So who am I?

My name is Hans Persson but I have often used the alias The Pink Unicorn on the net since 1988. I was born in 1967 and I have lived within 15 kilometers from Linköping all my life with the possible exception of the year I spent "protecting" Sweden from (presumably Russian) invaders.

I am a long-time reader of science fiction and fantasy. When my parents did a thorough cleaning of their storage room, I found out that this interest was older than I thought. The picture of a dragon is drawn by me, and my father has written "Firebreathing dragon. Summer 1973" on it, so I was 5 or 6 years old when I drew it.

I have spent a lot of time studying, but nowadays I spend my time trying to get computers to do what I want. 1994-2000 I spent my time at a company called IFS, writing programs that did strange things I never understood in arcane areas like economy and organization. Nowadays, I tinker with firewalls at Ingate Systems (a spinoff from Cendio Systems). I live with my wife Camilla, son Henrik (born 1994-01-03), daughter Cecilia (born 1996-04-30), son Martin (born 2001-08-04) and cat Lilleman (born March 1991) in a largish house in a suburb called Malmslätt. Time and weather permitting, I like to go bird watching. You can also visit some of my friends.

What do I like to do?

Below here, I have made an approximate listing of my other interests and hobbies (not already mentioned above). They are listed (approximately) in the order I started to enjoy them, not in current order of preference.

Stamp collecting

I started to collect stamps at the age of 6 or so, and I still haven't (quite) quit. At the moment, however, it's more of accumulating than actual collecting. On the other hand, the albums are all there, so I can get them from the shelf any time it's raining and start over. It will probably happen any decade now...

Genealogy

This is another interest that I have had for a long time but that is currently not that active. On the other hand this is a better hobby to put down and pick up again than is stamp collecting since my ancestors tend to be the same.

My oldest known ancestors are farmers from Östergötland in the early 16th century. Come to think of it, most of my ancestors are farmers from Östergötland. Of those that are not, the majority are farmers from one of the neighbouring counties. I have managed to find one person from Denmark, but that seems to be as far outside of Sweden as I will get.

Role Playing Games

Between 1984 and 1990 I played a lot of RPGs. The reason that I stopped playing was partly that my studies took a lot of time, and partly that my girlfriend (now wife) took a lot of time. Later on, I played some Magic: The Gathering. Now and then, I feel the urge to do some role playing, but I can't seem to find the time :-(

Interactive Fiction

Almost since I bought my first computer 1983 (a Commodore 64), I have liked to play text adventure games (although I seldom get the time to do so nowadays). For almost as long, I have made more or less successful attempts to write adventures myself. In 1993, me and a friend started SophistiChaos Game Design. I also created Adventureland in 1993 and maintained it until 2000 when I handed it over to Stefan Meier who keeps it updated nowadays.

Music is what I call it

Over the years, I have listened to a wide variety of different artists. About the only thing they seem to have in common is that "normal" people haven't heard of them. I often get accused of strange taste or no taste at all. Previously I have listened a lot to Frank Zappa, Tangerine Dream, and Klaus Schulze. Nowadays, I enjoy things like Front 242, Sisters of Mercy, Inkubus Sukkubus and Cat Rapes Dog.