View Topic

Hi, everybody, you can call me Gerrick (or just Jerry if you prefer). I just joined Wintreath yesterday, and before I join in on the constitutional convention, I figured I should probably introduce myself so that you can get to know me a little bit.

As I said in my citizenship application, I’m a 23-year-old from middle of nowhere, Indiana. I enjoy playing videogames (mostly open-world RPGs and FPSs on Xbox 360 and 4Xs on PC), listening to music (mostly alternative, e.g. Arctic Monkeys, Foo Fighters, QOTSA, Bloc Party), reading (currently Orwell’s 1984), watching movies and TV shows (mostly Game of Thrones and The Walking Dead right now), watching YouTube videos (Rooster Teeth/AH/FH and Cr1TiKaL are some of my favorites), and spending time on Reddit (I think that’s where I found out about NS, but I have a terrible memory).

I graduated this past May with a bachelor’s degree in geography/geographic information science (basically computer-based mapmaking and spatial data analysis) and minors in history and classical studies. As I live in the middle of nowhere, there is not a whole lot of demand for these fields, and so I’m careerless at the moment. I am currently the house dad of a fraternity at a small private college and aspire to be a fiction writer. Right after I graduated, I got married to my wife who I’d been with for 6 years prior. As she went to the college where we now live, she’s how we got the house parents gig.

My general interests obviously include geography, geopolitics, and history, but also state politics (hence why I’m playing NS. I consider myself a left-libertarian), religion (I’m a somewhat-recently ex-Catholic deist), science and technology, space, the environment, philosophy, and the study of personalities (my MBTI type is INTP and Enneagram type is 5w6, if that helps you to understand me a little better).

My dislikes are people who are overly-opinionated, people who drive slowly in the fast lane, attention whores, and just most people in general (Don't worry, you guys seem cool.).

I chose Wintreath after researching the couple dozen regions I got telegrams from as well as the rest of the 100 largest regions. Wintreath seems to be the most active and friendly region that's large enough to have many active members and yet small enough to be a close-knit community. I also appreciate that it isn’t solely about NS roleplay and even has a Steam group (that plays Civ V together!). After being a bit of a recluse at college and moving in with my wife where I don’t know anybody (and there's not a lot of people to know), I’m interested in finding a community to be a part of, and I believe that’s Wintreath. So I’m excited and happy to be here!

Sorry for that book of an introduction or if I came across as a bit too personal -- I don't really know how this all works. And ask me anything if you’d like. I'm quite open and enjoy discussion and debate, and I'd be happy to know who shares some of my interests/hobbies and get to know you all more. Thank you for reading!

Do you like humour?

http://oddlydevelopedtypes.com/rational_survival

It's always good to meet another INTP.

Trust me, I don't think it's possible to get too personal here.

It was fun reading through your intro...I'm curious though, what got you into 'geographic information science'? I didn't even know that was a thing until now.

That was pretty good, Laurentus. I'll probably end up wasting several hours on that website, so thanks for that lol. And I believe I do have a good humor in that I'm not offended by basically anything.

--------

Wintermoot, I first heard about GIS when I went to the US Air Force Academy's summer seminar the summer before my senior year of high school. Before that I often didn't pay attention during classes because I would just stare at the maps/graphs/charts in my textbooks and try to understand the underlying patterns and meanings behind it all because that's what I enjoyed.

At that point in life, I had no idea what I wanted to -- just that I wanted to go to the Air Force Academy. My mom and older brother both went there, so I kind of forced myself into thinking I wanted to go there, too. Plus, if I went there, then my major wouldn't really matter and I could get a job anywhere I wanted after serving for a few years.

Fast forward to the summer seminar, I had to take some preview classes on what some courses might be like. One of courses had to do with GIS. The specific class was about understanding a certain Civil War battle by plotting on a map of the battlefield the locations and density of where shots were fired (I forget what evidence they had for this). This then allowed you to picture the battle lines and the movement and a bunch of stuff. Needless to say, I fucking loved the idea of it.

I ended up not getting accepted into the Air Force Academy (even though I was supposedly a "shoe-in"), and so I went to a public university where I got free tuition because of my mom's disability while in the military (i.e. she got in a car accident), and I studied GIS because that seemed like my best choice and I didn't know anything else. The bad part about it was that the field is pretty new, so I was only able to take like 4 courses on it. So I still have basically no experience in it, and there's nowhere around where I live now to get experience. This, coupled with the fact I hate 9-5 jobs, is why I want to become a writer.

What would you like to write?

Some kind of genre fiction, most likely sci-fi fantasy. The problem I have is in trying to create something new and original since it is quite a worn out and homogeneous genre when it comes to amateur writers.

I know what you mean. I've been trying to come up with something to write too. Everytime I think I may have something and start doing research, I find something similar to what I have in mind. At this point, writing is something I'd like to do full time, but at the same time, I'm not fooling myself about the odds of actually doing it.

EXACTLY. I'm just lucky in my current living situation. We're getting paid to do this house parents job on top of the fact that we live in-house and eat for free. Plus my wife works full-time elsewhere, so we're just raking in cash at the moment. That's why I'm trying to take advantage of the situation to possibly (though in all honesty unlikely) get some kind of writing done.

Hello! Fellow INTP here.

What sort of mapmaking does your field entail?

I'm glad there are at least two other INTPs in the region. 

And GIS is used for literally anything where spatial data would need to be represented. Some random examples could include mapping:

• locations of crimes
• locations and extent of hydrology systems (like to find where runoff water goes)
• land use and who owns each parcel of land
• which counties voted for which presidential candidate
• where to divert traffic in the case of road work
• even just Google Maps or Earth

The applications of the field are so broad, it's impossible to list them all. It just depends on who needs it and what it's to be used for. Basically whenever you see any kind of map, it used GIS.

What general area of Indiana do you live in? I only ask because I have family in the Bloomington area and am familiar with that part of the state (as well as Indianapolis, but I'm assuming you're not from around there).

What general area of Indiana do you live in? I only ask because I have family in the Bloomington area and am familiar with that part of the state (as well as Indianapolis, but I'm assuming you're not from around there).

Huh, I actually went to IU in Bloomington. What a coincidence.

I lived on the East-side of Indianapolis from about age 5-10, then we moved to a small town about an hour south of Indianapolis where my mom still lives and my dad moved to the North/East-side, but I currently live in southeast Indiana (like midway between Louisville and Cincinnati).

Hey there! I am liking how much you write in your posts very detailed, and cogent, like the opposite of myself.

Also if you are interested in personality types there was a thread on them a while back and I made a list of all the people that responded and their type, at least as best I could, not entirely sure of its validity, oh well it interests me (maybe I should update it).

Anwho to the whole AMA thing in your introduction you mention a whole bunch of pastimes, which if any is your favorite to do, which do you spend the most time on?

If I aksed myself that question, my favorite would probably be reading, though I end up watching YouTube way too much and probably most.

Yeah, I already read through that whole thread lol. And I saw that new data thread you posted! Gonna end up spending a lot of time looking over all of that, so know that somebody will really appreciate it.

I'd say I spend a pretty even amount of time on all the stuff I enjoy doing, maybe a little bit more on Reddit because that's what I'm on when my wife gets home from work and we watch TV.

And I don't know if I could choose one I like the most... Maybe videogames? It would definitely be videogames if I got any new ones. I usually wait a couple years until I find them in the $20 bin at WalMart as I don't really have a real job and I'm kinda a cheapskate when it comes to spending money. I don't even have an Xbox One and I have a 5 year old laptop, so I can't really play many good PC games.

I can usually stream movies and TV shows, but I don't really watch them without my wife, but she's really picky when it comes to them. She likes girly and baby movies or comedies that try to hard. Not really my thing.

I love listening to music and discovering new stuff, but I have to be in the mood to really focus and get into it, so I can't do anything else at the same time otherwise I end up re-listening to the same song over and over. If it's music I already like then I like to just play it in the background or while I drive.

And reading -- I did a shit ton when I was a kid and only just starting to get back into it. I end up daydreaming while I read, so I end up re-reading the same sentences a lot. Just finished 1984, and I quite liked it. The ending sucked, but I think that was the point. Now I'm starting the Martian, and I really like it. It's easy to read because it's written how I think. I already watched the movie, and I can tell they're quite different, but I really liked that, too.

Yeah, I already read through that whole thread lol. And I saw that new data thread you posted! Gonna end up spending a lot of time looking over all of that, so know that somebody will really appreciate it.

I'd say I spend a pretty even amount of time on all the stuff I enjoy doing, maybe a little bit more on Reddit because that's what I'm on when my wife gets home from work and we watch TV.

And I don't know if I could choose one I like the most... Maybe videogames? It would definitely be videogames if I got any new ones. I usually wait a couple years until I find them in the $20 bin at WalMart as I don't really have a real job and I'm kinda a cheapskate when it comes to spending money. I don't even have an Xbox One and I have a 5 year old laptop, so I can't really play many good PC games.

I can usually stream movies and TV shows, but I don't really watch them without my wife, but she's really picky when it comes to them. She likes girly and baby movies or comedies that try to hard. Not really my thing.

I love listening to music and discovering new stuff, but I have to be in the mood to really focus and get into it, so I can't do anything else at the same time otherwise I end up re-listening to the same song over and over. If it's music I already like then I like to just play it in the background or while I drive.

And reading -- I did a shit ton when I was a kid and only just starting to get back into it. I end up daydreaming while I read, so I end up re-reading the same sentences a lot. Just finished 1984, and I quite liked it. The ending sucked, but I think that was the point. Now I'm starting the Martian, and I really like it. It's easy to read because it's written how I think. I already watched the movie, and I can tell they're quite different, but I really liked that, too.

You have very good tastes! at least to me

I read the Martian 2 years ago, before I had heard about the movie its a good book, a nice easy read and it gets most of its science spot on, which always keeps me happy. I thought the movie was good as well, though it's pretty different tonaly especially later on...

Speaking of books do you have a favorite book or author? For me, I couldn't choose a book, but I always say my favorite autor is Isaac Asimov, I really love his work.