I am musical, eccentric, and joyous.
My Self-Summary
I'm unusual. I mean, statistically speaking, I'm no kind of
minority, being a
Christian white male, but I've found
that I tend to stick out without trying. People see me and they
remember me, even before they know my name. *shrug* For whatever
reason, I'm an
anomaly that people notice. Nice enough
for interpersonal situations, but it's pretty much doomed my early
aspirations of a life of crime. "Yeah, it's the guy on the left.
No, you don't need to have them turn or anything, that's the guy
who stole my jewelry!" *sigh* Well, so much for such dreams and
aspirations.
As for remaining dreams and aspirations, I'm currently in a period
of relative drift. I just got my Masters of software Engineering
from
CMU. It was not
so much for the passion of learning (although I do enjoy that) or
for the increased social contact (I enjoy that too), but because it
was an acceptable thing to do at this stage of my life and I figure
it can't hurt (other than my pocketbook... I'd forgotten about
college debt). It was hard work making it through the program for
all that I'm the kind to coast when I can get away with it. *wry
grin* Truth be told, I coasted more than I ought to have. Looking
back, I wish I'd applied myself more, but what can one do? The past
is the past. All you can do is learn from it for the future.
Currently, I'm doing programming for a government contractor (one
of the benign ones... no missile guidance code for me) as my
vocation and enjoying life as my avocation.
I'm a fairly
musical person. I've never gotten the
hang of most instruments, but I've been told I have an excellent
voice and I know that I love
singing, whether it's church,
karaoke, or just singing
for the joy of singing. Fair warning, I have shown tendencies in
the past to serenade without worrying at all about the people
around me. Consider yourself fairly warned. While it's not a
requirement that the girls I hang out with have good taste in
music, or are good
musicians themselves, it would be a nice thing.
Hmmm... what else to say. I'm a loyal if sometimes absentminded
friend. I have a slight problem with overanalyzing things and not
noticing what's right in front of my eyes, but I'm working on that.
I'm always open to new experiences, although there are occasions
when I will be the voice of reason. :-p There will also be times
when I'm that little voice that tells you to go ahead and climb
that wall... after all, why would they build a wall if they didn't
want it climbed? I'm... me, unabashedly, and that's quite a trip
sometimes.
Anyhow, feel free to send messages. I don't bite. Much. Unless
asked. Etcetera.
What I’m doing with my life
I am working in New Jersey, Camden to be precise. I've accepted a
position with L-3 Communications Systems East. It's a computer
programming job, and interesting enough, at least for now. The
company has a good reputation for retention. We'll see how it
goes.
Other than that... I've held multiple jobs, acquired advanced
degrees, and I still haven't quite found my place in life. I don't
know where to look next, honestly. I'm kind of considering pursuing
a side career in entertainment. I already do community
theater and choir work and
karaoke. Maybe... it sounds silly, but I can see myself as a lounge
singer, blasting out the Elvis and Sinatra for people. Being
intimately close to them in song, if but for a night. Problem is, I
have no idea how to even start in such a career. So, for now, I'm
keeping my repertoire polished and watching and waiting for an
opportunity. I've found that my life tends to have these random
opportunities in it when I need them, so one is bound to show
up.
As for extra-curricular activities, I'm getting back into
acting. I've done Taming of
the Shrew and The Pajama Game for two different companies here in
New Jersey. I've taken a few dance classes at the local community
college including
belly dancing, and I'm start to
attend
swing
dance events again (I was big into it in college but ran out of
spare time). I'm doing
Capoeira at a school in Philadelphia,
recently went through Batizado and got my green belt. ^_^ Oh, and I
sing in the church choir and play
D&D on Sundays. It occupies most
of my afternoons, but there's still plenty of space and the
schedule is flexible for the most part.
I’m really good at
I'm a generally intelligent person, doing well at picking up things
both intuitively and by prolonged study. I'm not only fluent in
English, but I actively work to maintain my skill in language,
learning new words and doing my best to continue to be a good
communicator. I've got an excellent natural talent in singing and
I'm a decent actor.
I'm told that I'm a good listener, someone to talk to when you want
someone to just listen to you, to be interested in what you're
saying, but to not judge you or question you beyond what you give.
I'm a loyal friend, although I'm occasionally the kind who'll drift
in and out of lives because it doesn't bother me to not communicate
for long amounts of time.
As noted two questions above, I do have a fair degree of vocal
talent, albeit partly untrained. I sing because I enjoy it, whether
it's in church, at karaoke, or just walking down the street.
Lately, I've been trying to expand my range, both in terms of low
and high notes and in kinds of music. Lastly, as long as I'm given
a set of steps, I'm not half bad at dancing. Just don't ask me to
improvise on the fly or else things get really ugly...
The first things people usually notice about me
Good question... I've had people comment on my hair, my voice, my
eyes... and, oddly enough, a few times my eyebrows. *shrug*
Apparently they're very expressive? I'm still figuring out how to
react to a girl saying I have sexy eyebrows beyond saying
"thanks."
Like I said before, my general presence tends to be something which
people see and remember.
My favorite books, movies, music, and food
My favorites shift according to what my tastes of the day are, but
the following are examples:
(A)
Kencyrath
saga, Chronicles of Harry Dresden, The Mouse and His Child, Taking
Flight, The Conrad Stargard series, most anything by Tamora Pierce,
The Coldfire Trilogy
(B) The Princess Bride,
Love Actually, Dark City, Who is
Cletis Tout?, Chobits, Neon Genesis Evangelion, Equilibrium
(C) Pretty much anything but lately Gaelic Storm, Ivor Biggun,
Weird Al, Big and Rich, MC-Plus+
(D) Chili, rice casserole, cheese puffs, KBAC, pizza rolls. I'm
actually not horribly discriminating when it comes to food... I
find a lot of things very delicious and I take full advantage of my
family's high metabolism.
The six things I could never do without
I had the bright idea and sudden inspiration to write this in the
form of doggerel. It's a shame that OkCupid mangles the next to
remove line breaks... My attempts to manually insert them have more
or less failed.
I need my friends and I need my kin / I need the glow of faith
within / I need my freedom and I need my song / And DSL helps me to
get along.
I'm a simple man who needs little / Not concerned with
jot and tittle / I need
my freedom and I need my space / I'm a unique member of the common
race.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
I actually spend a lot of time contemplating nothing. I studied
meditation at one point and the idea of having no thought in your
head for a time seems extremely peaceful. As it is, I can only
really reduce it to the normal background hum and whatever music
happens to be looping through my head at the time.
When I do let my mind ramble, I'm usually running through potential
conversations, what to do if something entirely bizarre happens,
and generally planning possible ways that my day might go. I like
to think of my mind as contemplating the quantum state of the world
which will only be collapsed upon observing it.
On a typical Friday night I am
Every other Friday, I go down to the Greenville Inn in Marlton for
some very well-managed
karaoke (the guy has an amazing
selection and is scrupulously fair in maintaining the song
rotation) and excellent wings. The other Friday night and early
Friday afternoon, I call Bingo at Queen of Heaven in Cherry Hill.
^_^ What can I say? I love performing onstage to a receptive
audience.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit here
While I'm usually not altogether concerned about my appearance
other than being hygenic and reasonably presentable, I'm very vain
about my hair. I'm not worried about going grey (personally, I
think it would make me look distinguished) but the idea of receding
hairlines and going bald scares me half to death. I know it's
irrational and yet the thought of hair-loss greatly disturbs me.
You should message me if
You're interested in fascinating if somewhat random conversations.
If you need someone to talk to. If you're looking for someone and
something completely different. Message me and I promise I'll write
back. You never know where you'll find a connection.