"I think a lot. About many, many things. I think about thinking." And I like making plans. Or, more precisely, heading in a known direction. It keeps my mind extremely active.

My body, not so much. I'm a desk jockey. I make up for it in part by exercising the way most people brush teeth. For the same reason most people brush teeth--I've never been the sporting type. (My ambitions tend to be more inspired by personal fulfillment than social achievement. Competition seems "weird" to me.)

At the moment?

Studying a handful of things: salsa, improv, and iPhone programming. And cooking. (I reserve the right to drop any one of these at any moment.)

Solving word problems. (That is, essentially, my job.)
Being unconventional. (There are those who try, and then there's me.)
Pull-ups, for some odd reason. (Can't touch my toes, though.)

I read somewhere that what you say only makes up a tiny fraction of communication. Except for me, the words coming out of my mouth are 100% of how I try to get a point across. (I'd take a class, if they taught it...)

Here's a roadmap.

Books:

I can go through a pile of bad flicks in the time it takes to read
one sub-par novel. And I'm all about efficiency. So, despite a freakish literary comprehension, I seldom read for pure pleasure. When I do...
- Coupland has been consistently weird and funny for twenty years. And he writes exceptional dialogue.
- Palahniuk is hit and miss. But his prose is infectiously poetic.
- Hemingway was great with structure and grand themes.
- Rand wrote one decent book, with strong themes (but she over-romanticized her characters).
- Someone convinced me to check out Franzen recently. I think his social commentary distracts from the narrative, but our personal sensibilities are parallel.

Movies:

I like words, ideas, and nuanced complexities.
- anything by the Nolans, the Cohens, or Kaufman
- I Heart Huckabees
- Me and You and Everyone We Know
- Brainstorm
- Pi

Shows:

Mostly "high brow" sit-coms and home renovation shows.
- I actually watched Arrested Development when it was ON. Street cred.
- Peep Show
- The Thick of It
- Archer
- Neon Genesis: Evangelion
- Holmes on Homes
- Income Property

(Podcast are "shows," too, right?)

- Radiolab
- Real Time (this is what you do when you don't have HBO, folks)
- Stop Podcasting Yourself (where half the joke is placing the references)
- Adam Carolla
- The Mike O'Meara Show

Music:

I'm the type who listens to music with his eyes closed wearing obscenely expensive headphones.

Sure, there's nostalgia. It will go unmentioned.

Then there's the alt-rock I stumbled into while developing my ear as a teen.

- Tori Amos
- Radiohead
- Sunny Day Real Estate
- Rage Against the Machine

After that, I settled into hip-hop. My preferences have taken divergent paths:

British formalism (which eventually progressed from trip-hop to ambient):
- UNKLE
- Dieselboy
- Cinematic Orchestra
- Tim Hecker

Abstract lyricism. It doesn't have to be underground. But the words are the music.
- Lupe
- Skyzoo
- Qwel
- MF DOOM
(a lot of local talent as well, actually)

Food:

I attempt to follow a slow carb / paleo diet. But I'm not religious about it.

The two cultures that handle this best are Mexican and Indian. So, when salads get boring, I eat some fusion of the cuisine from those cultures.

By request, I will elaborate, for the curious.

1) A goal.
2) A plan.
3) A contingency.
4) A willingness to fail.
5) An awareness of when I'm wrong.
6) The openmindedness to adapt.

...what it means to be attracted to "funny." Because--with the exception of class clowns and stand-ups--most of us really aren't. But sometimes, one sees women giggling anyway?

I also spend inordinate amounts of time trying to cogently articulate feelings and/or states of mind in ways that rhyme.

...doing the same stuff I do every other night, except without the curfew.

I reckon I devote as much thought to home renovation as the average profile on OKC does to travel. (Priorities, I guess.)

You're thoughtful. I'm quite fond of (intoxicated, really) by people who express themselves in terms of ideas, theories, and big pictures.

Bonus points if you work in math, science, or books: someone who finds research satisfying.