This page contains some general information about me that isn't necessarily reflected in my CV.

Facts

Basic
Age: 32 (born June 1, 1977)
Current residence: Minnesota - 30 min. north of Twin Cities (till Dec. 2009)
Family status: married; no children
Citizenship: United States
Profession: writer, website designer and administrator, translator, teacher, program coordinator (more info)
Religion: nonbeliever
Political views: currently a mixture of anarchist and socialist views; core values are pragmatism, realism, and honesty (more info)

Places I've lived
Long-term (> 6 months): Minnesota, Southern California, Utah, Michigan, Slovakia, Russia, Ukraine
Short-term (> 1 month): Spain, Colorado, Peru, Pacific Crest Trail
(total of 10 years spent outside of U.S.)
Places I would like to live: Norway, Russian Far East or Siberia, Central Asia (Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, etc.), U.S. mountain states, Alaska, Canada, Peru, Chile, Argentina, New Zealand, Nepal

Interests

What I know the most about
Geography, climate, mountains, environment, backpacking, international travel, Russia and Ukraine, health & lifestyle, music, psychology, socionics, personality, relationships, religion, spirituality, culturology and cultural realms, history, geopolitics, anthropology, language learning, philosophy, evolution, general science, global trends, Internet projects, business development.
Note: as a writer, this list also more or less corresponds to the subjects I have written about.

What I like doing
Hiking and backpacking (especially long-distance), cycling, taking nature walks or jogs, traveling, playing the piano and guitar, chess, reading, watching shows about nature, discussing subjects of interest, learning and speaking foreign languages.

What music I listen to
I generally prefer instrumental music to music with words, which seems to clutter the consciousness more. My favorite genre is instrumental guitar-based music. I like music that has an air of mystery or melancholy, and I love soaring solos and dramatic climaxes. In classical music, think Rachmaninoff's piano concertos or Ravel's Left-Hand Concerto. In rock music, think Joe Satriani, Steve Vai, Marty Friedman, and other virtuoso artists who produce musically intricate and technically challenging work. For a representation of my tastes, see my Finetune profile, especially playlist "Music 1." I also like some lower-key rock and jazz.

Languages I know
Languages are a huge part of my life, and I've basically avoided the English language since age 17. I've spent 10 of my most formative years in Slavic countries. I read, write, and speak in at least three languages on a daily basis. Russian is my most psychologically intimate language, but I still find it somewhat easier to write in English.
Language mastery: English (native), Russian (near native), Spanish (advanced), Ukrainian (advanced), German (used to speak well), Slovak (used to speak well), Polish (basic).

Personality

What I'm like
Friendly and generally sanguine, but often aloof, reserved, or "in my head." Intellectual and introspective, with unconventional thinking and approaches. Like to point out funny absurdities. Easy-going, but sometimes oversensitive, and often impulsive. Have high achievement motivation, but disregard traditional routes to achievement. Often express disdain towards traditional ways of doing things. Promote objectivity and rational thinking. Easily become good at nearly everything and enjoy learning new skills and telling other people about them. I enjoy spending many hours alone doing my own thing. I strive to be well-rounded and develop my physical and artistic abilities as well as my mind. I have a bit of the aura of a spiritual leader and tend to give a lot of psychological or spiritual insight to those who listen. I am basically nomadic and enjoy moving around and starting new things rather than being tied down by long-term responsibilities and material belongings. My ideal lifestyle is to live and work on the road with a small amount of belongings. I rarely engage in entertainment unless I am learning something valuable in the process. I get very excited about topics of personal interest, which tend to lie outside of the realm of common conversation and small talk. I prefer to spend time with people who share my interests and am very selective about whom I open up to or befriend. I tend to become an informal leader or initiator in my areas of expertise and to be on the periphery elsewhere. I tend to avoid obligations and only do things that I feel like doing, making me appear somewhat self-centered. However, I can be very helpful to others who need my expertise or share my interests. I chafe under supervision and excel as my own boss.

Work

What professional roles I'm suited for
Based on my personality and quite a bit of trial and error, I can say that I'm most effective either as a leader (initiator) or as an independent expert or consultant. These roles offer the greatest independence, require the greatest expertise, and involve little or no supervision, procedural mumbo-jumbo, or need to adapt to office culture and hierarchy. As a leader, I focus on strategic development and planning rather than on management, and would need to delegate most managerial and administrative tasks to someone else. I am not cut out for the corporate world or manufacturing and prefer working in areas related to science, education, the arts, recreation, activism, etc. I do best working on something that is a direct extension of one or more of my primary interests. Otherwise, my personal interests inevitably divert my attention away from work. My work needs to provide an open-ended schedule involving - ideally - meeting new people, travel, and some work at home.

How I expect my professional life to develop
My long-term career path needs to be built around the development of my personal interests. Luckily, I now have six years' experience successfully pursuing my own interests and finding ways to earn money from them. This approach has proved by far the most gratifying and I am excited to continue it further, but it has its potential pitfalls. The main one is the lack of a work community, or working in isolation. The challenge is thus to create one's own communities or become a part of existing ones that match one's own values and interests. I imagine that I will take on various assignments that don't involve long-term obligations, if only for a change of pace or to earn some extra money.

I expect to continue developing my personal projects and to create more as my interests evolve. I will write regularly on a widening range of topics and will probably eventually begin publishing articles and possibly books. At the least, my article-based websites will simply keep expanding. I foresee getting involved in political and environmental activism in coming years as my policy views take form. There is a small chance that I will go back to school to study natural science. I doubt I will take anything more than a temporary job working for someone else. More likely, I will create my own employment. I will look for opportunities to act as either an independent expert or a leader. Money is much less of a motivator than personal development and societal influence, so I will choose self-realization, promoting my passions, and focusing on the world's important issues over salary. I do not expect to ever retire, or to have a wholly career-dominated life before then.