I'm articulate, a little quirky, passionate in soul, sometimes reserved but never shy. I am heavily into spirituality, irony, decadent food, and laughing (with, not at). I am not at all in your face, but often have opinions about current events and can get kinda fired up about them.

My faith is very important to me, but not in a way that makes me into judging others, or that prevents me from cussing if the occasion really calls for it. God and I have a kind of messy relationship sometimes, but we’re both in it for the long haul.

Further random information: My personal goals include living each day to its fullest, painting a giant copy of Hokusai's "The Great Wave" on the wall of my bathroom, and learning to make really good naan (right now I can only make non-naan). I have worn my copy of Washingtonian Magazine’s Cheap Eats edition to rags, and have a little bit of crush on Chairman Kaga. I came by my interest in bluegrass music honestly - not from O Brother Where Art Thou, but from falling in entirely unrequited love with a boy from Tennessee.

Really, really random information: I have learned from unexpected experience that, when you find yourself in a medium-sized room with Michelle Shocked and a few dozen people, and she instructs you to sing "Kum Ba Yah," then you darn well _sing_ Kum Ba Yah, and it _changes your freakin' life_.

By day, I work for a Christian social-justice advocacy nonprofit. I really love it - at our best, we speak truth to power.

By night - ok, evening - I like to relax with friends (as opposed to all those people who, um, prefer to be anxious with their friends). Also enjoy cooking, reading, and sledding downhill yelling like a berserker.

Enthusiasm for changing the world in ridiculously small or large ways. Silliness. Strategic thinking about messaging, with the goal of changing the world, etc. Cooking a medium-sized repertoire of really good food (my pain de campagne has been certified, by official DSM-IV criteria, to be insanely delicious). Wasting time. Not wasting time.

A friend says "your dry wit," which is exactly what I hoped she'd say.

Music: Kris Delmhorst. John Case. Dar Williams. Bessie Smith. Over the Rhine. Michelle Shocked. Any carbon-based life form wielding an acoustic guitar.

Books: I have a lifelong love of science fiction, low and high: Heinlein juvies; John Barnes (Giraut series); Ursula! le! Guin!. I sometimes dip into the nineteenth century (Charlotte, not Emily; Gaskell, not Eliot). A sprinkling of poetry. Also like reading Jasper Fforde; the Washington Post; and (always!) the Onion.

Don't get to the movies all that often, but enjoy it when I do. Also like pre-1950 flicks (Katherine Hepburn over Audrey).

Food? Home-grown tomatoes. Edamame. Homemade dal. Peking duck. Freshly baked bread. Walnut brownies. Tofu skins with fried ginger. Bacon. Hummus. You name it - if I am not allergic to it, I will try it.

Friends. Prayin'. Farmer's market. NPR. Chocolate. Ursula! le! Guin!

Three years ago, I survived lymphoma. This left me with huge enthusiasm for life (yay!) The treatments beat up my spinal cord a little, though. Although I stay fit at the gym, I limp a bit and, on the sidewalk, use a cane to avoid tripping. So, basically, I am just like House, with the lightning-fast wit - only, not a sociopathic, religion-hating drug addict.

You’re a thoughtful, spiritually-oriented troublemaker - an articulate guy who's passionate about God, life, and/or maybe changing the world (or just a little bit of it). Maybe you are a bit quirky, overeducated, geeky, or alternative. Probably you have an odd pocket of expertise which you enjoy talking about - banjo playing, environmental chemical engineering, civil disobedience, being a tree surgeon, physics… message me and tell me all about it!

I've been in town for seven years now, which it turns out is long enough to have made a middling-high number of friends. This is why, despite the impressively high quality of interesting people using this site to look for platonic friends, I'm pretty much here to look for friends I could potentially smooch. Also, generally speaking, the folks I am looking to smooch have some kind of ongoing spiritual practice - meditation, worship, prayer, Quaker meeting, recidivist hanging out at the Catholic Worker, etc. (Not a judging-others thing, just a things-in-common thing).