-- Culinary Arts
-- Wine
-- Guitar
-- Photography
-- Activism
-- destroying the forces of evil with the forces of funk
Music
Jump, Little Children
-- Over the Rhine
-- Sondre Lerche
-- Elliot Smith
-- The Black Crowes
-- Indigo Girls
-- Harry Connick, Jr
-- Ryan Adams
-- The Roots
-- Jamiroquai
-- Madeleine Peyroux
-- Bill Carson and His Checkered Past
-- Guster
-- My Chemical Romance
-- Air
-- Morcheeba
-- Portishead
-- Massive Attack
-- Martin Sexton
-- Erykah Badu
-- Joe Pass
-- Tori Amos
-- Gipsy Kings
-- Al DiMeola
-- U2
-- Belcea Quartet.
Movies
The Shawshank Redemption
-- Adaptation
-- Legends of the Fall
-- A River Runs Through It
-- Pulp Fiction
-- El Mariachi
-- Desperado
-- Amelie
-- Chocolat
-- Snatch
-- Lock Stock and Two Smoking Barrels
-- Rounders
-- Red Dragon
-- 25th Hour
-- Y Tu Mama Tambien
-- The Fisher King
-- Good Will Hunting
-- Charade
-- The Spanish Appartment
-- Full Frontal
-- Love and a .45
-- Waking Ned Devine
The Plague (Camus)
-- Le Petit Prince (Sainte Exupery)
-- Fear and Trembling (Kierkegaard)
-- Jude the Obsure (Hardy)
-- Narcissus and Goldmund (Hesse)
-- Steppenwolfe (Hesse)
-- Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man (Joyce)
-- Catcher in the Rye (Salinger)
-- Brothers K (Duncan)
-- Middlesex (Eugenides)
About me: I like to fill in the "about me" and "who i'd like to meet" sections with quasi-sophisticated passages from uncited authors. I don't know why.
I am fiercely proud of my heritage.
I love my family. You should never cross my family.
I have few friends, but I'd do pretty much anything for the ones I have. It's just so much more rewarding to have a handful of really, really close friends than a truckload of shallow acquaintances.
If I eat an orange, I have to get the peel off in one piece. It drives me crazy otherwise.
I think the accordion is a vastly underappreciated instrument.
I hate being cold. I don't use the word hate lightly, either. If I had to choose between a week where I starved to death in the Sahara, or 3 minutes dying of hypothermia in the North Atlantic, I'd take the desert everytime.
I love pleasant smells. Really. Viewing the Mona Lisa or smelling fresh-baked brownies are about on par for me in terms of the significance of the experience.
I read a lot. A LOT.
This is one of the most beautiful things I've ever seen:
Fine dining is a wonderful experience, but nearly every unforgettable meal of my life has involved a hastily packed/planned picnic, a bottle of good wine, and the company of one or two good friends. Tavern on the Green is nice, but I'll take my little meadow in Brugges anytime.
I cannot live away from the ocean. I considered moving to Austin once, and the single main factor that kept me from doing it was proximity (or lack of it) to the beach.
I have inexorable wanderlust. I cannot stay put for very long, and I feel restless whenever I do. I've been to 8 countries in less than 7 years.
I can memorize anything. Really. I memorized the sermon on the mount in 4 hours once.
I know several people I'd die for, but I won't live for anyone.
I've had malaria.
I have an outstanding arrest warrant in South Korea.
I didn't kiss a girl until I was 18.
I hate it when people say "I'm starving" when they mean "I'm hungry." Those people have never seen a starving person.
I cannot eat food that is neon-colored. If there's a god, I don't think he intended us to ingest liquids the color of Windex, or food that could glow in the dark.
I crack my knuckles a lot. It's a terrible habit.
I like over-thought, pretentious fiction: Camus, Satre, Hesse, etc.
I like my living space to be dimly lit. I cannot tolerate oppresively bright artificial lighting. I love sunny days, but 120 watt bulbs should be bansihed from existence.
Starry nights still fascinate me as much as they did when I was 5.
I love trivia games. I will absolutely destroy you in Trivial Pursuit.
I cannot whistle.
I am much stronger than most people think.
All of my hair is red...except my eyebrows. They are dark. God's little joke I guess.
I sing in my car like you would not believe.
I was a pretty serious kleptomaniac in high school.
I seriously think the medical community should classify people who don't love chocolate as mentally unsound.
I had 2 pet hamsters growing up. They both died in less than a year. I have never given pets another chance.
I can balance a broomstick on my pinky finger for an indefinite period of time.
I'm proud of my Irish roots, and yet I've never felt an overwhelming urge to visit Ireland.
I think people shouldn't be allowed to declare a major in college until they're 25. No one knows what they want when they're 18.
I love it when people are good at what they do.
I can run really fast.
I once learned "The Rainbow Connection" on guitar, and have never forgotten it. I have forgotten so much music, but for some reason, that song is stuck with me forever.
I am not patient.
I love French Film. In fact, I love most things French...which makes my almost comprehensive ignorance of the French language somewhat of a mystery.
I tend to fall fast and hard for people; luckily, I've been equipped with one of the world's most durable hearts.
I still find magicians wildly entertaining.
Rich people typically annoy me.
I love sushi. All kinds.
I cannot be made to understand the popularity of capri pants.
I love kung fu movies.
I am fiercely opposed to capital punishment.
I think Edna St. Vincent Millay is America's most unheralded treasure.
I love flip-flops. If I lived in the tropics, I doubt I'd own a pair of socks.
I wish I'd taken piano lessons as a kid.
I have 20/18 vision. Everyone else in my family has a vision defect.
I think Ken Jennings should run for president.
If you can beat me at Scrabble, I will mostly likely respect you for life.
I think New York City is overrated.
My trust is easily earned, but impossible to regain if lost.
I think that due to our lack of compulsory military service, everyone in the U.S. should have to work at least 6 months in the service industry. Waiter, cab driver, concierge, whatever. The asshole population would drop overnight.
I think that if it weren't for beautiful women, 99% of the world's great music would've never been written.
I love Belgian beer.
I have a birthmark on my right leg that looks like the head of a Smurf. I do not know the significance of this.
I give incredibly good back-rubs.
I am a fantastic cook.
I hate G.Bush as much as anyone, but don't believe that any President in my lifetime will accomplish anything truly noteworthy or revolutionary. The 2 party system is just destined for stagnation.
I love fishing more than just about anything else in life.
I am inexcusably vain.
Nobody makes better mixtapes than I do.
The word "balls," if used in the right context, will still make me laugh like I was 12.
It is of the utmost futility to challenge me in mini-golf.
I like to garden.
I can tend to be chatty when talking about myself.
jame$, you are an inspiration to us all. funny, DEVESTATINGLY handsome, generous, and probably the smartest, most insightful person we know. truly, you rock it the most.
thanks for the nice compliment....and no, he won't beat ya up. He appreciates it. ;-) How's Life treating ya? Seattle is rainy....stormy.....but it smells so fresh.
holy crap, i can't believe it's been that long... wow.. old... when i saw you on here, the first thing that came to mind was your stand-up comedy routine at the talent show when we were in 5th grade. doubt i'll make it down for the big 1-0, but keep in touch-- and let me know if you ever have plans to pass through DC.
sounds like your journey- continues to move. good luck! I see that you are a wine director nice...my wife loves the good wine. i "not so much!" hahah... hey if you ever in florida let me know and we can smoke cloves and have beers! hahah
