Hey there, you--yes, you reading my profile right now. Are you sick and tired of reading personal ads that say things like, "I like having fun"? What did they leave out, that they like breathing, too? I promise that I won't bore you with such comments. Instead, I will bore you in other ways. Besides, breathing is overrated.

I am a gregarious autodidact who knows how to mingle at parties and isn't shy when it comes to meeting new people. I'm read on a number of subjects and make a great Trivial Pursuit partner--excepting, perhaps, most sports questions. (Curse you, orange pie wedge!) With my broad sense of humor, I'm sure to keep you laughing with me. In other words, I'm a geek and a nerd with social skills.

Admittedly, I am a bit of a media junkie. I listen to a great deal of music (of just about every genre, though I'm partial to indie rock and power-pop). I frequent small-venue rock shows often. I've been an Internet DJ (EJ? mp3J?), a published poet and an on-stage actor. There's always a book in my satchel and another on my night stand. I go through my Netflix queue like it's a race to consume the most movies (or past seasons of TV). I also enjoy stopping in to an art gallery, museum, record store or bookstore.

Despite my media interests, I am not a complete couch potato. I enjoy long walks in the city, hiking through woodland trails or on the dunes and biking. I try to keep myself in shape and eat healthy.

...Also, I like having fun. And breathing. Don't you?

Aside from the office-y, professional programmer stuff?

I attend indie music and power-pop shows. I have a history of playing both computer and PnP role playing games (color me a geek), though lately playing RPGs seems to be more history and less present. I write a webcomic (hint: it's my username + ".net"). I volunteer for various ChicagoCares.org programs. And, while I dream of being a published writer I tend to spend more time scribbling notes on world-making rather than actual story-crafting--but I'm having fun doing it and that's what matters, right? Right.

Conversational riffing, listening, debating without arguing, UI design, object architecture, writing, board games, card games, losing with a smile, winning gracefully, giving rub-downs, being tactful yet honest, punnery

It also appears that I'm quite the dab hand at shaping nouns into verbs, adjectives and/or adverbs to suit my needs.

Additionally, I'm very good at filling blank pages with verbiage when I don't have to write by hand. ...In other words, I tend to type. A lot.

If I'm to believe strangers off the street, I'd tell you it's my shaved head.

The first thing amusement park attendants notice is that I'm tall enough to ride this ride. But some of them check, anyway. I promise, I'm only short when compared to tall people. ...Or the national average.

Personally, I like to think the first thing people notice about me is my magnetic personality and winning smile. I'll let you be the judge of the first thing you notice, though.

The Books This Is Your Brain On Music (Daniel J. Levitin), King Rat (China Mieville), Neverwhere (Neil Gaiman), High Fidelity (Nick Hornby), Written on the Body (Jeanette Winterson), When Gravity Fails (George Alec Effinger), The Americanization of Benjamin Franklin (Gordon S. Wood), A Song of Ice and Fire (George R.R. Martin), the complete works of Lewis Carroll, all the Jasper Fforde books, just about anything by Chuck Klosterman

The Movies Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead, Strange Days, Suicide Kings, Casablanca, Duck Soup, Harvey, Garden State, The Dark Crystal, Labyrinth, The Great Muppet Caper (well, alright, any Muppet movie), Shallow Grave, I Heart Huckabees, City of Lost Children, American Psycho

The Music Sloan, The Beatles, The Dandy Warhols, Apples in Stereo, Scissor Sisters, OFFICE, ELO, Electric Six, Louis XIV, Guster, Regina Spektor, Norah Jones, Bumpus (back when Rachel Yamagata was a member), Fountains of Wayne, Richard Cheese, The Monkees, Wheatus, David Bowie ... http://www.last.fm/user/Attercap/

The Foods I like a great variety (I'll try anything twice), but I have a profound fondness for seafood (shellfish and mollusks are my faves, but I don't eschew fish), Irish pub grub, tapas and Hunan. I also make a mean vegan-friendly chili and nacho lasagne.

And Jerry Mathers as the Beaver (TV) Farscape, Firefly, Buffy, Angel, The Muppet Show, Coupling, Red Dwarf, Clerks: The Animated Series, Invader Zim, Doctor Who, House, Boston Legal

music, social activity, passion, computers (especially those with Internet connection), books, imagination/creativity

sex (I know, I know. Just about everyone lists this, but that doesn't make it any less true.), In Nomine, politics, faith and religious constructs, mythology, philosophy, my Netflix queue, comic books, those six things I could never do without, and you

If I'm not hanging out with friends (these days, often playing Rock Band), Friday nights are often the best night for me to try new things. Granted, friends and/or a beverage containing alcohol are often involved, but not always. And trying new things doesn't always necessitate going out. I'll happily admit it: sometimes I'm trying out a new book, computer game, DVD or recipe, as I do enjoy cooking.

Women Studies majors have labeled me as a "male lesbian." They didn't mean it in an Eddie Izzard way, either (I'm not a transvestite). Also, I've been called one who's "misanthropic, but in a cuddly way." Make of it what you will. I folded it up and made a swan. Which is odd, because 1) the words were not on paper and 2) I've not done any origami since I was in grade school.

1. You live in Chicago (or its surrounding Chicagolands) and are looking for someone to share conversation and/or adventures with. Preferably "and."

2. You like complete sentences with minimal-to-zero radically-abbreviated word substitutions (I promise, typing "you" does not take much more time than typing "u." You're on this site, you must have some time to waste.)

3. You do not "lol" your own statements, or keep it to a minimum. Only Eddie Murphy in his SNL heyday should be allowed to laugh at their own jokes that much. And even then, I'm not sure that it made his comedy stylings that much funnier.

4. You have an intent to meet physically. Messaging back and forth can be interesting and informative, but e-friends are best reserved for those who are great distances apart, and e-friends aren't really what I'm looking for right now. Local friends, OK. Long-distance? Only if you want to help start up a kickin' Rock Band 2 online band!