I have had a think lately about things that are missing in my life, and the one that comes straight to mind is I just don't have my same circle of nerdy friends anymore to fanboy rave over stuff, have pointless canon arguments with, and all that jazz us turbogeeks are known for.

So, I just wanna meet some people who share some of my interests and, like me, love to infodump about them (fellow autie spectrum gang members know what I mean). Take your pick from the below menu! I dunno, maybe just posting a big list like this is cringe, but if there was a list of things I love, making lists would be at the top.

Basics about me: 36, live in Scotland, sci-fi nerd, ex-goth kid (still dress like one, wallet chain gaaaaang), software developer, probably going through a mid-life crisis but it's the kind where I buy too much retro tech not sports cars, so it's cool. The polite description is probably "quirky" or "eccentric". Generally just a filthy bleeding heart liberal (rejoin the EU now!). Amatuer/prosumer multimedia editor (audio and video mashup and soundscape garbage). Fond of blurring the line between technical disciplines and art (I maintain they're basically the same, if you fancy a spicy debate about what is or isnt art).

So on to those special interests...

❓ This and That: history and geography, digital multimedia (I still look at CG video like no way can we actually do this with a computer), retro computing (and my dearly cherished stack of Amiga 1200s), quality surreal memes, being obtuse and recording MP3s to tape just for the nostalgia, perfecting the ultimate lentil soup recipe, European culture and cuisine (going to Greece this year yeaaaaah boi!), the animal kingdom (where all the magpie lovers at?), military technology (and the paradox of being horrified by it's destructive potential at the same time), the railways (typical Brit), Iron Age mythos religions, basically anything cool being done with technology and engineering (engineering is just science with a work overall on, prove me wrong)

🎮 Games: Half-Life, Killzone, Resident Evil (but if it ain't in Raccoon, I ain't buyin - Resi 4 just gets a pass), Doom (2016 is better than Eternal, fight me), Mass Effect (so many manly tears), Ace Combat 7 (I still have no idea why I love this one so much), Final Fantasy VII, Tropico, Civ III, the Oddworld series, WipEout, Space Marine, Portal, Fallout, Crash Bandicoot, Sonic, Total War (OG Medieval or GTFO), GTA. I play on PC primarily.

📚 Authors: Terry Pratchett (Discworld is life), Iain M. Banks, Neal Stephenson (Snow Crash is entirely under-rated as Neuromancer's spiritual sequel), William Gibson, Stephen King (though only really the Dark Tower saga), Phillip K Dick (who tbh is often quite laborious to read, and tends to muck up his endings), Barrington J Bayley (campy 60s sci-fi hilarity), Dan Abnett (best British sci-fi talent), Gav Thorpe, Ray Bradbury. I read a ton of conflict memoirs and histories as well (ask me about my Falklands collection). I am a massive fan of 2000AD comics as well, especially the ones by the likes of Pat Mills and Gerry Finley-Day.

🎶 Music: Carpenter Brut, Apoptygma Berzerk, Green Day, Perturbator, Vitalic, Sol Invictus, Heimataerde, Kamelot, Stratovarius, Midnight Danger, The Offspring, Gamma Ray, Running Wild, Assemblage 23, VNV Nation, Nightstop, Kavinsky. I have a soft spot for piano pieces as well, especially those romantic left political tunes like A Las Barricadas. My favourite ever piece of music is hands-down Beethoven's Ode To Joy.

🎥 Film: Terminator (the canon stops at #2, fight me), Aliens (you ever realise the film is actually about motherhood?), Demolition Man, Robocop, Star Wars, Goodbye Lenin (underrated German classic), Deadpool (my one concession to the Marvel craze), Enemy At The Gates, The Rock, Hardcore Henry (glorious nonsense), Grave Of The Fireflies, Children of Men, Mirrormask, Dredd (the 2012 one, natch), Shrek, Ace Ventura (the transphobic bit aside, shudder), some of the Resident Evils (#1 and #2 are solid, the rest less so), Major Payne (love the 90's gang of misfits trope), Addams Family, Street Fighter (yes, the one with Kylie, it's actually good, hear me out!)

📺 TV: Always Sunny In Philadelphia, Red Dwarf, Blackadder, Combatienties (what I could understand having to Google Translate the French subs of the Spanish audio, anyway), Danger 5, Shooting Stars (shitposting before it was a thing), anything involving Chris Morris or Armando Ianucci (Brass Eye et al), Alan Partridge, F Is For Family, Firefly, Poldark (epic lower upper class gigachad)

Take your pick, if you made it this far.