I love hiking and backpacking but believe that the city has just as much opportunity for adventure and self discovery. I love music. I enjoy going to shows, but I don’t get out to see as many as I used to. I prefer reading to seeing plays. I enjoy cult films and B-movies. My latest passion is kayaking. More specifically, white water kayaking but I find being on the water in any capacity to be relaxing. I also think the ability to laugh at almost any circumstance is key. I tend to be pretty introverted, but I open up pretty quickly around the right people. Also, you can find me climbing rocks in Alexandria a few nights a week.

I actually just made it back from a pretty amazing trip to Thailand. I'd wanted to go there since I got the travel bug a few years ago, and it was well worth it. I got to meet a lot of new and interesting people and picked up my Advanced Open Water Diver Certification among other things. Outside of totally butchering the language it was great (But seriously, who knew that "ped" can mean either spicy or duck in thai). I'm trying to put more focus on living and less focus on work. I think there is a better balance to be found and I'm getting closer to it, but it's a process to be sure.

I've been brewing beer for about a year now. It's a lot more like baking than I thought it would be, but it has been very rewarding. Pale ales and stouts have made up the bulk of what I've done so far, but I think a nice belgian triple is in the near future.

I recently got a new dslr camera. I admit, I know next to nothing about photography, but I'm having a blast learning.

Well, I'm a good listener, seeing as how I spend most of my days engaged in it (I'm an audio engineer by trade). I'm also a pretty good cook. I baked my first vegan almond cake over the holidays (I'm not vegan, but I have friends who are), and I recently had a blast making takoyaki.

What was the first thing you noticed?

Books: I'm a fan of any Chuck Palahniuk. Earth Abides, Oil!, any Cormac McCarthy, William Gibson, Philip K. Dick Through the Windshield, all Bukowski, and Hunter S. Thompson. There are months when I can't read enough, and months when the only books I pick up are technical manuals and "How-to" type lit. Instructables anyone?

Movies: I end up seeing a lot of movies, most of them bad. There Will Be Blood is one of my favorites. I enjoy a lot of the 70’s (and earlier) cult stuff. I enjoy seeing the visions people were trying to bring to the screen. There were a lot of big ideas with limited funds. Things like El Topo. Also, The Warriors, Born into This, and American Splendor.

Music: Galactic, Kyuss, QOTSA, William Elliot Whitmore, John Lee Hooker, Muddy Waters, Howlin Wolf, Praxis, Buckethead, Primus, Les Claypool, Stanton Moore, Miles Davis, Charlie Hunter, MMW, Clutch, The Bakerton Group, Pelican, Red Sparowes, Unknown Hinson. Toots and the Maytals. I'm pretty sure this list goes on forever.

Food: I'll try almost anything.

I have a lot of creature comforts, but I'd be just as happy living in a mud hut with the natives.

The next trip I'd like to take or the next hobby it would be fun to pick-up. I do spend a fair amount of time wondering if I’m living in the right part of the country. I’ve always loved the idea of the Pacific Northwest, but I haven’t spent much time there.

Actually, since the beginning of October, I actually have weekends off (for the first time in the (almost) 4 years I’ve lived here in DC. That being said, I haven’t had enough Friday nights off to have a typical one just yet. I’m open to suggestions.

What would you like to know?

For much longer than I'd like to admit, I would say, "For all intensive purposes,” instead of, “For all intents and purposes.”

You’re bored of going out to meat-market bars to try to make some sort of connection.
You're looking for a partner in crime.
You are tired of people snickering when you tell someone you enjoy (place uncommon hobby/interest here: knitting, shamanism, making bathtub gin).
You've read this profile and would like to say Hi.