User:ThatBajoranGuy
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It's been suggested by a couple of users that I create a user page, and a very good reason was given. Since I plan on being around for a while, I decided to finally make my meager first attempt at one.
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[edit] Who
I am a fairly normal geek who found Wikipedia to be a wonderful receptacle of the gathered knowledge of hundreds of thousands of learned individuals across the globe. Since first learning of Wikipedia, I have turned several friends onto it. When I have a question about something, I check Wikipedia first; a couple of my friends have begun to do so. Even my mother become a Wikipedia reader because I told her about this place.
My interests, aside from the major one mentioned in the next section, and that which gives me my username), include linguistics.
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I hope one day to be a polyglot, but right now it's just a small smattering of a few languages, as you can see to the right.
The study of all languages interests me greatly, and it is a field I am considering entering, thanks to a couple of great linguistics professors. I've had a natural interest in language since I was very young, and well before I knew that the field of linguistics existed, so it seems like a natural fit.
Presently, my major is English, so my interests also naturally include literature, plays, short stories, orthography, and assisting people with proofreading (which comes easily to me) and grammar correction (not as simple, or as enjoyable). I find idioms especially enjoyable, and slang fascinating. I often engage in and always enjoy the occasional paronomasia, uttering double entendres, and utilizing the syntactic ambiguity of other peoples' speech for comedic effect.
On the literature front, I hope someday soon to be a bona fide scholar of the works of the Bard, and I enjoy writing the occasional short story from time to time, having actually been published twice! I prefer American Lit to Brit Lit, though I highly enjoy British accents. Science fiction and mysteries are my favorite genres, with Dame Agatha Christie and Sara Paretsky among my favorite mystery authors (though Edgar Allen Poe's contributions to the genre cannot be overlooked).
Other interests include TV and the TV industry, including the very poorly handled method of measuring TV show viewership; certain active pastimes like bowling and miniature golf (though with most sports, I am mainly a spectator); card games and board games, especially ones which allow me to utilize my bank of trivia; role-playing games and simming; crosswords and Sudoku; and photography. I play chess fairly well, and poker not so well at all. I am a fan of various forms of animation, especially animated TV shows and some anime. Food is a big interest of mine, and I like to consider myself something of a budding gourmet.
I'm interested in learning more about oceanography and marine biology, both fields I was exposed to in high school and took classes in at the college level. Both fields built nicely upon my inherent environmentalism -- I have served as officers in ecology and marine biology clubs in my past.
I keep a close eye on current events and watch the news and read internet-based news daily and the Los Angeles Times almost daily. I feel it is important to know about the government and enjoy learning about governmental structures around the world. I've also voted in every single election since I turned 18 -- hooray! I also enjoy learning about the law and perusing the opinions of the US Supreme Court.
[edit] What
I'm a human male U.S. citizen, but ThatBajoranGuy is obviously a guy from Bajor, a planet in the Star Trek universe featured heavily in my favorite Star Trek series to date, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine. (I'm a recovering trekkie, but I will always be a Niners fan.) The name was also chosen to a describe a character I portray in an IRC-based sim I have run for several years (see the Links section to find my sim's homepage).
[edit] When
I've been a fan of Wikipedia and an avid reader of articles since late 2004, but my first Wiki contribution as a registered user was on January 5, 2005. I've been around since then, but didn't write my first article (small as it is) until June 2006. Every day, I get a little better at being a Wikipedian -- or at least, I hope I do!
[edit] Where
I make most of my small contributions to Wikipedia from El Pueblo de Nuestra Señora la Reina de los Ángeles de la Porciuncula, better known as Los Angeles, California. A couple (including my first ever) were done from Pasadena, California, at Pasadena City College, my former community college.
[edit] Why
I owe my involvement in Wikipedia to Warpflyght, who got me interested in it and has suggested I author my own articles. The very helpful Rockero pointed out an understandable truth about the Wiki community that led me to want a user page sooner rather than later. For these reasons, and because it would give me a good deal of experience in creating a page, I wrote all of this...
[edit] Current areas of Wikipedia interest
- Los Angeles
(It is unthinkable that the City of Angels is not a featured article! I hope to make several improvements to the work that's already there.)
- Sara Paretsky
(A current long-term goal of mine is to provide detailed synopsis of all of Sara Paretsky's novels.)
- Star Trek
(I know way more about it than I should. Along with other former and current Trekkies, I'll do what I can to improve the Wiki articles on this great sci-fi subgenre.)
- Supreme Court Cases
(My ability to parse and understand most of what I write has come from doing several research papers as an English major. Though I'm no legal expert, I have taken some law classes in my past and have a rudimentary understanding of many concepts. These two things combine make me able to wade through the legalease of written briefs in order to pull out the issues involved, and I hope to do good work in summarizing some notable SCOTUS cases presently left nearly unexplained in their Wiki articles. You can see my first attempt here).
- ... and making minor edits when and where I can, including removing aberrant category tags and touching up grammar.
