Totem Motorist profile picture

Totem Motorist

I am here for Friends and Networking

About Me

Well, look, stePH's just this guy, you know?
A Brief Bio: Born in "The OC", raised in neighboring Los Angeles County until about 13, or 7th grade. Then mom divorced first stepdad and moved with me and little brother to the Seattle area. Finished high school there (1987 grad,) and moved back to live with Dad in Hermosa Beach. Went to college, drifting aimlessly through classes, until finally getting first real job in 1992 (dropping out of school.) Had a couple more jobs after that, until deciding Christmas 1997 to move back to Washington where most of family was (mom, brother.)
Met friend Nancy at current job in early 2001, married her May 30, 2004. We lived in Everett for a couple of years; then she wanted to move to Portland (where most of her family is) to be closer to her newly-born niece. We've been here since September 2005, but I'm still at the same old job, and I only come home most Thursday evenings after work, leaving back for Washington on Sunday (staying at my mother's house in Lynnwood during the week.)
[UPDATE] As of March 2007 I've quit the Seattle job and come home permanently, and I'm working at an electrical contractor shop in the Portland area since April.

My Interests

Camellia Sinensis (aka tea), Japanese language and culture, progressive music, science fiction (on page and on screen), anime & manga, computers

I'd like to meet:

interesting people.

A NOTE ON FRIEND REQUESTS:
I'm very selective about who makes my friend list. I'm not out to gather the biggest list I can, like some others seem to be.
If you send a request for me to add you, and you aren't somebody I already know, you might want to let me know what in my profile prompted you to send a friend request. If it isn't self-evident, then I'll probably deny it.

Music:

Progressive and avant-rock:
Yes, Dream Theater, Spock's Beard, Echolyn, King Crimson (mostly 1972-74, 1981-84 and 2000-?), Kenso, U Totem, Thinking Plague, 5uu's, Motor Totemist Guild, Univers Zero, Emily Hay, Ars Nova, Happy Family, Bi Kyo Ran, Voi Vod

Japanese artists:
Masami Okui, Ayumi Hamasaki, The Brilliant Green, Every Little Thing, X
(and the aforementioned Kenso, Ars Nova, Happy Family and Bi Kyo Ran)

Anime soundtracks:
Cowboy Bebop, Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Shin Seiki Evangelion

Other:
Frank Zappa, Keller Williams, Robyn Hitchcock, Money Mark, Johnny Cash

Movies:

The Fifth Element, Big Trouble in Little China, V for Vendetta, the Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter series so far, more as I think of them.

Television:

Babylon 5, Kim Possible, Doctor Who, Battlestar Galactica (the new one), Farscape

Anime:
Shoujo Kakumei Utena, Cowboy Bebop, Serial Experiments: Lain, Love Hina, Urusei Yatsura, Ranma 1/2, Shin Seiki Evangelion before it degenerated into incoherence.

Books:

Cyteen by C.J. Cherryh
The Dark Tower (series) by Stephen King
Otherland (series) by Tad Williams
The Sandman (comic book series) by Neil Gaiman
V for Vendetta (comic book series) by Alan Moore
Watchmen (comic book series) by Alan Moore
Dirty Pair (comic book series) by Adam Warren
Battlefield Earth by L. Ron Hubbard
Most stuff by Philip K. Dick and Sheri S. Tepper is pretty interesting too.
I like a lot of other stuff by Cherryh but Cyteen is my #1 book of all time.

Currently I'm also loving Diana Wynne Jones' "Chrestomanci" novels, and Terry Pratchett's "Discworld" novels.

Heroes:

Frank Zappa, because everything he ever did was about being true to himself and his principles, and living life on his own terms.

He also wrote some good music, too.

My Blog

CYTEEN project resumed

This follows up from the blog entry of 2006.07.01 "Recording Audio Books".I had to replace my PCs motherboard a couple of weeks ago, and discovered that the new one's onboard audio had a better mic i...
Posted by Totem Motorist on Sun, 29 Apr 2007 07:43:00 PST

"Shuffle" lyrics

Lyrics to the song currently playing in my main profile:SHUFFLE - Masami Okui (from the album Devotion, 2001)(Yu-Gi-Oh! Duel Monsters: 2nd Opening Theme) 'koerarenai' 'IRAIRA suru' HAADORU wo kowa...
Posted by Totem Motorist on Sat, 25 Nov 2006 07:00:00 PST

Either/Or Politics

"America is at that awkward stage. It's too late to work within the system, but too early to shoot the bastards."- Claire Wolfe, 101 Things to Do 'Til the Revolution * * *Recently in a web forum I wa...
Posted by Totem Motorist on Thu, 23 Nov 2006 11:30:00 PST

Recording Audio Books

I live in Portland, Oregon, but I still work in Kirkland, Washington during the week.  This means I only come home for most weekends (when the workload doesn't demand I stay in Washington for mon...
Posted by Totem Motorist on Sun, 02 Jul 2006 05:24:00 PST

Absolutely Essential Albums

These are some essential progressive albums.  Buy them today!* U Totem - U Totem * Thinking Plague - In This Life* Kenso - Fabulis Mirabilibus de Bombycosi Scriptis* Kenso - Second (AKA Kenso II...
Posted by Totem Motorist on Sat, 27 May 2006 10:53:00 PST