Amar Chaudhary

95 Things About Me

1. I was born in Bombay, India, in 1973. I moved to New York the next year.
2. I like my coffee black - no cream, no sugar.
3. I drink way too much coffee.
4. I have visited 43 states.
5. I have never been to Kansas, but have visted every state that borders Kansas.
6. Between kindergarden and receiving my PhD, I spent 23 years in school.
7. I love heat
8. I hate the cold
9. I currently reside in Santa Cruz, California.
10. I am eight short city blocks from the Pacific Ocean (Monterey Bay if you want to be really technical about it).
11. I call myself a cynical optimist.
12. I am credited for my composition An Open and Shut Case on the CD The Door Project (ALTA 02). However, my piece did not appear on the actual CD.
13. Several of my pieces do appear on my CD Aquatic (ACHS 1984).
14. I worked for an internet startup in Berkeley from late 1999 to early 2001.
15. That start-up company mentioned in #14 continued to exist and make (small amounts of money) until some time in 2005.
16. One of the projects from this venture that was still functioning well into 2005 is a site called HitsQuick.
17. I have been to Cuba twice.
18. I think the embargo is both unfair and stupid.
19. I am of Indian (South Asian) heritage.
20. I am also of Jewish-New-Yorker heritage.
21. To anyone who thinks #20 is not a real heritage, I suggest that he or she spend more time in New York.
22. To the best of my knowledge, my earliest memory is attempting to balance a square block on a round block.
23. My birthday is the anniversary of both the My Lai massacre in Vietnam and the gas attack on the Kurdish town of Halabja in Iraq.
24. I am quite fond of the stretch of California Highway 1 between Castroville and Monterey, where sand from nearby dunes drifts across the freeway.
25. I collect fish-shaped objects.
26. I own several documented original art pieces by other people.
27. I usually wear black.
28. My car is black.
29. Much of my furniture and home decor is black.
30. If I have to pick a "colorful" color for anything, it would probably be blue.
31. I have had two pet bettas at various times since 1999. They were both named "Fishy".
32. I have large orange stuffed clownfish named "Big Fishy".
33. I started piano lessons when I was eight.
34. I started composition lessons at the Westchester Conservatory when I was ten.
35. I started playing with synthesizers when I was thirteen.
36. I have used the word "fish" in the title of at least five compositions.
37. I have always been extremely thin.
38. When I was four, I received a stuffed groundhog (woodchuck) as a gift. I named him Herman.
39. Herman now sits in a glass display case in my living room.
40. Herman and a stuffed guinea pig named Sherman lent their names to my personal record label "Herman and Sherman".
41. The first computer I programmed was a Heath/Zenith Z89.
42. My first two programs were called "PGM1" and "PGM2", written in Microsoft Basic. My most elaborate effort on that platform was an ASCII graphics game called "Antigonx".
43. I would like to able to run some of those programs again on a modern system.
44. I am a fan of modern art and architecture.
45. I find modern architecture and decor very inviting comforting.
46. I once slept in a car and discovered the next morning that another car only yards away was ripped open by a bear.
47. I am quite fond of spicy food.
48. I do not like chicken.
49. I tend to favor straight lines, simple shapes and smooth textures.
50. I tend to shun excessive ornamentation or human representation in my surroundings.
51. I am the oldest of three brothers.
52. I have a black cat named Luna.
53. I am a cat fanatic.
54. I shared a home with two cats (and one other human) during part of 2001 and 2002.
55. Until August 2007, I designed, developed and led/managed teams working on music software for E-MU Systems, a division of Creative Labs.
56. One of my "babies" at E-MU was called Emulator X.
57. My philosophy and outlook on life is probably closer to existentialism than to other easily-labeled philosophies.
58. I am often very sarcastic.
59. I find many people do not appreciate sarcasm as the art form that it is.
60. I am a fan of serious art-films.
61. I enjoy listening to modern and experimental music.
62. I used to regularly listen to Stockhausen while having a bagel and coffee and reading the Sunday New York Times.
63. I have a soft spot for classic science fiction.
64. I have visited or otherwise spent significant time in eleven countries.
65. I have been on a mountain in Nepal from which I could see Mount Everest.
66. My previous job gave me the opportunity to visit Singapore on several occasions, as well as Paris, Barcelona and several places in the U.S.
67. I have never been south of the equator.
68. Politically, I tend to be pretty left leaning, especially on social and cultural issues.
69. I like spending time in the city (especially New York), and in urban environments in general.
70. I am fascinated by crumbling concrete walls, graffiti, vacant lots, the spaces around highway overpasses/underpasses.
71. I enjoy spending time near the ocean.
72. I am drawn to the desert.
73. I have camped in Death Valley during the summer time. The daytime temperature was over 120F, and the night temperature was about 90F.
74. I consider myself an atheist, but I don't really have a lot of faith in it.
75. I have always had a knack for navigating highway systems.
76. I collect information, photos/maps and personal experiences about highway and road travel.
77. I'm not bad with the New York City subway system, either.
78. I am good at making animal noises. Among my better impersonations are cats and pinnipeds (seals).
79. I worked at IBM research a few summers during the mid 1990's, where I was the main developer for a multimedia editing environment for elementary-school children.
80. I am fond of pure mathematics, particularly number theory.
81. I am pleased that dark chocolate and red wine are now considered part of a healthy diet.
82. I enjoy working outside in the garden, at least the design and decorative aspects.
83. I used to maintain a large online directory of lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgendered websites and resources.
84. I do not like ants.
85. I am straight.
86. I am not married.
87. I do not find our current President in any way charming or someone I would like to have a beer with.
88. I am a Pisces.
89. I am a "Type A" personality.
90. My dosha is pitta
91. My M-B personality type is INFP.
92. I don't like to wait.
93. I don't like to lose.
94. I create most of my web pages in raw HTML and PHP.
95. This list is subject to change without notice.