Commiuncations, cooking, and Christmas! (Questions)

[Anthony Edward Stark]

Well, the entire topic is about either sitting on your ass or gorging yourself.

[DjinnAndTonic]

Hey, Christmas sex~

[Cotigo]

That... that is the wrong use of the word gorge, mister.  You are a bad man.

[Anthony Edward Stark]

I'd hope so. It's the source of my sex appeal. If only I could figure out why it didn't work on your mom.

[Bardiche]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?
Other message boards, IRC, AIM, MSN~
Favourite method? I guess MSN.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?
I guess I've met new friends! Most of my contacts are "already knew", tho.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?
Friends only. Family members == phone.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?
I seldom get IM'd. Usually I IM just one person a day. Occassionally two.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).
Always~

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?
I've no clue what my first message board was. My first messaging service was Windows Messenger. :p

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?
No, that happens effortlessly. I call my family rather than IM, and I don't have a job yet. >_>

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?
Honestly can't say. Nasi Goreng or Ayam [...] Asin?

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?
:'D My favouritest dish ever is Rawon, but I have no idea how to prepare it.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)
I love lychees and manga~ (the fruit, not the comic)

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?
Brown beans. Hated it.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?
I've no idea. Maybe lobsters.

13. Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?
Go over to my family and celebrate with them.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?
Eat till they explode.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?
I hinted at my sister I really liked a certain book but didn't have the money to spare to buy it. Otherwise, I haven't directly asked for anything but the family to get along for christmas.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?
A few times when I was a kid.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
My sister learned how to knit and hand-knitted me a scarf just for christmas.

[Veryslightlymad]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?
~Facebook, Something Awful, IRC, AIM, (rarely) E-mail, Steam, couple of other message boards I don't care about and, you know, one or two dating service sites.
My favorite method is probably AIM, if only because some of my favorite people are on it.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?
I have met new friends on Facebook (HOW IS THIS POSSIBLE?!), IRC, AIM (Seriously), several from message boards, definitely a few on the dating service sites.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?
Yes. Except for coworkers. Jobs are evil.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?
Yes and yes. It depends on the people. Folks like my sister will message me practically every day just to chat, people like GH or a very good friend of mine who moved to Japan only pop on every once in a while.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).
Everyone does this in all conversation. But yeah, I have people I'm more and less candid with.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?
No idea to either, but I can tell you for sure that it was a 1-800 number BBS that I dialed through my PC using a DOS answer to Telnet.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?
Generally speaking, I try to keep my family out of the dating service sites because that's gross. Also, they have horrible taste.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?
I've made a spiffy porterhouse steak. I have not actually made my own bacon fettuccine alfredo, but I'm certain that I could.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?
Corned Beef Brisket. The logistics are a nightmare.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)
Eating food seasonally is for pussies. 420 eat ice cream every day.
That said, a Christmas Ham is delightful.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?
Seasoned fries, of the like of Curly fries, et cetera. It turns out I REALLY LIKE the seasoning now. Used to hate it.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?
Melon.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?
The usual.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?
Open gifts with the close extended family in the morning, hang out in the evening.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?
New Super Mario Bros Wii. Also a few CDs from bitchin' artists.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?
I'd be more surprised if I had a Christmas that WASN'T white. And yeah, I guess I've had one or two of them.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
1991: Super Nintendo.
My young cousin, who is an awesome dude, was born.
Super Nintendo.

[superaielman]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

IRC for the group. AIM/Skype/Steam/MSN are 99% of the time to talk to people from the group. Facebook I use for everyone- family, friends, DL, etc. I also post at SA's football board and I think that's it. Email for school purposes and getting a hold of Dekar every so often.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Not really. I've more used them to get in contact with people I haven't seen in ages. (Gourry!)

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

Friends/family. Coworkers I never speak to online as a general rule.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

I IM people every day. CT, Ciato, Dhyer, VSM, Shale, etc.  I get IMEd every once in a while.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

The second I started friending family on FB is the second I started watching what I said. I'm a paranoid bastard by default though.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

FFTSB, AIM.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

Work/real life I always keep separate. FB blurs the friends/family/DL member line some though.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Grilled chicken.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Side dishes. I just never feel like putting the energy into those when I cook.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Apple cider, Sam Adams Octoberfest (Thanks for the recommendation Zenny, it owns the hell out of Blue Moon's pumpkin ale), fresh tomatos, christmas cookies. I'm blanking on a bunch of out of season stuff, I'm sure.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

Haggis. It is bloody strong it was okay. Really greasy/heavy though.,

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

Lobster, never had that.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?


CT's visiting the states for Christmas, plus a minimeet. Not working.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

There's the usual gather around with the family at new year's eve. Christmas day's relatively quiet. Brothes/dad/myself go out the day after christmas as well, which is cool.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

Socks. They're expensive as shit.
16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

Twice. Both times were light dustings. Wearing shorts on christmas is more common.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Box of action figures when I was 11, or a Green Bay Packers jacket when I was 13.

[Cmdr_King]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

Aside from a token presence on Facebook and the DL chat (which frankly seems like just an extention of the boards, or perhaps the relocation), I don't really.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Again discounting the DL, in times past I have met people over other message boards, but that's been years and years.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

Facebook is useful for being where the bulk of my friends from highschool/early college (they were pretty much the same folks) wound up and keeping a tentative link with them.  Coworkers I don't tell I have facebook, and I have quite enough contact with family as is.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

Used to get IMed, at a rate about 20 times that at which I IMed them.  Haven't had a regular correspondant in about two years though.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

Not really.  I keep the profanity down if I think the medium in question will be upset, but otherwise I consider Facebook and other such services no more or less public than speaking aloud or posting on the DL, so any filtering to my thoughts happens in more or less the same way across the spectrum.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Back in high school, a friend of my had a small message board he ran for our circle of friends.  So, that.  We used ICQ of all things.  I dunno if ICQ even EXISTS now.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

In a way, I suppose.  I figured out a long time ago that mixing circles of friends tended to be too much trouble to really get going (not so much people not getting along as people not really being into it, each group having their own subset of interets, that sort of thing).  In general I consider work, friends, and family all their own thing and don't tend to mix news of one with the others where I can help it.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Um... well uh everyone loves the ribs >.>
For myself though, I find that the more complicated, experiment-y stuff I've done has just been alright, so probably tortellini.  It's the only tomato pasta dish where I bother to not just used jarred sauce and a few other things, quite good.  Haven't made it in a couple years though.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Y'know, I can't think of anything.  There's a few things I keep meaning to get recipes for and try my hand at (a good chicken parmegan, jumbalaya) but never seem to get around to.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Thanksgiving and christmas dinners are incomplete without pumpkin pie.  Otherwise nothing really stands out.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

I can't think of anything truly new.  I tried a new dish or two.  The alfredo was... not disasterous but... well.  It's basically PURE CHEESE.  If you outright forget to pepper it it is something else.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

Can't think of anything sitting here.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

No specific plans, no.  I don't work on Christmas but.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Later lunch/dinner thing followed by token gift exchange, all on the 25th.  Used to do more stuff with other segments of the family, but that's been dimmed in past years.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?- I haven't bothered with that since about 1998.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

I'm pretty sure they outnumber non-white ones.  Although last year was a clear christmas which blew goats.  Or was christmas white then rained out?  I forget.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Uh... hm.  The one I was most excited about at the time was the Sega Genesis back in '93.  Used that for many a year.  I can't think of any that hav stayed meaningful over time though.
Well... wait, is this specifically christmas?  I got a birthday gift back in 2001 that I still wear.  I wish I could find a duplicate of that coat.

[Dunefar]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

I post on SA and a few private boards, saving IRC for group stuff That's about it. There's ridiculous communication over-saturation these days.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Mostly people I know.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

No. I prefer to keep these things seperate.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

I IM more in the DL group(Rarely) and get IMed more in other groups.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

Sure. I don't say much about myself or feel any need to. Again, communication over-saturation.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Gamefaqs and AIM.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

Yes. Part A of my life isn't really interesting or relevant to part B, C, D or E.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Pasta.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Almost anything but pasta.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Pumpkin pie, I suppose.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

None. I'm a very picky eater.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

None.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

Not really.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Family on Christmas Eve, quiet day on Christmas.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

Not really.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

A minor one, I think. It was years ago.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Dunno.

[Fudozukushi]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

Other Boards.  I loathe Skype and had MSN at one point.   Everything was lost due to the wipe.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Entirely new people.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

Friends.  Well, minions.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

I used to a bit when I had MSN.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

No.  But I rarely do things that require censoring anyway.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Warlords Battlecry 2 official forums.  aol, gods forgive me.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

I keep everything I can separate.  Mixing any of my legions could be disastrous.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Nachos.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Burgers.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

No.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

I haven't tried anything.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

Bacon Man.  If that doesn't count, nothing.

13.  Do you have any plans this Christmas? Are you working?

Family stuff.

14. What does your family normally do during Christmas?

Gather.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

No.

16.  Have you ever had a white Christmas?

Yes.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

X-Box 360.

EDIT1: Gods I'm boring.

[Yoshiken]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?
I'm on a couple of other forums and have been on more in the past, and I use Stalkerbook, MSN and, very rarely, Skype as well.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?
Mostly new people on forums, although I've had some people I already knew roped into joining forums and stuffs. People on MSN/Skype/Facebook are people I know from elsewhere, be it real life, anime conventions or other forums.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?
Yes, yes and yes.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?
I very rarely start conversations with people. I just don't bother talking to people unless I have a specific reason to. There are a fair few people who start conversations with me whenever they come online, though, which is pretty much every day.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).
Not that I know. Generally, with me, what you see is what you get - the way I am with one person is the way I am with everyone, give or take some moderation on my jokes.
Oh wait - my dad's friend's on Facebook and my dad a) doesn't know I'm bi and b) is homophobic. So yeah, I censor some of the stuff I say on there. That's about it, though. (And even then, only some of the stuff.)

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?
Message board was... probably GameFA-- wait. No, it was fucking Neopets. >.>
Messaging service was MSN.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?
Uhh, not really. I have separate groups for them on MSN/FB, if that counts!

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?
Uhh, as far as complex dishes go, not a clue. As far as me cooking well goes, spaghetti bolognaise. I know it's a simple dish, but I can cook it pretty damn well.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?
ANYTHING ELSE. Seriously, I suck at cooking and can't practice because the kitchen in this house is -tiny-. >.<

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)
Hrm. Nothing springs to mind.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?
I... honestly can't think of anything. I'll edit this if something comes to mind.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?
Uhh. Again, nothing comes to mind. If I'm offered food that looks okay, I'll generally be happy to eat it, but I'm content eating things I know I like for the rest of my life, personally.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?
Heh. Going to London to stay at my uncle's, along with my mum and sister.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?
My dad always goes to Spain to see his mum. Me, my sister & mum generally spend Christmas together despite living in three different places around the country now - last year, they came down here, this time it's in London, etc. My mum is obsessed with Christmas and will always go all out to make it over the top - it's brilliant for me! Last year, I had a friend round who's mum is Jehovah's Witness and so she'd never had a Christmas. My mum (still, despite my friend being 18) got us all Christmas stockings, decorated the ENTIRE house we'd rented out, spent ages preparing things... She loves taking care of stuff at Christmas, and it means that it's always awesome. <3

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?
This year? Possibly a PSP. Can't really think of much else, tbh.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?
Once. Despite the rest of England getting snow throughout most Decembers, Torquay generally doesn't get snow at all, let alone on Christmas. Last year, though, it started snowing the second we started eating Christmas dinner. 'Twas epic. ^_^

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
Hmm, tough question. I tend to get lots of smaller presents as opposed to big, amazing things. That said, did get a laptop one year and a PS2 another, so I'll say one of those.

[Ultradude]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

AIM, the very occasional log on to FaceBook, and I... have a LiveJournal, though I don't journal at all.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Online friends, no one I've met in person - just fun people to IM here and there.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

Friends mostly. No coworkers without a job, and I don't IM my sisters much.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

I talk to someone over AIM almost every day at some point.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

A bit. At least, I'm certainly much more sailor-esque on sites where my name and face aren't all over the place.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

First message board was GameFAQs for sure; AIM was my first messaging service seeing as how AOL was the first internet service I had.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

Depends on who I'm talking to.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Stuff involving 'put things in a pan that is on top of fire' for the most part.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Chicken noodle soup the way my mom makes it has eluded most of the rest of my extended family for years now.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Does using the grill for as long as the weather holds out count? Cuz I love ribs.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

Haluski. This is buttered noodles and cabbage with salt and pepper. I like buttered noodles and I like cabbage, so it's a fine side.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

Give me an hour and I'll have a nice list for you if you'd like.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

Plans involve 'hang out with friend who's home from college, buy stuff, eat too much food.' Dunno if I'll even have a job around then.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Sit around eating too much food.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

Well, I do need more jeans and shoes, aside from that... money probably. I plan on buying some Gundam models with it. As display pieces, you see.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

Every few years. Probably more likely now that I live on top of a mountain instead of in a valley.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

My N64 was pretty incredible when I was a wee lad.

[Bobbin Cranbud]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

Email, other boards (primarily rpg.net) and facebook.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

I've met a lot of people via rpg.net.  Not so much through facebook.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

Yes to all (although co-workers is more "potential employers" since I'm a freelancer).

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

Not anymore.  No.  Essentially never.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

No.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Prodigy message boards back in the early '90s, then AOL (some people here may even remember my time on AOL's boards, which is where the RPGP got started).  AIM was the only messaging service I ever used more than once in a blue moon.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

No.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Hamburger pizza.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Don't know.  I'd have to think about it.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Halibut in late summer/early autumn.  It's not totally seasonal, but a lot of places only serve it then.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

I've started eating sub sandwiches lately.  I don't much like them, but they're tolerable.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

I'm interested in trying meat pies of some sort, or maybe a calzone with the marinara baked in.  Actually, make that the "food I'd like to cook but it would be too complicated."

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

Hanging out with friends and family.  I probably won't be working, unless something major comes up.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Nothing special; gift exchange, play some tabletop games, eat a turkey.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

A lot of games and a lot of books.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

Almost every year, to one extent or another.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

I couldn't say.  Too many gifts, too many years, too hard to weigh sentimental vs. practical gifts.

[Hunter Sopko]

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Prodigy message boards back in the early '90s,

Whoa. Really? Which ones? We might have actually run into each other. You use chat there too?

[Bobbin Cranbud]

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Prodigy message boards back in the early '90s,

Whoa. Really? Which ones? We might have actually run into each other. You use chat there too?

I never used chat and wasn't very active.  My mother was the main one who was a Prodigy fiend; I only used it occasionally and was MUCH more active on AOL, but it was my first forum.

The only Prodigy board I remember being involved in to any great extent was "Slash and LM's" something-or-other, which was a PC-RPG oriented private board.  (I want to say "LM" was Lord Mardock, but Lord Marduk would make more sense.)  My mother was a regular on that and I posted occasionally.

[metroid composite]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

email, ventrillo, skype, other message boards, IRC, AIM, Steam.  Favourite is probably email.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

Steam, definitely.  Other message boards, definitely.  Everything else: no.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

All of the above.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

Yes.  Depends--recently I've cut way back, sometimes it's been hours of conversation.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

Yes.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

GameFAQs for message board.  Uhh...first IRC-ish room was a Nintendo.com website thing that I could access once every two months.  First full messaging service was AIM.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

Yes, to the point that I'm a little scared of making a facebook page because I'm worried I'll either have to reject some actual friends of mine, or too many worlds will collide.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Pasta with...any of a variety of sauces I do (red sauces, white sauces).  I've trended way towards the simple, actually (like...marinara, just made a particular way).

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Umm...there's very little I feel like that about.  Mostly it's a time issue (Lasagna).  Although...granted, Sushi probably qualifies for this question.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Mandarin Oranges at Christmas.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

Umm...there's very little where I haven't eaten something similar before.  Like...I'll go to new restaurants and stuff, but I mean, Thai curry is a stone's throw from indian curry (for all that I've had both before this year).  I had some dried packaged food from Asia (dried seaweed, dried fish processed into long strips)...it was okay; nothing I'd seek out compulsively.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

Nothing immediately jumping to mind.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

Flying to my sister's house in Ottawa.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Fly to my parent's house in Vancouver.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

I might.  One can never have enough headphones--they break.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

Yeah.  Vancouver tends to snow once every two years, but it often does so on Christmas.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

Good question.  Generally the gift I'm most excited about in any given year will be a videogame (and never a system).  Although...last year...err...I think I'm going to self-censor here.

[Idun]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?
Other forum boards. I don't PM, or have even received a PM though. Most of it's public. Haven't really made a good friend on forums since I joined RPGDL to do so. Otherwise, I just chat on AIM or if I randomly ever get a PM on IRC.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?
Never met them. A lot of them are my 'rl' friends.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?
My brother's on there. Tried to make my mom hip, but I don't think she kept it to memory.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?
I do. I am, sometimes. Happens whenever I.. log on. Unless I forget I log on.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).
No.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?
RPGFan.com. America Online's AIM.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?
No. I just happens that way as the people I connect with in 'rl' I generally connect with over the phone.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?
Anything with seafood, tbh. Or anything with pork.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?
Mmm. . . .  I haven't discovered 'my' green bean casserole yet.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)
No.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?
Chitterlings. Finally. No.      Sandwiches with spicy mustard on it. By accident. No.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?
Mmm. Some Turkish meals.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?
I do. I am. It'll just happen by whatever mode.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?
Spend time with each other.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?
I haven't since I was 15. Kinda gave up on materialism. I just get stuff and like them anyway.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?
Yeah, when I was living in New Jersey. Here? No. Does it change anything? Not really. Christmas isn't as big as it used to be since I got older.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?
I don't have a best gift. Most memorable? Getting a PSX and dancing because my brother never let me play his.

[Dark Holy Elf]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

IRC often; AIM, Facebook, and e-mail rarely.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

I've met the entire DL haven't I? Plus a few others.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

With my friends, yeah, I use them to stay in touch, either Facebook or IM here.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

Rarely to both, but yes.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

I'm always conscientious of my students getting ahold of my Facebook or so on so I watch what I say on it (plus have privacy settings but my trust of those is somewhat limited, Facebook is hacker-bait). Arguably I should censor myself more around the DL too but eh, old habits die hard.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

Some Wheel of Time newsgroup back in the late 90's, I remember arguing that Aviendha wasn't pregnant and that Taim was not Demandred. Then GameFAQs around 2001 as I got back into FFT. I lurked at others, too, but I don't remember many specifics back then.

Messaging service? The Vancouver School Board had some sort of chat facility through BBS back around 1991 or so. Used a 2400 bps modem and chatted with a few other random students I'd never met on a black and yellow screen. Those were the days.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

I don't talk about my online life much offline, except with people who are part of said life (Ciato, Excal, etc.). I don't talk too much about my own personal life online, either, though more than I used to.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

Probably stir fries of various flavours. Can't go wrong with those.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

Deserts and the like, probably. They're a fun treat but I don't enjoy food preparation enough to justify the effort spent in making them which makes them no longer such a treat. Also blah unhealthy.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Pumpkin pie probably works here. Nothing jumps out at me quite as much from any other holiday season.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

I've had all kinds of new foods, but I will say chicken spinach was the biggest positive surprise.

Yeah, never expected spinach and curry to work together that well.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

The Middle East and Southeast Asia both have cuisines I feel I haven't sampled enough of given I've liked what I've had, so something from one of them.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

No school during Christmas = no work for me. Will probably split time between my family and Ciato's family.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

Spend the day together. We'll exchange a few gifts, eat dinner with the extended family, and go for a walk together or similar activities. Nothing big, but it's very family-focused.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

I'd be quite happy to not receive gifts, I dislike the general feeling of waste I get with them. I like practical things like clothing or non-space-consuming things like tickets to hockey games. (^_^)

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

That's all we ever have in Canada. ;p

I live in the part of the country where this is distinctly not true; still, I've known a few, including last year which was the snowiest on record.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

A year after my cat died my parents secretly collected a whole bunch of photos of her and made a little collage out of them. So sweet.

[Grefter]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?  Vent.  Vent is really good for what I use it for and I do prefer it for what I use it for   Other stuff.  Guild message boards.  Steam.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?  Met a few, but that is what MMOs are like.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?  Family because Vent is good for multiplayer.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?  Sometimes when I am on Steam and not something else.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).  Well yes.  I am a dick, but I am not a douche.  Also I like to just avoid the tears it causes to be honest about just how worthless some people are.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?  Gamefaqs.  ICQ.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?  Not really.  I work in the IT space though, so virtual shit is kind of whatever at this point.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?  Butterscotch Finger Biscuits or Scones.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?  Creme Brulee.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)  Hot Cross Buns.  They are pretty much my entire diet around Tap and Sacrifice to save all mankind time of year.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?  Chicken Vindaloo.  I eat it incredibly frequently now.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?  More Vindaloo.

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?  Working around Christmas, spend day with family

14. What does your family normally do during christmas? Sit around, eat, swim, chill the fuck out because fuck doing anything.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?  No.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?  Sure I do, my whole family is white.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten? No.

[TranceHime]

1. What methods do you use to talk to people online besides the DL boards? (Other message boards, facebook, IRC, AIM, email, Skype, steam, etc) What's your favorite method?

I go to a whole slew of message boards... And I also use IRC, far more often than I use any other instant messaging service. I prefer using Skype to any other kind of service with IM, though I rarely go on MSN and sometimes I must use Yahoo Messenger because living in the Philippines kinda dictates that you gotta have a YM account... Oh, I have a Facebook too, but that's because nowadays, that's the in thing. Despite having owned one for over two years. I used to use Ventrilo very often when I played certain MMOs. Oh, and my favourite method would probably be a tie between IRC and Skype.

2. Have you met new friends over these services, or just people you already knew?

I've only met one new person over this service, and he lives 5 minutes away from me.

3. Do you use these services to talk to friends? Coworkers? Family members?

I only use MSN and Skype to talk to friends.

4. Do you IM people? Get IMed? How often does either happen?

I only IM people if I have to ask them for something. Other than that, I'm usually the one who gets IMed. Since I barely sign on, this doesn't happen very much.

5. Do you ever censor what you say based on who will read it? (IE watch what you say on FB because you don't want a parent to see it,  don't want it to show up on a public search, etc).

There is an IRC channel I go to that automatically censors certain words and kickbans you for overusing it, heh. Since I generally go to channels where people are mature enough where there aren't such censors, I find I don't ever have to do it.

6. What was your first message board? Your first messaging service?

My first messaging service was MSN.
My first message board was GameFAQs, in 2003. ...Hotdamn, I was 10.

7.  Do you make any effort to keep parts of your life (Family, work, friends) separate online?

Kind of, but sometimes it leaks out.

8.  What's the best dish you can cook?

I can make mean pastas. I was able to make variations on pesto pasta pretty well, but ever since I came to the Philippines, I lost possession of some things I needed to help me make it and I could do so no longer.

9. What is something you'd love to cook but can't make right/it's too complicated to manage?

There's far too many things that could fill this list right now that I'm not even going to bother.

10.  Do you have a favorite seasonal food? (Pumpkin pie at thanksgiving, summer fruits)

Mooncakes around the mid-autumn season. Cultural thing, but even if it weren't, I'd still love it to bits.

11. What is a new food you've tried in the past year? Did you like it or hate it?

Past year... Hmm, I guess I came to appreciate kangkong a lot as a staple vegetable here. Haha.

12. What's a new food you'd like to try?

I'll go with a cop-out and say "I'll know it when I see it."

13.  Do you have any plans this christmas? Are you working?

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure! My Christmas celebrations have traditionally been very spontaneous. I consider it pretty fun if it were a surprise.

14. What does your family normally do during christmas?

The typical, cliche and cheesy family bonding deal. Also, I am conned into playing mahjong with relatives and DotA with my cousins.

15. Are you asking for anything in particular?

I never ask for anything during Christmas.

16.  Have you ever had a white christmas?

That would be in Japan, the only place I've been to where it's snowed. There are some parts of China that snow too, but I haven't been there during that time.

17. What's the best gift you've ever gotten?

I don't know... I don't really get gifts I could call "best gift..."