OT: Intro

[nkafkafi]

***Name:
Neri Kafkafi (Gender: Male)

***IDs:
nkafkafi (what, are these ids supposed to be like, original and cool?
Nobody ever tells me anything)

***Age:
40

***Birthday, Place of Birth:
May 16, Israel, a Kibbutz over the Jordan river.

***Home:
In the last five years mostly Baltimore, MD.

***Family:
Single. A mother, four step-sisters and three younger brothers in
Israel. Lost count of the nephews and nieces.  

***Education/Job/Role in Life etc:
Research, neuroscience and animal behavior.

***Other things we might want to know about you:
Er... I don't know. Just ask. 

***First Contact with Harry Potter:
Jan 15, 2000, in a trans-atlantic flight to the USA, coming to live
here for several years (my post-doc). My brother bought me SS/PS (in
Hebrew) to read on the plane. The picture of a boy traveling in a
train to a new and strange world stuck with me. Only years later I
learned that this was the first picture of Harry that came into JKR's
mind. 

***Extent of Potter obsession:
I was a purist until after OotP. My position was that a work of
literature must stand by itself. I didn't have any connection with the
fandom. I had absolutely no idea Snape was sexy. I took care not to
read any interviews with JKR and nothing about her biography. I
certainly did not see the movies (yuck!). However, this dedication
crumbled after OotP, when I realized that I have at least two years
waiting for Book 6, I had several theories I simply had to crosscheck,
and I had no idea where and with whom. So I googled "Harry Potter
theories" and landed straight into the Fantastic Posts site. As I
dimly recall, my first thought was "gee, these guys are crazy", but
fifteen minutes later I was hooked.

As a scientist, I'm first and foremost a theorist. This is a
challenge, and I simply must crack the mystery before Book 7 is out.
But I'm not at all averted to other aspects: analysis,
universe-building, even shipping.

***Favorite Potter things (books, characters, ships, fics, objects
d'Art, general enthusing):
My favorite book depends on the day of the week. If pressed I'd say
CoS. Many favorite characters: certainly the trio. Also Neville,
Lupin, Dumbledore, Snape, Moaning Myrtle. I didn't know what
"shipping" is, but since CoS I thought R/H and H/G are just obvious. I
don't have principle objection to FF but still waiting to find
something actually good. What are "objects d'Art" and "general
enthusing"?  My favorite TBay denizen is Faith. She got edge. In fact,
she got too much edge. Ouch. (and Kimberly, if you're still around
here, thanks!)

***Other interests/activities:
Birding, drawing, science fiction, tai-chi-chuan. I did some writing
in the past, mainly popular science articles (only in Hebrew).

***Current/recent reading:
Can't find anything good lately. Can someone recommend a recent,
really good SF?

***Current/recent listening:
The Forge Players' wild version of John Dowland. 

***Current/recent viewing:
Don't have a TV. I recently liked the "Spirited away" DVD.




Thanks for inviting me, and thanks to Carolyn for nominating me. 

Neri