Worus

My name is Julian. I’m currently a junior in computer science at Iowa State University. I enjoy my major, quite a bit, actually. However, some of the more theoretical classes and peripheries of the major are not that interesting to me. I’m still hoping to graduate in 2004 with a bachelor’s degree in computer science.

I generally go to school on the weekdays and work at Wal-Mart on the weekends. I like to explain this with the idea that “I don’t stop,” meaning that I don’t take a day off during the week like most people at jobs or school. At the moment I am one of the front-end bitches at the store. I can do everything for the front-end, except for supervise; which I have coincidentally done before anyway.

The other main activity that I’m involved in is Youth Alliance. I am on the board for this organization. We’re a local group to help support queer youth and end discrimination. I planned the alternative prom for 2001, and plan to do it for 2002 with the help of the great Kim Mosby. I’ve also done some training sessions with basic Q&A at different workshops/organizations. I try to be as involved with Youth Alliance as I can at any given time, because it’s a cause that I obviously believe in.

I’m still dating Dean. We’ve been together for over a year now. Things are looking up with him. I really love him. I’m to the point that I don’t know exactly why I love him, just that I really adore him for who he is. It’s quite special, I assure you.

On a similar note, sometime during my freshman yaer at Iowa State, I finally realized that the way that I identified in regards to sexual orientation was somewhat false. I realized that I only identified as bisexual because I wanted to keep that part of “normalcy” in my life, regardless of if I would ever act on it. I now recognize myself as gay, which is what I really am. No one helped me reach this conclusion but myself. I’m much happier now that I don’t feel obligated to like women, which is not something that I ever really liked in the first place. It feels good to be me.

I still enjoy playing video games, but I get very little time to do so anymore. Dance Dance Revolution is my current gaming obsession. Also, I have not found time time to complete Chrono Cross yet, but I’m sure I’ll finish one day. However, whenever a Final Fantasy game comes out, I take it home and play it through immediately. I called Dean when Final Fantasy X came out and told him that I loved him, but that I had to play this game for the next month, and that I would see less of him during that month. He actually understood. Final Fantasy V still rocks the house; I don’t care what anyone else says.

Regarding computers, I currently use GNU/Linux as my operating system. The distrobution is Mandrake Linux 8.1. I’m getting excited, because version 9.0 comes out within the month and it has GNOME 2, which looks to be the best desktop ever. I love the artwork and GUI toolkit of this desktop. It kicks KDE’s ass, if you ask me. Though KDE kicks ass in it’s own right.

I’ve become a sort of computer hippie over the last year. I realize now that I mostly agree with the Free Software Foundation’s notion of free (read: freedom) software. While I’m not quite as extreme, I definately agree with the idea that human knowledge, such as algorithms, belong to the world. I’m also a huge supporter of open standards. I try to compute with open standards and “free” software, when possible.

Musically, I like to think that I’m the same person I’ve been for a long time. I definately like a braod range of music. I can usually buy an album and listen to the songs that I’ve heard on the radio and be happy. Eventually entire albums grow on me. I still, of course, listen to my geeky game and anime music; I love it.

My interest in Japanese anime is so-so at this point. I really enjoy the stuff, but I rarely get a chance to see it. I attribute a lot of this to the fact that I spend most of my free time with Dean, and he wasn’t into anime to start with. He tries, though, and I respect that.

I have acquired some new mad skillz over the lat two years. They include:

• Mad service desk skillz
• Mad claims skillz
• Mad calculus skillz (Upgraded! - Now includes integration and some differential equations!)
• Mad “fork()” skillz
• Mad Youth Alliance skillz
• Mad driving skillz (re-acquired by decree of Veronica)
• Mad UNIX skillz (still seeking improvement)

I don’t get a whole lot of time to spend with friends anymore, either. There are a lot of my friends that I don’t feel comfortable calling. This isn’t because I dislike them, but because I feel like I’m intruding if I call them. I hope to rid myself of this self-consciousness, because deep down I know it’s just me being silly. Still, I think that everyone has a slightly more branched out life at this point, so that also accounts for part of our lack of contact as well.

Until next time…

Dated: September 21, 2002