Interests

Art

In order to counterbalance the excessive rationality in my life, I turn to art of all sorts. Art is about capturing life, to be able to cage a shred of emotion and be able to look back upon it and know exactly what you felt the first time you saw or heard it. As an audience, I'm fond of museum exhibitions, concerts, and plays of all sorts. As an artist, photography and writing are my particular tools of choice.

Comic Books

My comic book collection currently spans about ten years and some thousand issues. I regularly collect somewhere on the order of twenty to thirty assorted regular titles and miniseries a month, although that number regularly changes. Currently, my favorite titles include The Spectre (DC), The Sandman (DC), John Byrne's Next Men (Dark Horse), Impulse (DC), and The Adventures of Buck Godot: Zap Gun for Hire (Palliard). Favorite authors include Neil Gaiman, John Ostrander, Alan Davis, and J.M. DeMatteis. Favorite artist is George Perez, although Phil Jiminez is a really close second.

Juggling

I was introduced to juggling my sophomore year of college and continued to do it once I discovered that I didn't actually suck at it. Three-ball patterns are my specialty (currently, I am working on mastering Mills Mess), although I have been known to juggle four balls. The other trick I do is a form of contact juggling with a clear plastic sphere, somewhat akin to the trick used by the Goblin King in the movie Labyrinth.

Music

I'll listen to (almost) anything. The current CDs at the top of my pile include Live : Selling the Drama, R.E.M.: Monster, Sarah McLachlan: Fumbling Towards Ecstacy, and John Mellencamp: Human Wheels. As a former New Yorker, I am morally obliged to listen to Billy Joel, and I enjoy novelty tunes by folks such as Tom Lehrer, Monty Python, and "Weird Al" Yankovic.

Photography

I've been doing this for about four years now. I worked as a photographer for my college paper (the Tartan) at Carnegie Mellon, and I currently work for the Technique at Georgia Tech. I have a Nikon 6006 with a couple of Quantaray zoom lenses (30-80/4-5.2, 70-200/4-5.2). If you don't mind 200K or so of inlined images, a small online gallery of my work can be found here.

Pinball

I probably waste more money on pinball than anything else with the possible exceptions of tuition, food, and comic books. I've made Payback Time on T2, Demolition Time on Demolition Man, Final Frontier on Star Trek: TNG, and most recently, Final Battle on The Shadow and Grand Finale on Theatre of Magic. I am still trying to Tour the Mansion on Addams Family and get Lost in the Zone on Twilight Zone. Of course, it might help if I knew where working versions of these machines were locally...

Science-fiction

I enjoy both the science-fiction and fantasy genres in just about all forms. Primarily, this means books -- my current favorite authors include Ray Bradbury, Stephen Donaldson, and Sheri S. Tepper -- but also extends to movies and television. As much as folks may ridicule me for it, I really liked the old Battlestar Galactica television series. I enjoyed most of the Star Trek movies, as well as the Star Wars trilogy. I also enjoy Star Trek: TNG, although I'm less fond of Deep Space Nine or Voyager. I've become quite fond of Babylon 5 and Sliders.

Silliness

I am a whole-hearted proponent of general wackiness. Some of my favorite forms include Animaniacs, Calvin and Hobbes, The Tick, The Simpsons, Monty Python, "Weird Al" Yankovic, Tom Lehrer, and Dr. Demento. If any doubt how truly silly I am, though, let it be known that I was the president of the KGB at Carnegie Mellon from '93 to '94.

Sports

I consider myself to be an average racquetball player, an intermediate volleyball player, and a just plain lousy tennis player. I am, however, always looking for games of the above (especially volleyball).

Writing

Writing is both a form of relaxation and catharsis. Most of my attempts at fiction to date have been abortive, so as of late I've tended to favor poetry. Mainly, I just like writing parodies of songs I know. Various samples of my work can be found here.

Miscellaneous stuff

I'm particularly fond of discovery, and tend to wander around the general locale that I happen to be in (mainly to see if something can be photographed). I'm particularly thrilled to be here in Atlanta, which has tons of stuff to see (not the least of which are the '96 Olympics). I am a devoted fan of The Maxx, Batman: The Animated Series, Gargoyles, Beakman's World, and My So-Called Life. I hang around online on MUD a lot, primarily Budapest (currently down) and Rainbow.

Life just wouldn't be fun without a huge list of memorable quotes.

Or entertaining links.

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Last update 7/18/95