Male

39

It is all about my family and friends. The rest is gravy.

Random personal observation: I am convinced, by personal experience and close observation that, on the whole, women are not only a little, but in point of undeniable fact, FAR better than men. Indeed, so much so that, despite being raised Catholic, now when I conceptualize God (who, by the way, joyfully gifts us each with the right to celebrate our inherent spirituality in absolutely any way we sincerely believe right), I choose to think of that undefinable force as Mother God, a female, creative, force. I prefer the mother metaphor to the paternal option depicted in the Bible.

I have built latrines in a remote mountain village in the high mountains of Ecuador, living for weeks in a cramped adobe shack with no running water or electricity. I was also a practicing civil trial lawyer for eight years. But, although very good at it, it corrupted me, making me both cynical and a bad person, as I define it.

The end of my legal career coincided with my wife's deportation, our eventual divorce, and a significant health crisis for me, sprinkled in for good measure. I am very blessed that part of my life is ancient history. It took a great deal of humility, introspection and perserverence to get past those hurdles.

Since then I have been thirsty for new experiences: after my close-call with perpetual corporate zombie-life limbo, I have helped write textbooks on real estate law, taught real estate law to putative real estate licensees, helped run a residential language summer camp in Galicia, Spain, sold specialized communications software, learned to be a mason and chimney sweep, started a self-defense company with a friend, gone to Burning Man (and loved it), and learned to be a better friend and person all over again.

But the following sums me up best: I try my best, fail often, but keep on trying. I am affectionate, loving, generous, quick to forgive and very brave. Children and animals adore me. I want people to be happy, love gifting smiles, cry at injustice, aggressively confront bullies and effortlessly speak my mind . . . (thus stepping my proverbial foot in it often).

Yet I delight profoundly in beauty and tranquility.