The other night I'm sitting in Starbucks and a car pulls up and stops, right outside the window where I'm sitting with my coffee and my book.
It's a sporty little black thing with tinted windows, fancy wheels and a fine looking, mid-twenties kid behind the wheel.
In the passenger seat is pretty girl, looking very sullen. He opens the door, sits there with one leg out and proceeds to yell at her for at least 5 full minutes before he comes in to get their coffee. I can't tell from where I'm sitting if she's saying much back but I'm thinking....
here they are, young, beautiful, together, flush enough to afford absurdly expensive cappuccinos, living in the best part of the best country in the world and.... they're not happy.
No doubt there's a reason. Somebody said or did something that they shouldn't have or didn't do or say what they should have.
But still.... it really makes me wonder.... if they, can't be happy, what the hell chance do I have?
If all my years of experience are supposed to give me an edge, I wish to hell they'd start paying off.

About that 'does not want children' thing.... all I mean is that I have no interest in making babies.
I'm cool with kids as long as you've already got them and aren't looking to create more.

I read. Here's a few of the books I've read in the last while:
Fiction:
Fall On Your Knees, The Way The Crow Flies, Crow Lake, The Other Side of the Bridge, Inheritance of Loss, Vinegar Hill, Anil's Ghost, Kite Runner, Water for Elephants, Prodigal Summer (and a bunch of other B Kingsolver) all of Tom Robins' books, Friends of Meager Fortune, the Meaning of Night, the Historian, White Oleander, Complicated Kindness, Late nights on Air, Lovely Bones. the Namesake, The Pilot's Wife, Scold's Bridle, a Fine Balance, the Girls, Red Dog Red Dog, Testimony, Three Day Road, the White Tiger, Wetlands, the Retreat, the Wife's Tale.
Non-fiction:
Three Cups of Tea, In the Realm of Hungry Ghosts, Blink, Sex On the Brain, the Tipping Point, Social Intelligence, Our Inner Ape, Brain Rules, Varieties of Scientific Experience, Why People Believe Weird Things, Brain Sex, Emotional Intelligence, Freakenomics, the Popcorn Report, the Brain That Changes Itself, Tuesdays with Morrie, god is not Great, the God Delusion, the Female Brain, Thunderbolt Kid, A brief History of Nearly Everything (and lots of other Bill Bryson's) This is your Brain on Music, When the Body Says No, the End of Overeating, the $12 Million Dollar Stuffed Shark, Scattered Minds, the Link, Atheist Universe, In Defense of Food, 5 secrets you must learn before you die, the Hot Zone and What have you changed your mind about?

I cook, when I have someone to cook for.

I'd rather talk about relationships, how they start, how they stay together or come apart, and family and friendship etc. than idle small talk.

I like to laugh but who doesn't?
Will we laugh at the same things?
I like the Far Side, Herman, Gayhan Wilson, Robin WIlliams, George Carlen, Tim Minchin etc.

Something I won't do is pretend that I'm someone I'm not or try to lead you to believe that I'm interested in things that I'm not just so I can get close to you.

I try to avoid junk food but sometimes dark chocolate is unavoidable.

Profession.... I've done a lot of different things, (mostly legal).
I'm a cabinet maker by trade. (Yes, I can fix things.) Altho I still have my shop, I don't do much of that kind of work anymore.
These days I make my living with an art form of my own devise. It involves making little 'tiles' out of various coloured exotic hardwoods and mounting them on fabric to make large flexible wall hangings. Kind of like art quilts, but wood instead of cloth. I also do abstract paintings in acrylics.

I walk a lot to stay in shape and also just because I enjoy it.
I like the sound of rain on an umbrella.

I've traveled a fair bit. South & Central America, Europe and the Mediterranean. Worked on freighters out of Hamburg, Germany at one time.
I now make my home close to where I was born and am deeply grateful for the fact that it's one of the most beautiful, politically stable, civilized, clean and safe places on the planet. I have a very good life and feel no burning desire to 'get away from it all'. What I want is mostly right here.

Sometimes I play music and sing. Did it full time professionally for many years.
Guitar or bass. I listen to all kinds of music (yes, including country)
My all time favorite album is Famous Blue Raincoat by Jennifer Warnes.
I've recently recorded a CD of some of my favorite songs with the help of my friends.
It's kinda rough and home made sounding in spots but it's definitely me.

A lot of people seem to be terribly concerned that the first meeting not be referred to as a date.
Like... if you meet with someone, and it turns out you don't really like them,
you don't want to ever have to say that you dated them!
Or worse yet.... have them be able to say that they dated you! My God.... what would your friends think?

Okay.... just for you.... this can be called a first meeting.

Coffee's pretty safe, but we should probably go someplace where nobody knows you in case I turn out to be someone you wouldn't want to be seen with.
Or we can go to a bar if you need extra courage. But if you throw up in my truck afterward I'll be really ticked.
After that, I like to do the usual things like dinner, movies, art galleries, drives, walks, hikes, kayaking,
(shopping for shoes? :-)