This is me in a nutshell: I'm a bit of a nut; I prefer the Z shell. I've spent the last several months traveling in Central America and volunteering at festivals in the western U.S. Now, my options are open: where will I be and what will I do? I'm open to suggestions.

I'm a weirdo; I'm gentle; I'm a nerd. (In parallel, not in series.) If I send you a message inviting you to play games it's because you seem like an interesting person who might like to spend a few hours playing silly card games, drinking tea, and discussing eclectic topics. The most you have to lose is a Gloomy afternoon, your Lunch Money, and a few moments where your brain is in Fluxx. Friendship is a lot more important to me than sex. When I send an invitation to a stranger my motive is intellectual curiosity, geeky fun, or outdoor exercise, not genital stimulation. Even if I don't turn you on, try something new and say "yes" or be polite and say "no." In either case, I hope you have a spadoinkal day. Be seeing you.

And now, without further ado, we bring you the unabridged ABCs of Flwyd.

• Analytical and also spiritual
  
• Books I intend to read line my walls
  
• Computer scientist, programmer, user
  
• Dedicated to whatever project I take on
  
• Eyes always looking for the best shot with my digital camera
  
• Film lover -- silent, foreign, abstract, independent, studio
  
• Geographical mind; I think in maps
  
• Hats of all shapes and sizes don my head
  
• iTunes library with over 100 days of music
  
• Jester in public spaces
  
• Kids are either fascinated by my actions or scared by my beard
  
• Love for one does not diminish by loving another
  
• Man when I need to be, inner child when I can be
  
• Native of the American West
  
• Obscure knowledge and facts flow from my brain
  
• Philosopher, phascinated by oriental and occidental thought
  
• Questing for the perfect pie
  
• Rivers, streams, creeks, brooks, and springs put me at peace
  
• Son of God and Goddess
  
• Teaching is a vocation to which I aspire
  
• Undressed at home or outside I feel comfortable in my body
  
• Voluptuous women turn me on
  
• Xenophile, lover of the foreign, the strange, the exotic
  
• Your gender, race, religion, and identity are okay with me
  
• Zen, Taoism, Paganism, Secular Humanism, Existentialism, and insights from many other traditions guide me

Using energy and matter to transform matter into energy, matter, and waste.

I graduated with a BS and MS in Computer Science from the University of Colorado. I now work long hours writing Java software and wearing weird hats. In my spare time, I bring eclectic spice into people's paradigms. I like to play role playing games, card games and mp3s.

Recession be damned, I quit my job in April and went to Central America for two months. Since then, I've alternated between providing volunteer manual labor at festivals and chilling out in Boulder. Now it's time to context switch. Maybe I'll work for someone awesome in Silicon Valley. I might dig the Pacific Northwest or maybe the lack of rain in Arizona is more my style. Maybe I'll stay in The People's Republic of Boulder. Maybe some fantastic opportunity will present itself and I'll write code on the first moon colony or something. Most importantly, I want to work on some sort of kick ass software project.

Since I graduated from CU Boulder (and until I quit my job) I haven't spent as much playful time as I used to. I'm looking for friends who like to play card games and walk in dry leaves. Who like to hike and talk philosophy. Who like to eat good food and make obscure puns.

The table.

Programming computers, being playful, being serious, solving problems, creating ritual, providing unusual perspective. Being a great former boyfriend. Philosophy arguments and non-verbal ritual. Running around and sitting still. Twisting language into puns and fractured phrases. Cuddling, snuggling, tickling, and supporting. Seeing the whole picture and seeing the little pieces. Wearing costumes and being naked.

I'm good at giving but I often struggle to open myself for receiving. I'm good at doing things on my own but I often struggle at delegating or asking for help. This means I'm good at equal opportunity: I rarely ask anyone to do something I would not be willing to do myself (assuming I were able).

I have a ridiculously long attention span. My mind is really good at playing by itself. I am fond of stratagems. I concoct cunning plans that remain perfect because they don't leave my mind. I've written programs, taken road trips, had relationships, and won sporting contests without leaving my cerebral cortex. In my imagination, I even started a philosophical rock band (called Exit Visa) and worked out several concept albums and a Youth In Asia tour.

The funny little icons at the bottom of this profile may claim I'm "less spontaneous." What I'm actually really good at is planning for and setting up situations of enhanced spontaneity. So while I'm unlikely to suddenly decide to change plans, those plans may well involve sudden change.

My screen name's lack of vowels. If I were properly pseudo-Welsh, it would be Fflwyd.

Two legs. Two arms. Circle at the top. Facial features. Jim, I think it's human.

My distinctive appearance. How do you not notice the guy with long hair, a beard, and silly animal hats? The bumper sticker on my door says "Honk if you think I'm Jesus." People do. My friends appreciate that I'm easy to spot in a crowd.

Those who know what an Aspie is may notice some signs. I might qualify, but on the HF end of the spectrum. If you don't know what that is, you'll just notice that I'm a rather colorful nerd.

In China, the first things people usually noticed about me were my Caucasian-style light skin and my Caucasian-style giant mass of facial hair. To answer their three most common questions: I am American; yes, my beard is real; and yes, I can use chopsticks, though I use an "incorrect" technique I developed when I was six (and had much less hair). But noticing depends on context. In China, I'm 胡子 (hu zi), "That white guy with long hair and a beard." But at a gaming convention or a hippie/pagan drum circle, that's simply insufficient for distinguishing me from other participants.

Please send me a message and tell you what you notice about me from a first glance at my profile.

Informative, beautiful, visceral, tasty.

• Asian food from Lebanon to Japan, Russia to India, and the Yangtze to the Mekong
  
• Books about science, nature, and eastern and western philosophy
  
• Computer documentation like language reference and O'Reilly guides with their endearing covers
  
• Dairy products negatively affect my mental and physical faculties
  
• Existentialist works like Cool Hand Luke, The Seventh Seal, Run Lola Run, Kafka, and Nietzsche
  
• Fiction authors like J. R. R. Tolkien, Alexandre Dumas, Douglas Adams, Mark Twain, Jorge Luis Borges, and Edgar Allan Poe
  
• Guitarists like John Fahey, Jimi Hendrix, Django Reinheart, and Ali Farka Touré
  
• Home-cooked pies; I've made several tasty curry quiche variants lately
  
• I Ching is both mysterious and well ordered, fascinating me on multiple levels
  
• Journalism of quality like National Geographic and Scientific American
  
• Kraftwerk, Tangerine Dream, Orbital, Thievery Corporation, trip-hop, and other electronic music that doesn't just go thump-thump-thump
  
• Legume products like hummus and peanut butter and mixed nuts (people and food)
  
• Music made for its own sake like drum circles, traditional ethnic songs, and the blues
  
• Noncommercial radio: KGNU (88.5 FM, 1390 AM), KVCU (1190 AM), NPR, BBC
  
• Organic food, sounds, and ideas
  
• Pianists like Bruce Hornsby, Booker T. Jones, Scott Kirby, John Medeski and Stevie Wonder
  
• Quirky movies like Amélie, Pi, Sunset Blvd, Eddie Izzard, and The Marx Brothers
  
• Raw fresh fruit like Colorado peaches, mangoes, mandarins, apricots, and bushes full of berries
  
• Silent films like The Great Gold Rush and Metropolis and wordless films like Modern Times, Koyaanisqatsi, and The Triplets of Belleville
  
• Thoughtful lyrics by The Grateful Dead, Pink Floyd, folk musicians, and socially conscious rappers
  
• Used CDs, DVDs, books, food (leftovers), furniture, jeans, and other durable goods
  
• Vocalists like Joan Baez, Blind Boys of Alabama, Bono, David Byrne, Cesara Evoria, Bobby McFerrin, Jim Morrison, Dolores O'Riordan, Tom Waits, and Dar Williams
  
• Whole grains (eat them at most meals)
  
• Xishuangbanana pancakes (just ask)
  
• Youthful live performances of bluegrass, jazz, old-time, traditional, tribal, and other music with deep roots
  
• Zymurgy products like ale, cider, lambic, mead, stout, and wine

I think burned CDs are a nicer gift for a date than cut flowers that die after a few days. If you share your music, I'll share mine. Even if you don't, I may send you a recommendation anyway, especially if you woo me.

When I was a kid, I was really into sports. I invented new leagues, held drafts, made up statistics. I've been a St. Louis Cardinals fan since I was six and a Denver Broncos fan since I could watch TV. These days I don't play sports (though perhaps I should) and mainly watch postseason baseball and football and the occasional college game hoping for an upset of a ranked team. I love the Winter Olympics; I think speed skaters are hot, I love the scream of excitement when a medal is won, and I wish curling wasn't only on cable.

Yin yang yin yin yang yin.

Technically, with the right level of granularity, the Earth is a single thing. I'll take one, please.

Internet -- my second brain since 1993; how did we ever live without hyperlinks and markup?

Sunlight -- the sun is a mass of incandescent gas.

Music -- I bring 8 CDs to work every day and measure productivity by how many I get to listen to.

Wholesome food -- if you are what you eat, I'm slowly becoming Asian.

Humor -- there are three secrets to aging gracefully: first, you have to laugh at yourself; second, you have to laugh at yourself; third, you have to laugh at yourself. -- Len Baron

Organic funk -- the good things in life come about naturally and are funky through and through.

Water -- running rivers, reflective pools, hot springs, green tea.

Public lands -- from Burning Man to Rocky Mountain National Park to concerts at Red Rocks to camping in isolation, my mind is restored by places owned by We the People.

Exceeding published limits -- if I had more time, I would have written a shorter letter. -- Blaise Pascal

The answer to this question.

Things which are better with bacon.

Lately, particularly at festivals, I've done a lot of experiencing without thinking. It's one of those great Taoist/Zen states that's harder to do if you try, but really easy if you just slip into it.

Geography. I love staring at maps. I write GIS (Geographic Information Systems) software. I like hiking up the foothills and looking over the city. I can explain how legal descriptions work.

I muse about the relative merits of anonymous inner classes and lambda functions, come up with clever design and programming solutions in the shower, and architect software systems which I never get around to coding.

I believe that loving one person does not (or at least should not) diminish one's love for anyone else. I believe there are many ways of loving someone and having some ways not activated should not prevent people from exploring the other ways.

It's time to start thinking about exactly what kind of software I want to write and where I want to do it. To further that end, I suppose I should start working on social networking skills.

Thirty years old.

Back in school I found that Friday nights were a great opportunity to get homework done. And some of the best code I've written at work has been in an uninterrupted block from 10am to 11pm on a Friday (when nobody calls). I make it to open Pagan ceremonies when I can. Now that Colorado is smoke-free I should go to more concerts and try to find a good pub or two. Perhaps I should establish Fridays as a regular movie night.

If you think a typical Friday night (or just next Friday night) should include playing games, send me a message. On a typical second or fourth Friday night I am playing card games at Witches Brew coffee shop near Lakeside Park.

I have millions if not billions of y-chromosomes.

I can tell I'm an open book: my spine is stressed.

中国不是我的母语.

I have more traits typically associated with yin/feminine than a lot of guys do.

I've never fellated a warthog.

I don't believe there's a wrong way to dance. In practice, that can lead to some awkward moments when I try to dance with a partner, who typically ends up leading.

I've never smoked marijuana.

I often enjoy imagined sexual intercourse more than the real thing. But real cuddling is always preferable to make believe.

I did not kill a man in Reno, nor did I watch him die.

I'm willing to admit anything to people who are interested. If I can't admit doing something to the world, I shouldn't do it in the first place. For instance, I hang around the house naked, body hair proudly on display; I love the way bare skin feels after submersion in water. That's private but not secret.

I've never fallen into a pile of elephant dung.

I think I have a kink, but I don't know what it is.

I've never eaten brie.

I firmly believe that naked and sexy are two different concepts disjoint as often as they are conjoined.

I've never been to Delaware.

My favorite sound in the world is the shrlchk of dry leaves 'neath my feet or bicycle tires. That's personal, but not private.

I've never slept with your brother.

There is some private information I will never share, even with family. Passwords, mostly.

... the universe contains an odd number of atoms.

... you'd like to know either where I am or how fast I'm going.

... you're better at kissing than you are at math... but you're really good at math.

Try the woo hijack: send me a woo and I'll send you a random quote and an Elizabethan curse. If I can glean your musical tastes from your profile I'll also suggest an artist or two.

If you'd like to view the world through cactus-colored glasses. If you read something interesting at flwyd.livejo​urnal.com. If you'd like to go for a hike or a bike ride. If you have a fiendishly clever pun you just have to share. If you think Pie Night sounds like a fabulous idea. If equations like e^(i*π) + 1 = 0 turn you on. If you want to know why such equations should turn you on. If you'd like to know about the "Other" in the Religion category and why I'm laughing about it.

I'm a computer geek with a minor in philosophy. A fantasy gamer who hasn't played a computer game in years. An athiestic religious practitioner. A libertarian communist. A do-it-yourselfer who's always willing to help. A political activist who has issues working with people. A UNIX-advocating Mac user. Gregorian chant and heavy metal fan. Nudist with a great wardrobe. A busy procrastinator. Straight but not narrow. Jesus with a shark on his head. If any of these yin-yang pairings interest you, let me know.

You should massage me if you are good... or want to get better.

You should message me if you want to play a game, have a conversation, or explore a park.

I often leave my computer unattended (it's old enough to be out on its own) while I'm logged in to OKCupid. If you send me an instant message and I don't respond, I'm certainly not paying attention, not ignoring you. Since I won't see what you wrote if I'm idle for more than an hour, please follow failed message attempts with other forms of contact. It should be a simple exercise for you to find other instant and delayed mechanisms of contacting me through the Internet. I make myself easy to find.