The first time I went white water rafting was the summer after my senior year of high school. We were to go rafting on the Colorado river.

Since it was early summer and the water was pretty cold due to snow melt, we were all required to wear wet suits. The bored looking employee gave me a size XL suit and I walked over to a big tent where all of the guys were to changing.

I started to have trouble putting the suit on, but I wasn't alarmed, initially. After all, I am not a small guy, and stretching rubber over every inch of my frame couldn't be very easy, right? However, as I looked around it seemed that everyone was making significantly more progress in getting their suits on than I was. Plus, as it turns out, the outside of wet suits are kind of rough, and I was having to pull so hard on the wet suit that my fingers began to bleed just above my fingernails.

At this point, I remarked that something must not be right about my suit. But another guy checked the tag on my wet suit and confirmed that it was in fact an XL, which was the right size for me. Then someone else told me just to suck it up, that it wasn't supposed to be easy.

"Fine," I thought, "if these guys can do it, so can I! I'll show them just how easy this can be!"

A few sweaty minutes later, I laboriously finished zipping up the wet suit. I turned to my friends and said, "So, do you still think this wet suit is the right size?"

The bottom of the suit was hitting me just below my knees, and the sleeves couldn't reach the middle of my forearms. My fingers were all bleeding, every seam was straining, and I looked like a very annoyed wrestler in a onesie.

At this point, we all agreed that something was amiss. I managed to extract myself from the suit and took it back to the front desk. I explained that I was really sorry, but the suit just didn't fit, even though it was an XL.

The lady took the suit and examined it, then her eyes got really big.

"This is a child's XL!" she exclaimed.

And that is the story of how I fit myself in a child size wet suit. Just another day in the life.

I am easygoing, contemplative, and funny

I am in school finishing up a non-accredited (woo-hoo!) social work degree. Crazy situations don't stress me out (remember the wet suit?) so I like working with delinquents and mentally disabled folks.

I collect vinyls and Magic cards. I go to funk concerts and dance like a (insert zoo animal here) with (insert unusual medical condition here). I do so while sober.

I have a 3 year old nephew whom I adore. When I visit we like to rumble, which usually involves me body slamming him onto furniture while he tries to pull my beard out in chunks. Then we settle down and read about Walter the Farting Dog.

It's a good life!

After years of using store-bought seasoning packets as a crutch, I finally figured out how to make perfect chili. Take that, Texas.

I have an encyclopedic knowledge of a bunch of crap that doesn't matter.

Also, I am pretty good at talking. And listening. So, conversation then. I am good at conversation. Not brevity though, apparently.

I have a very deep voice. People have *felt* my voice dozens of feet away, in other rooms. I probably haven't used this power for mischief as much as I should have.

Authors: R.A. Salvatore, C.S. Lewis, Harry Turtledove, Etgar Keret, George Orwell, Donald Miller

Movies: Wristcutters: A Love Story, Dummy, Good Will Hunting, Thank You for Smoking, Conversations with Other Women, We Were Soldiers, Se7en, Lord of the Rings. Overall I enjoy quirky indie comedies and war movies. If the characters are all kooky or there are people heroically dying to save other people, I am in my happy place.

Music: The White Stripes, The Black Keys, Cold War Kids, JJ Grey and Mofro, Harvey Danger, Franz Ferdinand, Arctic Monkeys, The Raconteurs, Becoming the Archetype, Audioslave, Beck, Brendan Benson, Carla Bruni, CCR, The Dead Weather, Everlast, Fastball, The Hives, Horrorpops, The Hush Sound, Jet, The Kinks, Led Zeppelin, Living Sacrifice, mewithoutYou, The Red Hot Chili Peppers, The Ting Tings, Wolfmother, The Black Diamond Heavies, Gold Motel, Spoon, William Elliott Whitmore, Sharon Jones and the Dap-Kings, Black Joe Lewis and the Honeybears, Mayer Hawthorne, Rare Earth.

Basically I can't get enough of my favorite music and I am a bit of a squeeing fangirl about it.

Food: Chili, soul food, my Aunt Sandy's sour cream apple pie, rhubarb cobbler, Fruity Pebbles, root beer

Music to listen to
Friends to listen to it with
Games to play while we are listening to the music
Internet to buy music on
Knowledge, which I probably found on the internet
A comfy bed, because all that listening, gaming, and learning makes me sleepy.

Totoros

This answer changes all the time. Usually my Friday nights aren't planned, and we can end up anywhere doing anything, from a truck stop diner drinking stale coffee to an all night game of cards while laughing ourselves silly.

At times I am extremely self-aware/conscious to the point where I analyze everything I say and do in social situations and try to imagine how everyone else reacted, even though deep down I know that probably no one even notices whatever it is that I am mulling over.

The good thing about this is that I normally notice when someone is uncomfortable or being left out. The bad part is that I can stress out about whether or not their discomfort is my fault.

you are an old soul (or a youthful soul, I suppose.. just so long as you have one), you have a soft spot in your heart for the twelve bar blues, you consider personal growth to be one of your key values, you are into Magic or tabletop gaming, or you like a guy who tells a lot of lame jokes.