Wine snob (once stubbornly proud, now it's a vocation), pianist (if I can sneak in more than 30 minutes a day), chauffeur (mostly retired)... I also teach tennis once every couple of years. In my free time... come to think of it, I'm not sure where my free time has gone of late, but this is almost certainly for the better. A fair amount of my energy is focused on advocating for Aglianico, Australian Riesling, Alsatian Pinot Gris... and just saying "no" to Yellow #5. In the past couple of years, I've realized that I enjoy geography almost as much as I enjoy making genuine connections with all sorts of people. Almost.

I like maps, but can't stand GPS navigation devices.

If you think none of the above makes sense, I don't blame you :)

Selling alcohol to minors. I mean miners. Also, having fun disregarding OKCupid's style guide.

Talking and confusing people. I can (sometimes) be very long-winded.

I've also gotten pretty good at self-defense, in cases where there is enough room to run away.

My lack of an accent.

Books - Depends on the weather. Russian novels in the fall, Russian poetry in the spring... that sort of thing.

Movies - Ones with a little age on them.

Shows - Seinfeld, the original and best. But Joe Millionaire had me going for a while too.

Food - No pork. I also tend to be partial to my chemistry experiments (things like ghetto-steamed plantains, zaatar-instead-of-cilantro guacamole and slightly-slower-than-a-food-truck falafel), when they turn out well. I'm a bit prone to succumbing to the latest thing I read about food, but I generally try to do my homework as to why this or that food is the way it is.

Music - Op. 111... or Op. 106. Those are probably my favorites, but there are also Opp. 2, 7, 10, 13, 14, 22, 26, 27, 31, 49, 53, 54, 57, 78, 79, 81, 90, 101, 109, 110. I like to throw 120 in there too, but that one is an entirely separate conversation. Only problem is that a good deal of these require quite a bit of time... And if you're not up for figuring out what the numbers mean, just look up Marie-Claire Alain on YouTube. Can your grandmother do that???

A piano. Israel. The Sun. Trees. A clearing in the trees. That's five... ah, yes - lately I've become quite attached to my foam roller.

A few very close people definitely come to mind... though they're not "things".

Then there's the category of things I could probably get along without, but would rather not, which includes decent (or better) tea, decent (or preferably better) wine, traffic & transit on the 1's, adequate lighting, Beethoven and bananas.

...something other than what I'm supposed to be doing.

in three places at once. On an ideal Friday night, it's some combination of family, friends and/or getting my Jew on.

See note about Joe Millionaire, above.

you read through what I wrote and smiled once or twice. Or if you frowned out of frustration at all the vagueness, but you're at least interested in straightening out some of it...

you have a reasonably high tolerance of irrelevant quotes and random, possibly useless, facts.

you got a message from me. I write to people in the hope that they respond, though I realize it's not always so simple.

you're ok with the fact that, despite it being 2013, I'm still stuck in the '90s... the 1790's.