We'll give this a quick, stream of consciousness rundown.

It's a little hard to sum myself up. I mean, I'll switch from serious to goofy, or from metalhead to Care Bears-watcher, in the blink of an eye. In either mood, though, you'll find me trying to make progress on my Netflix queue (currently taking a break from watching all of Hitchcock's movies, and instead watching Babylon 5).

I write code for a living, which is totally exciting for everyone else to hear about, and it's also why I find myself in Springfield rather than my home town of St. Louis.

When on parole from work, traditional pubs are my favorite places to hang out; there's little better than a good German beer paired with Welsh rarebit and friends. On the other hand, there's something to be said for a day of paintball followed by an evening of recovery.

This is my first foray into this online dating thingy. It'd be nice to find someone to do a one-by-one catalog of the local restaurants with, or perhaps someone to team up with for an anime marathon.

Trying to figure out what the phrase, "doing with my life," means.

While having a coffee ice cream milk shake.

In other words, I'm just enjoying life and what it has to offer. What else should I be doing?

Oh, random goal: memorize the Odyssey. Yep, I'd love to be able to recite an epic poem. It would be extra cool to perform it with a band, using different musical styles for each section as appropriate. *sigh* A guy can dream, though ...

Not to brag or anything, but I make a really mean apricot curry.

Maybe I'm good at seeing beauty where other people don't or something. *cough* extreme metal *cough*

I have no idea, honestly.

I often hear that I "should have been an actor" or somesuch, probably because I tend to act things out when telling a story or making a point.

BREAKING NEWS: Apparently I'm really flirtatious. I know! I'm as surprised as you are, but that's what I just heard on the grapevine.

My favorite song ever *ever*, and you're likely going to be befuddled, is the Pet Shop Boys' West End Girls. No joke, I'm a total 80s child with that unfortunate romantic streak.

The greatest musical in history is Les Miserables. I've seen it, oh, four times on the stage, and it's enjoyed a permanent spot in my car for around five years now. Poor Eponine! *sniff*

As for books, well, I don't read as much as I used to, but my all time favorite novel is Dune, by Frank Herbert. Right below that is an eclectic mix of fantasy, science fiction, and children's books. You know, stuff by C. S. Lewis and Lloyd Alexander.

My favorite movies of all time are Pulp Fiction, The Exorcist, The Godfather, Star Wars, Seven Samurai*, Dark City, The Dark Crystal, The Princess Bride, To Kill A Mockingbird, and The Shawshank Redemption. The list of 5-star ratings continues on Netflix, but you get the idea.

All food is the best, as long as it's steak. Or curry, sushi (which can make you feel happy no matter what), or coffee ice cream.

Other random favorites:
Progressive Rock Band: Coheed and Cambria
Industrial Band: Nine Inch Nails
Impressionist Composer: Maurice Ravel
Black Metal Band: Enslaved
Progressive Metal Band: Opeth or Between the Buried and Me
Hip Hop Group: Outkast (I lived in Decatur, GA for two and a half years.)
Jazz Saxophone: John Coltrane
Guitarist: Andy McKee
Fantasy Novel Series: The Wheel of Time
Epic Poem: Homer's Odyssey
British Comedy: Red Dwarf
Philosopher: John Stuart Mill
Romance Anime: El Hazard or Nodame Cantabile
Horror Movie: Audition
Comedy Movie: Army of Darkness
Vintage Poster: Maurin Quina (http://imagecache2.allposters.com/images/TOP/VP820.jpg)

*The screenwriter's granddaughter is an awesome person who helped me with my profile. She wins at being a human being.

In no particular order, of course, and without further ado:

- My computer, into which I've poured far, far, far too much capital. --I'm currently having to make do without it. The agony! ;)
- Science fiction novels.
- Coffee, that sublime liquid.
- Cheesy B-movies - vampires, werewolves, and zombies, oh my!
- Alcohol, especially absinthe, la fée verte.
- My kitty, Kiki. Who plays fetch.

Let's see if I can still do this in Japanese.

- Ore no sugoku takai konpyuuta
- esuefu shousetsu
- koohii, ano kirei na nomi
- baka na eiga, ... nihongo de sonna bakemono to iu kotoba wakannai kara, akirameru yo
- osake! abushinsu wa tokubetsu ni suki da
- ore no kawaii neko-chan, Kiki. kono ko fetch to iu asobi suru

Well, ...

Epistemology, because philosophy is fascinating.

What book or movie to watch next. Usually this ends up being an anime binge, setting me ever further behind on my movie watching. Did someone say Bleach?

Coffee.

Also, linguistics, languages, and grammar. A far-too-large-to-be-healthy portion of my college courses were devoted to language studies.

I prefer to unwind from the week by relaxing in the evening air with a good book and a good bourbon. There's more than enough time during the weekend to do exciting stuff.

How about a dirty little secret, hm? Alright then.

I can't get This Love, by Maroon 5, out of my head. The song just floats around in there no matter how often I try to get rid of it.

Stupid, catchy pop song. Fie on thee! Why can't I keep Nightwish in my head instead?

I've also read (and liked) some of the Nuala Anne McGrail books by Andrew Greeley. Yep, Irish romance written by a Catholic priest.

... you can carry a conversation. That's really my only significant criterion. There's nothing more irritating than having to forcibly draw words out of someone's mouth. Other than that, go ahead and try to confuse me with a riddle, history question, lit comment, a WTF directed toward my musical taste ("You like death metal? Eww!") or anything else on your mind.

I love to talk about *anything*, and that's not hyperbolic in any way.