Bio
[Insert obligatory remarks - "I was born at an early age, etc. - here] To be honest, the first part of my life was much more interesting than the present part. My biological parents never got married. They fought over me, it was great fun... (ed. note - Yes, parents not getting married used to mean something. In some small, conservative, backwater towns it still does.) Eventually, my mother decided this probably wasn't the ideal environment for me. So taking her husband, (ed. note - She didn't get married until few years after I was born, it's not quite as scandalous a tale as you thought, eh?) me, and a few cats, we migrated to another state without telling daddy-dearest. For some reason, he seemed to take offense to this and spent the next decade+ looking for me. I have since spent the rest of my life (up to the present, anyway) in the same metropolitan area. I got older, started school, did all the usual little kid stuff. I played soccer. My dad (ed. note - the one I was living with) was our team coach for quite a while. Anyone who's ever had a parent for a coach knows what this means - you get to run more laps than anyone else. Lucky you... Due to a few moves within the same locale, I changed schools a few times between the first and third grades. I went to school, did well, got put in the classes with all the other bright kids, and had fun. Then my grandparents decided to give me a computer one christmas. I got a Commodore 64, ooh baby! I had a real tape drive (ed. note - it used audio tapes, not data tapes, for those of you who's memories don't go back quite that far.) , joysticks, and a 300 baud modem. I was so cool. Things progressed rapidly downhill from there. I upgraded systems as new toys came out, and got into hardware wars with friends who were lucky enough to have computers. In short, I became a geek. (ed. note - Now, I don't know anybody who doesn't own at least one computer, and usually more than that.) I took up programming. I was lucky enough to attend one of the few public schools in my state to offer classes beyond Computer Science II. So, I took all the classes I could. I managed to prevent my social life from completely dying by involving myself in several choral groups and stage productions during this period as well. However, I was still rather withdrawn and terribly shy when not on stage, or behind a keyboard. This would explain a great deal of my lack of interaction with the fairer sex. I graduated high school, spent way too long getting a degree from college (ed. note - the fact that I'm still working on this is why it's defined as "way too long".) Sadly, at least according to my roommate, I got away from programming (ed. note - COBOL doesn't count.) and became more involved with the hardware and networking aspects of computers. Hence my current job as a Network Admin. While he assures me I would make more money as a coder (and I believe him) it's one of those things I haven't had the time to pick up on again.

Since the last revision of this biography, I've changed jobs several times and moved a few times. Amid the chaos that is my life, I've actually managed to meet "someone". This was mainly due to her, not me. She claims that she was interested in me for a while, but I never noticed it. (ed. note - So I'm oblivious when it comes to the fairer sex, what's new?) In the end, she decided to just tackle me. (ed. note - even I'm not that oblivious.) Since that point, things have gone along pretty well for the most part. In fact, they've gone so well, that the last year has seemingly flown by.

Ara
Thus we come to Ara. I present a brief Ara-FAQ for your perusal:

• Ara... huh?  -  n. air-uh   No, it has nothing to do with the Anti-Racial Alliance, I'm not Armenian, and probably has nothing to do with anything you originally thought of when you first heard it. It was taken from my usual handle "Aragorn". This was the result of a few too many games of Ara-ball on TSN (ed. note - The Sierra Network, before it became INN, or whatever it is today, as declared by whatever corporate entity owns it, in whole or in part.) in the Shadow of Yserbius section. If you don't know where Aragorn came from, I highly recommend picking up some Tolkien at your local library and correcting this oversight.

• Why Ara?  -  Well, once you start using a handle, it's kind of hard to change. I've been using this one for almost fifteen years now. It's how people online recognize me.

If I've neglected to answer your burning question(s), feel free to email me and ask. I may add it to the FAQ, or I may tell you to smeg off.