I'm a graduate student at OSU studying Classical Antiquity, coming from Arizona State where I majored in Philosophy and English Literature. Is a person defined by his or her major? Probably not. Does it say anything at all about someone? Probably.

The Humanities - thinking about what our humanity is/means/entails - just plain excite me. I appreciate any conversation about beauty, happiness, justice, love, the sacred, the good - not because I have the answers or enjoy arguing, but because such things are worth talking about. The trick is trying to connect these abstract concerns (I seem to think) I have to the real world. Advice? Sports, though, I don't much care for.

I'm down with biting sarcasm and general cynicism, but I've found that I like girls who are kind. I don't mean something silly/pathetic like 'a girl who is nice to me' but just a girl who is kind to others. It's awesome and hot. This could go in the 'message me if' section, but it prolly says a lot about me, so ... here it is.

Graduate school in Classical Studies, which is something like History, Literature, Philosophy, and foreign languages, all rolled together with a focus on the ancient world. So I study Ancient Greek and Latin of all things. Why? For the same reason anyone learns a foreign language - no, not to introduce myself, talk about the weather, and order lunch, but to engage another culture on its own terms, to read their texts appreciatively, to hear what they have to say.

I imagine I'll teach some day though I haven't quite decided whether I'm better suited for a large 'research oriented' university, high school, or a small liberal arts college. I've got a few more years to figure it out.

I talk with my hands and look fixedly elsewhere when searching for words. My hair can be a pretty awkward frizzy when the wind picks up.

Book-wise: Heart of Darkness, The Little Prince, Franny and Zooey, Brave New World, Steppenwolf, East of Eden, Laughing at Nothing: Humor as a Response to Nihilism, Dostoevsky, Plato.

Music: Bowerbirds, Iron & Wine, Pedro the Lion, The Shins, Radiohead, Sufjan Stevens, Low Anthem, Dresden Dolls, Primus, Mars Volta,

Movies: I Heart Huckabees, Garden State, Moulin Rouge, Amelie, Big Fish, Empire Records, Memento, Fight Club, The Big Labowski, Rushmore, Swingers, Hook, Before Sunset

TV: It's Always Sunny in Philadelphia, 30 Rock, Curb Your Enthusiasm, Arrested Development, The Daily Show, The Colbert Report

literature
charades!
dead languages
the indoors. Nature can be nice and all, but I'm not too keen on running around in the sun. I know that prolly killed it with about half of you. (shrug)
the sound of others' laughter
stimulating conversation (I suppose alone on a desert island I'd have to try talking to myself... but I think it would be narcissistic to consider that stimulating)

Identity. Is there a me I 'really' am, a 'true' self who I 'ought' to be? (that's what we're told by Disney movies and Polonius) Or if we're selves constructed of society/culture and the completely free choices we make, is there anything stable or... essential there at all? Are we only what we do and the rest mere words? How, then, could I not be myself?

value and morality

you're interested in meeting other people, dating or otherwise. My social circle is mostly just the small department I'm in and some coffee shop friends, so it's nice to think that I can find other cool people here to talk to (and maybe hang out with) in hopefully a less creepy manner than arbitrarily walking up to girls on campus and saying "Hello... I like your.... face? Do you want to have a conversation with me... some time?"

Also, my screen name isn't meant to be as pretentious as it looks. What is a philosopher, anyways? And what then a philosophilor? .... It's kind of a pun/joke.