Cats

I love them.  They are my favorite animal.  Sometimes I feel guilty when I feel more compassion for a cat and than a human being.  

Here is a picture of me with my cat, Dima.  Dima joined my family in August 2007.  He was my sister's cat before then, but she could no longer take care of him as she moved to a new place that had no room for an extra cat.  

Dima loves playing fetch with fuzzy balls, running into bags, spinning around in that red chair, and sleeping on my pillow.  I think he likes me as much as I like cats.

Skepticism

Since December 2007, my wife and I have been listening to podcasts of The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe.  These podcasts have helped me realize that I am an open-minded skeptic on most matters.  They have also reawakened my interest in the sciences, which I'd like to incorporate into my teaching.  My favorite book about skepticism is Carl Sagan's The Demon-Haunted World: Science as a Candle in the Dark.  I'm also a big fan of "Amazing" James Randi and Michael Shermer.  Listening to these podcasts and reading these authors have given me a great hope, and I look forward to a skeptical renaissance in the world.

Taoism 

In slight contrast to skepticism, I am very interested in the philosophy of Laozi and Zhuangzi.   I've picked up this philosophy/religion while in Korea, although Korea has a culture that prefers the opposing Chinese philosophy as dictated by Confucius.  I try my best to incorporate this into my life.  It is easier thought than done.

I am also interested in finding connections between the philosophy-religion of Taoism and other religions.  For example, I have found strong similarities between Islam and Taoism while reading The Heart of Islam by Seyyed Hossein Nasr.  I have also found similarities between the beliefs of the Quakers and those of the Taoists.  At the moment, these three religious philosophies interest me most.

 

Experimental and avant-garde art

My favorite art movement is Dada and all movements similar.  I'm also a fan of the happening of the 1960s.  I enjoy any art that makes me laugh.

In college, Jenevieve and I created our own art-expression group that ran along the same lines as Dada and the Happenings.  I only learned about these forms of art afterwards.  I like to create art that is spontaneous and not intended for sale.

Bowling and Badminton

I like to bowl, but I am far from being a professional.  Is bowling a sport?  If so, bowling is my favorite sport.  But I do not enjoy watching bowling on television.  As a spectator, I enjoy American football.  Not many people tackle me in bowling, so that plays a big factor in my love for it.  But there's a concept for you: tackle bowling. 

I go bowling as much as possible when I visit friends in the United States.  My highest score was recorded in Madison, WI at 193.  My average score is around 120.  I've bowled a few times in Russia and once in Korea.

After participating in a wild badminton game during a wedding reception in May 2008, my wife and I have been into badminton.  We always have a badminton set with us in the car, so we can play whenever we come across a good spot. 

American and British popular culture of 1967

I got into 1967 before Austin Powers made it popular for a while.  What I like most about the pop culture of 1967 is the music.  The Beatles' album "Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band" and the Monkees television shows drew me to the year when I was younger.  In college, I discovered a lot of rock and roll's best albums were published in that year.  I believe it was one of the rare times in pop music history when artists had a lot of freedom to experiment at the expense of their distributors.

Besides music, I like the art of the time.  1967 seems to me to be the last year of youthful optimism.  Ever since the awful events in 1968 like the Tet Offensive and political assassinations, American youths have become more jaded.  This is my opinion of course.  

I had a chance to major in history, and 1967 would have been my research project.  I perceive a connection between my life and that year.  Perhaps it's just an obsession.

Various genres of music

Besides music from 1967, I also enjoy alternative electronic music of today.  I don't mean the pulsing techno one hears at nightclubs or remixes of older pop songs.  The band Stereolab is probably the most popular of this genre, although I now prefer the British band Broadcast.

I also enjoy jazz, specifically Latin jazz.  In fact, I like a lot of Latin music except for contemporary Latin pop music.  On the topic of world music, I also enjoy Persian/Turkish music.  Aside from the language, I haven't fine-tuned my ear enough to distinguish between Persian and Turkish music.

My favorite classical music is Russian, another reason for me to appreciate where I lived last year.  I haven't explored Russian music fully, but my favorite composer is Modest Mussorgsky.  Of course, I also like Tchaikovsky, Rimsky-Korsakov, and Stravinsky to name a few more.

Other genres I highly enjoy: blues, progressive rock of the 1970s, experimental classical and avant-garde modern music, minimalist classical, and hard bop jazz.  Music is my only vice, an escape hatch from reality.  

"Music is, to me, proof of the existence of God." - Kurt Vonnegut, Jr.

Pacifism

Before coming to Russia, I read Leo Tolstoy's The Kingdom of God is Within You, and his message resounded clearly to me.  The message is very similar to that of Taoism.  The book also comforted me in my Christian beliefs which I haven't totally abandoned.  Tolstoy makes the very statement I needed for my reasons in not agreeing with most Christian pundits of our time.

I hate war.

World travel

I have lived in Japan, Korea, and Russia.  I have visited China and Turkey.  I am planning to visit Canada and Portugal within the next couple of years.  I would like to live somewhere on the Arabian peninsula next, but I wouldn't mind living elsewhere.  Now that I am working in the United States, it is about time that I explore my own country.  I have traveled more of Japan and Russia than the US.

The English language in all its forms

I have always been interested in the English language since I started school.  When I was young, grammar fascinated me.  Now it bores me.  When I was in high school and college, I love semantics and the playfulness of the language.  Nowadays I love its flexibility when non-native speaking countries adopt the language.  I believe in English as a world language, and I love to see the synthesis of English with other languages.  I'm not a language imperialist, so I hope what I'm seeing is the birth of a new hybrid language that is as flexible as our human nature.