Greetings and Well Met!

[Ravak Darrow]

Greetings all,

I first got turned onto the Wheel of Time by a friend at school, roughly when I was fourteen or fifteen. I read through the first eight or nine books before losing interest, or losing track of the plot. Something happened, at least, which meant that I didn't move beyond the prologue of Crossroads of Twilight. Since that time, some fourteen odd years back, I've kept a passing interest in the series. I got back into it via the audiobooks, and started once more with the series. I'm currently stuck just at the start of Book Nine... so I think history is repeating itself.

At some point, my member page will appear with personal information, but for the now I can say that I'm a computer science PhD student in Edinburgh. I'm Scottish born and bred, and my family has been for various generations, until you encounter some French sheep rustlers and the Vikings a long way back. As befitting a computer scientist, I'm also deeply into various computer games, especially if it was created by Blizzard Entertainment.

If you have any questions, feel free to ask. In real life, I may be a socially awkward penguin, but the Internet affords me enough of a buffer to keep me chipper. Discord is the best middle ground between RL and online discourse, but I'll accept PMs as well

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

You have a strange face, but I think I know you

 

[Ravak Darrow]

I have no face?

*squints*

At least, I have no avatar as of yet.

 

[Lithiel Morn]

Hello, hello!

Welcome to the community, Maisie.

I have to say that while I blasted through the first few books, I always got stuck somewhere around 8-9-10. I would fail to continue reading for so long that I'd forget everything and just start the reread all over again. I've learned to rely on our Library here for chapter summaries and whatnot, just for those times where I want to remember something but don't want to reread all the way back up to the aforementioned parts.

Your other interests tell me you're going to fit really well in here, and that you and I might get along awesomely, too. :fistbump

If there are any questions you may have, or if you'd just like to chat, let me know.

 

[Elania al'Manir]

Welcome to TarValon.net! Once you gain the rank of Citizen, make sure to check out our gaming forum. There are lots of discussions about Blizzard games (and various other games) there.

 

[Ealandrelle Melyma]

Another Scot!! Yay!! (Even if you are from the East coast :shifty) Welcome to Tar Valon

 

[Fern Al'Thorn]

hello! welcome to TV.net, I hope you enjoy it here!
:joy

 

[Ravak Darrow]

Nowt wrong with the east coast. We have actual cities and less rain. :P

I'm not from Edinburgh itself. I've lived in the Western Isles in the past, and my mother's half of the family is from Orkney. But yeah, I am an east coaster.

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

*roosts on thread*

 

[Melisande Arneil]

Welcome to TV.net, Maisie!

 

[Cahalan Sothron]

Welcome Maisie! Lovely to meet you :welcome

 

[Ealandrelle Melyma]

Nowt wrong with the east coast. We have actual cities and less rain. :P

I'm not from Edinburgh itself. I've lived in the Western Isles in the past, and my mother's half of the family is from Orkney. But yeah, I am an east coaster.

You put sauce on your chips! D: Not sure about the actual city, it's more of one large tourist trap, no? With plenty of rain - it's grey as anything

Ooh, where in the Western Isles did you live? I've a few colleagues from oot west (not all from the same island though).

(Still a huge welcome, despite the east coast thing )

 

[Elania al'Manir]

You put sauce on your chips! D:

Do you just eat them plain? I'm assuming you're talking about what Americans call French Fries (for whatever reason), which are delicious with ranch dressing, or ketchup, or even a mixture of the two.

 

[Ealandrelle Melyma]

It's an old debate I'm talking about "chip shop" chips (yes yes, you call them fries, but these are nothing like fries, trust me!). In Glasgow (and pretty much the west side of Scotland), you'll be asked if you want salt and vinegar on your chips (heavenly!). On the east side of the country, you'll be asked if you want salt and (brown) sauce :x

Ketchup on chips is fine (well I'd rather have a blob at the side which I can dip), or mayonnaise is really lovely with chip shop chips. But not brown sauce. Ugh

 

[Ravak Darrow]

After moving here, I got a thorough lesson about 'sauce' from an English colleague. Depending on where you are in the country (sometimes even where you are in Edinburgh), the specific type of sauce varies. Honestly, if I'm in a chip shop, I'll specify what sort of sauce I want so there's no ambiguity.

Brown sauce is amazing. Hard to have a bacon butty without it. Bacon sauce plus black pudding is heaven on earth.

Never tried mayonnaise with chips. I'm not actually that big a fan of chips (setting me apart from most of the population, I'm sure), and I seldom choose to have mayonnaise with something. I'm just content with or without mayonnaise.

Edit: Oh, I used to live in Stornoway, back when I was very young. I don't recall too many details, but I know enough. My two closest friends during my childhood both had fathers from the Western Isles.

 

[Alora Sionn]

Yes malted vinegar is the way to go and welcome!

 

[Ealandrelle Melyma]

I love chippy chips, but rarely had them because they are just so bad for you. Now I can't have them because I've got coeliac disease and can't risk the cross-contamination :grumble Apparently though, there are 2 chippies in Whitby (where I'm off to on holiday this year) which have separate fryers for chips which need to be non-glutened! I may have to indulge. Holiday calories don't count, right?

As for brown sauce, the only thing I'd take it on is, as you say, a bacon butty. But even then, I'm more likely to have ketchup. My husband would put brown sauce on anything :x

Sorry, I'll stop derailing your introduction thread with discussions of chips and sauce now

 

[Ravak Darrow]

Similar boat, different roles. My wife has ketchup with things, I have brown sauce, and never the two shall meet.

 

[Jaryd Kosari]

All I can say is now I'm craving french fries, since my life isn't glamorous enough to have chips.

 

[Ravak Darrow]

Please don't put salt and vinegar and ketchup and brown sauce on your chips. That would be weird.

*ponders how quickly something would end up in his beard in this random scenario*

I dunno if it's a me thing or something more general in these parts, but 'french fries' makes me think of thin chips, whereas 'chip' chips are fatter.