James' Corner of the World

So, wondering who I am, what I like, what I don't like, what I look like? Alright, you nosy people, but don't say I didn't warn you. ;)

First Name:	James
Age:	26
Eyes:	Brown (w/ Glasses or Contacts)
Hair:	Short brown hair, often shaved.
Facial Hair:	Mustache and goatee.
Height:	5' 08" (1.73 m)
Weight:	160 lbs. (72.6 kg)
Photos:	Dec 2003
Voice:	2000
Current Location:	Northwest Pennsylvania
Preferred Clothes:	T-shirt, jeans, combat boots, long coat.
Favorite Season:	Winter (I love snow).

Physical Interests:	Hiking, camping, swimming, atlatl throwing, melee weapons (swords, staves, spears).
Physical Aversions:	Running/jogging, most team sports (baseball, football, basketball, etc.), firearms, excessive humid heat.
Mental Interests:	Reading, writing, role-playing (console/pc, freeform), drawing, graphics/3D design, web design, conversation.
Mental Aversions:	Complex mathematics, history.
Spiritual Interests:	Paganism, Taoism, Psionic/Psychic phenomena, Healing.
Spiritual Aversions:	Christianity/Satanism, any religion that deems itself the "one, only, true faith", organized religion in general.
Musical Interests:	New-Age, some 80's music, some Pop (90's, 00's)
Musical Aversions:	Rap, Hard Rock, Country, Grunge, "Fad music", anything that's loud, obnoxious, and/or whiney.
Social Interests:	Etiquette, Sincerity, Honor, Wisdom
Social Aversions:	Prejudice, Aggression, Attitude, Foolishness
Focus on Self:	Mental, Spiritual, Social
Focus on Others:	Mental, Physical, Spiritual

I currently live a couple miles from a small town in a forest region in northwestern Pennsylvania. It's a nice place, but I think I'd like it better if I didn't live next to a main road, or near a lumber mill. Still, when it snows here, it tends to snow heavy, which is something I absolutely love. The cold, calm, clarity of a winter night, a foot of snow on the ground, is bliss. No cars, no insects, no animals, no people. Just the wind.

As much as I like melee weapons, I'm not very well-suited to using them. I don't have a great deal of strength or stamina. I wish I did, I just don't have the willpower to make myself excersize. :P That, and a stupid skin condition that annoys me...

Whenever I get too warm, my upper body (usually my shoulders, chest, upper arms, neck, and scalp) gets horribly itchy, sometimes to the point of pain. It's like something is triggering all the pain nerves, crawling around at random until I cool down enough that it stops. The strange thing is, heat and excersize aren't the only things that trigger it. Sometimes "stress reactions" do it too (i.e. I have to react quickly to something, such as a glass I bumped and need to stop from spilling over). I'm not sure if it's an allergy or what, but it tends to hamper a lot of physical activity.

As such, I prefer to focus on my mental abilities. I'm generally creative (when inspired--sometimes not an easy thing!), and prefer drawing and graphical art, as well as writing. I do freeform role-playing on IRC, and have some books I'm working on (but are far from finished, as I tend to lose interest in them after I've gotten so far). I'm almost always at my computer, either working on some project or another, playing games, or fooling around on the internet.

My spiritual interests could be considered a bit "odd" by some, but I could care less what others think when it comes to my own preferences. No one has the right to dictate what I or anyone else should be thinking or believing in, be it through force or through threats of damnation. One's faith can only be determined by what you feel is right, deep down in the core of your being. To condemn or to harm others, simply because what they believe is not what you believe, is closed-minded foolishness.

My primary interests are concerned with Balance. I don't worship a god or goddess per se, but rather, I believe in a natural force that pervades all living (and perhaps non-living) things. I tend to call this force "Gaia". I believe there was a theory around this, but I've since forgotten it...

Some may raise an eyebrow or two over the fact that I've grouped Christianity and Satanism together, but if you really think about it, it makes sense. Satanism is a Christian concept, and cannot exist without Christianity. So, too, Christianity cannot exist without the concept of Satanism. After all, how can a religion determine how to remain Good without an example of Evil to stand clear of? Whether or not one is willing to admit and accept this, the two religious concepts are intertwined.

Regardless, neither religion appeals to me, and followers of both faiths have done so much grevious harm to the world (again, whether or not they are willing to admit and accept this), that I completely reject it. It may also be a bit of anti-social tendancies kicking in--I'm not one to nod my head and agree with whatever other people say, just so I can fit in. I'm my own person, with my own dreams and desires, my own weaknesses and rages. Nothing will shake that.

Musical side-note for those who aren't sure what I mean, I consider groups such as N'Sync and the Back Street Boys to be "Fad Music". Typically, any group that illicits screaming fangirls falls into this category. It borders a bit on making music to fit a niche for the sole purpose of making money, and I don't believe art (and music IS a form of art...in most cases) should be manipulated in this way.

Not really relevant to who I am, one thing I do well enough is tinkering with computers. Thus, here's my current PC's specs, as well as what I had upgraded from (believe me, it took oodles of patience).

It runs all programs quite well, with two exceptions. Palace, because that program is an inefficient memory hog, and Morrowind, because that game is extremely high-end. I have to close down all programs, defrag, make sure only Explorer is running, and then I can only manage 10 to 40 FPS average. :P