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"You can't keep a good man down."
On 6/11/2015 at 2:17:55 AM, The Host started the thread:
Or message board, so it seems.
With Jurassic World about to drop into theatres - of course I have my ticket (seat 17, row D, Scotiabank Cinema IMAX auditorium, Toronto, tomorrow evening at 7:30pm) - I figured it was time for a stroll down amnesia lane.
I don't know if I'm surprised this Board is still going, but I am maybe a little surprised at how many names I remember are still here.
It's been ten years since I posted regularly here, save for a few months during the 2008 presidential campaign when I was unemployed and politically-obsessed.
But I was one of the very first users to register at Dan's TLW Page message board - on the first day it was posted back in the spring of 1997 - and for eight years, off and on, this site was a pretty big part of my life.
I probably made as many enemies as friends, and I doubt I'm going to see eye-to-eye with any Republicans today any more than I was able to a decade ago. And this may just be nostalgia talking, but most of my memories of this place are fond ones.
I'm not sure it will interest anyone at all, but I thought I'd give a quick update on my life in recent years. I would be interested, for what it's worth, in seeing updates from the regulars I engaged with back then who are still around. We're all so much older now: oh, my.
So I lived in London for two years, from 2005 until 2007, then moved back to Canada and found myself in Toronto: that part some of you may already know. I worked in sales here for a while, then lost my job, and really the entirety of this period, from my university graduation in 2005 until the beginning of 2009, was something of a lost period for me. Don't get me wrong; I didn't accomplish nothing, and I will never regret moving to the UK for a time. But I didn't know what I wanted to do with my life. I suffered bouts of depression over the course of half a decade, right up until the end of 2008. I had a lot of growing up to do.
One thing my extended unemployment, which neatly coincided with the U.S. Presidential election, did was to make clear what I wanted to do with myself. By the beginning of 2009 I'd begun to volunteer in politics here in Canada, and a few months later I got my first full-time job in the field.
Surprising exactly no one who has every sparred with me here.
So now I've been working in politics for more than six years. I am a political staffer in the Liberal government in the province of Ontario - for my American friends, that is a center-left party (by Canadian standards; it would fit comfortably on the left end of the Democratic spectrum in U.S. politics) in Canada's largest province. I've held a number of roles over my years here, slowly working my way up through more senior positions.
Today I am a policy advisor in the Minister of Health's office. Essentially that means I work with bureaucrats, stakeholders (aka lobbyists), and other political offices, examining policy ideas, balancing competing interests, and providing a critical political lens to policy suggestions. As best I can, I try to advise my boss on what proposed policies strike the right balance between good policy and good politics. I try to err on the side of good policy, but I always need to be mindful of what we can (and can't) present to a skeptical public.
It's a fun and fulfilling job, but demanding, and the pay and job security leave a bit to be desired. I'm trying to decide now whether I want to stick around and maybe climb a couple more rungs, or jump ship. And if I jump ship, do I want to take a job that genuinely helps the world, or do I want to become a blood-sucking lobbyist? I'll let you guess which one pays better.
Outside of work I've been doing a bit of traveling, getting back to London every year or two; but as much as it broke my heart to leave that city so many years ago, I've settled into Toronto for the long haul. The city is growing incredibly rapidly, which has good and bad aspects, but I think mostly good. We're no longer just a boring version of New York City. (We've moved up to "bland", and we've got our sights set on "mediocre" - you've been warned, Chicago.)
I've also had a much more active social life in recent years, which I'm sure has had no impact whatsoever on my attendance at this website. I've had a handful of girlfriends come and go, but my current one is a keeper. We've been together nearly three years, and lived together about half of that time. And about three weeks ago, on the rooftop terrace at a small restaurant in Santorini (sunset view), I asked her to marry me, and she said "yes", so there's that.
"That", to wit, being the obscene amount of money I'm going to have to spend in the next year to get hitched. Seriously. I can't believe so many people do this.
And, in the meantime, there's Jurassic World. JP is still my favourite film of all time. I can't muster the same enthusiasm for its sequels to date (I just rewatched them this week: still pretty terrible), but I'm cautiously optimistic about the latest chapter. We'll see. But whatever happens, Jurassic Park is still a big part of my life. And so is this website, and the people in it, even if it's a part I've mostly left behind.
All the best to all of you. I hope you're doing well.
-The Host
Msg #1: On 6/11/2015 at 2:57:31 AM, fordprefect replied, saying:
Firstly, congratulations.
Secondly, I never took you up on your offer to have drinks when you moved here in 2005, but I was 14 and convinced that everyone on the internet was trying to groom me (a suspicion I've since confirmed by meeting Trainwreck). The next time you're in London you have to get in touch! Me and Vinny sent you facebook messages a few months ago (I think) to see what you were up to, but you never responded. Vinny still cries about this on a daily basis.
You've ended up doing pretty much exactly what I thought you'd end up doing, although I think you told me you were doing International Relations, so I thought maybe you'd end up as some sort of diplomat.
As much of a loser as it makes me, some of your posts/emails meant a huge amount to young me and really really made me consider doing history at university. In the end I also ended up with depression and spent a year in counselling, something which I suspect quite a few people here had to go through. I ended up doing theoretical physics at Imperial College (not too far from LSE) and am now a statistician, which is exactly as boring as it sounds. I did get really into History and Philosophy of Science though, which I think is ultimately down to your influence.
The next time you're in London give me a shout and I'd love to meet up with you.
Replies: 6
Msg #2: On 6/11/2015 at 3:13:03 AM, Raptor Vinny replied, saying:
It's true, I cry hourly about it actually. You're dead to me, Host!!
Seriously though, life is pretty good, I work in Supply Chain for a contract pharmaceutical and make decent money. Bought my own house 2 years ago.
If you're ever down in the Kingston/Ottawa region, myself and user Archeopteryx are planning to go see Jurassic World at some point with other friends and you are more than welcome to join.
Msg #3: On 6/11/2015 at 3:27:53 AM, fordprefect replied, saying:
Ostro pretty much took up your mantle anyway since he posts thousands of words about critical theory and nobody understands any of it.
Replies: 9
Msg #4: On 6/11/2015 at 4:43:39 PM, RezForPrez replied, saying:
I want to meet all of you in real life.
Msg #5: On 6/12/2015 at 12:23:13 AM, Trainwreck replied, saying:
Hey Host, I'm glad you're doing something in politics, even if you're underpaid and overstressed. I'm sorry for being a dick to you 7 years ago, I really have no excuse or defense for that and so I won't even try to explain it.
Anyway, in the intervening period, I: got divorced, moved to Oklahoma City, bought a house, deployed overseas a couple more times, got married, and have done a bit of traveling on the side. Although I don't define myself as a liberal and have a general disdain for the "left wing," I hardly consider myself a conservative anymore and I hate them and the "right wing."
That about sums it up for me.
Msg #6: On 6/12/2015 at 12:23:24 AM, Trainwreck replied to Msg #1, saying:
Also, sorry ford. I had no idea you'd wake up that quickly.
Msg #7: On 6/12/2015 at 5:50:26 AM, Carnotaur3 replied, saying:
It's been so long that I wonder how I treated you. That's a long time. I hope it was good and if it wasn't, well, I grew up. And it's nice to see you are doing well, man.
Keep that keeper!
Msg #8: On 6/12/2015 at 8:00:36 AM, Coprolite replied, saying:
It's good to hear from you Host, I was still borderline lurking as Micropachy-rex in those days, and I don't think we ever talked, but it's great seeing familiar names! I'm glad to hear how well a lot of you are doing for yourselves.
Msg #9: On 6/12/2015 at 6:18:37 PM, Ostromite replied to Msg #3, saying:
I'm the Johnny Carson to his Jack Paar.
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