About me

What I do

I am a software developer, presently working for Microsoft through a contracting company. I am open to other opportunities.

I write Rust, Python, C, C++, and I've dabbled in Java and assembly language (x86, amd64, MIPS, RISC-V, PowerPC). Legend has it I once played with QBASIC and FreeBASIC, but even if I did, it was a youthful indiscretion. I have a GitHub.

I also make blog posts about my struggles with mental health, my eternal fight to make computers do my bidding, and other things.

I make bad posts on the Fediverse sometimes.

See also "What I like" below.

What I like

I like many things. I think it's impossible to really sum it all up simply. But I'll do my best to categorise it.

Tech

I hack a lot with Rust (the programming language, the game has made it almost unsearchable on the web at times), C++, C, Python, and a little bit of assembly. I have a fascination with VM's, web backend stuff, making weird things people can use, and other things.

I use macOS on my laptop, Kubuntu on my desktop, and a mix of FreeBSD and Debian and Ubuntu on my servers. However, I believe you should use what makes you happy. Use the tool for the job you feel most comfortable using, whatever that job may be (even if it's just making bad posts online).

I enjoy hacking on low-level stuff a lot, and learning how operating systems work internally, userspace and kernelspace alike. I once almost wrote my own driver for my audio card on macOS, but the lack of MSI-X in Snow Leopard (which the card required) got in my way.

I love electronics and I've made my own weather station. See the code if you want.

I enjoy jailbreaking consoles and have jailbroken my 3DS and hacked my PS2. You can hack your 3DS and PS2 too.

Hobbies

I enjoy flying drones, but I only have an ancient DJI Phantom Pro 4 and a weird Chinese drone.

I make weird writings sometimes. I put some of them on my blog and on my Fediverse account.

I love tinkering with electronics and other things. I repair things partially out of necessity and partially because I find it amusing. I love repurposing old things.

I am deeply interested in culture jamming, anti-art, making things to fufill my own needs, and freedom to tinker. I have many other interests, but most of them boil down to these things.

I am in the furry fandom and therian communities, but my participation in those communities is a little polemic at times.

I travel at least a few times a year with friends; I might make a travel log, I might not. I dunno. I have been to 47 of the 48 lower US states, though.

I am an amateur radio operator. My callsign is KK7TOU.

What I believe

In general, I am a critic of the "status quo", in the sense of, "how can things be improved?" This isn't specific to certain things, but to everything. I am constantly always thinking about how things could be improved, how society could be bettered by something, etc. I don't like stagnation at all or the sense things are stagnating.

On the other hand, I also recognise perfect is the enemy of the good enough, and pragmatism is always needed. Sometimes you need a half-baked solution today. Just try not to kill anyone with it.

I've always been passionate about workplace safety; I grew up in a blue-collar town, and everyone I knew who worked in the mills and related industries had huge scars and stories of horrible mishaps. The lurid tales of death shocked me enough to be a passionate advocate for safety at work.

I believe you can split infinitives, end sentences with prepositions, start a sentence with a conjunction, they can be singular (its use is quite old), commas can be used wherever you need them, that the word whom is a linguistic abomination, that one space goes after a period, that sentences can run-on if needed (like this one), that contractions are fine, that paragraphs don't have to be at least 3-5 sentences, that grammar rules are set in stone handed to us by some grumpy Latin-speaking elites from the 19th century, that ain't is a word, that irregardless is a weird solecism but is fine if not a bit grating, and that you should just do what you want to.

Religion

I'm a syncretic mix of Buddhist, Taoist, atheist agnostic, Discordian, and many other things. I draw my inspiration from many sources. I've had a passing interest in Unitarian Universalism, but haven't yet made concrete steps to join.

Politics

From Greek πολύς, many; and English ticks, plural form of tick, a small woodland arachnid parasite from the suborder Ixodida, from Middle English tyke, teke, from Old English ticia (“parasitic animal, tick”), from Proto-Germanic *tīkkô, suffixed variant of Proto-Germanic *tīgô.

I don't like it, but the world is governed by the Golden Rule: whoever has the Gold, makes the rules.

I consider myself a leftist, but not empty-headed. My views are nuanced and complicated.

I decline to say much more beyond that on my home page.

My "Identity"

Note: the tl;dr version is here

Normally I wouldn't even put anything in this section, but I feel in this day and age it's important to assert who I am, not because I desire acceptance, but because of the political winds increasingly becoming hostile to anyone who isn't a cis white male. That said, I prefer not to say I "identify" as something, I simply am.

My pronouns are she/her or they/them. If that bothers you, take a hike.

I'm trans, but I don't really do the whole "gender" thing; I respect others if they do, but for me, I'm just Elly. It's not anything ideological or anything, I just prefer to be seen as me.

I strongly prefer to identify strictly as "queer" rather than anything else. I do have microlabels but I generally avoid using them in conversation; they tell you something about me, but they don't tell you a lot about what kind of person I am, and that's more important than any other attribute. And what's the point of sorting myself into labels when the idea of "me" is subject to change anyway?

I have several mental illnesses; major depression, dissociative identity disorder, general anxiety, C-PTSD, and emotionally unstable personality disorder. I try not to let these things define who I am, but I think it's important to disclose I have these things for people who wonder why I've acted or may act certain ways. I am aware many of these conditions have considerable stigma attached, which is a shame, because the conditions aren't what makes a person who they are, it's how they choose to act. It took me a long time to figure that one out.

If you're into nerd astrology totally legitimate personality quizzes that are just pseudoscience wrapped in pop culture, I'm an ISFP.

How to say my name

Note: a definitive guide is here.

My name and handle are always first-letter capitalised, the rest lowercase. I will not budge on this. Please respect my name's style guide.

My handle is Elizafox, pronounced /əˈlaɪzə.fɒks/ [IPA pronounciation key].

My actual name is Elizabeth Ashford (née Myers). Those close to me may call me Elly, pronounced /ˈʔɛli/.