About Kai MacTane
Good evening, and welcome to my site. I’m a San Francisco-based web developer, specializing in LAMP development and AJAX techniques. I’m available for contract and permanent positions in the Bay Area, and preferably within San Francisco itself.
But all work and no play makes Kagan a dull boy. When I’m not eyeballs-deep in code, I have a few hobbies to keep me busy.
Fire-Dancing
For the past 4½ years, I’ve been involved in fire-dancing. My performance troupe, Mythic Fire, has been running public practice sessions in SoMa for that entire time, and we’re still going strong. In many ways, dancing with fire and teaching others how to do it forms the non-technological side of my lifelong fascination with fire — it’s the same sense of fire as a symbol of humanity, but with a more artistic twist.
My most recent performance gigs were a couple of fundraisers to benefit the victims of hurricane Katrina. Being able to “share the fire” for a good cause is one of my favorite reasons to perform.
DJing and Goth Clubs
I’ve also been a lover of music for as long as I can remember, and have been fascinated with the gothic aesthetic and gothic literature since my exposure to Edgar Allan Poe at an early age. I’ve combined these two interests by becoming a DJ, primarily of gothic music. I don’t keep myself restricted to the one genre; if the venue will permit it, I can easily wander all the way from goth-rock to world fusion and then back to alt-rock in a single set. But the focal point and core of my musical explorations remains gothic.
Even if I’m not spinning tunes, I still enjoy going out to goth clubs to dance, drink, and socialize. You can occasionally find me at Death Guild on Monday nights, though my appearances there vary with mood and schedule.
Tolkienian Linguistics
I didn’t actually read The Lord of the Rings until a couple of years before Peter Jackson’s movies came out. When I did, though, I was quite enchanted with them, and spent some time studying the languages and orthographic systems Tolkien had created. Though I’ve since moved on to other interests, I can still turn out the occasional phrase in Quenya, one of Tolkien’s “Elvish” languages. And, given a calligraphy pen, I can still turn out some tengwar – oddly, in better handwriting than my usual English. (Keyboards have spoiled what little handwriting I ever had.)
Biography and FAQ
If you’d like to know more about my life history, you’ll probably be interested in my biography. If you’ve got some specific questions about hiring me, about this site’s design, or other professional questions, my FAQ page probably has the answers you need.