Rusty Haskell
From Digital Alterity Wiki
Rusty Haskell is me, the guy runs this wiki. I'm a twenty-something geeky vegan bon vivant.
Some of you might know me as the guy who used to run Nine Finger Monarchy, where I kept an online journal that was painfully honest and more than a little melodramatic. In that journal, News from Dimension Rusty, I spent most of my time moping about my lack of a girlfriend and my perceived faults. In retrospect, I don't know how anyone could stand the emo/goth-intensive atmosphere, but somehow I garnered a fair number of regular readers.
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Education
I graduated valedictorian of a class of 123 students at Hamilton County High School in 1996. I went immediately to college at the University of Florida where I earned a Bachelor of Arts degree in English (with a focus on critical theory). I originally intended to get a PhD in English so that I could be a full-time theory nerd, but I got really bored with the whole thing when I saw what a death grip Deconstructionism/Postmoderism had over pretty much every English department.
I took some postbac classes in computer engineering with the intention of getting into the Masters computer science program, but then I realized how badly it sucks to work forty hours each week while attempting to take classes.
Career/Job/Work
I'm a secretary in Applied Physiology and Kinesiology at the University of Florida in Gainesville, Florida. I was a computer programmer for about four years prior to this gig. I left IT because I wanted to spend more time focusing on my creative pursuits and my family.
Home Life
I'm married to Allyson Haskell, my beautiful wife since 2001-08-12. We started dating back in 1999, and things just clicked. We have neither kids nor intent to have kids for at the next four or five years. We do have a cat named Tux. The three of us live in Gainesville, Florida, where the weather is really nice if you like unbearably hot summers that last for nine months of the year.
Geek Gang Signs
I became a Mac user in August of 2002 when I bought my first iBook. I didn't come to the Mac by way of Windows however. When I graduated from college, I switched over to computing on Linux and eventually FreeBSD—mainly because I was too poor to afford the tangerine iBook I had been lusting after ever since my senior year of college. Two iBooks and a Powerbook later, I'm a committed Mac user. I really dig being able to run Photoshop, Illustrator, and Neverwinter Nights on the same machine that runs all of my must-have Unix utilities.
I'm a committed vi user. I consider it to be the One True Religion. All of the commands are pure reflex for me after five or six years of continuous daily use, and Vim is almost always the first thing I install on a computer if I'm unfortunate enough to be using a machine that doesn't have it.
I bought an Xbox 360 for Halloween 2006, and I've become a big fan of their Xbox Live service. My Gamertag is Bactroid. Feel free to look me up for a game or two.
Hobbies
I'm a compulsive reader, reading the equivalent of somewhere between one and three books per week when I'm at peak reading mode. Usually, I'm either reading fantasy novels or computer-related texts, but I've been known to read just about anything. Some of my favorite authors are Anne Rice, RA Salvatore, Emmanuel Levinas, and Elaine Cunningham.
I read a lot of comic books I spend between $80-100/month on comics. I have a policy, however, that I should always replace my monthly issues with an appropriate trade paperback collection when one comes available. This way, I can donate my old issues to a library or another comic fan, allowing others to enjoy the works as much as I have. Some of my favorite current comics are New Avengers, Captain America, Daredevil, Mouse Guard, and X-Factor.
I play a lot of video games, and I used to collect old video game consoles. I'm subsequently started to pare down the amount of stuff in my life, but at one time or another I have owned a Nintendo GameCube, a PSP, a Game Boy Advance, a Game Boy Color, two Game Boy Advance SPs, a Nintendo DS, an Xbox, an Xbox 360, a PlayStation2, an N64, a PlayStation, a Sega Genesis (complete with both the 32X add-on and Power Base converter), a 3rd-generation SuperNintendo, a Sega Saturn, a Dreamcast, an Atari 2600, a Nintendo Wii, and an original 1987 Nintendo Entertainment System. Mainly, these days, I just play a combination of the 360, the PSP, and the Wii.
Dietary Restrictions
I became a vegan in December of 2005 after about a month of being a vegetarian. My choice to be a vegan is a deeply personal decision that I don't seek to export onto other people. I had known for years before my decision that I would be unwilling to personally kill an animal, and I decided that I ought to stop allowing others to kill for me instead. My wife Allyson continues to eat meat, dairy, and fish, and no, she doesn't have any problems with my decision to go vegan.
Politics
I am a United States citizen, but I don't consider myself to be an American. I have no attachment to this country or her political ideals. I am not a patriot, but I do believe strongly in the ideals of liberty, non-interference, and self-reliance that led to the founding of the United States government. I am neither a Republican nor a Democrat. I am neither conservative nor liberal. I am entirely outside of all of that. I am nothing. You see, what I want more than anything in terms of government is absolutely nothing. I want no government. I want no rules. I want no one to be able to tell another person what to do. I want nothing. Many people call me an anarchist, but that's not really an entirely faithful characterization. I know that people will inevitably build up new structures. I know that they will always make nations and tribes. I know that they will always herd themselves into groups because most humans don't want to be alone. Somewhere along the way, I've decided that what I want most is that moment of revolution, that single fleeting moment when there is nothing. The old ways are completely gone, and nothing has had a chance to take their place. If I could freeze that moment of revolution, that moment of nothingness, I think that I would be truly satisfied with society. I recognize that this is impossible unfortunately.
Religion
I am a Christian Buddhist. I strive to literally be like Christ by learning and applying his teachings and the teachings of the Buddha. I believe that the most important than I can do during my time here on this planet is to show love toward every person I interact with. I try very hard to be an example of love and acceptance in my daily interactions with others. I know that I often fail, but thankfully I am not called to be perfect. I am called to be willing. It is precisely my imperfections that make me perfect for the role right in front me in each moment. I am not ashamed of my faith, but I also don't believe in pushing my beliefs down anyone's throat. Faith is a very personal matter. I'm always happy to discuss my beliefs, but I refuse to push them on others.
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Contacting Rusty
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