About the Author, Jim Shen

Age: 16
Location: Palo Alto (aka Liberalville or Hippieland), California, USA
Occupation: Student
Things I like: Computer games, some anime, guns, tanks, etc, reading and writing war stories.
Things I Dislike: Communists, Nazis, Muslim fanatics, teachers that spew liberal propaganda.

"I am (as the profile above implies) a 16 year old student in Palo Alto. I started out in Taipei, Taiwan, then moved to the USA when I was 3 1/2 years old, moved to Danville in the East Bay a year after that, then moved to Palo Alto after 5th grade. A lot of moving. I like computer games, in particular the Homeworld series and C&C Generals (I gave up Counter-Strike on 10.13.03). I also talk a lot, for better or for worse, and have a habit of slitting people's throats with red felt tip pens (watch your back). I know a lot of people, but only a few are close friends. I don't have any girlfriends or anything like that, probably because I'm still a little scared when around girls (no I don't think they have cooties or anything like that...). So I guess you could call me anti-social. Oh well, I don't care, someday my hormone levels will become normal and I will become interested in girls (maybe).

At school I'm sort of one of those nerd types, though I'm really just a lazy guy endowed with brains (I always surf the internet and such when I'm supposed to do homework, or while doing homework). I do well in math, science, and history (which normally is my favorite subject), though US Govt this year is a bitch because my teacher treats us all like retards. I detest English, because they force you to read a good book, then tear it to shreds and analyze the pieces for "themes" and crap the author probably never intended to be analyzed. I'm also in the Youth Community Service club at Palo Alto High School, and I have around 100 hours of community service (mainly because of working at the Veterans Hospital). I was once a class representative for Student Council, but the meetings left me with a sour feeling in my mouth as we listened to the same "popular" people talk and talk.

I play tennis, though I've been sucking recently as I've been busy and haven't played in a while. I once did Kung Fu, but the place I went to wasn't that good, as they would just show you the moves, then have you ape them once and go practice by yourself for 30 minutes. I don't exercise a lot, but I don't mind running and such, as its an important ability to have if you even have a little bit of interest in the military (which I have a lot more than a little bit of).

I know a lot about the military, though I consider myself to be a well-informed amateur than an expert. I know a lot about US weapons, and warfare in the 20th century. I'm not that well informed about military stuff before the Industrial Revolution, though still a lot more than all of my friends (probably because a lot of them are liberal). I'm also pretty well-learned in military strategy and such, which is probably why real-time strategy games (Homeworld) come naturally to me.

I am politically opinionated. I am an independent conservative, and I have a lot of problems with liberal teachers that consider it their mission to brainwash the people in the class to believe in liberal ideology so they can have a gleaming army of left-wingers to take over the world in glorious socialist revolution to liberate the proletariat (or whatever). I like to discuss politics, and I will respond if you talk trash about the US, the US military, or anything else that I believe in and support. I don't mind the opposing viewpoint as much as I mind people of the opposing viewpoint who try to shove their ideas down my throat (and there's a lot of them here in Liberalville). I won't bore you with my opinions on life; if you'd like to know email me.

From the above I guess you can infer that my choices in television and movies aren't what you expect. I like watching war movies like Blackhawk Down and Saving Private Ryan; the more realistic the better (thus I don't like most Schwarzenegger and Stallone movies). I watch the History Channel more than any other, because they have excellent documentaries on World War II and other military subjects (in case you're wondering, this is where I got a lot from my military knowledge, the rest came from the internet and books). I don't watch those pointless TV shows like Friends and whatnot where the only thing that happens is a bunch of airheads talking to each other.

Just a note about me and music. Unlike a lot of people, I don't listen to bands and whatnot (notice the lack of links to any band's website). I listen to soundtracks from games (Homeworld), movies (mainly war movies like Saving Private Ryan), and TV shows (Babylon 5 music is good, though I've never actually seen an episode). I also listen to military marches and cadences. Most of my music comes from...sources... Yes my choices in music are strange. But that's my life story.

Update: I now play America's Army. It is the best FPS game ever. Much, much better than those annoying armored fighting human style of game where its you and a big gun fighting and somehow defeating the Red Army, an alien swarm, mobs of government agents, or whatever."

Jim Shen, Author of Imperial Dawn