**Read this entire section before moving on. Danke**
If there is a generalization or stereotype that I "should" fit into, chances are quite high that I don't. I'm an anomaly in multiple senses of the word. For example: I don't fit in with my age group because I don't drink alcohol (not at all) and really don't like going to bars/clubs unless it's for a show/concert (usually rock or metal). I'm very much an introvert in my personal life, yet I work in an industry that demands extroversion. I'm most definitely a metalhead, yet I'm very much open to other forms of music (more on that later) and I maintain a well-groomed, noticeably un-grungy appearance. And I tend to write/talk a lot. Onwards...

I'm athletic, I love sports, especially football (the real football, and American football), martial arts, with Tae Kwon Do being my area of "expertise" (2nd degree black belt), and I really wanna learn grappling in the future. I've studied a little knife fighting and I'm hoping to learn more about it from anywhere and everywhere I can.

I love humor in almost all of its aspects. I love cracking jokes, memorizing bits, and just making people laugh. The laughs are usually at my expense, but hey, they're usually worth it.

I come off as cynical and sarcastic, but once you get past my shy/insecure nature, I'm really level-headed and down to earth. The people close to me know that I pride myself in my ability to listen, to be a voice of reason, to be a source of support, and in being a natural problem solver. By being that person not involved in the situation, I can see or try to see the entire situation, and I can usually come up with some good advice (not all the time, I won't ever make that claim). It makes me happy when I can have an affect on someone's life - when I know that something I said or did had a positive affect on someone. It has kept me sane since I've got what is best described as horrible luck with dating/relationships that aren't friendships.

I give a lot of myself in a relationship (any kind) and usually don't get as much back, but that's just how I am. I tend to put other people before myself a lot of the time, and the Jewish mother buried deep inside me makes me worry about things. To just get it out in the open, I have very low tolerances for hypocrites or people who don't live up to their promises. If I tell someone I'm going to do something, I do it, and I expect the same from others. I hold myself to high moral and behavioral standards.

And I know this is a bit stereotypical, but I really like being the taller person in the relationship. Never figured out *exactly* why, but I'm just more comfortable that way. I like to be able to wrap my arms around my significant other and all that other wonderfully romantic (read: mushy) crap. Figured I'd throw that out there.

Oh, and those "Personality Trait Awards" are mostly right, but in one or two cases they're incorrect. See if you can figure out which ones are which...it's fun!

And finally: I really don't know what I'm looking to get out of this experience. I'd love to meet (actually meet) new and interesting people and see what happens, but my personality/behavior standards/etc keep me from the situations in which these things happen by themselves...hence, the profile. So who knows.

Being an uncle to two beautiful little girls. Finding myself abruptly and unexpectedly unemployed (got fired from my crappy job). Keeping up with my marital arts as much as possible. Reading more and watching less TV. Getting to the range (shooting range - Yes, I'm a "liberal" that owns both a pistol and a rifle) when time and money permit. Some other stuff here and there.

Cooking, football (soccer), Tae Kwon Do, I seem to have a penchant for writing when the mood strikes me, musical instruments (really good: tuba, baritone, trumpet. learning: guitar. I've also got a didgeridoo), pool/billiards (pretty good, hard to gauge) and some other random things (reciting movie quotes, origami, my blowgun, etc...I really did mean random).

Apparently I'm a good teacher as well. It just kinda dawned on me, but I seem to take naturally to explaining or showing someone how things work/how things should be done.

You'd have to ask them, I don't know. If I had to guess I'd say my personality, ability to make people laugh, and penchant for remembering and using quotes from movies, TV, music, etc. And the fact that I truly am a huge nerd/dork/geek and you're just going to have to live with it.

Books: Anything by Ray Bradbury, 1984, Great Gatsby, Shatterpoint, anything by George Carlin or Dave Barry, the Sin City novels, WATCHMEN, the LOTR trilogy, The Harry Potter series, Kitchen Confidential by Anthony Bourdain, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Inside Delta Force, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies, and others.

Currently working on: World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War, Born Standing Up by Steve Martin, Blackhawk Down, Brotherhood of the Rose, Y: The Last Man Series (whenever I can get to borrowing the rest)

Music: I love music, almost all kinds. It's much easier to list the kinds I DON'T like than the ones I do. They are: neither country NOR western, rap, hip-hop, modern R&B, anything "popular," new punk (gotta love the original stuff), any derivation of "emo", basically anything you hear on the radio on a "popular," "urban," or "current hits" station. I can tolerate indie in small doses. I love live music, even if it's not something I would normally listen to. The easiest way to understand it is this: I listen to a lot of bands that most people have never heard of (see Journal). Album currently on heavy rotation (bound to change without notice): Liebe Ist Für Alle Da by Rammstein

On the flip-side, I love classical and instrumental music too. I was a band dork (symphonic and marching with a stint in jazz band and pit orchestra twice) through middle and high school. I readily admit that I listen to and enjoy musicals (Ave Q, Brigadoon, Fiddler, Rent, etc - pit orchestra and a family full of musicians does that to you), as well as acapella and Barbershop music. I love almost all of the music from the 50's through the EARLY 70's (before Disco hit) as well: Big band, blues, jazz, funk, fusion, etc. I'm a huge fan of and have incredible respect for Stevie Wonder, Ray Charles, Wynton Marsalis, and other artists of that caliber. So if you've read this far, I really do like stuff from all over the musical spectrum.

Movies: I am a movie FREAK. I've got a massive collection of DVDs (including TV shows). There is no possible way I could list one favorite because it would have to be broken down by multiple factors before I'd be able to decide (genre, time period, etc). If you absolutely NEED to know, send me a message and I'll do my best to come up with some favorites.

Food: Italian, hands down. Thai food, authentic South American food, good Indian food...let me reiterate, GOOD Indian food, Middle Eastern food (Persian, Moroccan, Lebanese, etc) and lots of others. I cook a lot, and I like to experiment with Asian flavor profiles along with Italian. I love to grill and barbeque too. You have to love food to be in the foodservice industry, and I'm no exception.

TV: Stopped watching as much TV recently, but here is a random list of my favorites: Football (the real football, aka soccer, and American football - go Giants), 24, Prison Break, Lie to Me, Family Guy, Futurama, American Dad, Simpsons, Mythbusters, Comedy Central, Rescue Me, The Boondocks, Invader Zim, Afro Samurai, Scrubs, The Unit, Robot Chicken, Metalocalypse, Burn Notice, Firefly, Time Warp, Top Chef, My Name Is Earl, the Food Network (Good Eats, Diners Drive-Ins and Dives, anything with Giada de Laurentiis, etc), and various others. A lot of those shows I have on DVD or watch online, which explains the "Stopped watching as much TV recently."

-my friends (my good, close friends)
-music (which includes my iPod, my instruments, all types of live music, etc)
-water/fruit juices (that's all that I drink at this point)

more to come if/when I figure them out

-My present and my future.
-My relationships with people that are either forming or fading and how I can maintain the ones that really matter to me: aka where do all my friends keep going and why can't I seem to stay in contact with the ones that I really want to (that's a big one)
-How short my drawer count is going to be the next night I close at work...stupid money counting.

Most likely watching a movie, playing a video game, sitting in front of this here computer doing lots of nothing. My schedule just opened up rather abruptly so I find myself with a lack of things to do.

-I honestly don't think of myself as physically attractive
-I'm what most would call a hopeless romantic
-I'm rather introverted and usually uncomfortable around new people (unless we immediately share something in common), but getting better
-I can and will be terribly awkward
-I'm a little wary of this whole online dating community thing in general
-My self-confidence is shot for a bunch of reasons

Other than that I'm pretty open about things once I've established a level of comfort with someone. Plus I'm scared of heights...and needles (although I'm getting better with that one too). Is all that private enough?

We've got similar interests/traits and you don't mind a guy who can be unreasonably dorky or nerdy at times and uses/overuses quotes from very random sources in everyday life (I just can't help it). Like I said, if you can get past my cynicism and insecurity I like to think I'm a really humble, caring person, and I try incredibly hard to be a gentleman. If you can reciprocate, we'll get along, especially if you know what reciprocate means. And please, use real words. U, R, plz, thx, et al just don't count. I'm sorry, get over it.

Or if you're bored, you think I'm interesting/charming/handsome/some other positive adjective, or just want to talk about all things random and awesome. I'm pretty good at that too (see bottom journal post...it's continuing to grow and challenge you mentally...so consider yourself mentally challenged. wait...damn.). If you message me it's likely I'll respond (pending you've read all of this), so something more than just a few words would be great, and so would a return response if/when I write back. Muchisimas gracias.

And yes, I'm on Facebook, Myspace (I barely use it), Skype, and AIM/iChat. If you'd like any of that info, let me know. Cheers.