The Energon Pub

by **Big_Pink_Robot** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 11:50 am

Since I'm a new lady on the block around here, I thought I'd break the ice by asking what you do when you're not pondering the coolness of big robots? :grin:

I enjoy learning about history, and I've participated extensively in transcription and records auditing with Ancestry.com's World Archives Project.

I'm a Type 2 diabetic, and because of this, I've taken up healthy cooking/eating. So when I'm not pinning pretty robots to Pinterest, I'm probably pinning delicious crockpot or one-pan recipies.

Also, I'm a HUGE fan of spicy food. Probably won't be biting into a ghost pepper anytime soon, but a dish with a lot of scoville heat and a ton of flavor really does it for me.

I enjoy the store 'CVS' and I'm kind of a coupon queen in that place, so I'm frequently located in some random aisle in any given store, looking for bargains.

I don't have a family of my own, but I enjoy helping out schoolkids. I've volunteered with Girl Scouts in the past & I also donate to classroom projects on donorschoose.org. Eventually, when my job situation allows me more time, I'd like to apply to become a Big Sister (in the Big Brothers/Big Sisters program, run by United Way).

Uh, let's see, what else?! I'm on Reddit a lot. I love /r/WhatCouldGoWrong and /r/PublicFreakouts. I swear I don't wear a fedora, never said 'mlady', and I'm totally not a neckbeard. :lol:

tl:dr: I'm kind of a weirdo. So what do YOU do when you're not here?! Post it below, let's talk. Thx :-B

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:08 pm

(Moved to General Discussion, as it's specifically not for robots!)

Welcome!

It's hard for me not be vaguely around this site or something Transformers related, but in my meatspace life (

) I am doctoral student, read and write on comics, dabble in poetry, short stories and translation - including attending conferences, giving papers, writing articles, book chapters and entries. I try doing live literature performances and readings, too, and will be doing more of them this coming year, finally.

I also teach literature at university, read a bit more, smuggle in comics and Disney into my teaching (and Transformers into my thesis), and am a translation evangelist - that is, I pester people, publishers, editors, readers and their pets until translators are acknowledged for all their/our work. [-(

News Credits: 3 · by **ctrlFrequency** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:28 pm

Weeee! Another lady around here! (we're a minority in this world of boy-centric stuff)

A quick bit about me:

Mother of 2 boys (we do a lot of boy things around here)

Run my own business (still not a multi million dollar business, but I have made a slight profit last year and looks like I will this year, despite sales being rotten for November/December)

Learning how to make soap (just cause I wanted to have a better understanding on how it works, and wear goggles and laugh like a mad scientist, accomplished both understanding it and mad scientist)

And currently eying the kitchen with a sledge hammer. (The last time my entire house was redecorated was 2 home owners and a 2 decades ago. Hello 1992, not too happy to see you.) It has a lot of loose floor tiles I'm tired of tripping over. Though one by the sink kind of rocks back and forth, and that's fun.

Annnd because of the decades old decor, I've recently gotten an interest in how people lived in the 1920's because our house was built in 1924. Very little was removed from the house, so it has a lot of it's original charm, it's original sink is in the basement and even the wiring (they updated the wiring and put in a circuit breaker but they left all the old cloth wiring down in the basement). Unfortunately, without moving plumbing, I can't bring the sink back up to the kitchen.

Oh in case you're wondering, the way people lived 90 years ago...? Well, not too different. After all, in the grand scheme of things it isn't very long ago at all. But the way they used the rooms in their houses would surprise you. Kitchen cupboards are a recent thing (one I'm finding I can live without so those cupboards are going to be pared down so I won't hit my head on them when trying to get to the basement anymore!)

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 12:35 pm

ctrlFrequency wrote:Annnd because of the decades old decor, I've recently gotten an interest in how people lived in the 1920's because our house was built in 1924. Very little was removed from the house, so it has a lot of it's original charm, it's original sink is in the basement and even the wiring (they updated the wiring and put in a circuit breaker but they left all the old cloth wiring down in the basement). Unfortunately, without moving plumbing, I can't bring the sink back up to the kitchen.

I'm sorry, I just had to.

News Credits: 3 · by **ctrlFrequency** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:07 pm

Oh trust me, Va'al it goes through my head too.

But, you know, Eddie's right. Americans.

What gets me I've been places on the internet where people say "Our house was built in the 20's. It's so old!"
I'm thinking "1920s is older... not old."

When we were looking for houses, most of them had been renovated and "modernized" as we were looking in an area that was very transitional. Starter homes. So the yuppie type (and now the hipster type) bought the houses and completely tore them apart to get the most recent look. Only... doing that to house built in that era is just completely insane. Completely ruins the house.

Then the yuppies had 1 child and decided 1500 square feet and no master bath was too small...

I like to see houses kept livable, but not completely stripped of their age identifies. The previous home owners of my house managed to keep it original (except for the kitchen), I figure I should try to make the kitchen look more like how it should be

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:14 pm

I do think that if you can keep the aesthetic feel of the house intact, then go for it!

No one in my family really has 'old' places, the oldest building probably dates back to the 60s, but I can see the appeal of some Art Nouveau/Decò qualities to the outside (prevalently) of a building. Though I personally prefer functional with my own decorations and shelves.

Actually, going back to BPR's post - the kitchen is where everything happens. Next time I move house, some point this summer, I will look into getting a place with a nicer kitchen than my current one.

by **Big_Pink_Robot** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:37 pm

Oops! Sorry for putting this in the wrong place... :-x

Thank you also for moving it, Va'al, I'll get the hang of things here soon enough!

And yes, ctrl-Freq, I've dropped in from the vast lurking femdom out there to finally get sociable, as it were! Personally, I think there's way more female Transfans out there than will admit it, simply because it's considered a 'male interest'. Nothing wrong with having a diverse fanbase!

I've seen tons of amazing remodeling ideas on Pinterest, probably more affordable ones than you'd find in, say, a typical home remodeling magazine. It's worth a look!

News Credits: 3 · by **ctrlFrequency** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:44 pm

Va'al wrote:but I can see the appeal of some Art Nouveau/Decò qualities to the outside (prevalently) of a building. Though I personally prefer functional with my own decorations and shelves.

Okay, I'm guessing that it's a bit different of a style in Europe than it is here in the States.

The whole 'craftsman' thing was big in then here and everything had to be utterly functional and built to last. No wasted space, no unnecessary things. But still very beautiful.

As for kitchens... yeah, I know I forgot how important they are, until our last apartment

That kitchen was impossible. So is the one I have now, but at least I can change things here. But I did unlearn all my notions on how to use a kitchen. I had to learn not everything has to be on the counter, dunno where we got the idea everything had to live on the counter. (hint, kitchen carts are wonderful things!)

Humm.. I do believe I derailed this thread.

News Credits: 6188 · by **Va'al** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:52 pm

I was thinking more along the lines of Chrysler building, but I suppose that's not a house, is it.

News Credits: 3 · by **ctrlFrequency** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 1:53 pm

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:Oops! Sorry for putting this in the wrong place... Thank you also for moving it, Va'al, I'll get the hang of things here soon enough!

And yes, ctrl-Freq, I've dropped in from the vast lurking femdom out there to finally get sociable, as it were! Personally, I think there's way more female Transfans out there than will admit it, simply because it's considered a 'male interest'. Nothing wrong with having a diverse fanbase!

I think you're right, though it is more acceptable for a woman/girl to be interested in 'boys' stuff (rather than the other way around), it can still be hard for most to admit.

I had an argument with some one about that not tooo long ago. (I'm telling you, Hasbro is aware and somewhat caters to their female TF fans)

Big_Pink_Robot wrote:I've seen tons of amazing remodeling ideas on Pinterest, probably more affordable ones than you'd find in, say, a typical home remodeling magazine. It's worth a look!

Pinterest is great for that! I actually got some ideas on storage (cupboards) from there

I'm rather lucky, though, I still have the original hardwood floors under two layers of subfloor in my kitchen, and cupboards that I can 'reinvent'.

Va'al wrote:I was thinking more along the lines of Chrysler building, but I suppose that's not a house, is it.

Heehe no it's not, Va'al

It's beautiful though. (also a little later, I think that was built in 1929? I'll have to check, but it was more art decadence than art deco.)

News Credits: 226 · by **Burn** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 4:14 pm

Oh goodie ... ANOTHER female. At least this one cooks. >:oP

(That grumpy enough for ya ctrlFrequency?

)

So Non-TF interests ... I watch a lot of TV, read a lot of comics (HAIL ROB LIEFELD! Suck it Alex), watch movies, go for long walks off short piers, work two jobs, play the Trumpet and have recently gotten back into building Lego (will be posting up some stuff shortly)

Oh and generally making fun of people on this site, in particular, the News Crew and those RPG people. If you see any of those RPG people outside of their forums, please use the "Report this Post" button, we try to keep them contained.

News Credits: 3 · by **ctrlFrequency** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 7:50 pm

Burn wrote:Oh goodie ... ANOTHER female. At least this one cooks.
(That grumpy enough for ya ctrlFrequency? )

Not grumpy enough, Mr CrankyPants :p

Burn wrote:Oh and generally making fun of people on this site, in particular, the News Crew and those RPG people. If you see any of those RPG people outside of their forums, please use the "Report this Post" button, we try to keep them contained.

And you do a horrible job of it, I see them stealthily posting right under your nose all the time. Or under your quotes >:oP

by **Insidious** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 8:50 pm

*streaks across thread in straight jacket*

Oh, and I like exploring local restaurants that pop up inside Wichita or when I randomly trek up to Kansas City or down to Tulsa. I'm a sucker for food made by non-corporate entities 9 times out of 10.

News Credits: 293 · by **shajaki** » Fri Dec 26, 2014 10:03 pm

hey y'all!

outside of TF's, i have a pretty extensive movie collection. between my movies and shows, DVD's and blurays, im probably pushing past 800. and ill collect physical formats as long as it exists. in my younger days i was a heavy gamer, but im pretty relaxed these days. mostly just street fighter and smash bros when the "boys" are around. besides that im a HUGE fan of diablo and zelda games.

my other thing is comics (if you couldnt guess :lol:

). i used to collect everything marvel put out, but now im more interested in TF's so my comic focus is mainly spiderman now. and by some very rough math, id say i have about 10,000 comics. theres great stories, and i have a great appreciation for art, but from a collecting standpoint its just not fun. after grammatically sealed and preserved, they go in a box. cant see em unless you specifically open up the box and look

. i have HC trades to re-read everything (another large collection) but the comics themselves just sit in boxes, and a room full of boxes isnt a very impressive collection. i didnt really collect marvel figures because theyd ultimately end up in a pose i liked and just sit there. but you know what looks better than that? statues. but when you go into something that expensive you have to start getting really choosey. ive got about 13 or 14 statues.

thats my non-TF intrests in a nutshell

News Credits: 7 · by **Noideaforaname** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 12:45 am

Well....

- animals, dinosaurs, nature, history... basically I'm the type that would happily live in a museum
- bird watching (though thanks to this hobby I'm amazed squirrels aren't on the top of any 'smartest animals' list)
- science fiction (both 'grounded' and purely whimsical), fantasy, mythology
- horror... to a degree. Monsters and surrealism as opposed to blood and guts -- think: Colour out of Space, The Enigma of Amigara Fault, the Doctor Who episode "Midnight" (which are all really hard to summarize without sounding stupid)

News Credits: 13 · by **OptimalOptimus2** » Sat Dec 27, 2014 11:21 pm

Non-TF interests. I'm glad you ask! I love movies and video games! I also read comics. (I don't know if you know, but I have a comic on this website. Check it out sometime.) Anyway I like to read and my favorite subjects? Science, history, and mathematics.

My biggest interest is law enforcement. I will go to college soon for criminal justice for four years, then, go to the police academy to become a police officer.

by **Prime Riblet** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 10:57 am

Guitars and playing them.

Pinball. I scored over 1.6 Billion on a machine made by Williams called "Whitewater".

Reading about cars and their history, especially Ferrari and Ford.

News Credits: 22 · by **Rodimus Prime** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 3:53 pm

Think me weird, but I like geography. I like looking at maps. Even I'm not sure why. Somewhat related, I also love road trips. For a lack of a better phrase, I "collect destinations." :lol:

My goal in my lifetime is to go somewhere new and different at least once a year. In the last 14 years I have covered most of the United States on my own time and funds, and before that I had seen some of Europe on my Grandmother's dime. This is also the main reason I refuse to fly when I go somewhere "far." I think nothing of driving 2-3000 miles at the drop of a hat if I have the time and money.

I also collect TMNT Donatello stuff. But this is a new alternative to TFs, so I don't have much.

Also, Texas Hold 'Em, Five Card Stud, and the roulette wheel are my friends. :twisted:

by **Blast Cannon** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 4:23 pm

I teach History to 11-18 year olds so I guess you could say that my interests are history and teaching. If you really pressed me I would go as far as to say that my favorite period in history is the twentieth century as it is the 100 years that has seen the most accelerated development and the biggest impact on society and people resulting in such amazing achievements and horrendous disasters.

I also enjoy watching films, reading books and comics. I'm a jack of all trades. Some people get really into a certain niche and debate sub-genres of books/cinema but I've never really delved that deeply into the theory of anything. I just take things for what they are, entertainment, and enjoy them without thinking too deeply about it. Believe me I have enough thinking to do about my job.

I also really like cats.

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 5:14 pm

Drawing stuff, reading stuff and listening to music and going to concerts.

-edit- I forgot. I also love bad movies.

by **Blast Cannon** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 5:30 pm

RhA wrote:Drawing stuff, reading stuff and listening to music and going to concerts.

-edit- I forgot. I also love bad movies.

Judging from your avatar we all know what kind of bad movies you love.

by **RedShifter88** » Sun Dec 28, 2014 11:09 pm

Great topic suggestion...

Did I hear comics? - Regular or digital? Yes, I have a little of both, and enjoy reading/viewing them...
Movies - mostly sci-fi or superheroes. I also watch anime here and there - mostly the more light-hearted stuff.
Computing - It was my hobby before my job - and well, it's still a hobby...
Robots - before I even saw a Transformer...I saw a Gobot...But seriously, I've liked robots since I was young...
Um, let's just keep it short and say "vehicles" - If it drives, flies, or orbits, I probably have some interest in it.
Science! - Mostly electronics these days...
Music - Mostly rock, with a smattering of classical, jazz, and other styles...

News Credits: 1 · by **RhA** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 3:52 am

Blast Cannon wrote:
RhA wrote:Drawing stuff, reading stuff and listening to music and going to concerts.

-edit- I forgot. I also love bad movies.

Judging from your avatar we all know what kind of bad movies you love.

News Credits: 23 · by **Madeus Prime** » Mon Dec 29, 2014 1:43 pm

What a brilliant idea for a thread! Welcome Big_Pink_Robot!

Well, excluding my comic, because that's a TF related hobby

I'm 16 and a first time high school attendee, reason why is because I've been homeschooled for basically the last eleven years of my life.

I'm always trying to improve my social skills, as I'm a bit out of whack with the world, I think I'm one of the few 16 year-olds that doesn't drop the F-bomb regularly in conversation.

I love reading fiction or biographies, just got Dune for Christmas and am going to start on it after Christmas vacation, plus John Cleese's biography.

I enjoy working on digital artwork and have done a lot of that on my comic and on my (now deceased) digibash thread. I'm hoping to maybe make a career out of it.

I live in the country so wildlife is a big part of my interests, especially birds (fellow birder here Noideaforaname), reptiles, and insects. I've rehabilitated several birds before, the most prominent of which was a saw whet owl (which is soooo cute, google it)

I love comics and have only recently started collecting the IDW volumes, I'd hope to get into the marvel comics, however I'm clueless as to where to start, all I know is I like Wolverine and Deadpool.

I also enjoy putting models together, especially Gundam (I got that red build-fighter repaint of Exia and Kamfer Amazing for Christmas.

Love science fiction of almost any format, less so if it's fantasy, but sometimes some real gems surface.

Perhaps the most eccentric thing I like is men's clothing. I know how it sounds. I just wish that being interested in men's fashion didn't make me sound gay.

Well, that's me!

by **chivesbot20** » Thu Jan 01, 2015 8:46 pm

Well I'm not huge around her but other interests besides tf. I have watched godzilla since I was three so its like a second religion to me. I like the Halo series the story is great. Recently i got into the TMNT franchise. I love steak and chocolate milk and love sweets. I play hockey and recently scored 2 goals. I got into the sport by watching the Rangers years back. I'm open for discussion on the sports subject. I also play golf all spring and avidly watch the nfl. My favorite team is the NY Giants. I love American history and I also am interested in the ancient alien history. I have drawn plenty of tf's and loved to do comics and battle drawings when I was young. That's me in a nutshell.