AMA - Bramblethorn

[seela]

Videos of people talking. Just give me the damn transcript. Failing that, at least make sure the closed captions are included. Reading is so much faster than listening and I retain so much more.

Yay, I asked a question that keeps on giving!

I'm the same way. I can't do audio books either for that reason.

Do you have any ridiculous pet peeves? I feel like everything you've mentioned have been pretty normal and understandable so far.

Are you known for something?
Do you know how people refer to you when they talk about you to people who don't know you or your name?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Yay, I asked a question that keeps on giving!

I'm the same way. I can't do audio books either for that reason.

Yeah, I find them hard. I've been forced to audio for one recently, and the narrator is great, but I keep having to backtrack because I tuned out in the middle of something important. Sometimes had to replay the same passage about five times before I managed to stay focussed.

Do you have any ridiculous pet peeves? I feel like everything you've mentioned have been pretty normal and understandable so far.

There are some noises I hate: unfired clay grinding against things, high-pitched electronics. But I don't think they're ridiculous peeves, just unusual.

I'm pedantic about a lot of things (spelling, grammar, terminology, ...) so maybe that counts as a peeve, and I used to be pretty insufferable about correcting people, but I eventually realised I was being a jerk about it and I've tried to rein that in unless I'm invited.

(I consider other people being pedantic jerks to be an invitation...)

Are you known for something?

I'm fairly well known at my work because I've been around a while and I've been involved in a couple of important projects. In primary school I was known for running out of toilet paper one time but I seem to have finally left that incident behind me. Beyond that, I try to avoid fame.

Do you know how people refer to you when they talk about you to people who don't know you or your name?

I have no idea.

 

[seela]

Yeah, I find them hard. I've been forced to audio for one recently, and the narrator is great, but I keep having to backtrack because I tuned out in the middle of something important. Sometimes had to replay the same passage about five times before I managed to stay focussed.

I'm the same way. Sometimes I listen to audiobooks that I've already read before or seen the movie if I'm walking somewhere. That way it doesn't matter if I don't concentrate on the story all the time.

I'm fairly well known at my work because I've been around a while and I've been involved in a couple of important projects. In primary school I was known for running out of toilet paper one time but I seem to have finally left that incident behind me. Beyond that, I try to avoid fame.

Running out of toilet paper sounds traumatizing!

 

[Bramblethorn]

Running out of toilet paper sounds traumatizing!

You could say it was a crappy moment. That sort of story stays with you a while.

 

[seela]

You could say it was a crappy moment. That sort of story stays with you a while.

 

[ultramarineblue]

What was a good memory of primary school?

 

[Bramblethorn]

What was a good memory of primary school?

Pretty much everything to do with my first/second-grade teacher. She's fantastic and we're still friends. I'll pick the times her boyfriend brought snakes into the classroom for us to touch.

 

[cookiecat]

What is your favorite color?

 

[Bramblethorn]

What is your favorite color?

UMB asked about this earlier:

I gravitate towards dark colours - blacks, reds, blues, greens, purples - but sometimes with a splash of something bright for contrast.

I think this thread has exposed that I really suck at picking a single "favourite" anything!

 

[seela]

I think this thread has exposed that I really suck at picking a single "favourite" anything!

Me too!

What was your first pet and what was it called?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Me too!

What was your first pet and what was it called?

It was a bluetongue lizard.

"Name of first pet" is a common security question so I probably shouldn't answer that one...

 

[seela]

It was a bluetongue lizard.

"Name of first pet" is a common security question so I probably shouldn't answer that one...

A lizard, that's different for sure! How long do lizards live? Can you pet and play with them or so they just live in a terrarium? Can you teach them tricks? I don't know anything about lizards as a pet! A friend had a tarantula as a pet, but I've never known anybody who had reptiles.

And good point about the security question. Are they still used? I don't think I've seen it being an option for a while now because they're generally considered a security risk.

 

[Bramblethorn]

A lizard, that's different for sure! How long do lizards live? Can you pet and play with them or so they just live in a terrarium? Can you teach them tricks? I don't know anything about lizards as a pet! A friend had a tarantula as a pet, but I've never known anybody who had reptiles.

I think they can live up to twenty years, but mine was fully grown when we got him and I only had him a few years. He had an enclosure like a chicken run, with a burrow to hide in, and one day he just didn't come out any more. I think he probably died in the burrow, but I don't really know.

They can get used to being handled, but that's about it - they're not very intelligent creatures, not really trainable. I had three bluetongues at one time or another (they were pretty common where I grew up) and a tortoise who lived inside, in a fishtank.

I never had a snake myself, but several of my friends do/did. Most of them non-venomous...

And good point about the security question. Are they still used? I don't think I've seen it being an option for a while now because they're generally considered a security risk.

Yeah, they're bad practice, but I still see those occasionally. I don't think I actually have anything using that particular security question, but if it comes up in the future I might not remember that I'd answered it here.

You're not missing much, it was a pretty unexciting name. Not "Lizzie" but about as imaginative.

 

[ultramarineblue]

Pretty much everything to do with my first/second-grade teacher. She's fantastic and we're still friends. I'll pick the times her boyfriend brought snakes into the classroom for us to touch.

That's awesome! I used to be so afraid of snakes but as I've learned more I don't fear them. I have respect for them instead.

 

[cookiecat]

How did you discover bdsm? How did you decide it was right for you?

 

[cookiecat]

UMB asked about this earlier:


I think this thread has exposed that I really suck at picking a single "favourite" anything!

 

[Bramblethorn]

How did you discover bdsm? How did you decide it was right for you?

One of those "depends what you count" things...

When I was a kid, I got a thrill out of stories where people were kidnapped and so on. It was more of a scary-horror thing than a sexual thing; from what I can recall, my interest in sex arrived later and was mostly pretty sweet and vanilla.

As a very young adult, I discovered the Internet (the Web wasn't even around yet; this was Gopher and Usenet, for those who remember such things). It took me about ten minutes to find the smut. I read pretty much EVERYTHING, because I'm interested in learning about what turns people on even if it's not remotely arousing for me, and there would presumably have been BDSM stuff in there, but nothing that left a strong memory. I think the BDSM-y stuff I really noticed was a bit later on, though I find it hard to remember exactly what order stuff happened in.

When I was Barely Legal, a crush of mine showed me Dangerous Liaisons and that was Relevant To My Interests, but at that point it was still firmly in "that's fantasy" territory.

In some early relationships, I can remember doing some wrist-holding stuff that was in hindsight probably a strong hint.

Then one night in my early 20s I was at a sleepover party where we were all just lying on the floor near the wood stove in a big pile of bedding, side by side like sardines in a tin. For reasons that made sense at the time, the host (who I'd known online, but never met in person before that evening, when she brushed my hair) was wearing handcuffs.

*rush of blood to the brain*

So, uh, my first real BDSM experience was eight hours of surreptitious slow-motion non-negotiated no-safeword play with a helpless-ish victim surrounded by six other people who may or may not have been awake enough to notice. (I don't think they did. We were pretty quiet and it was mostly above the waist.) We barely slept a wink.

I say "non-negotiated", but I was going very gradually and paying a lot of attention to her reactions, and I like to think I would have noticed and stopped immediately if she wasn't happy. We're still together so apparently it worked out. Still, I'm not going to hold it up as an example of responsible BDSM.

That relationship was the first time I would have realised "hello, I like doing BDSM things, let's go to the leather shop and buy toys and books!" but I think the seed was always there, waiting for the right moment.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Would you ever do without it? BDSM?

I've certainly had enjoyable non-BDSM sex, some of it in the last few years. Being poly means I don't need to scratch all my itches at the same time. I could certainly see myself getting together with a long-term partner who wasn't into BDSM, if we clicked in other ways.

Would I get into an exclusive relationship with somebody who wasn't up for BDSM? Hard to say in the abstract. Every relationship is different and I tend to wait until it happens instead of making decisions in the abstract beforehand. I'm more of an "I haven't done that yet, but who knows?" person than an "I don't do that" person.

 

[Zionisacat]

Am I ever going to see your face again?

 

[Bramblethorn]

Am I ever going to see your face again?

Before I answer that, are you Australian?

 

[Zionisacat]

Before I answer that, are you Australian?

I am. You are.

So I'll ask again:
Am I ever going to see your face again?


Also, you (if I remember correctly) speak more than passable German. Any other languages in your kit bag? Any intention of adding more?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I am. You are.

So I'll ask again:
Am I ever going to see your face again?

No way, get fucked, fuck off.

I thought I remembered you being Aussie, but I wanted to be absolutely sure before giving that answer... more seriously, I'm fairly cagey about giving out personal info, and image search is getting scary good.

Also, you (if I remember correctly) speak more than passable German. Any other languages in your kit bag? Any intention of adding more?

Ich spreche ein bisschen Deutsch, but I wouldn't really call it "passable" yet. Enough to muddle through ordering stuff on a German-language website, probably enough to do simple tourist stuff, but a long way to go yet.

I did quite a bit of Latin in school. It's very rusty now, but I still have enough of the vocabulary to be useful in scientific/medical English etc. Did three years of Mandarin and remember almost none of that beyond "Ni hao" and "Duibuqi, wo laiwan le", possibly because I wasn't very motivated. I did some French in primary and have a few words of that.

I've never studied Dutch but it's so close to English and German that between the two of them I can sometimes muddle out the meaning.

Not likely to start a new one until I'm a lot better with German, but there are so many I'd love to know if I didn't have to work for it.

 

[Zionisacat]

I thought I remembered you being Aussie, but I wanted to be absolutely sure before giving that answer

Would've been more fun if I wasn't and you just let rip

... more seriously, I'm fairly cagey about giving out personal info, and image search is getting scary good.

Completely understandable. I just wanted to make you swear. Anecdotally, image searches are getting good but they're not yet infallible. A friend from work tried reverse searching one of her yet to be posted selfies and it came back with a porn star more than 10 years her junior which she was pretty chuffed with.

I did some French in primary and have a few words of that.

Well that blows my theory that you're two people, one french called Bramblet and the other horn just being another boner reference, completely out of the water.


What's your worst kitchen disaster story? Ever had to call the firies to bail you out of a dish gone horribly horribly wrong?

 

[Bramblethorn]

What's your worst kitchen disaster story? Ever had to call the firies to bail you out of a dish gone horribly horribly wrong?

I don't have anything too exciting here. Maybe the time I was making chicken soup in the USA, and I didn't realise that they'd put the giblets in a paper bag inside the chicken. (US readers, this never happens in Australia.) So I ended up with little bits of brown paper all through the broth.

Oh, and countless iterations of "fuck, pantry moths". Little bastards.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Where do they put the giblets, then?

They don't. If you want those you buy them separately.