Oh shit. There are interesting bits of just about everything. However, I'm mainly interested in things like: Social phenomena (including things like religion, pop culture, and bigotry), music (history, performance, and the way that it interacts with human culture), the effect of immortality on morals and belief systems, and the realistic and non-romanticized interpretation of history and historical figures.
More generally, I'll say math, physics, chemistry, biology, history, geology, architecture, short fiction, expository writing, science fiction, computers, maps, evolution, patterns, trends, games, Dungeons and Dragons (historically... I haven't played in years and years), Magic the Gathering (I DO play this though...*shame*), camping, riding my bike, walking, exploring rarely frequented rural and urban landscapes, FreeCycleSeattle, and beer.
I also play wicked bass and write a lot of music, although currently, instead of complete songs, most of it seems just to be cool riffing or some kind of exercise in strange timing or syncopation.
Lastly, I enjoy cooking quite a bit. Lately I've been doing these pan-fried vegetables that I really dig, like browned cauliflower with mushrooms and hunks 'o' garlic. I also tend to cook all-day pot roasts in a dutch oven while camping.
Music
Ambient, Metal, Drum and Bass, some Death and Thrash, random pop crap, Disney tunes, show tunes, TV themes, some classical and baroque stuff, and soundtracks. Specific examples, you say? Primus, Death by Stereo, Secede, Faith No More, Older Metallica, Al DiMeola, Patsy Cline, Weezer, Led Zeppelin, William Orbit, Segovia or Parkening on guitar (though any classical guitar player will do...it's the songs that I like), Liquid Tension Experiment, Meshuggah, Nevermore, Destiny's Child, Van Halen, and Zero 7.
Let's see. What am I listening to now? KEXP 90.3, which is one of the University of Washington stations. They're playing an Interpol song. But I don't listen to this too often. Today I listened to Mazzy Star, the Flaming Lips, Radiohead, Meshuggah, the Conan the Barbarian Soundtrack, Patsy Cline, and some Lounge Music compilation. Yesterday, I remember listening to Joe Satriani's "Surfing with the Alien" (flashback), Yngwie Malmsteen's "Soldier Withouth Faith" (flashback again), the Bend It Like Beckham Soundtrack, and a bunch of random MP3's including Secede, Iron Maiden, Miguel Migs, and the Dixie Chicks.
My music collection has something to disgust all but the most promiscuous of tastes... ;)
Movies
Blade Runner
Glengarry Glenn Ross
Jaws
Raising Arizona
Monty Python and The Holy Grail
The Life of Brian
The Meaning of Life
Planes, Trains, and Automobiles
Jesus Christ Superstar
Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon.
Airplane
Bend It Like Beckham
Lost in Translation
Television
I watch very little. I'm somewhere in between the anti-TV and the TV-obsessed. I own a TV, but don't have cable, so I only get a few channels clearly. That being said, I've been known to enjoy Seinfeld, Friends, Farscape, Dr. Who, Will and Grace, CSI: Miami, and a lot of really classless Sci-Fi or Fantasy other useless fictions, like Lexx or Strip Mall.
Books
The Great Mambo Chicken and the Transhuman Condition, Altered Carbon, Chaos, The Year's Best Science Fiction series (edited by Gardner Dozois), The Anubis Gates, On Stranger Tides, Dinner at Deviant's Palace, Love in the Time of Cholera, Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, The Demon Haunted World, The Joy of Mathematics, Secrets of the Great Pyramid, Eight Little Piggies, David Sedaris works, and the Love and Rockets comic book or graphic novel series.
Heroes
Having a couple of kids myself, I have a lot more respect for the average Joe dad guy now. It's a tough gig. And single parents of either gender deserve some applause. OK..they're not really HEROS in the sense that this field is looking for, but I can't think of anyone right now...(thinking again). . . . Hm.
Maybe I don't know what a hero is. Dictionary.com to the rescue. OK...it seems that two definitions are most relevant.
Hero--
In mythology and legend, a man, often of divine ancestry, who is endowed with great courage and strength, celebrated for his bold exploits, and favored by the gods.
A person noted for feats of courage or nobility of purpose, especially one who has risked or sacrificed his or her life.
I have a feeling that number 2 is what everyone else puts. Hm. I think Galileo was a bad-ass.
University Of Washington-Seattle Campus
Seattle,Washington
Graduated: 1995
Student status: Alumni
Degree: Bachelor's Degree
Major: English with Writing Emphasis
Clubs: I think I was technically the treasurer of a hiking club that my friend founded.
1990 to 1995
Mead Senior High School
Spokane,Washington
Graduated: 1990
Student status: Alumni
Degree: High School Diploma
Major: College Prep
Clubs: ZILCH
1988 to 1990
Parkview High School
Lilburn,Georgia
Graduated: N/A
Student status: Alumni
Degree: None
Clubs: ZILCH
1987 to 1988
Cape Hatteras Secondary
Buxton,North Carolina
Graduated: N/A
Degree: None
Clubs: I went to soccer practice once
What do I leave out? I've always been horrible at summaries. I was born a poor black child. I'm the oldest of three brothers. My parents moved a lot relative to most families, but not because we were military (as everyone asks), but because any given town couldn't accommodate more than one or two people doing the particular type of job that my dad did (and does). Oh yeah... I like parentheses... and ellipses...
I graduated from Mead High School in Spokane, Washington (after a year and a half of attending) and applied to several colleges. I planned on going to Whitman in Walla Wall until the last second, but I ended up at UW because they were more science oriented. Actually, maybe one of the clinchers for UW is that school didn't start that year until the beginning of October. In retrospect, since I ended up with a degree in English with Writing Emphasis, Whitman (a liberal arts college) may have been a better choice.
Anyhow, I went to college, graduated, got married, and am now separated. (Actually, technically we're not even separated yet. You know...legal paperwork,etc.) I have a couple of kids, aged 2 and 4 that I have half-time custody of. I live in West Seattle in a fairly large house by myself, except when I've got the kids.
Until November of 2004, I had long hair. It'd pretty much always been long, except during my later elementary school years, so getting it cut was kind of a major milestone. I'm quite pleased with the new hair. No more having it fall into my soup or spaghetti or having to shake it out of my face. It was a change I resisted for a long time.
Now, I'd like to qualify some of my answers to the basic info questions in the profile...
Marital Status: I'm separated, not divorced, but there was no option for that. Legally, I suppose I'm still married. Sure doesn't feel like it though.
Religion: I dislike the term "agnostic" because I don't think most people really know what it means. That being said, the 2nd definition on dictionary.com seems to fit. It is "one who is doubtful or noncommittal about something."
Smoke/Drink: I smoked quite a bit for quite a while. One to two packs per day for about 12 years I think. I quite on March 5th, 2001. I dearly miss it, to this day. Especially on nice hot summer mornings when the air is clear and fresh, for reasons I don't understand. I'm glad I quit, because -- and this is the harsh truth of smoking -- barring some other accident or suicide, it will almost surely kill you, and the final years are not good ones. As for drinking, I drink a fair amount. Probably more than most people who say they drink. I'm extremely fond of beer.
Children: As I noted above, I've got a couple of kids. The qualifier I didn't like here was "proud". It seemed assuming. Why not just "yes," or a number drop-down? Am I proud of myself for being a parent, or proud of the children? If one of my choices in gender was "Proud Man," that would seems little weird, wouldn't it? Just too confusing.
I suppose I also might as well touch on things that kinda irk me:
People that claim to be weird. In my experience, people who claim to be weird are really anything but. It's like their wish or something. Many people think that I'm rather weird, but I have to outwardly disagree with them unless I want to violate my own rule here... ;)
People whose behavior varies radically depending on the group they're hanging out with. This does NOT extend into the realm of simple politeness. For example, despite the fact that I tend to swear quite a bit, the fact that I don't swear around customers or to strangers does not count.
People who are exude fake happiness or sympathy. I find it quite unnerving and I just can't react in kind. Again, some common exceptions don't count, like the fact that if I'm bummed out on the day of a job interview, I act upbeat for the interview anyhow.
The I love hip-hop and partying all the time and constant sex and MTV Spring Break as real life. I just can't keep up with that shit, and don't think it genuinely exists beyond the pop media or those that emulate it.
The only other thing that I'd like to express is the fear that the reader may regard me as too skeptical; too much of a downer. This really isn't the case. I'm generally quite cheerful and probably easier to get along with than almost anyone you'll ever know (unless you're in one of the irking categories above, but even then, you'd be suprised). I'm a super-tolerant, smart, deep-thinking, connection-finding, and genuinely nice person who believes that almost all moral dilemmas can be solved by an application of the Golden Rule. I'm not the bubbliest guy around, but that's because I'd hate myself if I were.
If you want to find out some more about me, check out my dinky personal web site at http://members.w-link.net/~kunkel/. Among other things, there are additional pictures, and links to Crooked Worm, a band I used to be in with my brother Joe and a guy named Roo (now in Protomasons, listed below as one of my friends). There are some MP3s that you should download. Now.
So, there you have the thumbnail sketch. If this isn't like everything else that I leave half-completed, I'll make regular updates. Don't count on it though... ;)
Who I'd like to meet:
What's this field? Is this purposefully vague? Am I supposed to put someone like "Einstein" here, or something like "20-40 year old totally hot, totally smart, and totally into me girl"? I'll leave it blank (well, except for this) for now...
this does not count, because it comes off as being forced and contrived, perhaps under the influence of direct pressure--which, i suppose it was...But you have to try harder to give some semblance of interest. I don't care if it's false.If you end up earning a decent salary with your minimal education then I will cry and cry and cry.
1. You need to update your page or get rid of it 2. Do you know any parties that you will be attending soon 3. I think you have been sucked into a black hole 4. something else, but if forgot 5. oh, and i really want to hang out w/ your friend Kristen, because she is so funny, etc.--so, if you have any methods of propogating the means? me
