Interview of a JetPunker #15 - toowise

Hello dear JetPunkers!

Exactly a month later, I'm here, with a new interviewee. Me, late? No, never...

This time, I have decided to interview a mythical JetPunker, but also someone who shows that we can be a famous quizmaker without creating maps everyday. For several months (or maybe more, I can't realize), JetPunk, or at least the English section, gives the feeling that we can't "be someone" without being a mapmaker. In my opinion, it's completely false, and some amazing users, like toowise, are perfect examples! It was my thought of the day. But we don't really care, because it's now time for the interview!

baptistegorce: Hi toowise! Would you like to be my 15th interviewee?

toowise: Hi Baptiste (or do you prefer Poirot ? I've seen both on your previous blogs), thank you for inviting me for an interview, it's a great honour and an unexpected pleasure !

baptistegorce: You're welcome! You deserve it a lot, in my opinion. And both are fine!

toowise: Ok, so I'm ready!

baptistegorce: So let’s start this interview! First, could you present yourself on JetPunk quickly for our readers who don’t know you?

toowise: A little bit about myself, well, I'm 58 (does that make me the oldest Jetpunker ?), I live in Cheshire in the UK, and I drive a truck for a living delivering animal feed and bedding as well as breakfast cereals all over the UK. I'm married with 2 grown up children and 2 dogs (A cockapoo and a Lhasa Apso cross). My son is also a truck driver at the same place and my daughter works in an accountants office. I drive a 16 year old Jaguar car and I can't think of much else that's relevant, Oh, my name is Graham and my user name came from a saying my dad used to say.(2YsUR, 2YsUB, ICUR, 2Ys4Me).....Is that enough ?

baptistegorce: You are mostly known for the challenge you did during a whole year: On this day. Could you explain what it was? Are you proud of it?

toowise: My "On This Day" series started when I was a bit bored on Boxing Day (The day after Xmas Day in the UK) and was looking through Jetpunk and realised there weren't any quizzes specific to each day. After a bit of thinking I realised that 2020 was a leap year so thought I'd do a quiz for each day, 366 in total ! Little did we know at that point what a strange year 2020 would become. So I started to make a couple of quizzes when I realised I could schedule them in advance for publication. That way I could do a few quizzes over a weekend for the following week and still work without much problem. I did spend pretty much my entire spare time compiling the quizzes though. It was quite intensive at times to ensure each quiz was published for that day. Although the quizzes haven't had that many takes I am still glad that I did it, and yes I suppose I am proud of the fact that I managed to do the whole year.

baptistegorce:  Was it difficult to become “a new JetPunker”, or at least to create new quizzes, after the challenge, which was a huge part of your JetPunk identity?

toowise: Yeah, I have sort of "lost my way" a bit on the recent quiz making. I'll think of an idea then find out by searching that someone else has already made that quiz and probably better than I could have done, so that gets thrown out as an idea. But who knows maybe tomorrow I'll have an idea that works.

baptistegorce: You “recently” got your three first featured quizzes. What did you felt when you learnt it?

toowise: . To quote a British expression, I was "absolutely gobsmacked" ! Meaning it was a shock when quizmaster contacted me about the quiz series I'd made about the UK. He suggested a compilation of 2 quizzes taking questions from the series. That was awesome but when 3 were featured...."WOW" .

baptistegorce: These three quizzes were all about the United Kingdom. Do you think your country plays an important role in your JetPunk life?

toowise: Yes I do. I was born here and have lived here all my life. The UK is the most diverse country I know. Not just it's people but it's landscapes and everything else. It's like a complete melting pot and I love it ! Also by making UK-centric quizzes I am trying to redress the bias towards US based quizzes.

baptistegorce: What is your own quiz you are the proudest of?

toowise: That's a tough question. I really don't know. I look back at some of my early quizzes and they (to me) are terrible. However they started me on the journey and helped me get better. Nope still no idea on that one ..sorry !

baptistegorce:  Do you have big projects of quizzes in preparation?

toowise: I don't at the moment, work this year has got quite busy so I have less time available. I have however downloaded Inkscape and have been playing around with that a little trying to learn how it works, so who knows, watch this space as they say.

baptistegorce: What is the most important event in your own life of JetPunker?

toowise: I suppose it has to be getting my first featured quizzes, although taking the big step from taking quizzes to making quizzes also stands out for me.

baptistegorce:  If you had to resume your JetPunk adventure in one word, what would it be?

toowise: Educational.

baptistegorce: If you had to choose just three JetPunker for their quizzes, who will it be?

toowise: Besides Quizmaster himself, I would probably go for WolfCam, relessness, and obviously Stewart. Sorry to be going for the well known ones but their quizzes are stunning.

baptistegorce: And for their blogs?

toowise: Obviously your Interview series, I enjoy reading those and getting a little insight into fellow Jetpunkers. Also MrBLOGGER and MG17 (although not always of my interests they are pretty well written blogs).

baptistegorce:  What are your passions in life, except JetPunk?

toowise: Got to be travelling, I enjoy my days at work driving around different places, it feels like I have been on holiday all my life, seeing new places every day. When I retire in a few years time I have plans to travel extensively in the UK, and overseas.

baptistegorce:  You have been on the JetPunk Discord server, but you left it. You explained your choice and feelings in a blog. Could you resume it here for our users who haven’t read this blog yet?

toowise: Of course, I tried the Discord, but being an older person I found the pace too fast for me. I couldn't keep up with the conversation and was losing track of who was asking what. I know I could use headphones and a mic, but that's just not for me. I have nothing against the Discord, it's just not for me. Sorry.

baptistegorce: What do you hope for JetPunk development in the next months?

toowise: . Maybe another minigame along the lines of the US State Puzzle. I really enjoy that and keep trying most days to get my time below 2 minutes (I'm at 2:06 currently). maybe one using the countries of Europe ? Also possibly some more badges ? And what about gaining 1 point towards the levels if you try a previously taken quiz and beat your previous score by more than say 20 seconds ? I do think that Jetpunk has come on in leaps and bounds in the last couple of years though and is, in my opinion anyway, the best quiz site on the web.

baptistegorce: Do you have a message to pass to the whole JetPunk community (or at least to the few users reading these blogs…)?

toowise: Mmmm, let me think.........My message would be this... Don't treat Jetpunk like a social media platform. Don't use it for likes, subscriptions or takes. It's not Facebook or Instagram. Take quizzes to learn, make quizzes to keep your brain active, just enjoy the experience. Don't ask others to pick subjects for you to make quizzes on. If you want to make quizzes, make them about what interests you ! Learn from your research. I know from reading some of the comments that there are some very young (to me at least) users, you have the rest of your life in front of you, learn something new each day, don't worry about what others say or write, trolls can ruin your life if you let them, you'll likely never meet them in real life so don't worry about them. Oh and use Sunscreen !

baptistegorce: It was thelast question of this interview. I hope it wasn't too boring. Thank you very much, toowise!

toowise: Thank you again Baptiste for inviting me. Look forward to reading about myself....seems weird to say that!

It's now the end of this interview! I hope you liked it. Personally, I wanted to interview toowise for a long time, and it was a pleasure to be able to learn a bit about him! Thank you a lot for the time you spent for this interview, toowise.

Just a note: the next interviewee could be chosen with a WITJ, but nothing is sure right now. Keep checking the RUB section!

Thanks again for reading, and have a nice day!