Welcome to the Fading Maelstrom. I will be your host and guide this evening. Please accompany me and mind your step...you never know when the paths will...shift.

I am, in many ways, a more competent version of the title character from Rango. I have collected more than enough skills, ideas, and beliefs to be a god among men, yet have not encountered a sufficient impetus to tip the dominoes. I reside in isolation, preparing for a twist of fate that will propel my actions in the days to come.

I drift from day-to-day, dreaming in swirls of burnt azure. Why must I float on the endless waves, searching for a strip of land? Where is that patch of emerald so sweet 'neath my toes? And why is my head filled with bursting sable flares?

I should be moving from Illinois to the Boston area later this summer, so I updated my location to get a head start. It will be my first time living away from home, and I am very excited about it.

My nature is to be easily distracted from a goal. So I'm juggling where I want to go with how I'm living where I am, and it's awful difficult to catch all the chainsaws.

Honestly, I think that job specialization is boring and has forced people to become one-task drones...thanks Henry Ford! I don't understand why so many people epitomize the archetype of the Uomo Universale and then don't make an attempt to be that person. I'd like to think that I'm easily as skilled and intuitive as a Leibniz, Jefferson, or Goethe. I intend to be able to live up to that claim. You're welcome to accompany me.

I'm very quiet...except when I'm being very loud...and sometimes I actually communicate at a normal level, though this is very rare.

Looking through my music...the list runs high towards musical comedy, movie soundtracks, jazz, latin dance/pop, hard rock, and classical.

I'm rather notorious for listening to an hour-long recording of a thunderstorm over and again while driving in my car.
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I am not a television watcher for the most part, though I do catch some programs at other people's houses. My favorite show is Bizarre Foods, closely followed by Archer. Otherwise, I generally like educational programming, and maybe some Pawn Stars or something as throwaway fun.
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My new favorite movie is The Sting with Robert Redford and Paul Newman. I also enjoy Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and Jeremiah Johnson.

Fantastical takes on other fictional stories intrigue and delight me. For example, see Guy Ritchie's Sherlock Holmes movies, Antoine Fuqua's King Arthur movie, and even Pan's Labyrinth with its spin on old-fashioned folk tales.

I love watching dark thriller/action/fantasy movies such as Constantine and the Underworld series. To me, the imagination and gritty passion underlying the plot makes for some of the best cinematic experiences possible.

Action/comedies(it's interesting how often those genres combine) are almost always entertaining; some of my favorites include Kiss Kiss Bang Bang, Mr. and Mrs. Smith, Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels, The A-Team, War Inc., and Hudson Hawk.

Making a movie kid-friendly does not make it inappropriate for adults...anyone who can't find enjoyment watching a PG movie has no business talking to me. I know the words to almost all the Disney movies. How to Train Your Dragon is one of the best movies of the past decade...same with Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs.
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The Sword of Truth, The Wheel of Time, Anita Blake: Vampire Hunter, Merry Gentry, The Hollows (Rachel Morgan series), The Dresden Files, and the Cal Leandros series by Rob Thurman.

One of my favorite fiction topics is modern interaction with the classical gods. American Gods, of course, is high on the list. I personally recommend the works of James Lovegrove, however.

Jasper Fforde and Christopher Moore are master wordsmiths on a level unparalleled by any in this age, except perhaps Patrick Rothfuss and Matthew Reilly. While writing in entirely different genres/styles, these guys have all managed to put perfection into book form.
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Now that I've got semi-reliable Internet access, I've started to get into reading some fantastic webcomics. Some of my favorites include: Girl Genius, El Goonish Shive, Questionable Content, xkcd, A Girl and her Fed, Scandinavia and the World
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I LOVE bread. If it were feasible health-wise, bread would be all I ever ate. Bread is the best. I have a tendency to lean heavily towards Italian, French, and Southern US cuisines, but savor the opportunity to go try new tastes.

1. Athletic activity of some sort--preferably soccer or volleyball in a casual form, also bowling or kayaking. I don't watch sports, but I love playing them and being physically active.

2. Autumn weather...I'm wary of moving anywhere in the future where I'd lose thunderstorms and wind patterns. Perpetually calm weather is no fun.

3. Variety. Be it good or bad, a sudden change in the pattern of life is how I roll. My life usually doesn't even have a common system...it just jumps from one crazy event to the next.

4. My Piramide del Sol blanket. I bought a really cool woven blanket while I was in Mexico and, since that trip remains the most enjoyable part of my life to date, I keep my treasured keepsake close.

5. I've never had a friend I could say understood me or could even keep up with me, but social interaction makes me happy and keeps me sane.

6. Challenges for my intelligence and creativity...I thrive under pressure and I'm an adrenaline junkie. Basically I want to live in an adventure non-stop.

Recently, I've been wondering whether I have about five different personality disorders and they negate each other enough to not show specific symptoms...hmmm.

How much I'd rather be in Firenze, Roma, Puebla, Barcelona, or Villahermosa.
How much I'd like to experience Amsterdam, London, Dublin, Machu Picchu, and Athens.

The fact that I just hit the five-year date since I went on my Mexico trip and haven't done anything I consider worthwhile since then...

Ideally, I never do the same thing two Fridays in a row, though financial restraints have kept me held back in recent times. When I get bored of something, I have no trouble leaving it behind and I quickly need a new adventure to go upon. Adventuring is what I live for, and Fridays are as good as any other day of the week to fulfill that need.

I truly believe that life is not worth living if you are fat, and I'm doing everything I can to reshape my body image to something I can be proud of...unfortunately, work and school restrain me from doing much, and I'm currently stuck in an environment destructive to most health (and life) plans.

Up until now, I've basically just been taking personality tests and answering questions. Now the algorithm knows so much about me that my match results could actually be accurate, so I'm browsing profiles.

Truth be told, I have no idea what or whom I'm looking for on this site, other than verification that there are sane, self-aware people who aren't like everyone else somewhere in the world...I need some assurance of that fact after my rural Midwest experiences.

...perhaps if you just want to let me know that you read what I wrote. I put lots of effort into it, but little time, so any feedback is basically profit on my scribbled investment.