My name's Ernie -yes, like the Muppet.

No, "Ernie" is not short for anything, it really *does* just say "Ernie" on my birth certificate.

No, I don't have a middle name (would I go by "Ernie" if I did? Just sayin').

Hmmm... I fancy myself a writer, I have an obsession with dreams and dreaming, my favorite color is black, and my birthday is August 22, which means I'm a Leo but only barely.

I'm definitely a geek but I'm really bad at it. I don't play MMORPG's and I'd rather watch ESPN or the History Channel than Adult Swim. I love anime and comic books but I'm really, really picky.

I'm fairly kind of obsessed with writing weird fiction.

I love learning for learning's sake.

I believe in magick, but not in the way you're probably thinking.

I'm not terribly spiritual at all, but I *am* curious about spirituality and how it affects people.

I'm also big on comparative religion, and sociology, and ecstatic experiences, and magic with a K (or not), and fringe science. I spend a lot of my time -when I'm not writing, or drawing, or reading comic books- reading weird fiction, Disinformation articles, literature on serial killers and other malcontents, and books by crazy old men that fancy themselves "magicians."

Both my parents are Puerto Rican -as in, actually born and raised on the island of Puerto Rico, not "just" of Puerto Rican descent- but I'm actually a "Nuyorican," (born in NYC to Puerto Rican parents), with a dash of "Puerto-Carolinican" (a term I just made up, I think). I've spent more years of my life in North Carolina than I ever did in New York City, but I'm still not ready to give up my "Yankee" status just yet...

Also, I think I'm polyamorous -I say "think" because I've only ever been in two poly relationships (and much preferred that to the monogamous "model")- but most of my relationship history is monogamous by default (polyamory is a harder sell when you're a single guy living in the Bible Belt, I think). I'd really like to change this. The open communication inherently necessary to a poly lifestyle was (is) very appealing to me, and meshes with my personality better, I think, than the passive aggressiveness give-and-take that seems to plague most "standard" relationships. Also, I'm just not terribly possessive when it comes to relationships, which has the unfortunate side effect, I think, of making people assume I don't really like them...

I work at an Adult Novelties Store, which is just a cleaner way of saying "Porn Store," and I spend the majority of my day (when not reading, or drawing in a sketchbook... I have lots of free time at work) helping customers not feel awkward about buying sex toys and/or pornography. One of these days I'll write a memoir about my time spent there, but I don't crap where I eat, so to speak, so in the meantime I busy myself writing weird fiction about magick, Consensus Reality, mysticism, and fringe science.

Writing, or at least I think I am, else I wouldn't take it so seriously.

I also draw a lot -I'm at least decent enough to justify carrying around a sketchbook or two- but I'm not decent enough to do commissions or otherwise take it too seriously. Whenever I create a new character for a story I'll often do a sketch of them in order to figure them out (what do they like to wear? why? what ethnicity are they? do they have tattoos? if yes what do the tattoos say about them? etc.). I figure out a lot about my characters by simply drawing them a few times.

Unrelated to those other things, I also tend to be the voice of reason whenever I'm in a group -which makes me either really dependable or really boring depending on who you ask.

I usually carry a book bag with me wherever I go. That's usually what people tend to notice first, I think. Also, I'm a Nuyorican HipsterGeek with dreadlocks. How does that even happen? Apparently that's a whole "thing" around here, how I've somehow managed, simply by existing, to bastardize and assimilate several subcultures in one fell swoop.

I love the copy and paste function and I spend a lot of time on Facebook, is why these lists are so goddamned long...

Books: Dune (Frank Herbert); The Elric Series (Michael Moorcock); House of Leaves (Mark Z. Danielewski); Book of Lies: The Disinformation Guide to Magick and the Occult (Richard Metzger [Editor]); The Hero With A Thousand Faces, Thou Art That (Joseph Campbell); The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao (Junot Diaz); I Am Legend (Richard Matheson); The Coming of Conan of Cimmeria (Robert E. Howard); Tales of The Dying Earth (Jack Vance); H.P. Lovecraft: The Fiction Complete and Unabridged (H.P. Lovecraft); Crooked Little Vein (Warren Ellis), Neuromancer, Pattern Recognition (William Gibson), Libra, Underworld, White Noise (Don DeLillo), After Dark (Haruki Murakami), Something Wicked This Way Comes, The Martian Chronicles (Ray Bradbury), The Dark Elf Trilogy (R.A. Salvatore), The Inquisition War Trilogy (Ian Watson), The Prince of Nothing Trilogy, The Judging Eye, (R. Scott Bakker), Horus Rising (Dan Abnett), The Things They Carried (Tim O'Brien), Eaters of the Dead (Michael Crichton), Lullaby, Survivor (Chuck Palahniuk), Wasted (Marya Hornbacher)

Comic Books: Batman, Batman & Robin, Batman: Streets of Gotham, Detective Comics, Gotham City Sirens, Red Robin, Batgirl, Adventure Comics, Green Lantern, Green Lantern Corps, Greek Street, Hellblazer, House of Mystery, Scalped, The Unwritten, Daredevil, Doctor Voodoo, Fantastic Four, Criminal, Incognito

Movies: I don't often sit down long enough to watch movies these days -at most I'll put a movie on, but I might not pay attention. If I *do* watch a movie it'll likely be a crime flick, horror movie, or anime... ummm...
These are probably my "desert island" movies: Lost In Translation, Blade Runner, Batman Begins, The Dark Knight, Vampire Hunter D, The Godfather, The Thing, Unforgiven, Clue, The Breakfast Club, Escaflowne, Afro Samurai (technically it was a "miniseries" but it's only five episodes long so it counts!). I'm sure I'm forgetting some others...

Music: The Roots, A Tribe Called Quest, Tool, Tori Amos, Poe, Genesis P-Orridge, Throbbing Gristle, The Airborne Toxic Event, Second Person, Chris Clark, Coil, Meat Beat Manifesto, Alice In Chains, The Decemberists, Front Line Assembly, Hybrid, Jurassic 5, Immortal Technique, Jay-Z, Kanye West, Young Jeezy, Dilated Peoples, The Killers, Goo Goo Dolls, Jungle Brothers, Dave Matthews Band, My Life With The Thrill Kill Kult, Hieroglyphics, Defari, Ghostface Killah, Raekwon, Depeche Mode, U2, Linkin Park, Eminem, Res, KMFDM, Fluke, Big Punisher, Onyx, Mobb Deep, Sneaker Pimps, Harry-Gregson Williams, Joy Division, Dead Can Dance, Naughty By Nature, Nas, Common, Yasunori Mitsuda, Akira Yamaoka, Nine Inch Nails, Gangstarr, Mos Def, John Coltrane, Fourplay, Coldplay, Frank Sinatra, Tears For Fears, Smashing Pumpkins, Yoko Kanno, Massive Attack, Janet Jackson, Amel Larrieux, Incubus, Juno Reactor, Don Davis, Rob Dougan, Paul Oakenfold, Nujabes, BT, Kosheen...

Food: Japanese, Italian, Mexican, Indian, Seafood of any kind.... other then that it's a crap shoot, but I'm not *that* picky.

1. Notebook (paper kind)
2. Notebook (electronic kind)
3. Pencils
4. Sketchbook
5. Food
6. Water
Honorable Mention: Clothes, shelter, the Internet, sex, etc...

Whatever I'm writing about at the moment. Honestly, at any given moment I could be thinking about *anything* because I'm sort of an information sponge.

Most of the time I'm in my own head daydreaming about this post-apocalyptic science-fantasy world that I've created for my fiction. I think about my characters more than I think about my own life.

Drinking with my overly pretentious "boyz club" at New York Pizza -shout out- because it's stumbling distance from my apartment, or working (more likely), or shutting out the world so I can get some writing done (less likely), or watching a horror movie and/or whatever anime I'm addicted to this week...

And it's just a coincidence that my favorite drinking spot is called "New York Pizza," honestly, I'm not *that* obsessed with New York.

I don't wash my hair nearly as often as I should.

I don't own a car. In Greensboro, NC, that's a mark of shame apparently. But where I'm from people tend to walk or take the subway everywhere (which is why we tend to be slimmer and healthier in general, I suspect). Greensboro in general just strikes me as a very impractical town...

Whenever I meet someone for the first time I'm very consciously judging everything they do: their body language, their grammar (or lack thereof), how much they smoke (if they smoke at all), but I'm pretty subtle about it -and I tend to give people the benefit of the doubt anyway so any snap judgments I make are just that.

I have a thumb sized birthmark on my belly, on my left side, and if you look at it closely it vaguely resembles the island of Puerto Rico.

Most people who meet me think I'm pretty laid back and accepting and I am -probably too much so, certainly moreso than most- but, truthfully, I don't like nearly as many people as my demeanor might suggest; I just don't wear my contempt on my sleeve because that's rude. Also, on the off chance that my opinion on someone changes from negative to positive I don't want them to remember that I was a dick to them...

I think I'm addicted to ellipses...

Sometimes I like to run outside when it's raining and sing like a crazy person...

Sometimes I paint my fingernails black for no apparent reason.

I tend to give up on people too easily...

...you want to, I get bored easily and really just love meeting new people for all sorts of reasons (despite the general tone of this profile I'm actually not that much of a jerk... I don't think... at least my friends think I'm nice... but I guess they would, being "friends" and all...). If nothing else you might end up as a character in one of my stories (names changed and likeness somewhat altered to protect the innocent and all that, of course). That's probably as much a threat as an incentive, actually...

...my interests interest you and/or don't freak you out (re: My self summary: "...comparative religion, and sociology, and ecstatic experiences, and magic with a K (or not) and fringe science..."). I just like to chat about these things. If you're *not* a skeptic, though, then we probably won't get along. I have an open mind but I'm not big on faith, or people who take their subjective drug trips too seriously.

...you're a geek, but not the "must go to every 'Con within 100 miles and would rather stay home and play WOW and watch anime than go out" kind. Geek-dom is a huge part of my life but not the *only* part. If you're into comic books at all I'll probably "heart" you a whole lot regardless.

...you're *not* a geek but don't mind that I am.

...you're poly and successful at it (male or female). If nothing else I'd really like some tips on how to put myself out there.

...you managed to get through this long ass profile and aren't bored yet....