Last week I asked for questions of you, the readers and what follows are my best responses to the ones that I've received in the past week (and a couple days). As I did the last time that I wrote up a piece like this, I didn't name any names other than myself and I tried to answer everything to the best of my ability (and along the intended line of questioning). I want to thank everyone who took the time to write me questions and/or everyone who has ever sent me an e-mail (whether it has been positive or negative) about my site. It's your comments and communication that makes me want to do all of this.

Is the self that you present to others on a daily basis your true self, or do you find that you have to segment your personality and allow only certain parts of it to be expressed at certain times, in order to function in your daily life? If you segment, why?
In terms of 'segmenting' my personality for others, I think that the only real censoring I try to do is when I'm around my parents and/or people that I think I may offend with my normal outbursts. I tend to swear occassionally and make rather snide comments, so I temper that when I'm around people whom I think might take it the wrong way. Around other people, I think that I mainly act about the same, whether it's someone I'm having a first conversation with or a good friend. In terms of how I present myself through my website (not part of the question, but something I feel like talking about anyway), I think that I do a fairly decent job. I'm a fairly shy person by nature and although that's sort of contradictory to having a personal website in which lots of information and pictures are given away, I offset both of those things with plent of self-depreciating jokes and what I feel is a rather pragmatic view of things.

How old are you?
I'm 25 years old, going on 26 (birthday November 12th for those keeping track).

What do you do with computers besides your site?
Although the majority of my work with computers relates to websites in one way or another (both at work and home), I also use my computer at home for other writing (including things that will probably never see the light of day) and for making mix discs for friends (the advantages of a CD-R). When I get the time to sit down and do it, I've tried to create some electronic music with it, but I haven't come up with anything that I'm very happy with so far.

Are you a christian?
That's a tough one. I believe in a higher being, but not a specific "Christian" entity. Like Ghandi said (I think), I believe that for the most part, all religions are roots leading to the same tree. If you want more specifics on how I feel about this, check out here and read the passage entitled "Hey, You Can't Do That!" I wrote it awhile ago, but it still pretty much sums up how I feel.

Do you believe in love at first sight?
I must admit that I'm a love cynic. I've only once told a person that I loved them and that was after some time of knowing them. For me, love isn't something that I could know at first site, because it would be based on looks alone. I believe in intrigue at first sight, but not love.

Has there ever an instance in your life where you thought you were going to die?
It's funny you mention this, because I just wrote a piece about this awhile ago. I've never actually thought that I was going to die, though. It's always in retrospect that I look back and see that I could have died easily given slightly different circumstances.

What was the hardest decision, or greatest risk, that you took concerning a girl?
This one is hard because I've always been a rather shy person and I've never taken many chances in terms of asking others out, etc. This is something I've tried to remedy more as of late, but I guess that the biggest leap would either be the time that I asked a random girl out or the time a girl gave me her number and I called it. I need to take more risks I guess.

If you could spend a day with any famous person, past or present, who would it be and what would you do?
I'd probably end up wanting to just sit and chat with an author that I enjoy like Kurt Vonnegut or Carl Sagan. In the case of Sagan, nearly everything he said would go over my head, but given his writing style, I think he'd be able to tell me interesting things nearly all day at a level that I could understand them. Of course, this is also assuming they'd even want to talk with me, but I guess that's part of the fantasy of the question.

What brings you joy in life?
Meeting new interesting people and having good communications and discussions with them. Creating something that I'm proud of. Making someone else smile. A lot of the time, it's little things, but that's how life works.

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