My 200th Article — Hello, It’s Time We Met
Everything I’m happy to admit publicly. For everything else, you’ll have to get me dinner and pints.
After eight long years of Medium and 200 articles, I felt it was time we had a chat, where I talk, and you listen. 😆 Not because I’m an asshole, because I’m not, but because that’s how writing and reading works. It’s single-threaded and synchronous. I write, you read, you then reply in a comment, and I will likely reply. See? I’m not an asshole. Assholes don’t reply. I do. 😃 This is my virtual handshake, my virtual hug, nose-rub, fist-bump, chest-bump, kiss on the cheek, once, twice, three times, whichever feels more culturally appropriate to you. If you’re a Swede, we can also silently acknowledge each other from 5 meters away. Anything works. 🤷♂️
This. This is the one story I’m writing for you, my reader. So, this is special because I don’t do this. We’ve established that before. But this, this is my gratitude story to you, my reader, whoever you are, wherever you’re from. If you’re new, welcome, if you’re an occasional or a regular, nice to have you facing my thoughts on a digital canvas again; and finally, if you were on your way out and ready to unfollow, don’t you fecking dare! 😆 Sure, I’m only joking, you can leave, but you’ll come back because you’ll miss me. Where else have you met anyone this unapologetic, charming and inspiring at the same time? Gah. They don’t make them like me anymore…😆
So, who am I?
I’m your average neighbourhood nerd, except that I’m cool. But really, I think the word “average” is what describes me best. Hell, I’ll even take mediocre. If it’s good enough for Woody Allen, it’s good enough for me. I don’t pretend to be the best at anything, and I can’t even say I try. Life is too short to experience everything and also become the best at something. It’s impractical. Give me 3000 years to live, and we’ll have a different conversation.
But I did wish I could have become a surgeon or a pilot at some point. That would have been cool. Couldn’t afford it though, and life took me in different, possibly better directions like programming and writing. I did do many other things, though. Being born and raised in Communist, then post-Communist Romania, Transylvania, to be more accurate, meant that in order to fuel my LEGO hobby, I needed to work somewhere as early as 10. I worked in slaughterhouses, construction, as typist, electrician, billboards-maker, website admin, music critic, agriculture, computer technician, PCB tester and programmer, customer support agent, translator, so I’ve done a few things to keep myself afloat.
I’m the person who can’t stay put. I always need to achieve something. A day when I haven’t, makes me feel bad. That’s also why romantic relationships for me are either in the form of power-couple, or none at all. Anything and anyone that drags me down, is something I get rid of.
I have no vices, not even coffee — though I do drink it. I am always prepared to reset everything, my whole life, if I have to. I don’t want to, but if I have to, I know I can. Likewise, I am the kind of person who doesn’t like and doesn’t take bullshit. It’s why I don’t believe in organised religion and denominations — though I have Christian faith — and that’s why I left home at 21 to find my own place in the world.
I am a 1985-born Hungarian, from Romania, living in Ireland. Have lived on the Emerald Isle for a decade, and this is now what I consider home. For a Hungarian with Hungarian citizenship, I have never lived in Hungary, believe it or not. Having said that, I have a hunch I might be the only remaining heir to Attila the Hun.
Some rarely asked questions — the RAQ
I’ll shamelessly copy Henrik Ståhl’s strategy here, who copied it from someone else, and give you an insight into me through some questions I wish people asked and never or rarely do (with a couple of exceptions). You can ask some more in the comments, and I might even answer them… 😉
- Do you remember the Romanian revolution of 1989? Yes, vividly. I got my birthday and Christmas present early — a blue tricycle. It was great. I did regular commutes with it from the left side to the right side of the living-room table of our 4th floor apartment.
- Have you ever stepped on LEGO? Believe it or not, after 29 years of building with LEGO, no, I barely ever did. I am, like cats, excellent at navigating between the pieces on the floor.
- Was Communism as bad as they say? Nothing is really ever as bad or good as they say. Aspects of it are worse, while others are much better. On average though it was bad, it certainly isn’t compatible with the 21st century world we live in.
- How does it feel to be a person with cleft lip and palate? It doesn’t feel like anything, in fact, 99% of the time we forget about it. It’s the 1% when someone reminds us about it that hurts, and that emotional pain is unique and incomparable.
- Are you this pragmatic in real-life too, or just in your writing and professional life? Yes. I’m a pragmatic realist with a touch of optimism, the last of which stems from the fact that I know humans are capable of a lot of good. Which makes me also a romantic. What? Have you not met a complex human being before?!? 😆
- Your favourite sci-fi? Battlestar Galactica, The X-Files, Doctor Who and Snowpiercer. But I also watch a lot of romantic comedies, yes, even Hallmark. Don’t stereotype me… 🙂
- Favourite superhero? Besides Groot… probably Iron Man. He’s basically Elon Musk without the terrible personality defects and ridiculous illusions of grandeur.
- What’s the grossest thing you ever ate? Mealworms. But they’re actually very delicious. You should try them. Fried of course, not raw.
- Will you ever write a book, seeing how you already write so much? I already did. A 400-page draft ready for a publisher to edit, I just need to find a publisher. A closed group of beta readers have already provided encouraging feedback, so fingers crossed. 🤞
- Coke or Fanta? Fanta, and I know many of my Indian friends and readers will agree. 😉
- Would you go to war? No. I don’t think anyone should. If today everyone decided to lay down their weapons, that would be the end of it. The planet is big enough for everyone, it’s a few pseudo-God’s egos it’s not big enough for.
- What do you do for fun? Everything I do is for fun. OK, maybe not literally, but I do my best to enjoy everything I do, and when I don’t, to just stop doing it. But in terms of conventional fun… concerts, yeah, standup and leisurely hiking. A bunch of those thanks to my amazing friend Raluca LICĂU, without whom I would have never even thought of buying hiking boots!
- What would your best friend say about you? You mean Andrew Gribben? Fun fact, he used to be my boss, then my colleague, but over 9 years we’ve also become friends. He also writes sometimes on Medium, you should follow him and while you’re at it, the publication we recently set up together. But yeah, what would he say? I dunno. Ask him... 😂
If you’re ever in Ireland…
Hit me up (LinkedIn, Twitter), maybe we can grab a beer, a gin, some food, and talk about the million other things that didn’t make this article, and more importantly, you; after all for me because we’ve established that I’m a selfish writer, the truly fascinating bit is you, the reader and the human behind the reader.
Thanks again for sticking with me over the months and years, or joining me just now. Every minute you spend reading is truly appreciated. And if you’re a fellow writer, there’s obviously only one advice I can give you — keep writing.
Your average at everything,
Attila V.
Attila Vago — Software Engineer improving the world one line of code at a time. Cool nerd since forever, writer of codes and blogs. Web accessibility advocate, Lego fan, vinyl record collector. Loves craft beer!
