GTKY -- justG

Seems like tdotwire isn't around and I don't like these threads getting bumped down too far without being answered. Soooo I picked someone else who does frequent the General forum enough to hopefully catch this thread

1. Tell us how you came across OZZU.

2. Tell us about Orland, FL. Did you get hit by the hurricanes?

3. Any exciting plans for this summer?

4. On your profile, it says "occupation: web geek" Wanna elaborate? What exactly does a web geek do in a day?

5. I know that americans had a long weekend (Memorial day I believe?) what did you do for it?

6. Wow, I'm really impressed with the amount of languages you speak (Hindi, English, Punjabi, Spanish, French, some Greek, Italian, Russian, Bengali, Gujrati) do you write and read them too? Which was the hardest/easiest to learn? Which is your mother tongue?

7. Have you ever lived in a different country?

8. Who is your hero?

9. Finish this sentence "My life's motto is..."

10. What do you think you'll be doing 5 yrs from now?

11. Is there someone from your past you wish you could go back and talk to? Doesn't have to be someone who has passed on. Could be someone you had a fall out with.

12. Describe yourself in 1 word.

13. Would you rather have the power of invinsibility or be able to produce sparks from your fingertips?

14. What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?

15. Family and friends: Who are the ppl closest to you.

16. What are you listening to right now?

17. Tell us about an obsession you have.

18. Any useless talents? (double jointed, tongue can touch nose, great animal noises imitations, etc)

19. They say that everyone will eventually get their 15 minutes of fame. Have you had yours?

20. Only if you feel comfortable, tell us about your spirituality.

21. Tell us about your living arrangements. (Live alone, roommates, with parents, in a house, etc)

22. What's your earliest childhood memory?

23. How tall are you?

24. Do you have any pets?

25. Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

26. Who would you like to see as the next GTKY victim?

27. Have you ever met a famous person?

28. What colour are your socks right now?

29. Everyone has at least one negative quality about themselves. Whether it's a short temper, insecurity, cockyness, etc. What's yours?

31. What are you currently reading? (if you're not reading anything right now, tell us about the last book/magazine you read)

Post more questions everyone.

30. What's your favorite color of the sky?

31. What is the meaning of life to you?

32. How do we solve world hunger?

33. I luv the way you criticised/commented website in the review forum. In your opinion, what is the most crucial element in a website development that often overlooked by many web developers?

OMG. I don't show up for one day and I get hit with a GTKY thread! I didn't think I was enough of a veteran for one of these. *grumble* Thanks a lot, flavah. =]

1. Tell us how you came across OZZU.

Hang on, let me go see what my first post was.

...later...

Oh. My first post was an intro. Heh. Okay, so ya, it was as I suspected. I was looking for help with some JavaScript stuff and probably happened upon Ozzu as the result of a... <drumroll> Google search! How's that for unique?

2. Tell us about Orland, FL. Did you get hit by the hurricanes?

If I told you what I really think of Orlando, Ozzu's profanity filter would have a heart attack. Let's see... some rated-G commentary that comes to mind: Orlando is miserable swampland. The humidity is so bad that even flat, straight hair turns happily into an afro. There are alligators on walking trails. There are mutant bugs, and not enough lizards and frogs and spiders to eat them. The roads here were designed by a five-year-old playing with his Spirograph. They took the finished piece, filled in some of the circles with water (man-made lakes at every other corner on a stretch of land that is already practically an island - logical, eh?), and called it a city.

Yes. My neighbourhood got hit with a few hurricanes last year, but I was very fortunate. The house has a few new structural cracks and a leak or two, but otherwise, I came out unscathed. Terrified, but unscathed.

3. Any exciting plans for this summer?

Hopefully, a fresh start. I'm currently job hunting.. in Toronto.

4. On your profile, it says "occupation: web geek" Wanna elaborate? What exactly does a web geek do in a day?

It was pretty silly to put something so generic on a forum by and for web geeks, eh?

Well, I started producing web sites in '93. As I'm sure many of you can understand, we who got in on the whole dotcom startup thing always wore several different hats. I learned a lot along the way, in interface design, marketing, quality assurance, customer service and tech support, bs-ing my way through meetings, manufacturing new buzzwords to facilitate the aforementioned bs-ing, etc. I am not a certified or accomplished coder, nor a marketer, nor a graphic designer, nor a multimedia professional. But like many who got an early start in this business, I do a little bit of this 'n' that, enough to make trouble. =]

5. I know that americans had a long weekend (Memorial day I believe?) what did you do for it?

I waited for Tuesday morning so I could catch the latest job posts! I'm working on some freelance projects right now, so every day is a work day for me.

6. Wow, I'm really impressed with the amount of languages you speak (Hindi, English, Punjabi, Spanish, French, some Greek, Italian, Russian, Bengali, Gujrati) do you write and read them too? Which was the hardest/easiest to learn? Which is your mother tongue?

I read/write: English, Spanish, French, Hindi.

I can sort of read Russian and Gujrati. The difference is that I have forgotten 95% of my Russian so I don't know what I'm reading, but my reading comprehension in Gujrati is a little better than that. While I don't really know much Italian, my reading comprehension of both it and Portuguese is enough to get by in basic communication, just because the roots of the words are so similar, y'know?

My mother tongue is Hindi.

[Edit]

Oops, I missed part of the question. I learned Hindi and English first, then my Mum started teaching me French when I was three. But as a student, having been born and raised in NYC, Spanish was definitely the easiest to learn. Russian was the most difficult, not because of the script or anything, just building up the vocabulary. Romance languages can be pretty easily deciphered once you know one, but that's not the case with a language like Russian, which was so different for me.

On another note, though, what's *really* cool is realising that there are similarities in languages that have nothing to do with one another. It makes the world feel so much smaller than it sometimes seems! Some examples:

- The word for "tea" in both Russian and Hindi is "chai."

- "Two" in Spanish is "dos," and in Hindi it's "do" (d'oh!)

- Here's a totally obscure one. The word "fulano" in Spanish means something like "so and so." The same expression in Hindi? "Falaana."

[/Edit]

7. Have you ever lived in a different country?

Ask me again in a couple months. =] No, I haven't. I've visited, but not lived.

8. Who is your hero?

If hero is someone I idolise, I'm not sure I have one. If hero is someone who has had a profound influence on me, then it has to be one of my maternal uncles. Even when I was a child, he never spoke to me as if I were one. When I was 5 or so, he took me shopping for reading material while I was visiting (he lives in India, so I didn't see him too frequently), and in addition to the comic books I insisted on buying, he bought me Dickens and Shakespeare... and then insisted that I actually read them (hmph). Turns out I love Dickens. Shakespeare? Not so much. He's never doubted my ability, he's always encouraged every interest, and he's recognised potential in me where no one else has (including me).

Well, that, and.. he laughs like Ernie from Sesame Street, which is very cute.

9. Finish this sentence "My life's motto is..."

Say what you mean, mean what you say.

10. What do you think you'll be doing 5 yrs from now?

That's classified. =] Actually I'm just sort of getting things in motion now with a dear (brilliant, talented, ridiculously accomplished) friend for a multimedia production company of sorts.

11. Is there someone from your past you wish you could go back and talk to? Doesn't have to be someone who has passed on. Could be someone you had a fall out with.

I tend to forge relationships that last a lifetime, so if I lose touch with someone, it's usually because the relationship was not mutually beneficial or enriching. So in this case, it is someone who's passed away. I would have loved to have been able to spend some time with my maternal grandfather, who passed away before I was able to meet him.

12. Describe yourself in 1 word.

Honest.

13. Would you rather have the power of invinsibility or be able to produce sparks from your fingertips?

I am not sure whether you meant invincibility or invisibility, but in either case, I'd choose the first one.

14. What accomplishment(s) are you most proud of?

Every one of my friends knows that s/he can come to me at any time. They look to me for honesty and reason and balance. I couldn't ask for anything more.

15. Family and friends: Who are the ppl closest to you.

Umm.. I don't think you know 'em. =] Let's see... at the moment, the two people closest to me are Ren and Cali.

16. What are you listening to right now?

This soundtrack.

17. Tell us about an obsession you have.

Lists. This is one of my favourite sites.

18. Any useless talents? (double jointed, tongue can touch nose, great animal noises imitations, etc)

You know the sound a flexible straw makes when you straighten it? I can make that sound. =] Oh and I can do this ticking-clock pendulum thing with my eyes, which somehow completely baffles people even though it's really simple and has no trick to it at all.

19. They say that everyone will eventually get their 15 minutes of fame. Have you had yours?

Yes.

20. Only if you feel comfortable, tell us about your spirituality.

I have a personal code of ethics that involves the pursuit of individual happiness, but not at the expense of others. I believe that scriptures -- all of them -- teach us common sense, the same kind of sense we learn from our elders and from keeping our ears open and our mouths shut (and sometimes, vice-versa). I am open to listening to just about anything. I have been stopped on the road by strangers only to be told that they have no idea why they stopped me, they were just compelled to come up to me and talk to me. *shrug* Apparently I have, like, a magnetic aura or something.

21. Tell us about your living arrangements. (Live alone, roommates, with parents, in a house, etc)

I live alone in a single-family, detached house. Thanks for reminding, I've been meaning to upload those pics to Flickr. I'll try and get to that soon. =]

22. What's your earliest childhood memory?

I was just over a year old, visiting Kashmir, India, with my parents. We were on a lake, in something that resembles a covered gondola. Mum was sitting in the back, and I was lying on the seat up front, with Dad.

Anyway, that's the background. My earliest memory is of me opening my eyes to see the clearest blue water very, very close to my upside-down face. I remember laughing, like it was just the greatest thing in the world.

Apparently, I had started sliding off (don't remember that), and Dad noticed at the last second and caught my ankle (remember that). I wasn't scared or saddened easily as a baby. I remember laughing.. a *lot*.

23. How tall are you?

5'4" (1.63m).

24. Do you have any pets?

Not at the moment. I had a dog, a black lab/rottie mix named Brownie (yes, I know, another original), but after moving to Florida my allergies (dander) got really bad and so I asked my ex to take her. I found out last week that she tried to bite someone and had to be euthanised. =[

25. Who stole the cookie from the cookie jar?

=[ But.. I like cookies. =[ You saw me? =[

26. Who would you like to see as the next GTKY victim?

Uh oh. Okay let me check the post listing past victims (thanks for that) and then see whom I actually know on Ozzu who might not be on it. =]

...later...

Ah ha. I've got it. My choice is roarmeow because I'm homesick, he's in Brooklyn, and he makes me giggle.

27. Have you ever met a famous person?

Yes.

28. What colour are your socks right now?

Socks? This is Florida. It's nearly June. You're lucky I'm clothed at all.

29. Everyone has at least one negative quality about themselves. Whether it's a short temper, insecurity, cockyness, etc. What's yours?

I was told once that the quality you most dislike in others is that which you are reluctant to acknowledge in yourself. If that's true, then mine would be arrogance.

31. What are you currently reading? (if you're not reading anything right now, tell us about the last book/magazine you read)

Well, unlike everyone I know right now, I am *not* reading The Da Vinci Code! I will soon, though. =] Currently I'm reading Hellstrom's Hive which, now that I'm half-way through the book, I realise I've read before. *sigh*

- Gita

30. What's your favorite color of the sky?

This comes pretty close.

- Gita

31. What is the meaning of life to you?

Love.

32. How do we solve world hunger?

Stop procreating like rabbits, stop sapping the planet of its natural resources, and stop being so wasteful.

33. I luv the way you criticised/commented website in the review forum. In your opinion, what is the most crucial element in a website development that often overlooked by many web developers?

*blush* Thanks, xfahmix. I think the mistake we most make (both developers/designers/site producers and clients) is creating what we want the user to see instead of what the user wants to see. I'm not really thrilled about the latest buzzwords/fads (e.g. "web 2.0 stylee" and "AJAX goodness"), but I am really happy to see a stronger emphasis on standards, usability, and accessibility.

- Gita

35 what does the G stand for?

34. Why have to chosen to move to Toronto to work?

I believe strongly that when it does not hurt or inconvenience anyone else, one should listen to one's "inner voice." I have just had this deep-seated "feeling" for the past five years or so that Toronto should be the next stop on this journey. The opportunity to make the move has not knocked on my door, so I'm still here, but circumstances in life have conspired recently to motivate me to seek that opportunity more aggressively instead of waiting for it to land in my lap. =]

- Gita

35 what does the G stand for?

Silly meman, Gita, of course. =] How's your tummy?

- Gita

lol of course! Gita!

My tummy is better, thanks

Thanks for the wonderful insight into your life justG! Very interesting. I'm sure as a person involved in the web business from the get-go you've definitely seen many many changes/advances. I'd love to see a portfolio site if you have one?

I've seen them, but I've often watched from the sidelines. Working for a governmental entity, you know very well the archaic restrictions placed upon site developers. So while everyone was adding the latest goodies to their bags of web tricks, we were creating sites using the 216-colour web palette, no JavaScript, HTML 2.0, and above the (640x480) fold. *shudder*

Anyway, I've been so busy freelancing and trying to save money for the (hopefully soon-to-come) move, that I *blush* haven't really gotten around to my own site yet. I will.. err.. at some point. =]

.g

ah yes I totally understand you! I'm also stuck creating sites for the gov't and must abide by those rules as well!