By: Adidas
from ·SwanK· #2
You may be asking "Who the fuck is Nathan, and why the hell are you doing an Interview with him?" Well, Nathan is a writer for SoB, another great 'zine, and a pretty interesting guy. If more information is needed, well that's what this interview is for.
·1· So, how's it going?
Hey, Adidas, I'm doing just fine. Oh yeah. Sitting here thumbing through the latest issue of "Bop", having a teeny-bopping good time. After iSiS UNVEiLED, part 3, finally came up, ooh-whee, I got this interview and jumped right in. I'm pumped.
·2· What's with that title "I Wish My Name Were Nathan", do you TRULY wish your name were Nathan? or is it just a scam to get some attention?
Well, actually, sorta yeah. "Nathan" itself wouldn't go very well with my last name, but "Nathaniel" would, and my friends could call me "Nathan". But not "Nate" or "Nat". That'd piss me off. Yeah, I wish my name were Nathan. It's true.
·3· Well, what then is your *REAL* name, since it isn't Nathan.
Ed. Yawn. Now you see why my handle's so long. It's an ego thing. Like the guy with a short dick who buys a big truck to feel more like a man. Uh -- not me, though. It doesn't apply to me at all. I mean, really! Whoo boy, that was a bad analogy. Uh. Hmm.
·5· Since you really wish your name were Nathan, why don't you just change it?
It would ruin the beautiful fantasy. Also then I'd have to change my handle to "I Wish My Name Were Jeremy".
·6· You are a college boy correct? What college do you attend? What are you majoring in?
Yes, I am a wacked-out hippie pansy college boy. I go to Southwestern in good old Georgetown, Texas. (No comment.) (You neither.) I'm majoring in computer science, obviously. What else? Actually, I see it as simply another version of writing. And one I can make a living off of.
·7· Do you have a job? If so what?
Not really. I loathe work. That's why my stories are so short.
·8· Do you have a social life between the computer and college?
Well... the same people I talk to through the computer, I talk to at college. BETWEEN the two, no; they're the same. My social life stinks otherwise. I'm still working my way out of a shell, you see. My friends make it all worthwhile.
·9· Which comes first, college or computers?
Or the chicken and the egg? Hee hee. Since I'm majoring in CS, most of the crud I do is on the computer anyway. But, I tend to get my work done really fast, so I goof around on the computer (or do any of the other hundreds of constructive things I do) before devoting my precious time to my schoolwork.
I like do other stuff, ya see. Maybe #8 is a better place for this answer, but dammit, I'm too lazy to cut-n-paste. Okay. I've been learning the guitar on an acoustic I borrowed from a friend almost a year ago. Maybe I won't remind him I borrowed it, and I'll learn a while longer. Also, I eat candy a lot (while maintaining a lithe boyish figure) and it helps fuel my manic depressive mood swings.
·10· I am a fan of your work, but often find it strange, such as the XIX thing in SoB #16, what was this?
Well, cough. I really have a bone to pick with Kilgore about the placement of my rebuttal to the "Politics, Freedom, and the Human Spirit" article. I wrote the rebuttal while on a sugar high. I wanted Kilgore to place the rebuttal, or the serious article, in a separate section called "Nathan's Lies", to enhance the comic effect. I believe that most readers assumed the rebuttal and the article were one huge mush. Oh well.
If you were indeed referring to the rebuttal, it was meant as a joke to be placed far away from the serious article, so the two would remain distinct. Anyway, if you want to get any serious meaning out of my pieces in #16, ignore the rebuttal and read the second article.
·11· I liked the "Introduction to High School" bit in SoB #15, I believe, was it meant to be symbolic, or was it just a cute story about kids going to high school?
Well, it was symbolic, of course it was. I hardly think the story could be termed "cute". :) It wasn't really symbolic in a literary sense -- the whole thing was symbols; it was really an allegory, showing the vicious and disgusting cycle of hell which only exists with the apathetic but determined work of the principal, teachers, and students. I do not feel students are to blame for the educational system, but are sadly mistreated by it.
·12· 5th grade isn't in middle school, that's one fault with your XIX thingie, just thought you might want to know.
Uh, huh-huh, it is where I come from. Elementary is first through third grades, middle school is fourth through sixth, junior high is seventh and eighth, and high school is the rest. Don't be so quick to judge, my man, and the world will be a nice oyster.
·13· What speed modem do you have? (Just outta curiosity.)
14.4. Zappo. I used a 2400 until last summer, if that sates your curiosity any better.
·15· Nathan, do you have an Internet account, and if so do you use it often?
I shore do. I have two, in fact. One's free from the university and the other my brother is paying for. I don't use the Internet as much as I did last summer, when I felt all my creativity (as well as my free time) wasting away (hence the bounty of beautiful literature in #7).
The Internet sucks.
·16· Is iSiS UNVEiLED the only BBS you really call?
Yup. I try to keep away from modems as much as possible. I absolutely despise human contact.
·17· Oh yeah, do you live on campus or off?
Off campus at home. I despise human contact. But I've gotten used to my parents.
·18· Do you plan to continue writing for SoB?
Yup, I certainly do. I love to see my name plastered all over the table of contents, and appear in the SoB indices, and I love the attention, and I crave the kind words. Sometimes I fantasize about murdering Kilgore so I can even be editor. But then I realize it might simply be easier to start up my own zine. But then I realize that might seem a bit egotistical and selfish.
If I ever come up with something that Kilgore is too embarrassed to print, I'll be sure to give it a toss in the direction of ·SwanK·.
·19· In what direction do you see your writings taking?
·20· What future writings should we look for coming from you?
I'll lump 'em in one answer. As you may have noticed, many of my pieces focus on youth. I feel that my childhood and teenage years were basically wasted due to psychological impositions beyond my control. I'm making it my duty and obligation to speak up for young people, and try to atone for the childhood I felt I didn't have, and try to reach those kids who are also in a situation like I was and help them recognize it and get out. (By the way, I'm only twenty myself.)
That was some of the sappiest and truest shit I ever wrote.
Don't worry about my current psychological state. I don't like to think of turning into a whining generation x-er, blaming everything on my parents. Things happened a certain way, and I'm trying to make up for it.
Anyway, the second question. I have no concrete plans for what will come out of me in the future. I just write what I think up. Also, even if I do have a really cool idea brewing in my head right now, I certainly won't mention it, since I have a really rational belief that talking about an idea jinxes it and destroys my drive. It'll probably be fiction. I hope. I do essays when I can't make up stuff. Of course, I make up facts for my essays too sometimes.
·21· Do you ever plan to make anything of your life?
Nah. I don't like to think ahead too far.
·22· Are you married, or planning to marry? Do you have any kids? Are any of their names Nathan? Do you plan on naming any of your kids, if you have any, Nathan?
No, don't really think I'll be getting married, because Texas law forbids it, for my kind. But I could always move somewhere friendlier. As for kids, I doubt it. Maybe I'll adopt. Then again, that's illegal for my kind in Texas too.
It still bewilders me why I would hate people so much.
·23· Are you a ..mage of no small water..?
Man, this is a trick question. I asked you what the hell that phrase meant, but then Kilgore changed BBS software two times and I didn't get to save your answer. I guess I'll just say, I'm a wannabe "mage of no small water".
·25· You seem to be a peaceful type of guy, is this real, or just a scam to make us think you won't harm us when we're not looking, but then you'll stab us in the back? (Yeah, I'm paranoid)
I'm nice. My mom says I'm nice. My dad too. Everyone thinks I'm a nice peaceful kinda guy. But I have a dark side like anyone else. Luckily I have the gift to transfer my hatred and fear into my writing, and not take it out on people or helpless animals anymore.
But that's a different question I just answered. No, I'm nice and trustworthy. I don't stab people in the back unless they're ignorant fucks and deserve it. Well, I don't do that anymore either. Usually when I despise someone I make it very obvious from the outset.
·26· Is it happening?
What?
I dunno either.
·27· Shit, questions for this kinda junk are hard to think of.
Yeah.
·28· When your playing MarioKart (c) which character are you/would you be?
Players:
(Yeah, I'm bored, so?)
Uh, I haven't played the game, but I'd say Bowser. I like dog names.
·29· Have you been wondering why there hasn't been a number <GASP> 4 in this whole thing, or are you just not paying any attention?
I read the interview over before I started filling it in. (<GASP> if that's a secret, how you don't give interviews in person, then whoops.) I think the number four is perfectly fine. If this is some sort of conspiracy, though, please tell me before I lose my chance to chase insane delusions.
It is a conspiracy.
·30· Anything else you would like to tell the public, or tell me?
I want to thank Kilgore for starting up State of unBeing and giving me (and others, of course) a place to vent my (and their, of course) feelings. What may look like a joke monthly collection of hack writing is really a serious creative outlet for all its writers. In a stupid commercialized world like today, that zine never would have been allowed to start up; and if it had, it would have turned cheap and colorful and vapid just to get enough sales so that it could survive another month.
Kilgore took the difficult choice of releasing SoB directly to the Internet, which means that it's very hard to get response and a feel for just who our readers are, as computing people usually don't give a shit about acknowledging the things that they enjoy, whether it be e-zines or shareware or some other God-given right.
But I will acknowledge SoB. I really think it has had a very positive influence on my life. I thank Kilgore for doing it. I don't know what would have happened if Apocalypse Culture Publications had never been created, but I almost certainly wouldn't be alive to know.
Nice chatting with you Nathan. See you round, I guess.
Yeah. Thanks for the interview too. It made me think.