pibster

Howdy All,

So, a little about me and the kinds of things that float my boat. I love all things wacky and weird, including odd postcards, foreign sayings, bad translations, goofy stickers, cool stationery, vintage greeting cards, Japanese weird stuff, pretty much whatever. If it's a little offbeat or it's a lot creative, I'm going to love it for sure. Things that I can turn into stickers are Extra Bonus - images, ephemera, stray boardgame cards, little pieces of this or that, whatever.

Background: I'm a professor at a small college, I love to decorate my students' papers with tons of stickers, both store-bought and self-made. I play electric guitar (and love guitar-related stuff.) I have an irrational and enduring crush on Jimmy Page (hence my avatar) but I like a ton of different music, not just classic rock. I'm always interested in what's new and interesting out there, music-wise. Feel free to school me! I would love to hear any recommendations from you! Oh, and I also like weird trivia about almost anything. If you have any, please feel free to share!

I live with my sweetie, Kevin (married, actually - I just like the word sweetie better.) He's a professor as well - chair of the photography department at his college. Fine art photography is a big part of our lives and naturally, we love it. Both of us photograph and we love art of all kinds.

I have a kitty named Sammy, who's a big ol' love muffin and lives to sit on my lap.

I also have a stepson whom I adore. He's a nurse in a burn unit, but he floats around to Trauma and other ICUs as well. He's a wonderful, wonderful guy - clearly he takes after his lovely father!

Hope this helps - I'm pretty open-minded and receptive to whatever comes my way - that's part of what makes this whole thing so much fun. :)

Thanks!

Okay, so as I'm looking around, I see a lot of folks have included information on the kinds of books, music and movies they enjoy. So, in the spirit of that, here goes:

Well, clearly I love me some Zep, but I listen to a wide range of things. I love Miles Davis' "Kinda Blue" on a rainy Sunday afternoon. I like a lot of post-rock stuff like Sigur Ros, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, This is Your Captain Speaking, etc. I dig 80's Manchester stuff and music from the older 4AD catalog, like The Stone Roses, The Cocteau Twins, Dead Can Dance, Ultra Vivid Scene, Mercury Rev, Wolfgang Press, This Mortal Coil, etc. I like newer indie stuff as well: Wye Oak, Florence and The Machine, The Black Keyes, Arcade Fire, Mumford and Sons, Modest Mouse, The Civil Wars, Iron and Wine, etc. I adore Stax Records early '70's R&B. I love Chopin Etudes and Schubert sonatas. I love Vivaldi's "Four Seasons," but only the version with Stokowsky conducting - I'm a bit picky about my classical music. I sometimes like a little opera here and there. Classic rock still rocks my world: The Beatles, The Stones, The Who, The Doors, Cream, Hendrix, etc. Honestly, I'm all over the map. One thing is certain: I never, ever, ever get tired of listening to Pink Floyd's "Dark Side of the Moon."

I tend to be pretty eclectic here as well. I read a lot of non-fiction, especially on brain research, positive psychology, books by Oliver Sacks, etc. But honestly, almost anything can catch my interest, from mountaineering stories to history books to memoirs. I read a lot of fiction as well and that's just as varied. It can be anything from the children's "Mrs. Piggle-Wiggle" series to "The Brothers Karamazov." I typically don't read a lot of best-sellers, but I'm certainly not averse to picking up a John Grisham novel someone's left behind in a vacation house and diving right into it. I'm not snobby about books at all. If it's a good read, I'm in! Probably if anyone looked at my bookshelf on any given day, they'd think about 10 different people lived in my house.

Hmmmm, I think this may the same story as the other categories - this really varies as well. I love Christopher Guest mockumentaries. I also love real documentaries - those are probably what I watch most often. Classic movies are great, including silent films. I've seen every film on the AFI's 100 best movies of the 20th century and I liked nearly all of them (although "The Silence of the Lambs" kinda freaked me out a little bit and "Birth of a Nation" was disturbing in other ways.) It's actually been awhile since I've seen a movie - I work a lot even when I'm not at work. I like my job. :)

When I do get some free time, I generally like to do things like read, surf the Internet, watch The Daily Show and Colbert online, listen to music, hang with my sweetie, go for walks, chat with friends, play my guitar or just generally mess about. :)