Hi! I’m Jordan!

Ah, the long-overdue profile update...

I'm a bit of a rambler, so rather than writing a 10 page essay about me, why don’t I introduce myself by presenting the essential me in a list format. Thus, without further ado, I give you...

Ten assorted things that you should know about me:
I consider myself to be a Romantic Socialist.
I am also a hopeful Romantic, in the sense that I find beauty and joy in everything around me, as per the nineteenth-century aesthetic ideal.
I am quite left-wing, and am a member of the NDP.
I am quite concerned about the environment and about social justice.
I consider myself to be a tolerant atheist; that is, I do not believe in any higher power, but I respect the beliefs of others.
I am in love with anthropology in general, and particularly with archaeology.
I am definitely an academic.
I am learning Spanish, and currently have a good beginner to intermediate grasp of the language.
I am a Scout leader.
I love all outdoor adventure, particularly hiking, biking and canoeing.
I love wild, rugged things, like great mountains and secluded forest lakes.
I also love cities, with their beautiful architecture and bustling neighbourhoods.
I also also like just a nice, rolling countryside.
I am really bad at keeping to ten things.
I am by nature a very introverted, solitary person and tend to retreat within myself when faced with criticism. Just a warning.
I am not desperate for a relationship, although it would be nice to have someone to enjoy life with. If it happens, it happens. If not, ah well.
I really enjoy travel and adventure, and have set foot in sixteen countries, on four continents.
I can wander like mad, especially when exploring a new city.
I am a gastrosexual (a guy who loves to cook nice meals) and I try to eat fairly well; people who see my creations are generally impressed.
I am not much into sports (and that's not just a line); I do like to watch baseball occasionally, but I hate things like UFC.
I wish that I could have been at the original Woodstock, and mostly listen to music from that era.
I have probably close to 350 cds and 75 DVDs.
I have more books than both of those combined.
I like neat, artsy sorts of things, and people.
I like dogs and other cute animals, especially my black lab Heidi!
I prefer cute to sexy.
I consider myself a quixotic dreamer, and am looking for the same.
I melt for girls who wear flowers in their hair.
I really love all times of the day, but dusk is probably my favourite.
I enjoy being anywhere where the sky is beautiful, and I find the sky beautiful everywhere I am.

And a few points about who I am looking for:
Someone to explore the city and the country with.
Someone to explore other cities and other countries with.
Someone to have a drink or two with at a quiet little place.
Someone who appreciates the beauty of the setting sun at the end of a day of adventure.
Someone to cook dinner with and for.
Someone who doesn't just say "I have one" in the job category. I want to know what you do, not that you do [i]something[/i]. It is a good talking-point, and I don't write you on pictures alone...
Someone who can finish watching a wonderful movie like Amelie or Forrest Gump and be inspired by the greatness of people and the beauty of love.
Someone who takes the time every day to stop and think about just how beautiful the earth and the sky truly are.
Someone who is as much in love with the world as I am and is always drawn to its quintessence.
Someone who can see past my faults and annoyances and can recognize that kindness and compassion are my deepest desires.
Someone who recognizes my profoundly solitary nature, and can connect with me on that deepest inner level.
Someone who is as lost for words as I am when they ponder this incredible world and this incredible life.

Super perfundo on the early eve of your day.

I am an archaeologist and am working on my Ph.D. at The University of Western Ontario.

I study stone tools from the North Coast of Peru (so, think Moche, but the site that I work on is older). I spent a couple months there doing fieldwork this summer. Now my classes and all that will start, and I am still working on an article, and I have at least one upcoming conference paper, and I have some ideas for other things to do before I go to Peru next (probably next summer), so I'm sure that I will turn into a bit of an academic mess soon...

Other than that, I've not been up to much. I've only been in London since mid-July and am still trying to explore the city. I have been getting back into cycling rather heavily lately. I recently biked from London to Port Stanley and back. If you are interested in a cycling buddy, then give me a shout!

Hmm...being modest, I suppose. I don't really know. I don't consider myself to be all that good at anything, except for undesirable things (like rambling forever. I'm also very good at being slow when doing anything). I guess I'm not bad at recognizing and highlighting my many faults, but I won't bore you with those now.

I'd like to think that they notice that I do my best to be kind, generous and respectful to all people, and perhaps that I try to be cute. But I don't really know. Maybe you could tell me!

I'm not really a fan of picking favourites, because that highlights just a few things when I love so many more. But here goes.

Books: The Lord of the Rings, The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Les Miserables, On The Road, The Catcher in the Rye, Life of Pi, One Hundred Years of Solitude, anything by Kurt Vonnegut, etc.

Music: Generally classic rock (especially 1965-75), and rapidly expanding to include Rock & Roll, blues, early R&B, etc., plus jazz, and the roots of all of that. I'm generally not particularly interested in most post-90s popular music, but I have been liking what I've been hearing on CBC Radio 2...

Some perennial favourites are:Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, The Beatles, The Who, Joni Mitchell, Neil Young, Bob Dylan, The Velvet Underground, John Coltrane, The Smashing Pumpkins, The Barenaked Ladies, Xavier Rudd, Frente!, Bela Flek, Kimya Dawson, etc.

Movies: Waking Life, Baraka, Amelie, Before Sunset, The Motorcycle Diaries, Almost Famous, Dazed and Confused, Across the Universe, Woodstock, The Shawshank Redemption, Contact, Gandhi, Forrest Gump, Saving Private Ryan, Dr. Strangelove, all the Indiana Jones, Donnie Darko, , Pi, Adaptation, A Scanner Darkly, and plenty more.

Food:I am a bit of a foodie and a gastrosexual, and I do really enjoy cooking all sorts of things. I generally just experiment with something and make it for a while if I like it, then move on to something else. I'll eat anything, but I guess some favourites include complex sandwiches, pasta] dishes, interesting (and often Asian-inspired) stir-fries, hearty soups, eclectic salads, and various "ethnic" foods. I generally don't make meat dishes too often, but I really like using fresh veggies in all sorts of interesting ways. I tend to incoporate garlic, onion and sometimes mushrooms into most everything that I make. And then there's green tea, too!

And junk food and crap are always good fall-back options, although I have been quite good at cutting those out the last couple of months...

Other than the basics of human subsistence and culture, I would like to think that I can do without anything.

Okay. A more serious list: 1) Companionship (i.e. friends and family, my dog); 2) Solitude and my mind (contradictory, eh?); 3) My books; 4) My music and movie collections; 5) My computer (internet connection is assumed); 6) a three-way-tie between a towel, all my camping and hiking gear, or my trusty Marshalltown trowel...

Oh, I'm a thinker, a day-dreamer, a philosophizer...
I think about all sorts of things, from what to make for dinner, to how to say something that I want to say when writing my thesis/article, to how awesomely-amazing it would be to bike from here to Alaska, down to Tierra del Fuego, and back up again along the Atlantic (and it would be incredibly awesomely-amazing, but it will never happen. I do also dream of lesser, more-manageable adventures, too!)

I think a lot about people, and who we really are and why we do the things we do and say the things we say. I think about the origins of human society often, and I generally just think about ways to understand the human condition. But I am an anthropologist, so that makes some sense.

I don't like typicality. Sponaneity is much more fun!

Okay, the typical Friday sees me sitting at home, doing nothing much. But we'll see how things turn out once I meet my new grad cohort this fall.

Hmm...I'm not a terribly private person, so feel free to ask me anything!

First and foremost, message me if you want to! But if you need more convincing than that, then how about messaging me if you would like to get to know a quintessential "nice-guy" to be friends, or more, with!

Or if you share my love of adventure and nature, my social and political views, or if you want to hang out and become cycling buddies, or want to chat about archaeology & anthropology, or want to show me some good hiking spots around London, or just want to share our favourite music and movies, then get in touch!