I’ve been writing for several years now, though my main effort has seen many restarts. I write software for a living, play online games (and a few console games) and am an anime addict – though, I’d like to think, not a typical anime geek. (‘Course, we probably all want to think that.)
And then – how credible is that claim, when my ringtone is utsukushi kereba sore de ii?
Warning: the audio-only versions are incomplete, so I linked the music video – but it is probably not work-safe. Especially if you’re employed by Southern Baptists. It is a truly lovely song, in any language. The title means “as long as they’re beautiful, that is all that matters,” but in context, it refers to the stars. Not – well, not the video.
The countless flowers embraced by the light
Gaze at tomorrow with eyes that hold no confusion
The white bells quietly look down from above
If they are beautiful, that is all that matters
Before deciding that I needed an “official” blog, I created Obsessivity, and if you’ve made it this far, you’re welcome to visit. I’ll certainly be updating it more frequently than this blog. Be warned, though, that it’s intended as a way for me to understand and respond to my own obsessions, so that I can work around or with them as I write.
How is it that I’ve known you for years and yet you’ve never told me about this site or Obsessivity? I have to stumble across them in Google!
While you’re dealing with obsessions, check out:
http://www.theonion.com/content/video/warcraft_sequel_lets_gamers_play?utm_source=embedded_video
Respond, and I’ll tell you about my new laptop, life in LA, and upcoming travel plans. I might force you to receive photos of a terminally cute toddler if you don’t (r even if you do!)
Later,
Greg
Well, as you can see, they’re hardly blogs to be proud of
. I’m only piddling about with them. (Oh look, another Englishism… I was only thinking a few days ago that I wished I’d made a list of all the Englishisms you identified for me.)
I like the Onion video.
Hello, would you be willing to sell your domain name? We have the same name I was after it!
of course, I’ve had nearly 20 years now to lock the name Iain, so who’ve I got to blame?
Well done. I like your site.
Iain Robin MacGregor Pennington,
Vancouver, BC, Canukistan
iain@iainpennington.com
iain@filemakeru.com
iain.pennington@performanceobjects.com\
I get a lot of requests to sell. None of them are at all tempting – I may not do much with the website itself, but having @iain.com for my email address is worth a lot more to me than anyone’s willing to offer.
I got one “offer” that went something like this:
Hello. My name is Iain, and I want the domain iain.com. Please transfer ownership to me at… and then it listed his NSI contact information. No mention of payment and no consideration that I just *might* want to keep it for myself…
Hello Iain,
I am married to an Iain, and everytime I type his name in an e-mail, it instantly becomes a link to you! He too is a software developer and from the UK. Strange, these random connections in the world. So I thought I would click on my husband’s name and find out who he is linked to. I might have known it would be a fellow brit with the spelling of the name.
Cheers!
wendy
How strange that it becomes a link here. What platform would that be in?
Great name Iain, and a great site. Just had a little chuckle at the various attempts to buy your domain name! I was sure I’d be the only one that wanted it!!
If you ever decide to auction it, my bid is a couple of cans of Danish beer…
All the best, Iain (in Copenhagen)
I have a few domains I’d gladly swap for Danish beer, but I don’t think they’re the ones you want
Could I also put a polite request in to have your domain name, I think I deserve it as compensation. Compensation for every time I have had to explain to someone that its spelt like that because its Scottish, yer, and I’m not. Compensation for the times people have spelt it as Iian, after repeating the correct spelling for the third time! Compensation for the three occasions when some idiot has read my name and then said, Hello Lain, Lain? Who the hell is Lain! Oh, yer, and compensation for the fact that Iain in Scottish is John in English, and my middle name is John, so, I’m actually called John John. Thanks dad, that was well thought out.
I like your comment, but no, you’re not getting your hands on the domain name
. Yep, I have exactly the same problems. “Yes, it’s the Scottish spelling of Ian. No, I’m not Scottish.” *Most* have heard of the name Ian, but not all.
As for Lain – I took a prescription to CVS to fill last week. “Do you have a prescription card?” she asked. “I should be on file,” I said. “No, you’re not.” “I’m sure I am, I’ve been getting prescriptions filled for five years or more.” “I can’t find you.” Then I saw her typing in L-A-I-N. “Oh, no, it’s Iain. Isn’t that what the dentist wrote?” “Umm.” She looked at it for a moment. “You could read it either way.”
Well, yes, you could read it either way – except for the convention that PEOPLE’S NAMES BEGIN WITH A CAPITAL LETTER! AND A CAPITAL L DOES NOT LOOK LIKE AN I!
Hello Iain and all the other Iains,
I just laughed out loud at the problems of being called Lain. Germans quite like calling me Iron, I find.
Best regards,
Iain
ps I just pre-registered iain.co (not quite as cool as iain.com, but pretty close)
I think most non-Brit Europeans (and a few Americans) call me “eye-an” or “eye-on”. I mostly don’t gripe, but I was happy that a Swede I work with finally made the attempt to get it right, after I worked hard on pronouncing his name within the first week of him working here.
Congratulations on acquiring iain.co! I’m sure I’ll be getting a lot of your mail, at least until .co doesn’t automatically invoke a .com “finger macro.” (It was hard for me to type .co even in this paragraph.)
I know, I already had everyone (literally, everyone) I told butting in with ‘you mean dot com / dot co dot uk’. It’s not on for a couple of months, and I’m sorry if I ruin your life for a while with all my fanmail (by which I just mean spam, for there is no other kind of mail I actually get).
Yeah, most of mine, too. A combination of Spam Assassin and Thunderbird’s junk mail filtering makes it tolerable.
So you will be iron@iain.co?
Hi again Iain. I’m delighted to see this page has now turned into a support group for Iains!! Excellent. I get post from my optician addressed to Lain!