I'm rearranging this mess, by request. Declarative stuff first, then the . . . stuff.

I am a writer and was a non-profit and training professional. I'm in my last ditch job pushing Federal paper around, and I'm grateful to have it. I'm a published poet and storyteller, into Chinese martial arts, a wise guy who wants to entertain and make others feel cozy and welcome.

My philosophy? How about this from Walt Whitman:

This is what you shall do: Love the earth and sun and the animals, despise riches, give alms to every one that asks, stand up for the stupid and crazy, devote your income and labor to others, hate tyrants, argue not concerning God, have patience and indulgence toward the people, take off your hat to nothing known or unknown, or to any man or number of men, go freely with powerful uneducated persons, and with the young, and with the mothers of families, re-examine all you have been told in school or church or in any book, and dismiss whatever insults your own soul; and your very flesh shall be a great poem.

One more quote, which - no kidding! - I put in my senior yearbook profile in high school and which still defines me to me as well as anything else.

All that i say is by way of discourse; nothing by way of advice. I should not speak so boldly if it were my due to be believed!
-Michel Eyquem de Montaigne (1533 – 1592)

I hope to meet a woman of cheerful courage, ready to explore, discover, and take one little chance after another. We will encourage each other, praise each other, tease each other, challenge each other, and give each other slack, sweet slack. Please put art above sentiment, science above superstition, and passion above the predictable. You may not ride every rollercoaster, but you won't pass up the biggest and meanest one. And when I am the butt of my own joke, as I usually am, you'll laugh open mouthed.

I lost a bet, so here's a hiphop lyric off the top:

I gonna say yes! before I say no.
I gonna say stay! more than I say go.
I gonna sing loud! more than I jump proud.
I gonna rock you! ain't gonna knock you.

You say, "But I'm that! and lookit, you're this.
"I never thought of you, I wanted some other."
You drop the bad boys who seem to need a mother
and you wonder where the hero is, a hero's kiss.

I gonna say yes! before I say no.
I gonna say stay! more than I say go.
I gonna sing loud! more than I jump proud.
I gonna rock you! ain't gonna knock you.

My shop's around the corner. The shelves are all delight.
What tears a heart repairs a heart - you can have it by tonight.
I'm a pirate and a thug for your sweetest tendernesses.
I am hunger for your hunger and a balm for your distresses.

I gonna say yes! before I say no.
I gonna say stay! more than I say go.
I gonna sing loud! more than I jump proud.
I gonna rock you! ain't gonna knock you.

What we want and cannot find is what we do not know.
Our near-misses, sharp near-blisses, ought to tell us so.
An unknown, unwished, unmade hero, strange in every way,
is our best hope of unleashing darkest love, reckless play.

You oughta say yes! No canna say no.
You gonna want stay! No gonna let go.
We gonna sing loud! We gonna jump proud.
I gonna rock you! And unlock you.

~**~***~~***~**~**~***~~***~**~**~***~~***~**~**~***~~***~**~

I know, I know. Can you forgive me?

If nothing else, tell me what you think of that mess. You can keep in mind I'm sharing the first and only draft with you. Or you can tear it up rough. I'll get along with you regardless.

For that matter, anything at all you want to do that "isn't you," any conversation you want to have and can't just now, really, anywhere you want to go, if nothing else, I will go there with you. You deserve to know your own dark corners.

Something new to spark up the place. Something old, really.

W.B. Yeats - When You Are Old and Grey

When you are old and grey and full of sleep,
And nodding by the fire, take down this book,
And slowly read, and dream of the soft look
Your eyes had once, and of their shadows deep;

How many loved your moments of glad grace,
And loved your beauty with love false or true,
But one man loved the pilgrim soul in you,
And loved the sorrows of your changing face;

And bending down beside the glowing bars,
Murmur, a little sadly, how Love fled
And paced upon the mountains overhead
And hid his face amid a crowd of stars.

I "found" a short poem in one of my notebooks. I had thought of it as a fragment to build on, or maybe the usual brainfart. But now I like it just as it is. Maybe it's too personal to really succeed, but today I like it.

This Be The Couplet

I am made of episodes of joy
I break and take apart, toy by toy!

*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*

I've borrowed the following from Looking2007 because I think it's about perfect and despite how scary she may very well be:

Sometimes I favorite you because you are HOT. Sometimes I favorite you because I think we have things in common. Sometimes I favorite you because you have something really neat to say in the forums. Sometimes I favorite you because you would absolutely hate reading my profile. Sometimes I favorite you because even though I am the opposite of what you want, I might be just what you need.

I'm also shieldvulf on the YaWho thing and at gmail. If you come find me, I'll think you're so cool!

Or how's this? Since you were interested enough to read all this or smart enough to skip to the end, all you have to do is let me see you visit me twice and I'll write to you. Easy Peasy!

Good food, good talk, and a little performance art; either an opera at the Lyric, or me at a miniature golf course. Either way, subtitles will be available.

I'm not even going to think about the audition. Sure, we'll meet for an hour and then decide. Nothing creative there. Just a cold call with hot coffee.

But THEN! I break out the sousaphone!
+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Lemme say that plainly. LOTS of folks are dodging this question by describing the first MEETING, the brief, public sizing-up of one another. That's not the first date. The first date is what you do the next time. Or, I suppose, right after the sizing-up, if you're the impatient, impulsive sort.