I'm a fairly ordinary guy still trying to figure out what this life thing is all about and what I should do with it.

I guess that's not much to go on, but these "describe yourself in a paragraph or two" type questions usually leave me a little bit cold. Alright, here come a few random facts... :)

I like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, history and spumoni.

Philosophically, I describe myself as an Objectivist and a skeptic. Despite these things, I consider myself(/try to be) both openminded and easy-going. It ain't easy.

I write in my spare time, though not nearly so much nor so well as I'd like.

I have deep, abiding, uncool passions for things like Truth and Reason and such. I try to combat my obvious tendency to pretentiousness with liberal helpings of silliness and whimsy. Well... maybe not quite, but I do watch pro-wrestling, so that helps to keep me humble.

At the moment, I'm trying to get back on track. There've been a lot of false starts.

What I'd like to do is find a job that 1) pays enough and 2) I enjoy. I've heard that such things exist.

Otherwise, I have an absolutely terrific girlfriend with whom I am very happy. I also have a number of good friends, even though I find it harder to have quality 'hang out' time as we all get older.

Arguing.

I'd come up with something more flattering for myself, but, eh, why not just tell the truth...?

Wow.

I have no idea. I would guess that I'm fairly non-descript...

Well, I've been told I have nice eyes in the past. Maybe that's what people notice first...? Or maybe what they notice, and not just observe, is that I'm fairly intelligent? At least, it says so in most of the signatures in my yearbooks.

(a) Including It by Stephen King, The Three Musketeers by Alexandre Dumas, Tess of the D'Ubervilles by Thomas Hardy and The Demon-Haunted World by Carl Sagan.

(b) Including Star Wars, The Princess Bride, 12 Angry Men, The Goonies and (recently) Shaolin Soccer.

I consider my tastes tend to be fairly eclectic in books, movies, etc. Where music and foods are concerned, I like so many different types of things that I can't even really pare it down here. Maybe... Simon & Garfunkel and Indian Food? But really... it would be a shorter list of what I absolutely don't like. So...

(c, in reverse) Mariachi, atonal, 'beatnik'/freestyle-jazz

(d, in reverse) Liver, baby corn

Physical Necessities (see how I cheat!) Friends/Love Art Adventure Self-Expression Hope

Everything.

I spend a lot of time thinking.

(Some, myself at times included, would say too much.)

With my girlfriend.

Probably not very interesting to anyone...

I mean, I'd put something cool here (like, about being a spy or something) if I could. But, what? I don't have state secrets, and the secrets I do have are pretty prosaic.

You've enjoyed any of the tests I've written and/or you just want to chat about something. This includes all of history, lit, pop culture or thought, as those are the things I enjoy most.

Like music and food favorites, really the more important category is "You shouldn't message me if:"

My answer to that would be something like...

1) You wish to complain about my tests (note this is different than commenting or asking a legit question). You know, I had one person call me an "asswipe" because, in my Nerd test, I had the description "Average Joe" as one of the possible categories. The person who wrote me thought that I was therefore a sexist jerk. And an asswipe. And, okay, maybe even those things are true (though I hope they're not), but I really don't need email on this site from people I've never met about something so very, very silly. If you're displeased with my tests at all, please, write better tests. That way, everyone wins.

2) You wish to debate something but have no real interest in things like... oh... evidence, logic, reason, etc. In other words, if you want to argue something, awesome, bring it on. But, only if you have an open mind. Debate only is useful if both parties put something higher than their own egos--the truth. Sadly, this rarely happens.