About
I'm a current grad student at George Mason University. This website began as a class assignment but evolved into something more, and I hope the trend will continue whenever I have bits of free time to add more content. If you are on this site, you either know me, need to plagiarize some essays I did, or are seeing if I am a good candidate for a job. I'm a private person; Facebook/MySpace-free. This site was an exercise in coding and perserverance for me. (I did code almost everything from scratch. Sorry about the web non-compliance imperfections, but I'm wasn't glued to a GUI for this project. Having just begun learning html and css, I'm very proud of my anal-retentiveness. View the Page Source of the site to see why.) I wanted this site to provide just enough information on me while also presenting my more professional side. On this About page, however, I'm a little more relaxed than on other pages. (I'm using "a little more relaxed" in its strictest sense. I doubt I'd have a job if I truly let myself "shine." Double-standards are something, aren't they?)
Listed below are topics of interest to me and personal hobbies. At some time in the near future, I might even incorporate some of these interests into my career. Even the sharp shooting, maybe? Ha.
Science
One my best and earliest memories were of raising butterflies in first grade. Something about that stuck with me. I am driven to understand the hows and whys of phenomena, objects, and thoughts around me. Biology, astronomy, and geology particularly excite me. ScienceDaily is my daily rush of science news.
Cooking
It used to make me cry. I'd mess up and burn something, and would vow never to cook again. When I moved out on my own, eating out was so expensive that cheap necessity became the mother of invention for cooking. I'm getting pretty good. My favorites are Italian, Indian, Chinese, Vietnamese, Breakfast, and food that befits a pub. And I love baking...must be the science of active yeast. Food Network also has recipes I like to mess around with.
Sharp Shooting
I actually haven't gone skeet or clay pigeon shooting, but I would like to. In the first-person shooter games, I always try to get the sniper gun or shotgun. Screw the fancy ray guns. They just don't have the same feel. I have gone to shooting ranges and tried out various handguns and a shotgun. My aim was pretty good, but I don't really get a chance to practice much or improve on it. I'd feel pretty awkward being constantly around gigantic gun-wielding hulks.
Social Service
Yes, a true twist of irony after my last entry. I have been wanting to do Peace Corps service or Habitat for Humanity for awhile. Current circumstances would make that leap difficult and ill-timed, but it is still on my list of things to do. I think I need to lose myself, in a sense, and change my ideas of who I am and what makes me happy. I think that such an experience would prove fulfilling. I want to help others, but I also want to understand the world better.
Someone did suggest I try the Foreign Service, but I really don't know if I could say, with a straight face, that I approve of everything the administration does. Just some, but definitely not all. There's always the option to resign, so someone else with a different ethical standard could fill in anyway.
School
I keep ending up in school somehow. I lack the patience to teach well, but there's got to be a way to make a profit from going to school so much. I'm a life learner, for sure, and I'll be praying that Alzheimer's stays far, far away from me. Whatever career I have, it MUST have tons of variety and learning involved.
