I'm a genuine, smart, motivated, passionate, and fun person working at getting what I want out of life and enjoying the craziness of packing it all in. How can people ever be bored or have "nothing to do?" Explore! Participate! A typical week for me could involve meeting up with a friend I hadn't seen in a while, volunteering, having dinner with a friend, seeing a show / concert, cooking for a birthday potluck, joining group brunch... bring it all on.

I bike a fair amount and have a soft place in my heart for fellow pants-rollers.

I'm currently a graphic designer, a path I've enjoyed but feel totally done pursuing... and I've been embracing the idea of upending my career in favor of solving issues related to the environment. Going back to school may be in my near future.

A good bit of my time goes towards fixing up would-be-landfilled bicycles for reuse / int'l aid at Working Bikes. Helping people and contributing towards the bigger picture are important to me, and volunteering there has been one of the most fulfilling parts of my life in Chicago. (Awww.) Ask me about your loose bottom bracket.

Being Mr. FixIt, cooking, researching stuff, finding new interests, procrastinating / being 15 minutes behind the rest of the world (working on it), massage, any number of technical and geeky things, kerning, overthinking (often an issue), getting distracted, self-reflection, forgetfulness ... oh, forgetfulness..., yelling at cabs and large vehicles, problem solving, overusing semicolons and parentheses, conversation / listening.

his friend jennr8r vouches for this. except the massage part.

Editors

• jennr8r

I'm short with great eyebrows. And my voice is a surprise; I get random comments that I should do radio / voiceover work. Ha!

Long on favorites but short on memory. Bah.

MUSIC — Music has always been a huge part of my life. I'd be lost without: Radiohead!, Aphex Twin, The Beatles, Charles Mingus, Deerhoof, DJ Shadow, Explosions in the Sky, The Fall, Flaming Lips, Massive Attack, Modest Mouse, Of Montreal, PJ Harvey, Portishead, Sigur Ros, Sonic Youth, Spoon, Tortoise, The Velvet Underground, Wilco, Wire, and muuuch in between.

BOOKS — "The World Without Us" by Alan Weisman, "1984" by Orwell, "Generation X" by Douglas Coupland, "No Logo" by Naomi Klein, "In Defense of Food" by Michael Pollan ("Omnivore's Dilemma" for sissies), "Brothers Karamazov" by Dostoyevsky.

MEDIA — I spend way too much time reading stuffy crap I can only hope to remember someday! See: TalkingPointsMemo, Chicagoist, Paul Krugman's blog, WorldChanging, TechCrunch, TED talks, NPR, This American Life.

MOVIES — Dr. Strangelove (the critic's pick), Pi (the indy pick), Batman Begins (the action-plus-pick), Annie Hall (the classic pick), Blue Velvet (the "odd" Lynch pick), and a whole bunch of documentaries (the brainy pick).

FOOD — I'm a guilty meat-eater open to almost anything. Especially if it's spicy ethnic food. Healthy, good. Processed, bad.

This list would not be complete without mentioning Arrested Development. There.

Why I'm grateful, where I'm heading, how I'm getting there.

Changing around my apartment.

Environmental collapse — the "plastic ocean" terrifies me. I do my best to be optimistic and am helping to change things, but wonder if us humans are already completely F'd up the A. Yikes.

That irony and sarcasm, something I'm generally good at, doesn't really serve me well.

Low-key with variety: Meeting good friends out for something delicious somewhere new. Drinking a particularly yummy beer or two. Heading to a concert / show / movie / whatever random is going on. Or blocking out the world for some quality down time.

Eh, open book and all that... I'm not afraid to eat questionable food well beyond it's expiration date? Heh. Ask away.

... if you consider yourself (pick several-ish): authentic, responsible, self-aware, curious, present, happy, hungry, interested, down-to-earth, giving, creative, open-minded, sincere, passionate, honest.
... or if you can just totally crack me up.

I'm on the lookout for casual, good-natured troublemakers in Chicago, whatever the capacity. Say hi.