In the words of GBV: I am a scientist—I seek to understand me. All of my impurities and evils yet unknown. I am a journalist; I write to you to show you. I am an incurable…and nothing else behaves like me. But I know what’s right, and I’m losing sight of the clues which I search and choose to abuse. To just unlock my mind, yeah, and just unlock my mind.

Now, for my own version.

I’m an entrepreneur, an athlete, a good Samaritan. An intellectual, an artist, a bleeding-heart liberal. A capitalist, a traveler, a scientist. A lover. A friend. A lifelong student. A recovered Realtor and mortgage broker. An optimist. A teacher. A passionate guy. An English major. A vegetarian who loves beef jerky and trout fishing. A wanderer. A leader. A teetotaler. A little bit psychic. A fighter (when the time and cause are right, and they rarely, rarely are). A total nerd who's not afraid to laugh at himself. A really fun guy. An extrovert who loves nothing more than time alone. An old-fashioned stand-up Midwestern small-town boy. A cynical hipster city kid. A progressive early adopter. A philosopher. A great listener. And a good dancer…for a white guy.

I like Wes Anderson movies. And the Cohen brothers. And Disney. Thomas Friedman, Jonathon Stroud, and Paulo Coelho. Building websites, writing essays on New Urbanism, and long-distance hiking. M.I.A., Astrud Gilberto, and Sonic Youth. I’m nearly financially free, though I filed bankruptcy in January (d*mned small business bankers forced me into it). I love technology, but I hate materialistic consumerism (I gotta stop buying more stuff!). And anyway, freedom is more important than wealth and renunciation combined. What’s a Saturday afternoon worth to you? What if everything fails us, can you still be happy? If not, can you even be happy if we fix the world’s ills? I’m shooting for yes. Yes to everything. I’ll take it all.

Do I contradict myself? Very well then. I contradict myself. (I am large. I contain multitudes.) The Dude abides.

Toning it back a little…here’s the real me:

I tried to be a music snob once, but I never could affect the right attitude. I like people too much to ever feel superior, so I gave it up. Now I’m hopelessly out of the loop, off on some wild and wonderful tangents.

Barack Obama is my hero. My inextinguishable optimism had begun to flicker over the past eight years...until our man came along and got elected. On a similar note, I got to meet Muhammad Yunus last summer. What a great year!

I recently joined the Peace Corps, but I don't leave until June 2010. Then grad school after that. I see life as swinging back and forth as a big pendulum, or several big pendulums, that swing back and forth over time. Rooted in a community for awhile, wandering the world for awhile after that. Educating yourself for awhile, applying what you’ve learned for awhile. Ambitious for awhile, lazy and resting for awhile. If life is change, and change is, by definition, upsetting a balance, then perhaps a good way to live a balanced life is to follow these big pendulums that our heart pushes this way and that. Or something like that.

Who am I looking for? I'm not sure I should say. We’re all too focused on results. As in, “I want THIS and I want it NOW. I’m not happy if it doesn’t show up exactly like I demanded.” Bah. Cliché as it sounds, I’m more interested in the journey than the destination. This applies to relationships too, people. If you’re not happy single, sooner or later you won’t be happy in a relationship either. So let’s go dancing or rock climbing a few times and see what happens and not worry too much about the rest just yet. Which, most women would be glad to know, often amounts to a preference for taking things a bit slow. I like to savor.

Hmmm...that's not quite right. Can't get what we want unless we ask for it, right? I've been on a number of dates recently, as has everyone else. I've realized that while there are plenty of wonderful--and beautiful--women out there, most aren't a great fit for a number of reasons. So, to get down to the nitty gritty here, and to save us both from an unsatisfying coffee date, I'm really looking for the following stuff:

A woman who...

1. is incredibly smart, and preferably highly-educated. At very least, well-read and cultured.

2. has a great sense of humor. If you're not funny, that's totally OK, but you've gotta laugh a lot, because life that's not fun just doesn't sound...well...fun.

3. likes to rock climb, mountain bike, ski/board, hike, go camping, and/or other outdoor sports.

4. likes road trips, international travel, vagabonding, et cetera.

5. is politically liberal.

6. likes to see indie rock shows and/or go out dancing a lot. Indie film is great too.

7. is not dogmatically religious.

8. reads. I mean every day. No TV addicts for this guy.

9. is not overly dramatic, nor a victim/martyr. See #2 above.

10. is a do-er. Up for anything at nearly any time.

11. is attractive, though that can mean a lot of different things.

That’s about it. Here's a convo starter for us: What’s one idea you believe that most people would think you were crazy if they knew?

*Bonus points if you know the three quotes above without looking them up. :)

Ancient Chinese secret. No tell, or secret is not secret. Ah, what the heck. Here are some possibilities: Bouldering in Morrison or at Rock'n & jam'n, Buffalo Exchange followed by dinner at City O City, a space show at the planetarium, L' Central, Disguises Costume Rentals, Casa Bonita (after dinner, of course), Bump and Grind's Petticoat Bruncheon on Sunday mornings, mountain biking anywhere, an indie show, picnic and rollerblading/frisbee in Wash Park, a reading at Tattered Cover, Brit pop dance night at La Rhumba, making General Tsao's tofu at home, Lakeside!, cruising around Home Depot buying materials for an art or gardening project of some sort (strangely a fun place to do that, believe it or not, but not on a first date, geesh!), Scrabble at a coffee shop, or just sitting around in a park or the patio drinking lemonade and watching sunset and talking about nothing at all.

Actually, those would be candidates for a second date. The first date really needs to be a coffee date.