"Free to Be You and Me" shaped my core values. In kindergarten, I refused to keep my crayon markings within the lines. When my elementary school teacher suggested that we draw a boat or a house or a dog, my peers chose one of the three; I drew an intergalactic spaceship with a jacuzzi in the Captain's quarters. Needless to say, I spent a lot of time in the principal's office. I found solace and wisdom in Calvin & Hobbes (the boy and the tiger, not the anti-Semitic theologian and the social contractor). Alas, not much has changed. I've published scientific papers, founded nonprofits, calmed cancer patients, starred in TV and radio spots, performed with top-tier orchestras and jazz ensembles, taught inner-city public school, sought inspiration in Kafka, Sartre and Tolstoy, and fashioned twisty balloons into giraffes while dressed as a purple dinosaur. I can make you laugh aloud, when you least expect to. I welcome constructive criticism and am masculine enough to appreciate a clever Haiku. I care about people and excellence and loyalty -- sometimes too much. I am humbled by the bravery of blind commuters navigating the NYC subways. Though still a work in progress, I hope I'm headed in the right direction. Wanna come with?

I am currently on career #186. This time it's "Clinical Research Coordinator." I oversee trials of investigational new drugs to treat GI diseases.

I consider The Muppets, The Simpsons, Wallace & Gromit, Pixar Films, and Fantastic Mr. Fox to be High Art. I'm blown away by Ella Fitzgerald, Brahms, Beethoven, Bird, Miles, Dizzy, Cinema Paradiso, This is Spinal Tap, The Usual Suspects, Do the Right Thing, The Graduate, Hitchcock, Kubrick, Tarantino, Scorcese, The Coen Bros, Cole Porter's lyrics, Alvin Ailey, Savion Glover, and Bill Moyers. Other fascinations include kites, maps, science toys, landmark U.S. Supreme Court opinions, Olympic figure skating, modern furniture design, and the serene beauty of suspension bridges. In literature, Mann's "Der Zauberberg" and Tolstoy's "Anna Karenina" vie for my attention with Stoppard's "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead." I confess that "A Tale of Two Cities" stirs me; poor Dickens, like Tchaikovsky, is underrated. My food guidelines are pretty simple: I would rather eat gold than caviar (same price but better taste). If dinner is still alive when the waiter brings it, count me out. Otherwise, I'm flexible.

Warm memories of my late mother
Mahler's symphonies
The Glass Flowers at Harvard's Museum of Natural History
The ACLU
Ella Fitzgerald's songbooks
You?

What drives a healthy romance is sharing with one's partner the intimacy of private communication, even in public spaces...like the unspoken bonds among musicians in a string quartet or a jazz combo. On the other hand, nothing beats snuggling in bed on a lazy Sunday morning, roasting marshmallows by burning the Sunday NY Times crossword puzzle.

Immature, and frequently unsuccessful, love affairs are often driven by a utopian desire to "meld" into one entity; I've made this mistake many times. The most successful couples I know strive for mutual respect and admiration rather than uniformity. It's easy to fall in love with falling in love. Much easier than falling in love with another person. Sigh.

You are intellectual, strong-willed, creative, passionate and sensual. You enjoy a good pillow fight, appreciate the performing arts, and will sing old Billy Joel songs with me in the car. You realize that not a single verse in Alanis M's song "Ironic" is actually an example of irony. Accordion is not your favorite instrument.