AMA Aislabie, Part Two

Verified Enigma

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Since you mentioned CK, I will give you the ditto

How is life atm?

Covid situation in Wales?

Long term plan: UK or Somewhere else in Europe?

How does Planet Cricket help you as of today?

Something in PC you would like to change?

something you don’t like about PC?

Netflix and Chill or a Good Night Out

Invest 1 million today or 5000 per month for next 20 years?

Do you have life insurance?

As of Today if you have to jot down 11 members who together make up PC today (not just from the staff but overall) who would they be.

and a Bonus: VARP as a patent. Yay or nay?
 

Aislabie

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How is life atm?
Pretty decent tbh; I recently dropped out of my postgrad and it's a huge relief. I know it seems weird to highlight that as a big positive, but it serves to give me a summer where I'm going to have a pretty unique amount of freedom to create memories before Proper Adult Life (TM) kicks back in.

Covid situation in Wales?
It's not too bad here really, but stuff like this is always going to be worse in major population centres. The vaccine rollout is going well, and there's a sense of cautious normality here at the moment.

Long term plan: UK or Somewhere else in Europe?
I think the long-term plan, such as there is one, is to stay in the UK. Despite its many faults, it is still home for us both and there are places here where we might just be able to achieve everything we're dreaming of.

How does Planet Cricket help you as of today?
I don't know if I'd exactly say PlanetCricket helps me, but I like the dynamic I have of the moment of posting mostly in the cricket section and in my 90s England playthrough. More than that (like when I ran leagues) and it starts to feel like an obligation.

Something in PC you would like to change?
In an ideal situation, I'd like to purge the extensive record that exists here of cringey 15-year-old me, but I think that's a wish we all have

Something you don’t like about PC?
On occasion, tensions seem to run unnecessarily high. At the end of the day, we're all here for a few minutes of escapism so there's no reason not to be civil about it.

Netflix and Chill or a Good Night Out
I'm going to assume that you didn't mean "Netflix and Chill" as a euphemism, but regardless my answer is the same. I don't drink, don't enjoy large crowds, and have never been a party animal.

Invest 1 million today or 5000 per month for next 20 years?
I'd take the £1,000,000 today, regardless of the long-term option giving me 20% more in the long term. Compound inflation is likely to make the purchasing power of that money markedly less, and I don't want to wait until I'm in my mid 40s to get hold of it. Instead, I'd use the million to create the animal sanctuary, gardens and home farm that I dream one day of creating

Do you have life insurance?
Nope; at my age I'm very likely to put more money into such a scheme than I'd ever leave my loved ones in the event of it being used

As of Today if you have to jot down 11 members who together make up PC today (not just from the staff but overall) who would they be.
I do not like singling people out because it is inarguable that I will ultimately miss people out, but anyone who takes the time to post considered content is appreciated.

VARP as a patent. Yay or nay?
You can't really patent intellectual property like that. At the end of the day it's just a formula and anyone with access to the same (or better) data would be able to come up with a formula that produces much the same kind of information. That said, I am hoping that VARP can make somewhat of a comeback in the All-Time One-Day Draft now that I don't have to set aside time for my postgrad.
 

Verified Enigma

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I'm going to assume that you didn't mean "Netflix and Chill" as a euphemism, but regardless my answer is the same. I don't drink, don't enjoy large crowds, and have never been a party animal.
Well the context was that would you like to spend an evening at home in comfort or go out instead, shouldn’t be drinking, shouldn’t be partying, just a good night walk with the one or a good little dinner/movie counts.

I'd take the £1,000,000 today, regardless of the long-term option giving me 20% more in the long term. Compound inflation is likely to make the purchasing power of that money markedly less, and I don't want to wait until I'm in my mid 40s to get hold of it. Instead, I'd use the million to create the animal sanctuary, gardens and home farm that I dream one day of creating
Oh I never asked about having a million today or 5k monthly. I asked about investing it. There is a poles apart difference between the two.
 

Aislabie

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Well the context was that would you like to spend an evening at home in comfort or go out instead, shouldn’t be drinking, shouldn’t be partying, just a good night walk with the one or a good little dinner/movie counts.
In that case, I think the ideal option would be an evening spent tending to the garden, punctuated by dinner eaten outside.


Oh I never asked about having a million today or 5k monthly. I asked about investing it. There is a poles apart difference between the two.
Yes and I'll be investing a million hypothetical pounds in my smallholding, gardens and home farm dream
 

Satan666

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-Restrictions should be easing up in Wales now?

-How the kitty doing? I got 2 btw, one is more like a dog, actually runs to me when I reach home. wait you had a cat right, if memory serves me well.

- List your top 4 fruits and last when you had your #3.

-Are you vegan/vegetarian/other?

-Were you surprised with my return to Planet Cricket, did you notice I was missing at all?

-How you’d rate your present fitness level?

-Dark or light beer?
 

Aislabie

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Restrictions should be easing up in Wales now?
Yeah, things are fairly relaxed at the moment. I would hesitate to say things feel normal, but they have certainly improved a lot from the winter. Here's hoping that we can continue getting ourselves vaccinated and achieve herd immunity.

How the kitty doing? I got 2 btw, one is more like a dog, actually runs to me when I reach home. wait you had a cat right, if memory serves me well
1623100495506.png

He's a little bit of an older boy now. We don't know exactly how old because he's a rescue, but we've had him eleven years now and he was an adult back then. Best guess is he's not younger than about 15.

List your top 4 fruits and last when you had your #3.
1. Strawberries
2. Blueberries
3. Watermelon
4. Black grapes

It's been a bit since my last watermelon to be fair, they're out of season at present.

Are you vegan/vegetarian/other?
I'm an other. I firmly believe in "everything in moderation"; as a result I do cook a lot of veggie and vegan foods not because I don't eat meat, but because there's not anything that I eat at every meal.

Were you surprised with my return to Planet Cricket, did you notice I was missing at all?
Nope.
1623100833185.png

How you’d rate your present fitness level?
Awful. The amount of incidental exercise that you miss out on by being locked down for the best part of a year in a studio flat is incredible.

Dark or light beer?
Neither for nearly three years now. I was using alcohol as a coping strategy for anxiety, and while it did help with that until I was able to cope without the drink, that is not a healthy relationship with alcohol long term. So I stopped drinking.
 

Satan666

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Yeah, things are fairly relaxed at the moment. I would hesitate to say things feel normal, but they have certainly improved a lot from the winter. Here's hoping that we can continue getting ourselves vaccinated and achieve herd immunity.


View attachment 251114

He's a little bit of an older boy now. We don't know exactly how old because he's a rescue, but we've had him eleven years now and he was an adult back then. Best guess is he's not younger than about 15.


1. Strawberries
2. Blueberries
3. Watermelon
4. Black grapes

It's been a bit since my last watermelon to be fair, they're out of season at present.


I'm an other. I firmly believe in "everything in moderation"; as a result I do cook a lot of veggie and vegan foods not because I don't eat meat, but because there's not anything that I eat at every meal.


Nope.
View attachment 251115


Awful. The amount of incidental exercise that you miss out on by being locked down for the best part of a year in a studio flat is incredible.


Neither for nearly three years now. I was using alcohol as a coping strategy for anxiety, and while it did help with that until I was able to cope without the drink, that is not a healthy relationship with alcohol long term. So I stopped drinking.
Nice kitty.

I truly understand man with the gyms being on locked down as well in most countries. Hope you can get some training going soon. I loss some weight over the last month with the Covid, soon as my body is can take it I am heading back to train harder.
 

NILAYSHAH60

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Why has Mr.Martin been inducted as the honorary of being your avatar?
 

Aislabie

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Yet your username is inspired by him? In what way?
Before all the stuff about him owning slaves came to light (though I should have suspected it given that he had wealth in an era when that was how you got it), I chose the username because of his very real claim to be the worst first-class cricketer of all time. It also worked nicely because his surname is a homophone for a place I regularly holiday near

When it was publicised exactly how he got his wealth, I changed my picture from a picture of him being corpulent to Chris Martin getting out, and my user title from "Custodian of the MCC Snuffbox" to "Black Belt in Statsguru"

I then consulted with staff and asked some members whether they would prefer I also change the username, and the feedback was that it didn't bother people and to just keep on keeping on

On a personal level, it is a petty way of thumbing my nose at how even in English cricket today I found connections and privilege to matter more than one's abilities, and nothing can be more symbolic of that than this Cricinfo page:

Screenshot_20210608-132540_Chrome.jpg
 

CerealKiller

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Do you feel dropping out of postgrad will hurt your job prospects? I suppose you did it for health reasons?
 

Aislabie

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Do you feel dropping out of postgrad will hurt your job prospects?
It probably won't to be honest. The reason I did it was only as a stepping stone to a PhD and to work in academia. With huge cuts to staffing at universities due to covid shortfalls, as well as a reminder of what academia is like, combined to make that a far less attractive option.

If I look to pursue a proper Career™ then it'd be teaching, and my undergrad is plenty enough to get on that course. If not then I'll be reasonably content to just do whatever for a while.

I suppose you did it for health reasons?
Yeah, pretty much. I've long had an on-again-off-again relationship with my own mental health, and the grind of utterly sterile online teaching, then continuing to sit in my studio flat while I try to put together thousands of words on prescribed topics while all the libraries are shut... it was not a good option to carry on with.

It was extremely anxiety-inducing trying to structure my life around writing the c. 35,000 words I had left to write - constantly being distracted both with and then also from from other valuable activities that would have made my life more balanced.

I don't miss it at all!
 

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