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I was born in Rochester, Minnesota, the youngest of four boys. Though we quickly moved to Florida, I've always felt most at home in slightly chilly weather.
When not engaged in work I enjoy the nerd pastimes of video games and role-playing as well as the non-nerd pastimes of watching football, movies, partaking of live music (though not as often as I'd like), and playing games (particularly Mafia, Diplomacy, Monopoly, Trivial Pursuit, Apples to Apples, and The Settlers of Catan).
There is much more to say about my life, but for the sake of those who don't wish to know all the details, I've confined the biographical information to these pages:
- The Early Years (1982-1987)
- The Middling Years (1988-1995) [I keep meaning to find pictures every time I go home, but forget.]
- Time of Innocence (1996-2000)
- Time of Confidences (2000-2004)
- The Wonder Years (2004-Present) [pending my laziness]
Cynical Panda?
My online handle and frequent identifier. First off, the panda is sort of my spirit animal. These giant, deliberate beasts and I seem to share a worldview, a philosophy, and some even seem to think I resemble one physically. As for cynicism, I can only say that I am indeed a child of the 90's, when doubting everything truly became hip. Despite (or perhaps because of) my somewhat cynical nature, I greatly enjoy theme parks, believe in the power of education, allow myself to be amazed by children, and look for love — just as Wendy can choose to grow up, yet still believe in faeries.
You'll find I'm full of such contradictions.
"For thirty years people have been asking me how I reconcile X with Y! The truthful answer is that I don't. Everything about me is a contradiction and so is everything about everybody else. We are made out of oppositions; we live between two poles. There is a philistine and an aesthete in all of us, and a murderer and a saint. You don't reconcile the poles. You just recognize them."
— Orson Welles