Oooh, get busy for a few days and miss an interesting thread!
As you might assume, I am a big fan of Patrick O'Brian's novels, which I consider to be some of the best novels written about anything, ever. He immerses you in another world and time, not only through the events of the novel but also in language and writing style.
It's been said that Stephen Maturin was Patrick O'Brian's alter ego, and if I may beg your indulgence I too fancy myself to have some similar qualities.
-Profession. I too, bear a disdain for being mistaken a surgeon (except the ones I work with, a fine bunch). I also happen to administer the modern day version of laudanum on a daily basis....thankfully, not to myself.
-Natural Philosophy. Before I started my final vocation, my senior thesis was a population study of a certain species of a certain New England butterfly, Cercyonis pegala pegala . I then deferred my admission to my next school (for 6 months) in order to help study an endangered bird in the Pacific (the Palila, a silly looking bird really, but with a very interesting evolutionary history paralleling the birds of the Galapagos). In the end the lure of working with people instead of staring at birds won out, thank goodness.
-Music. My chosen instrument was too impractical to bring aboard a ship (piano) but I still tickle the ivories from time to time...
-Lubberliness. My college sailing team was *ahem* not the hottest. I may have taken more than one plunge into the water while doing the most innocent of activities....like getting on the boat. Or sailing in a straight line. And I was the commmodore of the team!
-Expat. I too was born in a land not under His (Her) Majesty's rule, yet now reside within the Commonwealth.
-a reptilian appearance. Very interesting that my wife's assessment of this seems to be inversely correlated with the amount of time I spend devoted to her...
But if any Canadian authorities are reading this, I am definitely NOT a spy. Nope. Not at all, eh? You betcha. Not a chance. Sorry. (though my former college roommate may or may not work for the NSA).
Edited by Maturin