I am witty, geeky, and driven.
My Self-Summary
If it were possible for our union to produce offspring, our progeny
would be gifted and physically beautiful-- with robust immune
systems and the ability to effortlessly outcompete lesser children.
I am, however, sterile. My breeding friends complain that I am not
doing my part to [crowd out the stupid peoples' genes with my
resplendent alleles|Engineer the master race|Spawn the Kwisatz
Haderach], but I have nightmares about children interfering with my
consistently improving life. I have too much to do and only so many
decades. I would rather be the weird uncle to my friends'
kids.
I bought my piece of paper from the University of Michigan. I have
an appropriately named BS in Cell and Molecular Biology with a
minor in Philosophy. After spending a couple of Lovecraftian years
in research, I opted for sanity and its associated career change.
What I’m doing with my life
I work an IT job at a major research institute. I run my own
company after hours. I hope it will transition from being an
expensive hobby to becoming a lucrative venture, funding the worst
excesses of a Courvoisier-soaked, blingtastic, rap video cliche
lifestyle. In my spare time, while people around me practice
Ashtanga
yoga, I've
been tipping over less frequently. Recently, I've been learning how
to fall off a
surf
board more slowly. For the past three years I've studied Chen style
Tai Chi Chuan
(or "taijiquan" to the cognoscenti who prefer pinyin to
Wade-Giles). I intend to continue this
martial arts practice for several
decades as I become a truly frightening old man.
When I do a quick mental tally, I
exercise for about 15-18 hours a week.
I consider the pursuit of a physical discipline (or several) to be
important and fulfilling.
I’m really good at
Deflecting compliments. Keeping busy. Standing in place for
unreasonable amounts of time. Logic. Analysis. Overanalysis. Mixing
martinis. Fighting games and first-person shooters.
Writing emails, essays, and
rants but not stories. Avoiding the interrogating glare of the
camera lens.
The first things people usually notice about me
People comment on my nice teeth and merciless self-criticism.
My favorite books, movies, music, and food
Let's start with food. I generally like Asian, Indian, mid-eastern,
near-eastern, Mediterranean, and some East African food. I don't
eat meat from animals without backbones-- as succulent and tasty as
they may be. I am especially fond of octopi and, consequently, am
greatly saddened when they are cooked for food.
There are a few TV series for which I have affection: Buffy the
Vampire Slayer (Especially about 3rd Season and on), Firefly (and
other selections from the Whedonverse), the first seasons of True
Blood and Dexter, Cowboy Bebop, Stargate (Universe, these days),
Ghost in the Shell, Vision of Escaflowne, and I grew up with Star
Trek:TNG. There's more to this list, but it will have to come
later.
Here's a few good movies that come to mind: Jacob's Ladder, Brazil,
Twelve Monkeys (the only movie to get time travel right), Blade
Runner (The Final Cut), The Empire Strikes Back (the original
laserdisc version), Donnie Darko (Director's Cut), Boondock Saints,
Lawrence of Arabia, and Primer. I'll doubtless add to this
list.
I love Underworld's "Second Toughest in the Infants", Aphex Twin's
"Selected Ambient Works, Vol 2", Massive Attack's "Mezzanine",
Everything But the Girl's "Walking Wounded", The Orb's "Pomme
Fritz", Radiohead's "OK Computer", Cocteau Twins' "Tiny Dynamine",
and more by acts such as Orbital, Hooverphonic, Tricky, TV on the
Radio, DJ Shadow, Juno Reactor, Fiona Apple, Hybrid, Zero 7,
Hooverphonic, William Orbit, Beth Orton, and Single Gun
Theory.
In the interface between poetry and music, I quite like Material's
"Seven Souls", and Talvin Singh's treatment of "The Road to the
Western Lands"-- both featuring William S. Burroughs.
The most recent book I finished was Pollan's "Omnivore's Dilemma".
"Godel Escher Bach" sits on my nightstand (which is hard to get
through when you work until midnight every night). One of my
favorite books is Niccolo Machiavelli's "The Prince", which I
consider a delight of rational thought. I finished a translation of
the Bhagavad Gita recently. You'll probably already have determined
that I'm a fan of Frank Herbert's "Dune" series. I also like
William Gibson, Neal Stephenson (specifically "The Diamond Age"),
and Neil Gaiman. I honestly don't remember most of the books I've
read and liked.
The six things I could never do without
Time alone. Sunlight, unobscured by clouds. Enough room to practice
form. Enough water to shower, bathe, and swim. Writing implements.
Time with a friend.
I could go on at length about the things I'd miss terribly, but
could technically could do without. A computer connected to the
internet would be near the top of the list, as would spicy foods,
and chocolate-- incomparable chocolate.
I spend a lot of time thinking about
The future, how amazing it could be, and how horrifying it actually
will be if we don't make a quick 90 degree turn in the lurching
ship of our cultural inertia. I think about my shop, which mostly
involves the day-to-day operational minutiae, but includes arching
plans for how to make the future cooler, and somewhat more
survivable in spite of our biology.
I spend a lot of time thinking about practicing Tai Chi.
I spend a lot of time wishing that I could split off clones to send
off to become immersed in different projects and pursuits, only to
reintegrate the experiences into a coherent whole at the end of the
day.
I think about how I hope technology and medical science will be
able to replace every piece of me as I age, so I can continue to
learn and improve. I wonder what kind of world would result from
mature, experienced minds in unlimited bodies.
On a typical Friday night I am
Working at my business, at home recovering, or making a perfunctory
appearance at some party I don't really want to attend.
The most private thing I’m willing to admit here
If I were willing to admit it here, wouldn't that make it "public"
rather than "private"? If so, it would be logically impossible for
me to admit a "private" thing here.
On a totally unrelated subject, I can be, at times, somewhat
pedantic.
You should message me if
...You've laughed at anything I've written and suspect you could
make me laugh too, message me. If you lead a similarly busy and
productive life, and would like to share its periphery, or maybe
more.