Interviews with Thorfinn, by Qamar and Frou_Frou

[thorfinn]

As various people have posted already, this is the Interview Meme that's going around. The shtick is, if you want to be interviewed (5 questions) by me, post a Reply to this post. I will then reply to that reply with 5 questions, which you answer in your own journal (and ideally, post a link to your post in reply to my questions, or at least post saying you've replied, and I can add the direct link if you're not sure how to do that), and offering to interview people that request it... I do warn that it might take me a while to come up with questions, but I will get to everyone that wants me to interview them eventually.

Anyway, on with the interviews of myself, by qamar and frou_frou. I shall answer these questions in quite some detail, making no assumptions of reader knowledge.

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Interview by Qamar:

• 1. What wireless technology will win the current bid for supremacy? Or are monopolies on computer invention a thing of the past?
  
  Mmmm... I'm not sure that monopolies are necessarily a thing of the past... but I do suspect that "wireless technology" is not one of those technologies that will have a clear "winner" anytime soon. A great deal of that is because as a market, it is still really in the "research/self-defining" phase... Nobody is quite sure what functionality the users want and/or need, and/or will actually use! There's not a great deal of consistency of need and desire (except in some cases in localised markets, eg Japan and 3G), and hence not a great deal of consistency in product... and hence no "market war" to win. Raw functionality is still mutating and changing and evolving, and that makes it impossible to predict a clear winner. It's especially complicated by the ongoing device-convergence between mobile-phones and PDAs and even general computing hardware - the desired mix of functionality there is still unclear, and the technologies themselves in that area are also still undergoing change and mutation. Whatever "wireless" technology wins in the end will be part of that convergence, I suspect.
• 2. Have you ever been so much in love with one person that you felt no desire to be intimate with any other?
  
  Hrm. That's an interesting question. A lot hinges on the definition of "intimate". If you mean "sexual and/or physical relations", then no, I haven't. But ... that's because I don't find that sexual and/or physical relations are necessarily "intimate". They certainly can be, but intimacy and sex/other physical pleasure are somewhat orthogonal concepts for me. They can occur separately, or together, and are not tightly bound to each other at all.
  
  As far as the "so much in love" part... well, I think that's a case of, "Mu" (in the sense of "err, your question has assumptions that don't work for me."). I have a pretty much infinite capacity to love and to desire to be intimate. Love for one does not at all preclude love for another, or even obscure, or overshadow. Practical concerns (such as the fact that attention/time is a limited resource) do come into play... but if they were to somehow be removed (eg, if I could have several bodies under the control of this same individual mind), then in theory, no, I have never been, and will never be, "so much in love as to exclude desire for others".
  
  I think that the "non-overlapping in-love-bits-of-heart" is one of the core differences between poly-by-nature and mono-by-nature people (and please, nobody think I'm judging anyone for being one or the other, or that one is better or worse than the other! I'm just acknowledging that people are different, and actually most people are neither poly-by-nature or mono-by-nature, but something-by-nurture). I still have fairly large "holes" in my heart where old loves sit, that for various reasons (often reasons of practical difficulties, rather than anything else) we moved apart. I don't "notice" them all the time, but they are there, and they haven't gone away, or gotten smaller, or diminished, even though I now am also very much in love with my two current primary partners (lirion and seedy_girl). And even there, my love for seedy_girl is quite a different and separate thing from my love for lirion. No lesser in either case, but definitely different, and distinctly non-overlapping.
• 3. Do you apply Tai Chi probability theory of movement to the way you dance and/or share space?
  
  Yes. Definitely. Dancing is interesting... the whole "maximal efficiency of motion" thing still applies, and I tend to track different musical components with different body-parts, and I very much do the "momentum exchange" thing in order to achieve plenty of visible motion without expending lots of energy. And I do tend to keep everything moving along a maximally optioned path, in order to be able to respond quickly to changes in music.
  
  As for sharing space... Hrm. I think so, but I'm not sure quite how I do it, in a normal sitting down social situation. I certainly do it walking down the street - I can travel along Swanston Street (One of Melbourne's two crossing central streets, the other being Bourke Street, for non-Melbournites) at a nearly-full run if I have to, even in peak hour. I generally do stuff like: track out into the less crowded street areas (typically that's along the gutter-edge [stop snickering, you there in the peanut gallery!]) in order to maximise ability-to-move; search for maximally efficient path-through-crowd; slow down to increase option-possibilities in difficult situations; speed up to take the most efficient option-track when a clear one opens up; and suchlike things.
• 4. Where have you travelled?
  
  Interesting. That's frou_frou's interview question four as well, although she adds the flourish of "and why?". :-) I'll answer it there.
• 5. What B&D act first took your breath away?
  
  Hrm. For "briefly took my breath away", as in "caused me to suddenly gasp", I think it would have to be the first time I took clothespins off my nipples after having them on for quite some time. For longer "took my breath away", would probably have to be the time I was first in semi-suspension cuffs with my first serious dominant, and after being flogged for a bit, I remember mumbling at her, "I think I'm going to faint", and then proceeded to do so just after she uncuffed my wrists. I had, err, forgotten to breathe with the excitement. Heh. Probably the standing position had something to do with it too, and I have since learned the old military trick of flexing one's calves whilst on parade (or equivalent) to keep blood pressure up, as well as to remember to check regular breathing.

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Interview by Frou_Frou:

• 1. What’s your favourite fabric and why?
  
  I'm not at all sure I have a favourite fabric! I'm a general sensualist... lots of different textures are good, for lots of different reasons. Some are nice to feel against my skin, some are nice because they encourage other people to pat them, etc, etc. So, I can't pick a specific favourite, because I like them all for different reasons, and I can't really define a specific fabric that stands out from the rest. As far as favourite texture goes, I do have one, and that's the various textures of bare living human skin. Yummy.
• 2. Where do you see yourself in five years?
  
  I'm not totally certain at this point. Career-wise, I expect to be doing something similar to presently, which is software architecting (side note: the difference between a software architect and a random programmer is much the same as the difference between the head design/safety engineer on a new modern office building and the guy building a shack in his backyard). Home-wise, there are as-yet-incomplete answers to questions that are being worked on, that mean that plans there are mostly inchoate. I do think that five years from now is around the timeframe that I'll be looking to be fathering a child or children in, and so that's a strong element in strategic plan, but the tactical details are way way fuzzy, in large part because my partners' strategic plans in that area are much less decided than my own. I am those few years older, which means my plans must necessarily wait, whilst partners make decisions in those and other areas. Oh, I do know that I will be living in Melbourne, though... I have very much settled in this city, and do not intend to leave it on anything except visits and short-term stays. Play-wise, I suspect I'll be doing much what I do now... the odd bit of various gaming, seeing friends, singing in a choir, etc.
• 3. Will you sit for us in your corset?
  
  Yes, most definitely. For the audience's benefit, frou_frou is talking about her group life-drawing sessions, which I have volunteered to model at occasionally. I haven't been to one yet, but I'm looking forward to it. Must remember to reclaim my digital camera from kitling in order to take photos of the resultant works in progress.
• 4. Where have you travelled to and why?
  
  Travel... Hrm. Well. I was born in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I think I lived for about 2 years of my life on my great grandfather's farming estates... Somewhere around there, my father and mother moved to Singapore, taking me along, primarily to get away from the fairly hefty anti-chinese discriminatory policies that existed in the Malaysian system. Around the age of 7, we all moved to Sydney, following my maternal grandmother's clan (she has six children, 4 of whom live in Sydney, 1 in Melbourne, and 1 in London) to create a better life for the children (me and my sister, five years younger than me). My parents immigrated as part of the "teacher recruitment" drives of the early eighties. So, that's my "immigration travels"...
  
  Since then, I have, mostly in chronological order, but not entirely:
  • been on a 1 month trip around New Zealand with maternal grandparents plus nuclear family, in a campervan;
  • travelled to the Blue Mountains, and also visited Jenolan caves, in tow with family;
    
  • spent, err, about six weeks? in the Berkeley/San Francisco/Santa Rosa area, spending most of that time with anthologie, but also notably attending a BDSM playparty at which I bottomed to 7 different tops (one of them was whipartist);
  • travelled to the Blue Mountains, and also visited Jenolan caves, with anthologie, just to show her the place, and sing to wind spirits;
  • went on a weekend BDSM retreat to a farm near Lismore in New South Wales, where the fainting incident above occurred;
  • visited Darwin for a wedding of a pair of Asylum LPmudders;
  • made countless road and bus and train and plane trips between Melbourne and Sydney in both directions in order to visit friends and family;
  • moved to Melbourne for love (rickybuchanan and q_skud_, to start the Tertius Polyfamily);
  • visited ... err, what's that town that Morgan grew up in? Daylesford, that's it. Just to see the place, 'cos it sounded like a nice place to visit;
  • visited Canberra for roleplaying conventions a couple of times;
  • visited my mother's house in Wombarra, a small seaside town halfway between Sydney and Wollongong;
  • stayed in rickybuchanan's parents' beach house in ... err... can't remember where, somewhere on the Victorian coast;
  • stayed in lirion's parents' beach house in Mornington Peninsula;
  • some other trips and stuff that I've forgotten, I'm sure... (Oh, and no, I have not yet been back to Malaysia or Singapore.)
  The strongest common element in me travelling, is "visiting people". I very very rarely go places just to see the place. It's almost invariably to see people I care about. Places by themselves very rarely interest me, unless they strike some sort of spiritual chord.
• 5. Why did you choose the name 'Thorfinn'?
  
  The year was 1992, I think. I needed a nickname to log onto Asylum LPmud, and I happened to be heavily into Nordic mythos at the time. So, I decided I wanted to be called "Thor"... but, of course, it was already taken. So I chose "Thorfinn", instead. It stuck, and I have used it as a handle in most Internet fora since that time. I've been called most variants of it (Thorf, thorfy, thorfi, throffy, ...), with some dependence on familiarity with the individual calling me. In a way, it's the fourth "name" that I have had in my lifetime.
  
  My first name, in Mandarin, is "Wu Tai Yuen" (rising tone, falling tone, low tone), and I no longer recall how to write the ideograms except for the surname. Incidentally, the surname ideogram is of a man holding a spear, and apparently originates from a famous 14th? century general, who was exiled to Hainan Island [off the south coast of China] after losing some war or other, and there exists a book in a Hainanese fishing village of all the Wu's since then, which apparently I am listed in, and which my father has seen.
  
  My second name is the same name, except in Hainanese, which is "Goh Tat Yuen", no tones. That's the name I was registered under, and spent the first seven years of my life being called "Tat Yuen" exclusively. Cultural note: the first name is the surname, the second name is the "generational name", which is shared by all children of the same gender along (I think) the paternal line of descent in the same generation, and the third name is the individual part. (Geek Religious War Note: Yes, that's right, Chinese names are Big-Endian, which is the One True Way...) Thus, all of my male cousins on my father's side are also "Goh Tat Something", and if I had brothers, they would also be "Goh Tat Something". A typical childhood-name is to use the individual name doubled, so my grandmothers would often call me "Yuen yuen" as a small child.
  
  The name that appears on most paperwork is "David Goh", a firstname I chose for myself at the age of 7 when I knew I was moving to Australia. I chose it because I liked the story of David from the christian old testament. A rather complex individual, he was, and I liked the story at the time, and since needed a name that the "Ang Mo Qui" (low tone, rising tone, falling tone. Literal translation "red hair crazies") could pronounce, I picked David, as something that was certain to be pronounceable. According to family anecdote, I refused to answer to anything except David once I'd chosen the name. I've been called most variants on David (Dave, Davy, Davo) at various times by various people, which has never bothered me.
  
  The "highly official" paperwork, like passport and drivers' license, has "David Tat Yuen Goh", with my Hainanese firstnames used as a sort of "middle name". I have generally left that off most other paperwork, since I think it's sorta wrong. It's not really my "middle name", so I don't like using it as such.
  
  These days, I am most often referred to as "Thorf" in both online and physical social groups... I get called David most often in a work and relatives context. I tend to write <thorfinn@tertius.net.au> into books that I loan out, since that email address should remain with me for the rest of my life. Oh, and I'd just like to carefully state that there is no David Conspiracy, and also that the David Conspiracy is definitely not in league with the Kate Conspiracy, even if either Conspiracy were to exist, which of course, neither of them do. Erm, yes.

Comments

[thorfinn]

Mmm... actually, on reflection, if anyone else wants to interview me too, drop questions in here. I may take some time to respond, and I do reserve the right to respond frivolously to questions I don't want to answer publically... but fire away.

[murphus.livejournal.com]

Really interesting post. I liked reading about the origins of your name(s). Hainan Island... I remember seeing this island on a map when I was in Vietnam last year, and being told it contained Australia's population in an area about 200 times smaller.

[thorfinn]

Thanks. Oh, and Hainan's pop-density doesn't even come close to Singapore... which has the population of Sydney, squashed into a postage stamp not much bigger than Sydney's CBD. Eep.

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

Would you interview me? :)

[thorfinn]

Okies. Hopefully this is a good mix of questions.

1. As a relative "Internet Oldie": what types of online communities and fora have you been a part of; what, if anything, has changed over time; and what are the differences and similarities between them?
2. Do you think you are poly-by-nature, poly-by-culture, or something other than that? Why?
3. Michael Moore recommends, in his book Stupid White Men, that everyone should branch-stack their local Democrats branch and take over that political party in order to institute grassroots political reform. Have you read the book, and do you think it's a good idea? Why?
4. What's the most recent "highly pleasureable" (definition of highly and pleasureable left to the questionee) thing you were involved in?
5. Is there a David conspiracy, a Kate conspiracy, or indeed, any conspiracy whatsoever?

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

Hey, I'm still working on getting back to these. I was re-reading them this morning and realized I don't know: what is branch-stacking? (No, I haven't read the book). :)

[thorfinn]

Ah. :) You should read the book. Take his hyperbole with a grain of salt (he tends to mix opinion and fact a lot), but it's worth a read anyway.


That aside... Branch stacking is the process of taking over a branch of a particular political party, by the simple expedient of turning up at said branch meeting with a large bunch of friends in tow, all signing up as party members, then voting yourself and all your friends in as position holders. This is possible, because most political parties have quite small branches in most locations, down to only a few people. Swamping them with a group of half a dozen cronies is easy. Moore advocates that the readers of his book should do this to the Democratic Party, in order to have a real voice in the governing process.

[anthologie.livejournal.com]

Wow. That sounds like it could go really well... or really badly.

I'm not sure how I feel about Michael Moore. On the one hand, I liked his post-9/11 cross-country letters. On the other hand, he seems to be getting more and more sensationalist. I need to see "Bowling for Columbine" and then think some more about his strategies.

[frou-frou.livejournal.com]

thanks for your considered answers, Thorfy. most interesting...

[thorfinn]

A pleasure. As I have said at various times, my life is an unlocked book... I don't ramble about it randomly, but if people want to open the covers and have a look, there's not usually a lock and key. This goes for the other questions you'd like to ask, too. Feel free to corner me somewhere and ask 'em. If I don't want to answer, I won't be offended by the questions, I guarantee it.

Questions

[jeshyr]

I was going to ask questions. But I can't. I just can't.

None of the answers would be publishable.


Please visit sometimes. We miss you.

Ricky.