisan but have no problem with people who have a different opinion than mine. What I do have a problem with are people who have their own facts, especially “facts” that have no tangible basis in reality. I don’t really have a good label for what I believe but my political compass shows me to be strongly economic left/ social libertarian.

I guess the only thing else I have to add is that I’m fast approaching 50 complete with a really rough mid-life crisis. Kind of hard to face when you still don’t know what you want to be when you grow up!

Thankyou for submitting your resume. We will get back to you shortly to tell you if your application for membership has been successful.

Oh alright, you're in! Welcome to FT

>>>> The place looks interesting, perhaps I have something to offer.

Yeah well ... I've read your ghosts jokes ... just don't offer too many of them, hey?

Ok-credentials look good to me welcome aboard.

One of life's little pleasures (IMHO) is the awful pun. The groanier, the better!

We must introduce you to Tellywellies - our resident bad punster. SOme of his work can be found here.

It is true. Everything is bigger in Texas! That has to be the longest introduction I have seen.

Welcome aboard, Darms, and have a great time.

Hiya darms! Welcome aboard and all that ~ you'll fit in right proper around here .
You're from Texas? Well, this info comes in very handy indeed - I had a boyhood chum go missing (after reaching adulthood, of course) in Plano some years ago. Have you seen him? If you do, please tell him to phone home. The locals are worried sick!
Enjoy the Forums !

Aye caramba! That was Rev 2, you should have seen the original version... It was suggested, however, that being loquacious was a good thing.

Aye caramba**2, to quote an Excel spreadsheet! You mean that 'plano(l)' city in that 'plano(l)'state? Betcha 'twas the yuppies what got 'em.

Welcome darms, you'll fit right in - we like them better when they aren't shy!

Welcome, you sound like our type of person.

A warm welcome from England

Welcome to the forums, darms! I see you've already jumped into several discussions - we're happy to have you!

Why, thank you. While I've been on the web since 1994 and the BBS scene from back in the mid-eighties I've never really been a part of an online community outside of occasional comments on weblogs. Chat rooms? IM? No thanx!