About me & my blog

TL;DR version:

A manic-depressive fortysomething English nerd with way too many hobbies and interests, and no social life.

You can always ask me questions, but I won’t guarantee an answer ;)

Full version:

Hi, my name’s Nick, but long ago I earned the nickname Cynick due to my not-so-cheery outlook on life. I’ve lived in England all my life and have survived until my forties. I’m married to a wonderful, ~~if somewhat slightly annoying~~ woman (I’m sure I’m just as difficult to live with…). I was recently diagnosed as bi-polar, but I prefer the old term of manic-depression - it’s much more descriptive.

My tumblr is for giving a window into the random, chaotic mess of my mind and my life. I’ll post whatever the hell I want (apart from explicit sex. I have a separate NSFW blog for that under a completely different identity…). The following is a brief explanation of me.

Amongst my many interests are reading, gaming, comic books, fantasy, science fiction, music, movies, cats, history, TV, horror, wildlife, art, politics, religion, science, monkeys, comedy, forteanism, and a whole lot more besides.

Some of these deserve fuller explanations:

Gaming - I’m a tabletop gamer, mostly RPGs like Dungeons & Dragons, Call of Cthulhu, and have been since the mid-80s - although I haven’t played regularly for several years now. I also play boardgames, but the last time I seriously played computer games of any kind was on a Commodore Vic-20…

Comic books - I don’t generally read “mainstream” superhero stuff, preferring stuff like Hellboy, Atomic Robo, Judge Dredd, Strangers in Paradise, Usagi Yojimbo, Bone, Cerebus, Sin City, Hellblazer, Knights of the Dinner Table, etc. Powers is a rare exception to my no superheroes rule.

Politics - I don’t support any party, preferring to class myself as a small “l” liberal/libertarian. I’m Pro-choice - I’m a man, it’s not really my argument to join in. I have no problem with the legalisation of drugs, the “War on Drugs” is unwinnable, so legislate, control it and use it as a source of revenue. I support gay rights and gay marriage.

Religion - Atheist. I’m fascinated by religion, it’s been a major factor of human history, but it’s something that we need to grow out of - although I doubt it’s ever going to happen. Most of my religious posts will be about christianity; I grew up in England, an ostensibly christian country, and it’s therefore the religion I’m most familiar with. Never forget that religion is culturally subjective/indoctrinated; if I had been born in the middle-east I would probably be a muslim, in India I would probably be a hindu. I don’t believe in the existence of any gods.

Monkeys - whilst I love all wildlife, I adore primates (monkeys, apes, lemurs, etc.) of all kinds. It’s not something I can explain very well; but I’d much rather spend a whole day watching monkeys than spend ten minutes with the average human. However, I would never own a monkey as a “pet”. They are wild animals, and deserve to be left in their natural habitat.

Forteanism - named after Charles Fort. I’m interested in the supernatural, occult, magic, UFOs and all that kind of stuff, but remain generally sceptical. There is usually a scientific answer to most mysteries eventually (sometimes we have to wait until science catches up!), but I’m sure that there are some genuine unexplainable mysteries out there. In the words of Fox Mulder “I want to believe”.

Books, Movies, Music, TV, etc - I have very eclectic taste in all areas. The following brief (alphabetical) lists might give you an idea.

Books:

Jim Butcher – The Dresden Files

Lindsey Davis – The Falco Mysteries

George MacDonald Fraser – The Flashman Papers

Charlaine Harris – True Blood

Robert E Howard – Conan, Kull, Solomon Kane, etc

HP Lovecraft – complete works

Juliet E McKenna – Einarinn books

Terry Pratchett – Discworld, et al

JRR Tolkien – The Lord of the Rings

PG Wodehouse – Jeeves & Wooster, Blandings