Science Fiction Fantasy

I have to admit, I've always had an affinity towards science fiction--it's what led me in to engineering. It started with Rama... a guy I knew when I was in 6th grade or so recommended a book to me called Rendezvous with Rama. To be honest, I found it pretty difficult to get through, and it took me a while to read. But the sequels were much more interesting to me, and easier to get through. I read them very quickly, and have reread some of them a couple times. I asked the same guy later on for another recommendation, and he suggested Foundation, which became pretty extensive due to its popularity, and I also explored the other Asimov series and books, which are a lot lighter than the Rama books, and still very interesting. I also branched out to some other science-fiction writers.

My dad had always enjoyed watching Star Trek: The Next Generation as I grew up, so I was familiar with that. And I didn't realize it but when I was young, my sister was friends with a bunch of trekkies--she even had a pin-on Starfleet insignia and collar pins!

The show I was more exposed to, though, was Star Trek: Voyager, which I loved, and Deep Space Nine which I watched less often even though it's generally touted as being better than Voyager. But Voyager appealed to me for new reasons--the captain was a woman. That is highly significant to a young girl growing up with an interest in science fiction. But in addition to the captain, the Chief Engineer also was a woman! Chief Engineer! And that might have had an influence on me, towards engineering. That's still one of my favorite shows even though it's long been off the air.

I kept reading science fiction books in high school--not really branching into fantasy until college, but I never went far down that route. I've stopped reading fiction for now, spending more time trying to learn about religion and current affairs.

But it has left me with an interesting quirk--I name my computer equipment after science-fictions items that it seems to resemble, at least in appearance if not in function. My wireless network at home is (or was, until recently) called HAL. Bluetooth identifies my cell phone as a Tricorder, and my work computer has labelled my USB flash drive as Hypospray.

I wonder if anyone else does that? :-)