The Interview committee is proud to present the interview with none other than
JAY
She made all of you wait for it, but the interview is finally here
Introductory questions
1. How are you today?
I'm doing good, thanks
2. What is your (user) name?
(Jay) Jarmila
3. How did you decide on your username?
I didn't want to use my name when I was registering but I couldn't think of anything 'original' I would like so I decided to just use my initial, and transformed it into Jay. It stuck and I've been Jay ever since.
4. Why did you initially join the lit-net?
I was looking for something about John Milton I could use for my final IT project in secondary school (it was about creating a website, the content didn't matter, I'm not actually sure why I chose to use John Milton's poetry).
Also, I was looking for the author of this poem. I'm not sure which one came first.
5. What would you say is the best aspect of the forum?
The best aspect? The friends you make, the people you meet thanks to the forum. I've made a few very good friends here over the years.
6. If you could do anything with the forum what would it be?
I think I'd cancel the 10-character rule as the limit for minimum length of a post.
7. How do you feel about smilies?
In a very positive way :goof:
8. Why are all of your posts so short? Usually a sentence or two at the most, sometimes less. (suggested by Virgil)
The length of my posts mostly depends on the subject. I'm mainly trying to just say what I think and not agonize about a single point for ten paragraphs or more... unless I start to babble, at which point I tend to say the same thing over and over again, every time a little bit differently, making less and less sense by each sentence... so I just usually choose to be brief and (hopefully) clear. Why write an essay to say something that could be expressed just as well by a few words? I don't think that the point of a post is to put the reader to sleep.
9. How do you feel about being a mod?
Powerhungry! ;)
Nah, I don't think it makes me feel much differently from what it feels like being a regular member.
10. Have you noticed that since you became a mod you seem to spend less time posting?
Yes, I have. I think that it's because before, I could skip reading threads/posts I wasn't interested in. Now, if I haven't been away for more than a day or two, I try to read all new posts to be up to date with the situation on the forum. It takes some time to do so, time I would probably spend posting before. Sometimes I only log in to read through the new posts. Also, in the last few months real life has been interfering more often than it used to before.
11. As one of the oldest members here how do you think the forum has changed?
We got new cool stuff to play with! Most recently the blogs, new fast shiny server, a new look, there's the Forum Book Club, Short Story Competition, The Poetry Post, more and more e-texts/content have been added... new members join, some of the old leave, which results in a general change of the overall atmosphere at times. Since I joined, the forum has been getting more and more busy. I remember a time when there only used to be very few new posts every day and having some other member online at the same time you were, that was just great! I remember being scolded for having a conversation with Shea (ok, so maybe we didn't stay too on topic :p) in a few different threads just a few weeks after I joined.
Personal Questions
12. What is your date of birth?
14 December 1983
13. How would you describe yourself, your personality?
In short, I'm just crazy. I daydream a lot, I'm lazy, I'm not too good at getting things done but I usually manage under the pressure of a deadline, I think I get excited easily (leads to new obsessions), I tend to be overprotective, second-guess myself often, I'm good at procrastinating, I tend to be sarcastic (or so I've been told ;)), I use parenthesis a lot.
14. What do you do in RL? Student, work?
I study English language and literature.
15. Could you tell us a little more about what you do?
Other than spending lots of time on the net/laptop, I actually attend lectures. When there's some time between lectures, I'm usually in the faculty's library either reading/studying or more likely spending more time yet on the net. I also spend several hours on the train each fortnight, usually reading assigned books or studying... or dozing off :p. Once I'm at home, I like spending my time with my niece who will be 1 year old in December :cool:
16. Would you tell us something about your various hobbies?
I like reading, listening to music (I prefer having background music on as much as possible), I like animals, most of all horses (Clydesdales and Shires in case anybody's interested) and dogs (Irish Wolfhound being my favourite). I also like reading fan fiction, I enjoy spending time outside walking or photographing. I draw but I'm not too good at it, I don't really suck (purely objectively speaking ) but I'm not a Picasso either. Oh, and I used to build jet models, not enough time for that now (always busy doing something else). I collect stamps :p (haven't grown out of it yet)
17. Do you like sports, if so do you play sports yourself?
Sports... in PE I always liked games, mostly anything played with a ball. I used to play floorball in a team a few years ago, I was the goalkeeper. I also used to ride horses but unfortunately I no longer have the opportunity. If you can catch me watching a match on the TV, I'm watching ice hockey.
18.What of music? Play any instruments?
I used to play the recorder when I was in elementary school and the drums at secondary. I'd like to learn to play the piano/keyboard and I'd like to start playing the drums again.
19. Have you played in a band? If so, what was it like? Do you want to play in a band (again)?
I've never played with a band. The only accompaniment I've ever got was my sister after she got two guitars (she got a better one and I was allowed to main the old one). Oh, forgot to mention, my guitar playing skills might be considered string-torture :p. Now that I'm thinking about it, the last few months before I quit playing the recorder, I used to play several pieces with a boy who was playing the clarinet, but never with a band. Just before I finished secondary school, my drums teacher told me he'd bring me an electric guitar player to help me with a problem I had but either he kept forgetting about it or just couldn't find anybody whose schedule would work with mine.
If I ever get back to playing the drums or learn to play the keyboard I'd like to give playing in a band a shot.
20. Do you like to travel?
I'm not sure. I've only been 'abroad' once, in the UK. I have relatives in Slovakia (which I can't seem to think of as abroad) and visit when I can but that's not travelling in my opinion. I like travelling by train, I have never been on a plane or a boat and I get motion sickness on the bus sometimes. I'd like to travel and experience foreign countries and cultures so I suppose you could say that I like travelling.
21. Which countries have you visited? And which ones would you really like to visit someday?
I have spent a week in the UK, done some shopping trips to Poland and Germany (very close to the border) and spent a lot of time with my grandparents in Slovakia. One day I'd like to bang on the doors of my friends regardless of the country. Other than that, I'd like to visit Canada, New Zealand, Australia, Greece & Turkey (I heard there are some 'rocks' there :brows:), Egypt, the US... wherever I get the chance, I'm not that picky.
22. Could you tell us something about the countries you have visited? Like the culture,
environment, etc.
Well, not much. The week I spent in the UK on a school trip, we did the usual sightseeing and in my opinion, a week is not long enough to 'notice' anything of any significance, more so if your time there is made by somebody else. As I said earlier, I'm not sure I'd ever be able to really consider Slovakia a foreign country, but a significant percentage of the culture is very similar to Czech so no big differences there.
23. What about your own country? What do you like about where you live?
I like the countryside. Practically never having been abroad I can't really compare the Czech rep/Slovakia to someplace else but I like the countryside. I like it that if you live in a city, you don't have to go far to be rid of the noise and rush of it (unless you happen to live in Prague but it's still not such a big city). I like hills and mountains, as there's a lot of those here. I also like the climate, we get 4 seasons, nothing too extreme (though I'm often complaining about the heat in summer :p ).
24. What of the people in the Czech republic? What makes them Czech?
Other than being overly fond of Czech beer? I suppose the Czechs are not too different from other peoples.
25. Whats your favourite season and why?
My fave seasons are autumn and spring, if I really had to chose between the two, I'd say autumn. I like the weather of those seasons, it's (usually) not too hot or too cold. In spring I like to watch the world turning green again. In autumn, I like the warm colours and I love walking through dry fallen leaves (shuffling through or kicking the leaves all over).
To be continued in Part II
