Olga (gloryfades.org)

These interviews started with the intention of getting to know my online friends better, and exposing a side of them that might not necessarily be apparent online. Each interviewee was asked ten questions, five of which were generic, and five of which directly applied to the specific individual. If you are interested in being interviewed, please leave a comment on this post.

Interview with Olga of gloryfades.org:

• Do your friends and family know you have a blog? If so, do they read it?
  In short, yes. While there’s a part of me that desires anonymity on the Internet, I’ve never been one to hide my blog from those who ask. In fact, I briefly had the link up on my Facebook, but took it down recently. I’m not ready for all of my old friends to read it. My sister, Sister Friend for those who read my blog, reads it fairly often. She usually brings up what I write into conversation so I get the feeling it’s a daily check for her. And my mother (51)? Well, it’s in her Firefox address bar. Hi, mom!
• When did you first start becoming involved in the “internet world”?
  Around fourteen-I’d just moved to a new town and didn’t know anyone, so the Internet was the easiest way to make a connection. My first website was a personal site with pictures, flashing gifs, and *cough*fanfiction*cough*. When I discovered fanlistings, though, that really took off. I was heavily into making those little websites for years. Turns out I ended up being pretty good at them…
• What are your favorite places to visit online?
  These days I usually haunt Facebook, Twitter, my Google Reader, Flickr and my own websites. I know, I’m terribly boring. I also love reading about current events and some of my favourite news sites include The Daily Beast and The New York Times. Clearly I have an interest in American news.
• Do you ever feel like it’s hard to maintain a balance between online and offline life?
  Not really, no. I try not to spend too much time online as I know how quickly it degenerates into mindless surfing and it’s a bit of a fishbowl at the same time. A lot of twenty-something bloggers are similar in nature and spirit (we’re all a little jaded, a little apathetic, and really f*cking sarcastic). If you’re constantly surrounded by that, it tends to take a toll on your own feelings, so I try and keep a bit of a distance. On weekends, I’m rarely online, unless I’m quickly checking Facebook or Twitter for offline stuff.
• Does your online personality differ from your offline personality? Do you find yourself acting differently in situations online than you would offline?
  I don’t think so, but it’s hard to tell. I don’t really have personal relationships online anymore like I did when I was a staff member at The Fanlistings Network. It’s funny-the people I considered friends through TFL haven’t really followed me into this new phase of my online existence, which sort of sucks, but I can’t really blame them. Talking on AIM about fanlistings and silly things is one thing, but I don’t really write about that stuff anymore, so what is there for us to bond over anymore? On the plus side, there are other people who have followed me, which I would never have expected to, and it makes me feel really good.

  It’s easier to be more diplomatic when you’ve got the online lag time and my mouth does tend to get away from me if I’m not careful, so that’s probably the only difference in my personalities. Other than that, I’m pretty WYSISYG. Obviously there’s a facet of me that you don’t see when you’re reading my words online, but it’s hard for me to tell you what that is. Did you know that I’m a singer as well?

• You work in a publishing company. How has your job impacted your views on books? What are some books you would recommend?
  Yes, I do work in publishing and I love it! It’s hard for me not to get excited about my job because I think it’s awesome and I feel like I’m the luckiest girl in the world. As far as impacting my view on books, it’s actually made me appreciate the side of publishing that I used to snub-the mass market paperback. The Ex used to laugh at me for reading my own product, but I only read what I like, and I like our books. If I could recommend anything offhand, it would be the Lady Julia Grey series by Deanna Raybourn. Intrigue, romance, Victorian London…it’s pretty awesome. One of those series where you can really lose yourself in the book and before you know it, it’s three a.m. and you have to get up in five hours. If you don’t believe me, read my review of the third book (no spoilers, don’t worry!)
• You have a passion for traveling. What is your favorite place to visit out of all the places you have seen? What place do you want to visit the most that you have not visited yet?
  It feels like I’ve just been asked to pick my favourite child! I love to travel (who doesn’t, I mean c’mon…). Each trip is very different for me, though. For instance, I’ve been to Italy twice now, but both trips were worlds apart. It’s hard to compare each trip for me because I start to think about the things I did or saw and my mind kind of takes me on a mini-trip through it all again. But, I still have to pick, don’t I? Alright, well, I think if I had to…it would be Guatemala. I talk about it more often than I do any other place I’ve been to, mainly because it was just so amazing. Never before had I been to such a different country. And sure, I got laughed at by the locals, I got cheated out of some money, but it was all worth it. I would go back in a heartbeat.

  My list of destinations changes constantly. Daily, at some times in the year. Right now that list includes Russia, Thailand and Romania. But then there’s also Cuba, where things are about to change massively, as the US is ready to discuss removing the more than forty-year-old embargo on traveling to the little Communist nation. And India, where I can probably get a job in telemarketing and make a good living off of it. Or even Jamaica. Flights are so cheap. There must be hostels in Montego Bay.

• You are a Canadian, and are proud of it. What is it about Canada that you like and dislike?
  I moved to Canada from Poland when I was four-years-old and have called it home ever since. While I am proud to be Polish, parts of that heritage will never be a part of me, and I hanker for that. For example, I have a strange fascination with Communist kitsch that neither 51 nor my father (52) understands because they lived through that time period. As I grow older, I feel like my Polish heritage is slowly being absorbed into my Canadian heritage, which dominates my personality. No wonder I’m grasping at straws!

  Canada is simply my home. While I may yearn to roam the earth like a wayward vagabond, I know I’ll always have a place in the Great White North, and there isn’t much that I dislike about the country. Sure, we don’t have the same place in history like we did during the Lester B. Pearson days, but we’re still an important member of the current world order, especially considering President Obama is more of a quiet diplomat than a warmonger. We’re much better at talking than fighting (as most of the world knows…)

  Oh, and I wish we had TJ Maxx. Winners isn’t as good.

• You are a former TFL Senior Staffer. What did your time as a Senior Staffer at the network teach you?
  Project management is hard, especially for volunteers. What most of the TFL community doesn’t realize is that we’re busy people. While I was a Senior Staff member, I was finishing my undergrad. Other staff members were grad students and full-time professionals with 40-hour work weeks. Sometimes the desire to work on new guidelines for an online network just wasn’t there. Still, the dedication of the senior staff is amazing. These people have been with the network for years and they still have the passion and drive to help the community grow. You have no idea how much it takes to do that. Add to that the pressure to keep the network exciting and fresh and you’ve got a really stressful (second) job that can be trying at times, but still manages to stay fun. I hated to leave my post, but it was too much for me. I don’t regret the decision I made, but I still miss it sometimes. Policy change kinda gets me fired up, as nerdy as that sounds.
• Your blog covers a wide range of topics, discussing everything from personal anecdotes to current events. What motivates you to blog? How do you select what topics to blog about?
  I can’t really tell what motivates me to blog-it’s the same thing that motivates me to just write. I guess I’m a writer, which is funny because up until about a year ago I would have scoffed at the suggestion. Now I can feel the need to write in my very bones. I know that sounds dramatic, but I haven’t been this prolific since I was a kid. I literally have notebooks strewn around my apartment with snippets scrawled into them. Half the time I don’t understand them when I come back to them, but sometimes there are salvageable tidbits.

  Blogging comes sort of second nature to me. Sometimes if I’m in a moment I’ll feel like I should write about a certain topic I’m mulling over. It doesn’t always work, though. I’ll start writing the post, but then find I don’t have enough to finish it. Usually when that happens I’ll just cut it down into a tweet. Other times, it just flows and the words come naturally.

Tags: interviews