Ha... I've been described as eternally laid back by several co-workers. I'm starting to think they might be right. My mantra in relationships, whether they're beginning, progressing, or ending is "I hope it works out for the best, and that the best is something we can all enjoy." I'm not sure the attitude has always served me well, but I'm enough of an idealist to stick with it anyway :-p

I'm not in as good of shape as I used to be- I studied tae kwon do and kung fu in middle school and high school. Now I'm more of a tai chi and regular long walks kind of fit.

Job #1: I work as a clerk at one of the local libraries, mostly with the art and media collections. It's entirely possible for me to go an entire shift just shelving and sorting DVDs and VHS without laying my hands on books. I'm about one step below librarian, but making that step involves a graduate degree.

Job #2: I work doing graphic design for the WSU student newspaper. I also design puzzles and do editorial cartoons. Right now, the newspaper is serializing a graphic novel I made over the summer. I think I've quit this job twice in about three years.

Job #3: I do volunteer work with a local non-profit art center based in the Delano district. I'm a project manager, but my project isn't going to be officially unveiled until late Feb 2009. Mysterious, yes?
Update: The project, a magazine titled BLANK, launched smoothly. I've since handed over the reigns to focus on more personal projects, but it looks like the zine is chugging along. Only 1k distribution, but not bad for starting from scratch on a shoestring budget.

School: I'm attending WSU as a part-time student, workings towards a field major with focuses in english (creative writing), studio arts (drawing), and communications (print media). For most intents and purposes, I'm like a graduate student that hasn't graduated yet. Both my classes in Spring 2009 were independent studies. I'm basically majoring in small press publishing.

I'm a low-grade professional cartoonist- I'm competent as an illustrator, but far from mind-blowing. The thing that works for me is that I'm fast. I've won more than a handful of awards here and there. I've also had my writing published in national anthologies. I also design systems for roleplaying games and try to host game nights once or twice a week- my first release only sold less than 100 copies, but a handful of them were in Europe. I count that as a win.

In conversation, I'm good at finding the value in whatever someone says and drawing insight from it. I can usually offer equally strong counter-arguments but find it more interesting to focus on the original argument.

I'm not entirely sure. You'll have to let me know. All I really know is that whatever it is, I seem to stand out in a crowd. I hope it's a good thing.

Hmm. I try to maintain a policy of not having favorites- everything in moderation, you know?

I don't read much fiction nowadays. Robert Jordan's Wheel of Time series burned me out on it back in middle school. I have a particular fondness for non-fiction that explores the human condition. One of my most life changing moments was from reading Richard Dawkin's "The Self Gene". I don't necessarily agree with Dawkins' stances on religion, but his explanation of the evolutionary process left a huge impression on my mind. In many ways, evolution forms the backbone of how I view the world.

Carnegie's "How to Win Friends and Influence People" is pretty cool, albeit not too mind blowing any more. For a long time, an audio book version of Lao Tzu's "Tao Te Ching" was constantly on my ipod, shuffled with Sun Tzu's "The Art of War". I read Machiavelli's "The Prince" at a fairly young age. For other media, and food, I have quirky tastes. I can usually find something to enjoy about most things.

Hmm. Aside from the necessities of life, these are the things I use on a daily basis: my laptop, my tablet, my cell phone, my ipod, printing supplies, and an internet connection. The printing supplies are humorous... I ran out of 8.5" by 11" paper the other day, so I pulled out a ream of 11" by 17" and cut it in half using a paper trimmer designed to trim books. I'm an office supply nerd.

Things that don't make sense without a lot more exposition than I can provide here, and things that make me sound pretentious when I try to explain them. My mind is constantly making obscure connections and then trying to derive useful philosophies and theories from them. To put things in perspective, when I was 13, I spent my summer contemplating the nature of non-existence and how it defined existence.

When I latch onto an idea, I usually become deeply engrossed with it until I've derived an insight that I feel will be useful. I have a habit of spending solid weeks or months rolling around with it. I think very slowly.

Probably working on some project or another, unless I'm lucky enough to be spending the evening with a friend. I work Saturday morning, so a wild Friday night still usually ends around midnight or 1 am.

I'm subject #486 in German study of a rare neurological disorder. Their best guess is that my brain chemistry is perpetually stuck in a pre-migraine state. The end result is a persistent field of visual distortions that usually looks like a thin layer of static over everything. I try to not let it drive me crazy.

I spent a couple of years recovering from PTSD. The funny thing about it, in retrospect, is that when your ability to deal with stress is completely negated- the only way to survive is to learn how to not let anything stress you out.

Well, I won't twist your arm over it, but odds are I'd enjoy hearing from you. At the very least, I make for a fairly good listener and have more than a few of my own stories.