I'm a Buddhist.  Last summer I stayed at a Buddhist monastery for two weeks and was very taken by it, I plan on going back this summer.
On the same trip I spent time in San Francisco and Oregon.  I loved both quite a bit.
I dislike consumerism and commercialis​m.
I'm vegetarian and would like to eventually become a vegan.
I don't drink or smoke or do drugs, and I don't particularly​ like peircings or tattoos.  Funky hair styles are cool, but I don't have one.
I tend to think of myself as a Green, though I'm not personally involved in any activism (yet).
I'm deathly afraid we're going to get another gung-ho Republican in the white house, ready to invade Iran or some other insane thing the minute he takes office.
I thoroughly enjoy food (and on occasion cooking), and its often what I'll end up talking about if you don't guide the conversation​ elsewheres.
I am against abortion *gasp* you say? a pro-life liberal?  The short answer is yes, although I realize that abortion is an issue that is more complex than a simple "yes"​ or "no."​
I make it a point not to debate my beliefs over the internet with people I barely know, I'll spare you the joke about the special olympics.  I ask that at least you accept me and my values, and at most try to understand them.  Naturally I'll do my best to do the same in return.
I feel more and more lately that people in the world are seeking constantly to better their material state even as they starve themselves spiritually.​  Myself included, but I'm getting better.  I wouldn't have been capable of thinking that a year ago.
I like to think of myself as a sort of modern day hippie, only without the drugs and sexual deviancy.  Don't worry, I bathe daily.  I tend to ramble, so sorry if that bored you.  I think if it bored you you stopped reading  before you got this far, if not, then what were you thinking!  Go do something that isn't boring!
I want to make promoting goodness in the world my mission in life, though I don't yet have the wisdom to know the best way to do that.  Maybe you do?

I just got accepted to Oregon State University and I'll be transferring​ there in September, so it would be neat to meet people from Oregon.

Buddhism, vegetarianis​m, fair-trade, reading, coffee, tea, foreign foods, foreign music, the ocean, mountains

Flogging Molly, The Warsaw Village Band, Regina Spektor, Wolf Parade, Squirrel Nut Zippers, Yael Naim, Adiemus,Jean​-Jacques Goldman, Sweatshop Union, Vermillion Lies, Flobots,  Irish language music, arabic and turkish music

Hero, Studio Ghibli films, Anchorman, Monty Python films, Young Frankenstein​, Hot Fuzz, The Bourne trilogy, The Fall, Takva, Chicago

I'm pretty sure Scrubs is the reason they invented television.  Monty Python's Flying Circus, 'Allo 'Allo, The Boondocks.  Also, LinkTV

The Lord of the Rings, The Hobbit, The Silmarillion​, The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Miserables

All tremble at punishment.L​ife is dear to all.Put yourself in the place of others; kill none nor have another killed.

Dhammapada 10.130

"Monsie​ur may have a man of wit yesterday, but you were relieved this morning"​
~Gavroche, Les Miserables

When was the last time you talked about race with someone of a different race? If the answer is never, you're part of the problem. ~ Bill Bradley