Profile
Warning: Personal web sites are by nature self-indulgent, and the profiles on them doubly so, which basically makes them uninteresting to anyone but the person writing them. Sorry.
My name is Aliotsy Andrianarivo
I was born in Antananarivo, Madagascar on May 2nd, 1982. I am a web developer residing in Davis, California. I was a Computer Science major at UCD. I pursued an indecent amount of minors at school as well, the result of academic indecisiveness exploration early on in my collegiate career.
I really like fiddling with XHTML and CSS. That would make me a big nerd—as if the Computer Science major part didn't give that away.
I am Christian.
I believe and trust in Jesus Christ as my Lord and Savior. More than anything, this defines the person I am today. Any good you may find in who I am or what I do stems directly from the work He has done in my life.
I am Malagasy…
…Which is a nationality, not an ethnicity. I tend to avoid talking about ethnicity, unless a box on a standardized form somewhere forces the issue. I'm African, but not black, of Polynesian descent, but not Asian. What's that make me? Malagasy, I guess. *shrug* If you really wanna know about my origins, ask me some time. It's a story that involves guys in canoes crossing the Indian Ocean, Portuguese pirates, and Arab traders.
I was named after a bird.
The running coua, native to the spiny forests in southern Madagascar. My middle name, "Maharisedra," means something along the lines of "striving to overcome." My last name means "lord of the thousand," hence the name of this site. The first part of my last name identifies me as part of the andriana, the nobility of Madagascar's Merina ethnic group. I don't let that get to my head, and it hasn't meant much since the French abolished Madagascar's monarchy in the late 19th century.
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Speaking of the French…
I speak French…
…Though I do things to French grammar that would cause any self-respecting Francophone to convulse in grammatical apoplexy. I've been told my accent is pretty good, but the language isn't much use in California. A long time ago, a middle-aged woman assured me that my command of the French language would have girls falling for me all over the place. This has yet to happen, probably because I say things like "Ou est la toilette?" instead of things like "Je te respire comme si tu étais, rose, toute la vie, et je me sens l'ami parfait d'une telle amie." (Rilke) I like to read and write in English, and it's probably not surprising that…
I wish I was an English major.
It is sad, but true, especially since I make fun of English majors all the time. It's not that I didn't like my major, I wish I could have double-majored. Unfortunately, someone somewhere decided that people like me shouldn't stay in school forever, and introduced the abomination they call the "unit cap". Grrmph.
I am random.
I like tomatoes, but not in sandwiches. I like Star Wars. I've disliked cheese since childhood, but I love sharp cheddar and gouda. I ride a bike most places, and if you're lucky (and I'm unlucky), you just might catch me doing the "I'm king of the world!" thing from Titanic. No, I don't wish I was Kate Winslett.
I ruin good music.
Every now and then, I'll discover a song that I absolutely love. It then becomes something of an anthem for me, and I'll loop it nonstop in Winamp till I get bored—which is usually after people around have gone absolutely nuts listening to the same piece over and over again.
I've been places.
This nifty Flash app is IndyJunior, created by Bryan Boyer.