I'm an old soul with young petulance and a proclivity for ideas and understanding. I value tender sensitivity coupled with tempered reasoning. To be less abstruse, I like benevolent people who appreciate aesthetics but can also be practical. Right now I'm seeking friends, but I'd like to pursue romance in time.

I enjoy respectfully discussing religion and politics. I'm a former atheist/agnostic and socialistic liberal, now Catholic Christian with Daoist and existential elements and moderate libertarian. I also enjoy philosophy. I would have majored in it, but then all I could do is think deep thoughts about being unemployed. Zing.

Although I play several instruments, my passion is guitar. I particularly play and enjoy hard rock and metal, but I also like classical, blues, and ambient. I've been told my singing voice is a heavier version of David Bowie or Robert Smith, so apparently Southern boys of Irish stock occasionally adopt British accents.

I'm outdoorsy, as I enjoy backpacking and camping. My other athletic interest is martial arts, namely Jun Fan Kung Fu, Kali, Tai Chi, and Krav Maga. I also graze on team sports, both watching and playing. Go Colts, go Phillies.

Most of my family lives in Tennessee, and while we're close, the general Southeastern PA vicinity seems like a good spot for me. One of my two best friends lives 20 minutes away (the other lives Phoenix). I like to hang out with good friends, but not go out "partying" or "clubbing". If you're into personality typology, I'm a Myers-Briggs INXP (nearly J) and Enneagram 4w5 (with a side of awesome).

I grew up in North Carolina and attended Appalachian State University for undergrad, majoring in Political Science and Communications. I completed my Master of Public Affairs at Indiana University, concentrating in Nonprofit Management and Policy Analysis.

After graduating in May '09, I moved to the Philadelphia area to work as an operations analyst in a faith-based nonprofit. In the past I've worked for a social service organization helping the less fortunate and interned at a think tank.

On the side, I play in an industrial metal band. We're semi-serious about it, current recording a demo to see where it goes. I also write in a variety of styles. I've published both an undergrad thesis and poetry (for a local anthology), but have yet to scratch the surface of my ambitions.

AUTHORS Lao Tzu, Thomas Aquinas, Søren Kierkegaard, Max Weber, Jean Iris Murdoch, Friedrich Nietzsche, Aldous Huxley, Ray Bradbury, Tim O'Brien, Yukio Mishima, George Orwell, Fyodor Dostoevsky

MOVIES American Beauty, Forrest Gump, The Star Wars Saga, The Matrix Trilogy, Immortal Beloved, 2001: A Space Odyssey, The Fountain, Kill Bill, The Wall, Taxi Driver

MUSIC Ludwig van Beethoven (and other composers, but he's The Man). As per modern rock: U2, Pink Floyd, Metallica, Jimi Hendrix, Marilyn Manson, Nine Inch Nails, Steve Vai, Lacrimosa, Nightwish, Stabbing Westward, Meat Loaf, David Bowie, The Killers, Joe Satriani, The Cure

FOOD Cheap, easy, semi-healthy. Spicy. Small ethnic restaurants.

The deficiencies of the post-modernist/post-structuralist paradigm and the subsequent subversion of said paradigm. Book ideas. Music. Beauty in everyday life. God.

I like walks in the woods, talks over drinks, refined taste in music/literature/movies/art, and sharing spirituality. I'm not partial to any hair or eye color, body type (just generally fit), race, or anything like that. I'm flexible on age (but no younger than 21).

Surface-level turnoffs include excessive makeup and perfume, gaudy jewelry, trendy clothes, and materialism in general. I actually like it when a girl wears regular t-shirts (not designer/faux vintage/witty or "nice t-shirts" mind you, just standard t-shirts with perhaps a random school/team/camp/etcetera printed on it). That's what I wear most often outside of work, but I hear that I dress up well.

Anyways, enough crap. Hopefully stuff like "let's debate Kierkegaard's teleological suspension of the ethical" and "Keynesian economics has led us to the liquidity trap" or "Nightwish's latest is symphonic metal at its finest" will scare off bad matches. But if this sounds like vaguely interesting conversation to you, message away!