SF Interviews - Nomination for #38

[Balcerzak]

What brought you to SF?

What lead you to become a mod?

What are your favorite things about SF?

FESS was shut down. (This is a cop-out answer, but it is 100% accurate.) I joined FESS because at the time there was no SF forums (though I did visit it in its pre SF days for the desert maps, etc.) I'd been a fan of Fire Emblem since my college days when it was first released in the states and me and all my friends bought a copy, so migrating to a haunt online was par for the course. In the beginning I was far from active, I'd generally just read debates or stuff, but I made the occasional thread, or posts in a thread. Even in early SF days I didn't really say bunches or make huge activity.

I was asked to join the team, presumably because I was the very model of a modern member general.♪ Sending reports in on flames and trolls and double-posts.♪ I would volunteer for test purposes, and was general agreeable.♪ And now I'm the model of a moderator general.♪

In all seriousness, Tangerine asked if I'd be interested in helping out in a larger capacity than what I'd already been doing around the place, and I didn't see any reason to say no.

For the most part the community is solid and full of good people. You really can't ask for anything more.

are you aware that your display name is similar to the word ballsack and also how does that make you feel

This has been brought to my attention in the past, and I assure you that any connection to anatomy is purely incidental. Whenever someone mentions it, it usually ellicits a chuckle, but that's about it.

What's your favorite thing about being a mod?

What's your least favorite thing about being a mod?

Being able to help people out. Hiding accidental double posts to help someone avoid shame, relocating old posts for people who's threads outgrew their previous expected needs and they require more space for laying out the details of their RP world, or their art gallery, or whatever, keeping riff-raff and spam from cluttering the place up. All the sorts of things that are actually positive.

Having to discipline people you know are well-meaning and good folk at heart but blew up because of a bad situation. Delivering warns, suspensions, and bannings is not fun in >90% of the cases. That may surprise some of you, but it's incredibly true, at least for me.

Are you an MD?

No, I am not a medical doctor. I know basic first aid, and could maybe save a life in a pinch (thanks, boy scouts), but honestly I'd be more effectively dialing 911 and letting trained professionals take the wheel.

Least favorite distraction?

Probably hunger. It's both distracting, and if you ignore it long enough it could kill you. Slight joke response, but honestly, I have no idea where you were going with that.

[Freohr Datia]

Delivering warns, suspensions, and bannings is not fun in >90% of the cases. That may surprise some of you, but it's incredibly true, at least for me.

As somebody who keeps in regular contact with Integrity, I can confirm that it is definitely not the same for everybody x3 He gets such a kick out of it, he's so silly~ Although if he's ever been disappointed making a warning he's awfully quiet/secretive about it!! =O

[Balcerzak]

I woke up in the middle of the night so I figured I'd pound out a few more of these.

How does it make you feel to know that your username makes me think of scrotums?

Also, I do recall you telling me years ago but I forgot: What are the origins for your username?

WHY ARE YOU SO OLD?

Would you agree to star in a porn film for ten thousand dollars? What you do is up to you, but you must be naked and seen on film, doing something sexual.

Tits or ass?

Kinda already already touched on that with the reply to fuccboi.

I'm just gonna copy and paste the response I typed up to the last person who inquired about my username origins:

There is a bit of a story behind that, but it's nothing secret or anything I wouldn't care to share. It originated from my having to try to think up a replacement username for the one I traditionally used in college when playing Starcraft with my friends; everyone had to have a profile or whatever to use the multiplayer, and unlike currently where it was centrally managed by Blizzard, at the time, it was just "you can use anything provided there's no conflict locally with whoever you're LAN-ing with" sort of thing. My friends' names were things like Aethir, Elenturil, etc. I usually used Baltazar. The reason I had picked that name stems back a little further, actually, as I took the name from a necromancer in one of the novels in the Death Gate cycle by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman (I believe he was introduced in Fire Sea, though I can't swear to it). That said, there were some other pop culture references and such that I sort of absorbed in as well and played along with: Balthasar was the name of a demon in the recently released Constantine film, and also traditionally held to be (along with Melchior and Caspar) the name of the three magi from the biblical stories, who also cropped up as names of supercomputers in Evangelion for instance. Anyway, long story short, it had that sort of vibe to it that I'd grown fond of. However, when I went to go register on Gaiaonline, someone had already taken that username in my preferred spelling (and probably the ones with 'h' or 's' as well, but I honestly can't remember at this time). So I wanted to try to find a name that conveyed to me, he same sort of feel, and was rather similar. I was reminded of one of the trips me and my college buddies had taken into Mankato to visit one of the guys' favorite Chinese places, Yu's. I don't remember how exactly it came up, probably the driver was asking for directions to refresh their memory, and the guy was like "keep going until just after Demon Dr. You'll know it when you see it." or very similar, and it was kind of humorous and noteworthy to me. Anyway, the actual name was "Balcerzak Dr." as you can see on googlemaps here:

And that's pretty much the long and short of it. Probably not the sort of reason most people would pick a user name, but I've been having pretty good success with it, as it isn't as wildly popular as what I had been using, and which is almost always taken on sites, and honestly, after a while, it just kind of stuck.

I blame my parents, honestly.

To tell you the truth, I'm very big on a strong personal connection with intimate partners, and can never really see myself going for a one-night stand sort of thing. Hell, if I'm interested in a relationship, I want it to be serious and go the distance. Now, that sets a pretty high barrier for entry to porn, but I suppose if the film's participants were me and my already existing partner at the time, with the possible inclusion of any other mutually agreed upon romantic interests, then yes, I would be comfortable appearing in a porn flick. The level of monetary compensation doesn't really enter into it, unless your intent was to see if I'd be willing while bypassing my pre-existing relationship condition, in which case I'm tempted to say that 10k is order(s?) of magnitude too low. That said, in that case, it would be the sort of dilemma that would gnaw at me regardless of the choice made, probably for months/years to come.

I actually probably am more attracted to a woman's hair than her tits or ass, but between those two, I guess I'd go for tits maybe? Please to be no monster balloon jugs though, those are disgusting. Like, I honestly don't mind if they're A cups, if they look nice and fit the body, that's gonna be good enough for me.

1. Flying or sailing?

2. Favorite background noise?

3. What is your preferred way of cooking an egg?

4. Have a favorite pattern?

5. Do you only pack whats essential/what you want the most when travelling or do you pack excessively?

Hmm. All of my flying experience has been with commercial airplanes, which to be perfectly honest are mostly expedient measures of transportation, and not really recreational activity. So, in light of that, I'm going to have to go with sailing. I had fun on the trip I took with my friends sailing on Superior, which admittedly also contained copious alcohol consumption, and would look forward to another one. That said, given the chance for a smaller, more personal flying experience, I can see that also being a good time, but quite probably requiring considerably more investment.

Favorite background noise? Wow, now that's the kind of question I'd never have expected to be asked. I think I'm going to have to weigh in and say that I really enjoy listening to ASMR material, and it can form some really amazing background noise. I've honestly occasionally considered starting up a thread in General about the subject, where people could discuss personal triggers, recommend their favorite ASMRtists, etc. but have never really gotten around to it.

I love most methods of preparing eggs. If I know I have toast in accompaniment, I like the over easy so I can dip in the yolk. Otherwise, I like 'em scrambled because usually I have trouble handling the yolk by itself as its dryness and consistency are sort of disagreeable to my palate. Hard-boiled is a good choice for those instances in which I'll be eating the egg cold, as otherwise cold eggs are just bleeech, but I need a fair amount of salt, and working my way past the yolk can again be a struggle.

I'm really not sure what you mean by a favorite pattern, so the answer is probably "no", but if you gave me some sort of list or example, I'd probably be able to pick a favorite from among the set.

I do have a bit of a tendency to overpack, in part because of the maxim "be prepared" that was drilled into me. That said, my many backpacking and canoeing trips (e.g. Philmont, Superior Hiking Trail, BWCA) have also demonstrated the great virtues to be found in efficiency, as you don't have to carry what you don't pack for mile after mile after mile. So I guess it depends on what the occasion I'm packing for, and how carefully I try to pay attention.

Who is best type-moon?

In the event you say Kohaku who is SECOND BEST

Tousaka Rin. I wish FSN had continued being narrated from her POV past the prologue. I am not alone in this.

HOW DID YOU SURVIVE GRAD SCHOOL

It is a mystery of the universe. Truthfully though, aside from the final year, when you're writing and revising your dissertation, preparing for your orals, and in the optimal case lining up a job/post-doc, the first two years are the hardest, as you have to juggle the most demands on your time: classes, teaching, and research. If you can make it past the first two years, your odds of completing should increase dramatically, imo. Try to develop a routine, and stick to that. As for when your motivation starts to flag, and you have trouble focusing... well, I wish I had a silver bullet for that one, but I don't, and it would probably be different for everyone. If you have a strong support network, I'm sure that would help tremendously. Friends and family can be wonderful things.

does elementary thermodynamics suck or does my professor suck at teaching it

It's not just you, it sucks. Thermodynamics and Statistical Mechanics can blow me. Edited November 20, 2014 by Balcerzak

[Raven]

I see a Raven Ct on that map, whatever Ct stands for.

[Integrity]

circuit i believe

EDIT: or court?

Edited November 20, 2014 by Integrity

[Freohr Datia]

Yes ct is court~

I don't think I've ever heard a road name end in "circuit"~

Edited November 20, 2014 by Freohr Datia

[Raven]

Court sounds right. Circuit, not so.

[riariadne]

oh raven definitely asked my question reading is tech

[Original Alear]

I see a Raven Ct on that map, whatever Ct stands for.

[Ansem]

severlan best poster on sf

[Dr. Tarrasque]

Alright let's toss a few.

1. Let's talk SRW. What's your favorite game so far, what are your thoughts on the games you've played and what are you looking to play next in the series? Oh and what is the most "annoyingly hardest" battle mastery/SR point you've ever gotten?

2. What's the doktor's favorite hobby?

3. What drives you?

4. Were you ready for Freddy?

5. Is Orcs Must Die Unchained something you'd play when it comes out of Beta?

Edited November 21, 2014 by Sirius

[Makaze]

Alright let's toss a few.

1. Let's talk SRW. What's your favorite game so far, what are your thoughts on the games you've played and what are you looking to play next in the series? Oh and what is the most "annoyingly hardest" battle mastery/SR point you've ever gotten?

2. What's the doktor's favorite hobby?

3. Do you like hurting other people?

4. What drives you?

5. Were you ready for Freddy?

6. Is Orcs Must Die Unchained something you'd play when it comes out of Beta?

Damn it, you haven't played Hotline Miami yet.

Please read the first post.

[Dr. Tarrasque]

The limit applies to joke questions too huh?

[Makaze]

The limit applies to joke questions too huh?

Afraid I can't make exceptions without good reasons if I want people to respect the reasons for the rule.

[Jedi]

Time to toss in my 3 other questions.

3. What is the first video game you recall ever playing?

4. How would you feel if there was an SF DnD group (Or just tabletops done in general) via skype? I've given the prospect alot of thought despite not being able to do those for quite some time.

5. Where in the world do you wish to visit most?

[Esau of Isaac]

The limit applies to joke questions too huh?

Don't listen to him Sirius fight the power the bourgeois oppressors cannot idly hold the swelling proletariat masses at bay for much longer, for they are waking up o/

[Original Alear]

Don't listen to him Sirius fight the power the bourgeois oppressors cannot idly hold the swelling proletariat masses at bay for much longer, for they are waking up o/

I guess I must be a bourgeois oppressor because I'm definitely not waking up.

[Balcerzak]

staggeringly important question for dr. b:

in your opinion what is the cutest animal ever

Truly a question of utmost import, indeed. I'm going to be bold here and say the answer is probably fox kits, followed closely by kittens. After those two, I'd go with jumping spiders.

If you had the chance to commit an incredible heist with someone you worked with, with no consequences, would you do it?

That sounds amazing. I would love to do it for the thrill value alone. I'm struggling with some moral qualms about violating my prohibition against the initiation of force or fraud, though. My apologies for the wishy-washy answer.

Balcerzak how do you feel about the fact that I still tend to associate you with vaguely effeminate elven clerics

I have to admit, I was initially incredibly confused by this question. But then I thought back a long ways, and came to the realization that this has to be in relation to one of Integrity's old let's plays, right? I'm struggling to home in on the precise one, though, but if my guess is correct I'm confident in saying that I have no shame in being remembered primarily in connection to something like that. Those were good times, and reading them was part of my daily coffee breaks in grad school that helped to keep me sane.

how gay are you on a scale of one to incredibly

(also ilu)

hmm, I guess I might be pegged around fabulously, although that could just be wishful thinking. (lu2)

1) Top 5 mafia moments and why

2) Top 5 Rance girls and why

3) Top 5 Rance boys and why

4) Top 5 Rance ryoumas and why

5) seriously did nano drop off the face of the planet or what, he never got back to me about how turn order is calculated :<

1 Gonna keep these relatively short, as 5 top 5s is a lot of material to get through.

a) early days of Choral 3, where I was Emily the Fencer. That game got me so invested, it was kind of ridiculous. I watched all of Cats, and tried to do my best in all of the theme specials, I tried to ferret out scum as best I could, I tried to post as often as possible, etc. Damn shame it ended in apathy by most parties. Props to Kelsey for being super pro.

b) >first SF game with a cult

>be the doctor

>protect my town read every night

>get culted by my town read

>make elaborate speech to convince town not to lynch cult leader

>win game

c) Praise To Be Decepticon

aka Duel Terminal 2 endgame

staying up to some ridiculous hour to stealth lynch our way to victory after an annoying serious of confounding and disheartening failed kills was sweet sweet victory

d) that game where paperblade carried our whole fucking team on his shoulders

aka FE10 mafia, jb version

because damn, that was kind of a tour de force. I don't remember much about it, other than to be afraid of being on an opposite team from paperblade

e) "The data is complete, the probability for my victory: 100%"

aka Prince of Tennis

>make risky gambit as itp early to gain both town trust and semi-immunity to nks

>start freaking out that town might win before i can

>still end up getting the V

>sigh of relief

2 a) Kenshin, because she gets a route, is adorable, and kicks ass

b) Senhime, strong warrior princess refuses to be broken

c) Kiku, best maid

d) Natori, big miko with big responsibilities

e) Noir, fetish fuel >_>

3 a) Souun. Houjou's shining star, and a righteous badass.

b) Baba. Take him to the carnival, you won't regret it.

c) Hakkin Dasan. Dude just wanted to be loved. He kept up his end of the deal and got betrayed, that stings. Hire him, give him a wife, and everything's good.

d) Masamune. Man gets to live with a harem of monster girls, who wouldn't envy that? Also got a pretty swag car.

e) Kazemaru. I have a soft spot for love stories involving artificial life forms. Hibachi counts, right?

4) Does the dream of gender-bent Rance after visiting the sex-change temple in Morocco count? No, then I guess I'll go with Ryouma.

5) Apparently. I keep hoping nano will return so I can ask him more about that secret chinese forum of his and the 21 turn 4 fan plan. I'm stuck at 22 turns, and don't know how to improve it, without trying some ridiculously crazy shit I don't know if will even work.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Balcerzak

[Percivalé]

a) early days of Choral 3, where I was Emily the Fencer. That game got me so invested, it was kind of ridiculous. I watched all of Cats, and tried to do my best in all of the theme specials, I tried to ferret out scum as best I could, I tried to post as often as possible, etc. Damn shame it ended in apathy by most parties. Props to Kelsey for being super pro.

I remember how eager I was to read your flavor/roleplaying all the time and thinking about this makes me happy

[Tangerine]

I was asked to join the team, presumably because I was the very model of a modern member general.♪ Sending reports in on flames and trolls and double-posts.♪ I would volunteer for test purposes, and was general agreeable.♪ And now I'm the model of a moderator general.♪

In all seriousness, Tangerine asked if I'd be interested in helping out in a larger capacity than what I'd already been doing around the place, and I didn't see any reason to say no.

What a weak answer! I need to help you with this one because you are being too modest.

Bal and I had already been friends for a while, I often asked him to help me test forum bugs/settings/changes I was implementing when Musashi wasn't around. Besides that, Bal is a definite value to SF. I'd never been more confident in asking someone to join than I was with him. You aren't going to meet a warmer person on SF, you aren't going to meet someone more willing to help you out or give you advice, and you aren't going to meet someone with better intentions. I wish that we had more members like Bal, and if I'm half the person he is by the time I'm his age I'll consider it a blessing.

I remember making a post on the staff board not too long ago when Integrity and I were handling a user, where he wanted to ban someone and I said that I'd have Bal talk to them first. He asked me why (actually it was more snarky than that but that's how I raised him) and I compared Bal to Integrity and myself in the reply; I said that Integrity and I were more suited for handling users that are immediately or likely to be a problem of some kind in the near future, and Bal is more suited for handling situations that can be resolved by someone with a listening ear and unassuming personality. I can be impulsive, overly suspicious, dismissive, snide and ignorant about certain subjects that have come up in the community that I'd never been involved in previously. Bal is a foil, I recognized a need for him, and he was among my first choices when I had to rebuild the staff. He's often the one I go to first when I need help, am unsure of my ability to resolve a situation alone, or need someone to step in for me because I don't have time.

So when you ask "what lead to you becoming a mod?", it's pretty simple: Bal is a genuinely great person and it's not tough to see it. We're lucky to have him!

I'm pretty sure I answered way more than what the question asked but I don't care, I'm sure someone will find it interesting and Bal deserves more praise than he gets lol. Plus I totally just embarrassed him and that's a boon.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Tangerine

[Esme]

Aww! <3

[eclipse]

Balcerzak, will you stick around during the holidays? And the rest of the year?

[Balcerzak]

I snuck in some regular replies instead of answering questions here, don't judge me!

Balcerzak, will you stick around during the holidays? And the rest of the year?

Anything for you

I just hope I don't get the flu again despite getting my shot, like I did last year.

Thanks Bal, those answers were way more in depth than I was hoping for, but that is a good thing. Shadow Hunters sounds really interesting. I don't think I will go and try and pick it up anytime too soon, because right now times where I have a nice group together to play board games are somewhat limited. But, if that changes, your description makes me feel pretty sure that the game would be a good choice.

No problem man, I hope I've been doing a decent job of starting this whole thing off on the right foot and giving a decent example for other people to follow (though, to be perfectly honest, I'm sure I answer too slowly). And yeah, let me know if you ever get a group together to game with what you guys end up playing, whether it's one of my recs or not. It's always good to get opinions from other people.

sure! this time it'll be two questions:

1. what was it like living in ann arbor?

2. how do you feel, personally, about the theory of supersymmetry?

bonus: what was your experience at cern like?

Living in Ann Arbor is probably much like living in any other city that grew up around a college, at least from my experience as the gown half of town&gown. The college is centrally located, and while yes, there are other hubs around (the mall down by Eisenhower being one example, ...North Campus doesn't really count but I was going to use it as my other. Anyway, the probably exist, but I didn't really get out much.) There were more than enough bars, clubs, etc. within walking distance to fulfill that sort of need, and you could get to a Krogers or a Meijers by bus, and the AATA lets you ride free with a student ID. I do have to say, carrying groceries back by bus isn't the most ideal, but living without a car definitely has some of its own advantages. If you're ever in the area, I highly recommend you visit TK Wu's on Liberty for some fantastic Chinese. The weather was pretty much what I've been used to all my life, perhaps a bit milder, so nothing really to report there. As a grad student I was fairly insulated against a lot of student politics, or much of any hassle at the registrar, and I never needed dispute resolution for anything, so if you were hoping for insights on that I'm coming up empty. The general culture was quite a bit more to the political left than I'd prefer, but you learn to deal with that.

As far as supersymmetry goes, I'm far more amenable to it than I am to string theory. It makes testable predictions for a start (at least for the most part, specifically the minimally supersymmetric model), and takes things in an interesting direction. I never took an in-depth course on it, so my knowledge is limited to the really basic stuff you pick up on at seminars and lectures, and slides where people report that they haven't seen any neutralinos or squarks or sleptons. There's still plenty of excitement to be found in the Standard Model though, so I think those scientists that say it will be a crushing disappointment if supersymmetry is never found are overstating their case. Take all of this with a grain of salt, though, as I said, I'm not as educated on the finer niceties of SUSY to be really effective at discussing the situation.

I will definitely have to check out Zero Escape. We seem to also share alot of favorite series, I love pretty much all those you listed. Haven't had the chance to try Etrian Odyssey though.

That tuna hotdish.. despite me not liking tuna much sounds really awesome.

If you do end up trying, let me know your thoughts!

I never played the 2nd Edition. However, the 3rd Edition is marvelous, and after two expansions has like 13 different races to play with a huge amount of optional content that makes it an incredible space epic. As compared to more clinical games such as Eclipse, it's really far more colorful and so more fun to play. Games generally take around six hours, rule of thumb is generally an hour for each person at the table.

Also, you ever play Game of Thrones? It's another really good strategy game, rather Diplomacy-esque.

Oh, 6 hours really isn't that bad. I guess it just takes longer when one guy is trying to teach 5 newbies, or maybe there were fairly significant changes between editions. I can say that I've not yet played Game of Thrones, though I think I played one round of Starcraft, the board game, which was unique. I don't remember much of it, though. Anyway, I do remember enjoying the one round of play-by-post Diplomacy that started up, even though it quickly died. I don't know that I've ever played a face game of it, which I count as something I still need to rectify at some point. I should probably get caught up with ASOIAF first though before picking up the game. I only ever read Game of Thrones itself, as that was all that was published at the time, and I never manage to be very diligent about slowly following slowly moving releases.

1. What is your greatest weakness?

2. What is your greatest strength?

3. What is your highest ambition?

4. What is your strongest conviction?

5. First and current impressions of me?

1) Probably my willpower. I'm a terrible procrastinator, I let myself get talked into things more often than I'd like, and I have a hard time saying no to people.

2) I like to pride myself on my loyalty, but I'm not really sure if that qualifies as a strength in this context. I guess maybe perseverance? I can usually slog along through a bad situation to the bitter end.

3) That's a doozy. I really want to have an impact on people's lives, on a personal level if possible, but I also realize that by focusing too much on how I can deal with others, I'm a bit at risk of forgetting to take care of my own troubles. I mean, I guess I could take the cheap cliche out and say I want to win a Nobel Prize, or be a Governor or something, but those aren't realistic goals. The backlog for Nobels is such that if you haven't done Nobelworthy research by this point in my life, it's unlikely to ever be realized, barring some Rutherfordian "Holy Shit!" experiment that's just unexpected. Also, actually going into politics seems like such a drag, and that it's liable to be a counterproductive waste. Honestly, the sort of politicians we need are the sort of people that don't want to be politicians. They just want to finish up their one or two terms and get back to their life. The kind of politicians we'll never have a chance of ever getting probably. Wow, so that took a bit of a cynical turn and didn't really address the question, but I hope you're satisfied.

4) Strongest conviction. Hmm, well I got an underage consumption when I was 20... Oh wait, not that kind of conviction. Gonna go with the non-aggression principle.

5) First impression: Stick in the mud, takes everything too seriously, doesn't know how to take a joke. Too concerned with meaningless navel-gazing.

Current impression: Makes sincere good faith efforts but occasionally gets things wrong. Actually involved in some pretty productive stuff.

[Parrhesia]

I have to admit, I was initially incredibly confused by this question. But then I thought back a long ways, and came to the realization that this has to be in relation to one of Integrity's old let's plays, right? I'm struggling to home in on the precise one, though, but if my guess is correct I'm confident in saying that I have no shame in being remembered primarily in connection to something like that. Those were good times, and reading them was part of my daily coffee breaks in grad school that helped to keep me sane.

while you were a Journeyman (healer guy) name in Myth I was chiefly referring to might and magic 7

[Makaze]

4) Strongest conviction. Hmm, well I got an underage consumption when I was 20... Oh wait, not that kind of conviction. Gonna go with the non-aggression principle.

I'm sorry. I had to.

Edited November 21, 2014 by Makaze