User:Sagesource

Male. Canadian. Straight, but not homophobic. (I don't give a f*ck who you f*ck as long as they've said yes).

Presently resides in Vancouver, British Columbia.

Ph.D in Intellectual History of Ancient China.

Presently unmarried; in a long-term relationship.

No religious sentiments. Agnostic with atheist tendencies (not entirely atheist because of the impossibility of proving a negative).

Speaks English, some Mandarin Chinese, rather less Japanese, and still less French.

Has RDS (Reward Deficiency Syndrome), an inherited quirk involving defective dopamine receptors in the brain that prevents full appreciation of one's own accomplishments and victories. This has an obvious influence on career chances, and was only identified and brought under treatment recently. (I told my doctor, "I wish I'd known about this thirty years ago," and he replied, "So do we." Well, better late than never.)

Political outlook might be described as Irritated Liberal: pissed off at the tendency of our side to shoot itself in the foot. Very little tolerance for ideological purists of any description.

Usually votes New Democratic Party federally and provincially. Would vote Democratic without much hesitation if I were American -- for pragmatic reasons -- but like many Canadians, most positions on issues are considerably to the left of the Democratic Party.

Dislikes labor unions because of strong individualist tendencies, but supports them and their work for the same reason people go to the dentist: all the alternatives are worse.

Hobbies

• Reading
• First Person Shooter and Role-Playing Games (Fallout 3/Fallout: New Vegas and associated DLC; Half-Life and Half-Life 2 series; Left 4 Dead and Left 4 Dead 2).
• The Path and other off-beat games and mods, such as Dear Esther and Korsakovia by thechineseroom. Interested in the problems of imitating reality, particularly in the reproduction of loss and sadness.
• Writing fanfic and occasional game reviews and commentary for the above, published on the deviantART website under the name dongzhongshu.
• Occasional political commentary under the name sagesource or sunsin at liberal websites. Contributed comments and the occasional diary as sagesource at Daily Kos since about 2004 (user ID 2634).

Favorite author: Thomas Pynchon. Musical tastes are somewhat schizophrenic and almost entirely dependent on the piece being played, from Johnny Cash, Gordon Lightfoot, and Enya to Rammstein, Die Krupps, Eisbrecher, Storm Large, Scary Bitches, and Lesbian Bed Death. Favorite movies are probably La Jetée and Prospero's Books, but I love Rocky Horror Picture Show, Escape from New York, and Pirates of the Caribbean as well. Go figure.

Has lived in or visited Japan, China, Taiwan, and Tunisia -- and the United States, obviously, though there only to the Pacific Northwest and California, Boston, Chicago, and New Orleans (before Katrina, luckily).

Father was Third Engineer, Acting Second Engineer of the Canadian Hydrographic Service ship William J. Stewart at the time it was decommissioned (1975).