Hi, My Name's Clementine, Nice to Meet You!

I realize it's been like a month since I started this site, and I realized I still don't have any sort of real introduction as to who I am. I thought a lot about how I wanted to introduce myself here, and I guess I decided a mix of interests, passions, hobbies, things I like, and some personal philosophy is probably the best way I could ever do that. Thank you very much for visiting my little website, and I hope you enjoy your stay!! ╰(*°▽°*)╯

A bit about me

I guess we can start with a bit of biography, with a few details removed of course! At the time of writing, I am 20 years old, currently living at home in Idaho. I've lived here my whole life, and while I truly do love the scenery in many parts of the state, I think my life here is pretty miserable. Not that it's too bad or anything, but it's one of the most conservative states in the US, and it feels like a ticking time bomb living in such a hostile state to people like me. I'm saving money to travel this year, and I'm planning on eventually moving to the Seattle area, where I have a lot of friends. Bonus points if I can get into the UW Sociology grad program.

On that topic, I began my educational journey as a computer science kid, through and through. I was always interested in computers, and started learning how to code in like 2nd grade (although at that age it was very simple, obviously). All through high-school and into college, I was only really focusing on computer science, although I didn't enjoy it as much once I had to do it for college credit, especially so when I worked for a brief time interning for a "game development" company (long story).

In my Junior year of high-school, I met a government teacher that would help shape my life in ways I don't think he even knows. I had always been pretty interested in politics, but always sort of aligned myself with my parents' standard American liberalism. My teacher wasn't radical by any means, but he was more left-leaning than most people in this state, and taught his class in such a wise and interesting way that it quickly became my favorite. Around that time, I began reading political, economic, and social theory, watching videos, listening to lectures, whatever I could. I didn't identify myself as anything really, but as of my Senior year, I was pretty sure I was some sort of Marxist. In my Senior year of high-school is when I really found my political identity. I began really reading social theory, and got very deep in very quickly. I ended up giving multiple very long presentations (like 50 slides) in class for fun and credit. One was on how you could become a landlord (for meeting the assignment requirements), and why you really shouldn't (just for fun). Another was on the history and different strains of Marxist thought. That one was purely for the love of the game, not even for credit, I just liked it.

Needless to say, I was very annoying in high-school. We've all known kids like that; I thought I wasn't one of them, but I know deep down that I really was. Since that time, I've obviously done a great deal of maturing and personal growth, and while I still hold the same beliefs (even moreso now that I'm more educated), I'm much more even-keeled and less unbearably annoying. To get back on track, those early days exploring my political identity, investigating gender and sexuality in long discussions with friends, and getting into philosophy were incredibly important in making me who I am now. I almost still went to school for computer science, but realized shortly before starting college that I really do hate doing it as a job. I changed my major to political science, where I would stay for about 1.5 years. I thought political science was such an obvious major for my interests, but that was soooo misguided. I quickly realized that too was something I didn't enjoy, although it was mainly because I was being pressured to work in government or for a think-tank, both of which I detest. At some point I understood that Sociology was what I really wanted to study, and I never looked back. This is truly something I can see myself finding a job in and doing for the rest of my life. I feel so privileged to have found that.

Interests, etc.

I feel like I can sometimes be weird to talk to if you sort of know me but not really, and I have trouble writing about my interests, and those are for the same reason: I dip my toes into a million different pools of interest. I've always tried to know as much as possible, and everything fascinates me, so it's only natural. Here is a long and non-exhaustive list of the things I've been interested enough to try or look into. I've added helpful little symbols for things that are especially important to me and my life, and these are listed in the order they come to me:

There are a lot of things I feel strongly about that I wanted to share, but that didn't quite fit into categories like those above. This next section is going to be crazy rambly. I'll also elaborate on some of my favorites from above, just whatever I feel like!

Thoughts About Some Things I Like

Music

To be honest, music was probably my first love and the thing that's been the biggest constant in my life from a very young age. On my dad's side, I come from a line of musicians going back to, like... my great grandfather. My dad and grandpa have played in bands with their friends and family since before I was born, and I was raised around live music and listening to CDs from day one. I had some sort of distant cousins that I used to see occasionally who were in an indie rock band, and I thought they were the coolest people ever when I was little.

Being from Idaho, a lot of the music I heard growing up was country (not the pop radio kind, mostly classic country and modern alternative country) and folk, and while I understand people's reservations when they hear country, I continue to enjoy a lot of country and country-adjacent music as I've gotten older. My dad was also a big fan of hip-hop in the '90s and '00s, and I heard Outkast and the Beastie Boys in the car pretty often when I was in preschool. I didn't know what anything meant, of course, but I liked the way it made me feel. If that's not what music's about, what is? My dad and grandpa were also big rock fans, and I quickly learned to appreciate a variety of styles. An intersting one that sticks with me now is the weird rockabilly-revival of the Stray Cats, led by Brian Setzer.

Getting a little older, I had always enjoyed the old Christmas tunes and mid-century classics growing up, and in about 5th grade, I discoved the Fallout games series. I'm sure there are a million adults now whose first exposure to that kind of music came from those two sources, and I'm one of them. I mostly didn't listen to that music very often, or at least never expanded outside the games' soundtracks until 8th grade, but once I did, I appreciated the depth and range of styles and emotions "older music" or simply "jazz," as I called most of it, could convey. I continued this sort of obsession throughout early high-school, before broadening back to my eclectic roots and discovering new styles to fall in love with. Rewinding a bit, the COVID pandemic in 2020 created an opportunity for me to really do whatever I wanted. I was still in high-school, and online school was both way easier and way less strict than in-person school was. Because of that, I ended up staying home almost all day every day and just listening to music and playing games. It was at this point I really started to broaden my fascination with old music.

This was an incredibly important part of my life, and a lot of the music I listened to at the time either led me to discovering music I continue to cherish, or is still in occasional rotation. I listened to a wide range of music from around the '20s to the '60s, from blues, jazz, swing, pop (which was heavily swing-styled, but I feel is sometimes distinct), country, folk, and everything in between. As previously mentioned, I eventually grew out of this phase a bit, but a lot of it had already entered my brain's permanent catalog, only to be touched if I get nostalgic or end up needing to discuss some random artist's 1934 discography. What I didn't grow out of was the stuff I felt more socially acceptable to enjoy. Listening to a lot of jazz in high-school is one thing, but what kind of weird kid listens to '30s gospel and barely-intelligible country blues on the regular? Despite not really listening to most of it now, I definitely find myself returning a few times a year to listen to some of it, as despite being sort of strange to modern sensibilities, a lot of it is really fantastic music.

Although I was previously exposed and had listened to it on occasion throughout the years, I never really "got" more alternative genres like indie, punk, and especially things like hardcore. Late high-school, around my Junior or Senior year was when that started to change. For some reason, I have a very vivid memory from a few years prior when I was at home with my dad during the pandemic. I remember discussing Radiohead, and how a lot of people say that OK Computer is one of the greatest albums of all time, and I remember saying "I get why people like it, but it's not my thing." Fast forward less than three years, and it was certainly my thing. In 2023 I got into a range of genres I hadn't really explored much before, listening heavily to Radiohead, Green Day, Black Sabbath, Marietta, The Beths, and a million virtually-unknown bands like my (now) friends Moon Owl's Mages. This was also when I rediscovered the music of those cousins I mentioned earlier, who I did a pretty deep dive on and started listening to regularly, bringing me back to the days of my childhood and one of the main reasons I was interested in music to begin with. I joined a couple bands around this time, one shitty pop-punk band and one midwest emo-esque band, although I only really played a couple shows with each. Along with this, I got into rap much more than before. In my Sophomore year of high-school, I started really listening to Kendrick Lamar, whose albums I would listen to in full basically weekly. I listened to quite a bit of old-school hip-hop stuff from the '90s earlier in high-school, but I was a big "modern rap is all mumbling" oldhead.

Fortunately for me, I realized a couple years later that a lot of those attitudes I held were at least partially grounded in racism, and along with my political growth, I also began to appreciate art as something more sacred. I let go of most of my negative views of different genres, which also allowed me to get really into hardcore, screamo, and metal when I got to college. A lot of the music through the past couple years until now is pretty similar to what I've already described, but I've also recently gotten back into electronic music, especially IDM, ambient, and the more experimental side of things. One of the genres I had continued to hold out on was hyperpop and some similar genres, but that wall too was broken down in the past year, and I bump it constantly. I feel art as a sacred and truly beautiful force in my life now more than ever, no doubt aided in part by my growing interests in philosophy and psychonautics.

Sociology

To be entirely honest, I don't feel like writing about sociology for my personal website. I have to write about it constantly for class anyways, I might as well have one place I can take a break from it!

Philosophy

Instead of writing a whole long personal history or reciting all the philosophical knowledge I have or something like that, I'm going to tell you (my lovely reader) about the big philosophical conversations I've been having.

First of all, what is a game? Sounds like a simple question, but my friends and I have had multiple long conversations about this, and I think it's a super interesting question. For the record, I have no game theory knowledge in the slightest, and a lot of it is math (which I am helpless at), so I'm not sure it's a field I'd particularly enjoy... Whatever. Anyways, there are a few ways to approach the problem. It's for fun, right? so that's a requirement, but what separates a game from play? At what point does play become a game? When you add rules? Well, I'd disagree, I think it's more complicated than that. Unfortunately, you'll have to wait until I decide to write the rest of this. I'm tired, okay?

Art & Drawing

I'm a very big fan of Alphonse Mucha and Gustav Klimt, but I'm a big fan of most art. I think art is one of the most powerful tools we have at our disposal, and that it should be treated with great respect and reverence. I'm not religious in any traditional way, but I think the closest I get is with regards to art. I don't actually worship it or anything, but I am able to feel very strong emotions connected with most forms of art, so I am just very impacted by it.

Movies

I love going 2 da movies :D