I'm a 26 year old guy, graduated with BA in Asian Studies (minors in psychology, sociology, Japanese), hoping to go back to grad school for cognitive science. Grew up and lived most of my life in Charlotte, NC - a sprawling suburban mediocrity of a city that's finally starting to grow up instead of out. I studied abroad in Tokyo for the last two semesters of my degree which felt more like a year-long vacation, though I still managed to come away having been productive and with a new-found sense of appreciation for personal development and self discovery.

I'm a really quiet person (introverted not shy), but can also quickly dominate a conversation when someone treads near more cerebral territory of my liking. While I'm totally comfortable remaining silent in the background as others carry on about their material lives, a hint of abstraction is an invitation for me to turn the tables. That being said, I have very few, very close friends who are like an extension of my family and fill my life with meaning.

Though I'm currently unsure of where to take my life next, saying I'm open to new experiences would be an understatement: almost anything once and everything in moderation. I'm tolerant of all cultures and beliefs so long as the values associated with them are benign to the rest of us and don't include forcing them on others.

The INTP personality type fits me to a T.

After graduating and being thoroughly unsurprised with the lack of job prospects for an Asian Studies major, I packed my bags and flew to South Korea, where I'm now teaching English in an elementary school. I enjoy being immersed in a new culture to the point that I'm forced to uncover traits about myself I never knew I had, or even wish I didn't, adapt them to the new environment...and then get the hell out of there. I came to Pusan in February '09 knowing I'd have a simple lifestyle that lets me save a decent amount of money with relatively little responsibility and allows me to continue my dream of acquiring what knowledge I choose appropriate for my personal development. I'm happy here and glad I made the decision to come, but Korea isn't for me. Next February, I'm back home and will start anew.

I play disc golf, train in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu, have a knack for quickly catching onto new languages and losing interest in them even quicker, play pool well enough to have a couple hot games per session, will wipe the floor with you in Call of Duty, and I make a mean mushroom soup.

I love talking people through their problems and find I learn as much about myself in the process of giving advice as I do about those seeking it. So, naturally I'd be a good listener to any good offering advice to others. Realizing this brought me to consider counseling. Perhaps it's in my future, perhaps not.

...are hardly the things that define who I am. Really, I can't say I know what people notice about me. I'm quiet at first, but you'll see I'm an open book once we get to know each other. I don't eat meat, but I also don't care if you do (we'd just have more fun eating together if you were vegetarian as well). And, my kind of humor is so subtle that you'll have to double-check this section's topic. I'm also very sarcastic, though you'd never realize that from online profiles of myself which I tend to take too seriously.

Over at Reddit, I just answered an interesting question on movies so I'll repost my answer here: If you had to choose 5 movies to watch for the rest of your life, what would they be?

-Groundhog Day- Every time I watch this, I get something new out of it, not because it's such an incredibly deep movie, but because I've changed since the last time viewing it. All of my top movies have the ability to adapt to my evolving perspective and this one fits that criterion better than all others.
-The Man from Earth- Probably my favorite sci-fi film. Maybe some get bored after an hour of pure dialogue but for me its pure braingasm.
-American Beauty- This is another one of those movies that I just have to watch again if I come across it on TV, or even see it mentioned in something I'm reading. It's motivational, inspiring, and everything out of Lester's mouth is instantly quotable.
-Shawshank Redemption- It's really hard for me to answer the "What's your favorite movie?" question (I much prefer lists like these), but if I absolutely have no other choice, this is it.
-Heat- My personal all-time favorite action movie. I couldn't go the rest of my life without some hard-core bank-robbing guns-blazing perfect-actors-with-perfect-acting action.

Of course there's others I love, including an extensive list of documentaries, but I don't want to devote too much space for that here. I'd rather just talk about movies with others later if we get around to it.

Being a huge sci-fi fan, Dune easily tops my list of favorite books. I'm an informavore and really into non-fiction as well. I've soaked up just about everything these dudes have ever said:

Carl Sagan
Ray Kurzweil
Aubrey De Grey
Richard Feynman
Richard Dawkins
Neil DeGrasse Tyson
Stephen Hawking
Daniel Dennett
Sam Harris

Music has always been a phase-shift for me. I can't put my finger on a particular favorite artist, but I could go for a month listening solely to a new group I've just found and follow up with another month of nostalgic reminiscence. Still, my collection steadily grows.

Bananas. Peanut butter. Mashed together, even better. Between some bread, better than head. OK, maybe not quite, but damn do I love me some PB&B. I'll try any and all whole foods, but have particular liking for mushrooms, broccoli, cauliflower, broccoflower, spinach, avocado, any kind of berry, walnuts, roasted pumpkin seeds, asparagus, tomatoes, and cucumbers to name a few. Adding peanut butter to any of these will increase their perceived sensory pleasure by a factor of 42.

I'll skip the modern day necessities here, like food and water, shelter, the Internet, etc. and get to the more personal stuff...

-Writing- When I actually get around to it, every time, I realize how much I've missed it.
-Reading- Even if I'm not doing it as often as I'd like, I always have an unfinished book waiting for me when I've got the time.
-Gaming- I'm just being practical here. I grew up playing games, I'll grow old playing games. Simulation just makes reality that much more awesome.
-Introspection/Contemplation/Meditation- I think a lot and I think about thinking almost as much. I have a need to internalize captivating concepts and alluring theories of the universe in which we exist. They change me, help me grow, alter my perspective of reality. I need this to feel alive.
-Travel- I haven't done this enough, but also never could if I tried.
-Exercise- Yeah, this probably belongs in the "necessity" category, but the way I go about exercise is always changing. I have as much fun thinking of different ways to exercise as actually doing it.

-The future, Transhumanism, the Singularity, the exponential growth of information technology
-Cool physics shit
-Disc golf
-Nature
-Astronomy
-Jiu-jitsu- It's like physical chess. Good for the body and mind.
-Cosmological conundrums
-Food
-Existential angst. We've all got it. I hope. At least that's what I tell myself.
-How to go about discovering a passion that, when I engage myself in pursuing it, contributes value to the lives of those around me.

If I'm not training Brazilian Jiu-jitsu which I do roughly four times a week, I'm most likely with a friend, playing some games, and getting high if I can help it.

I love food. A lot. Now, by no means am I fat. If anything, I'm a little underweight for my height. I do exercise regularly and, as I mentioned above, train in Brazilian Jiu-jitsu to keep fit. I do all my own cooking and honestly I'm probably much healthier than most people, but some days having a "good time" means staying home and never feeling hungry at all. I only eat whole foods though and I'm vegetarian. It's totally fine if you're not - I won't argue lifestyle choices here - but if you are, you're instantly much more attractive to me.

...you think my profile is refreshingly straight-forward, if you're a nerdy gal that finds great pleasure in relaxing but mentally stimulating activities like watching documentaries all weekend, or even cheesy shit like star/moon-gazing, but you still love (and need) to get out and be immersed in nature as much as you enjoy losing yourself in the digital world.