Always learning, always changing, always evolving, always trying to take two more steps forward for every introspective look back over my shoulder and never regretting anything I can find a lesson in. More or less how i try to live (though sometimes I have to remind myself of that philosophy a little more loudly than others).

I'm greatly attracted to and by passionate people. Artists like Toulouse-Lautrec, Alphonse Mucha, and Odilon Redon, poets like Charles Baudelaire, Alan Ginsberg, and Sappho (yes, she's one of my absolute favorites), and musicians like Siouxsie Sioux, Tom Waits, and Leadbelly all exemplify that indescribable, undefinable, know it when you see/read/hear/feel it kind of passion that draws me in. The same thing drives me to the neighborhood local rather than the corner Starbucks, makes me buy most of my books from used bookstores for the romance of it, and sometimes causes a feeling of being out of my place and time (if ever I had one).

I'm a nerd unabashed. I have hobbies you've probably never heard of but shouldn't be afraid to ask about. Children frighten, astound, amuse, and confuse me and I'm not sure I'll ever be ready for my own (that said, I aim to be a kick-a** uncle). I've had a secure straight job for more than three years that occasionally even manages to be fulfilling on its good days. I may have moved back to the house I grew up in because I'm close to my family, extended and immediate and stayed because it started to disintegrate a bit, but I'm simultaneously self sufficient. Using "U" and "R" as words, poor spelling, messages that simply read "Hi, how are you," and profiles that amount to "If you want to know, just ask," are more irritating than chewing tin foil (try it, you'll see what I mean) and are a pretty good indicator that I won't be getting back to you.

Poet. Nerd. Art fiend. Nouveau Bohemian. Heart on his sleeve wearing foolish romantic. Like no one you know or have ever met. Maybe like someone you always wanted to.

Have a drink. Learn to dance. Visit a graveyard and explore the art of the tombstone. Compare music collections and personal libraries, fancy beers and the best thing you ever ate (or the worst thing you were ever afraid to). Have a story worth telling tomorrow.