I am primarily two things: a learner and a romantic (maybe not in that order). My training is in philosophy, which I positively love and really couldn't live without - I blog about philosophy daily and will go back to school soon to get an advanced degree in bioethics. <3 philosophy

But I also love to teach - or, put maybe in a less patronizing way, to help people explore. The world is an amazing place, and that's before we get into humans, so it's hard for me to be satisfied with the few experiences I have - there's always something else to generate awe or humor or even sorrow. So part of what I'm looking for is someone who will show me some new things and who, at the same time, will be okay with discovering things that I already know about. If you're one of those never-stop-learning kinds of people, you and I should get along just fine.

If you want to get on my good side, help me sneak into something. If you want to get on my bad side, call me trendy.

Explore. There's so much to learn, from biology to physics to economics to sociology to psychology, that I spend a lot of my time buried in a book or reading articles online. Mostly this is during work, because my job right now is so easy that I can do it in a fraction of the working day. (Still, it pays well and it does exercise my brain - it's not like when I was just out of school and had to be a mailman for a month.) My spare time is devoted mainly to taking in art: novels, movies, music, basketball (no, that's not a typo or an error; basketball is art), the occasional paintings or plays. In between all of that, I exercise to stay in shape, hang out with my friends, visit my parents every now and then, and commiserate with my sister.

In terms of scheduled activities, I've got - well, work, but also chorus rehearsal on Mondays, PSL basketball on Tuesdays, pickup softball on Sundays, and LOST whenever it airs. Oh my god LOST. What a great show. Oh - and I guess I catch up with my other TV shows (Stargate Universe, The Office, Psych, Dollhouse) on Saturdays after they air.

Puns! And other intellectual humor. Demitri Martin's standup is among the best I've ever seen - he's basically my ideal.

Kissing. Or at least I think so - it's not like I give out performance evaluations afterward or anything.

Driving. An underrated talent, but just think about it: how nerve-wracking is it to drive with a bad driver? I don't want to submit people to that. My goal is to get where I'm going in the fewest number of pieces, not the fewest number of minutes.

Making mixtapes. A lot of guys pull this bullshit where they use mixtapes as sort of a none-too-subtle way of being romantic. Nuh uh. The best mixtapes are works of art in and of themselves, connecting disparate artists together into a unified and coherent whole. I can make you a really, really kickass mixtape (at least, assuming you have good taste).

I'm tall. And skinny. Probably that's it?

Ohhhh so many.
Some movies, by director:
The Big Lebowski, Fargo, O Brother Where Art Thou, A Serious Man (!!!!)
The Fountain, Pi
Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind
Amelie
Ghost Dog: Way of the Samurai, Coffee and Cigarettes
The Girl Who Jumped Through Time (aka Toki Wo Kakeru Shoujou, I think)

Some music:
Ramona Falls (holy shit - I just bought this album and it is GREAT. If you know and like Menomena, you MUST get this.)
The New Pornographers
eels
The Decemberists (!!)
I think "Alice's Restaurant Massacree" is one of the absolute best songs ever
Iron & Wine (even when he's being all Christian-y)
Girl Talk
M.I.A.
The Pillows

Some books, by author:
The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, Kafka On The Shore, The Elephant Vanishes
Cosmicomics, If On A Winter's Night A Traveler, The Castle of Crossed Destinies
Solaris, Mortal Engines, The Chain Of Chance
The Wee Free Men, A Hat Full Of Sky, Wintersmith
Amphigorey (!!)
The Sandman graphic novels
The Mysteries of Pittsburgh, The Yiddish Policeman's Union
...books are great.

I seem to like all kinds of food. Watching Iron Chef has turned me into a bit of a gourmand, I fear, but at least I'll probably eat whatever is being served.

A, E, I, O, U and sometimes Y. Try learning a language that's commonly written without all the vowels - it's REAL hard. I really like having all the letters in words.

Everything. Seriously. But that's just because I spend a lot of time thinking: so many people drift through life or allow themselves to forfeit their thinking capacity to advertisers or politicians or some other charismatic huckster. I prefer to form my own opinions and be my own person.

Oh, hell, I dunno - maybe there is no typical Friday night. Whatever it is, it's not getting smashed or hitting the bars. Alcohol, like...other substances...has its time and place, sure, but there's just so much else to do.

I know a song lyric for every single situation in life.

Yeah, this is going to be the sticking point for a lot of people, I think. Basically, I'm not looking for someone to just have fun with (where "fun" means either "fun" or "sex," which it does for some folks). I've got plenty of friends and even when they're unavailable I know how to have fun on my own ("fun" fun, obviously, not "sex" fun; you wouldn't catch me with a Fleshlight in a million years). So if you're looking for someone just to take to bars or clubs - or, for that matter, a fuck buddy - I'm the wrong guy for you.

On the other hand, if you've fulfilled the need for all that more superficial stuff elsewhere and want to head for something more meaningful, I might well be the right guy for you. (And, equally importantly, you might well be the right gal for me.) It's no fun to play Generic Male 1 on a date, I'd rather just be me - but that'll only work if the person across the table wants a real person and not something that's barely one step above a blow-up doll.