LJ Interests meme results

1. astronomy:
   I was an astronomy in a previous life. After getting my primary degree in experimental physics I fell into a Ph.D. programme studying star formation with the Dublin Institute for Advanced Studies, that brainchild of de Velera and Schroedinger. I had fun, got my doctorate, moved to France for a couple of years as a post-doc, had less fun and gave it up. The lure of married life, a steady job at home in Ireland and not having to deal with uptight researchers anymore won out over my interest in the field. My interest remains as an amateur, however, feeding my interests in SF, exobiology and interstellar travel.
2. breadmaking:
   My wife sammywol bought me a breadmaking machine a couple of Christmases ago. I love it. Playing with it has sparked a whole new interest in breadmaking and more generally in baking of any sort.
   It helps that I have a 2 1/2 year daughter who loves to help out in the kitchen. We bake together and it's lots of fun.
3. digital photography:
   I love capturing images. My memory is pretty flakey so I use a camera to help me remember events. Digital cameras are a great improvement over film cameras for my purposes. I fell I should be able to do more than point and snap shots though, so I'm looking into expanding my skills. Advice welcome.
4. gene wolfe:
   Wolfe is an American author of science fiction and fantasy. He's really good at this writing thing.
5. joss whedon:
   Buffy and Firefly are firm favourites of mine. I hope Whedon's Serenity makes appropriate noises in the box office so that Whedon gets more TV or film work from people other than Fox.
6. parenting:
   I have a daughter. The whole business is very confusing but completely absorbing. Being a parent is both like and unlike my expectations and the experience of others I've observed. It's an intensely personal process, but one shared by millions of people everywhere everyday.
   I don't know if what I'm doing is right or wrong for my daughter, and this is definitely a long-term project. I guess if she's still able to hang out and laugh with me 20 years from now I'll know I did an okay job.
7. role playing games:
   Role-playing games have a hobby of mine since 1982 when I discovered SPI's Universe and Dragonquest in a little game shop in Paris. I found Dungeons and Dragons, Runequest and a group of odd Canadian friends at high school shortly thereafter and got hooked.
8. rpgs:
   This is the same interest as role-playing games. The interest-picking code isn't smart enough to know this, so I'll include a different set of interests of mine: artificial intelligence, intelligence amplification and the Singularity. I don't know if Moore's Law condemns us all to uploading into a ultimately degenerate Matrioshka Brain round the Sun, but I am interested in the way our minds and our tools merge and what it means to be conscious. The more I read and think about things the more I believe the proposal that free will is an illusion. Where that leaves consciousness I'm not exactly sure (nor particularly comfortable with).
9. spirals:
   How do you get from here to there? A straight line is one way, but a spiral takes in more of the scenery. The megalithic stones and burial sites of Ireland are covered in spiral motifs and that appeals to me. It's halfway between a straight line and a drunken walk and that appeals to me too. Ursula Le Guin makes extensive use of spirals in Always Coming Home and that resonates with me too.
10. unknown armies:
    Unknown Armies is a role-playing game of post-modern occultism and people burning themselves up or out in a frenzy to change the world. Created by John Tynes and Greg Stolze, it's a subtle and cleverly written meshing of rules and setting. Recommended.

Enter your LJ user name, and 10 interests will be selected from your interest list.