nathanael profile picture

nathanael

I am here for Friends

About Me

If you're interested, I have some more photos here at my flickr account. My profile is in need of a major update. Hopefully I will do that soon, but don't count on it.....


Here's a pretty recent picture of me, taken at Malibu Creek .
I'm shy and relatively quiet, but I open up once I get to know people. It takes me a little while to get comfortable with people, but I become very unreserved once I feel I can trust them--and in fact will usually tell you pretty much anything once I get to know you. I have a dry sense of humor that some people don't get, and has got me into trouble in the past. I would describe myself as serious, but also laid back. I'm serious in that I tend to overthink stuff a lot of the time. I feel that the world is in a serious crisis stage, and that global capitalism must be replaced with a more humane and sustainable system. I would describe myself as pessimistically optimistic, meaning that my understanding of the world gives me serious doubts about humanity's chances for long-term survival, but that I still have hope that we will wise up and change things. Or, in the words of Harry Magdoff, "You have to be a pessimist of the mind, but an optimist of the heart." At the same time, I try not to worry about stuff too much, and actually do manage to have quite a bit of fun too. People either tend to like me from the get-go on the one hand, or think that I'm snobby since I don't talk much if I don't know you, on the other--in reality I'm just reserved. I tend to get along easily with people, even if we may not share similar views. I tend to like quiet people, although often these are the most difficult people for me to get to know since we'll both be shy and not talk to each other. In reality I like most personality types though, including the most extroverted people. I tend to be turned off by arrogance or people that seem "fake" or ungenuine. In some ways I'm very socially inept, but I tend to have good judgement about people. I'm lucky in that I am painfully shy at times, but manage to pull it off a lot better than other people without being (too) awkward. A lot of people are surprised to find out that I tend to be a nervous person since I'm also very laid back.

My Interests

Oregon Coast Snow Summit Bocce in the park

I'd like to meet:

People who care.

Music:

punk/hardcore, indy rock type stuff, classic rock, music that requires talent and thoughtfullness, pretty much anything.

Movies:

You should check out this movie. It's very realistic.

Television:

I don't watch TV very much, but of course I'm still a fan of the Simpsons and Futurama.

Books:

Too much that I don't feel like listing it right now, but in general I read political economic/globalization/labor/Marxist/sociology stuff. Monthly Review has been a staple of my reading for many years, even if it's not an "academic journal". I also like science and philosophy when I have the time.

Heroes:

People who are willing to devote their lives (and sometimes give their lives) to making the world a better place.

My Blog

something I was thinking about

So, I was sitting and reading Barry Commoner's "A Closing Circle", and I had a realization that the answer to the question "is there intelligent life on other planets" might be determined by looking a...
Posted by nathanael on Wed, 03 Oct 2007 04:33:00 PST

Van pics

I just posted some photos of my van on my Flickr account. Go to http://www.flickr.com/photos/nmatthiesen/sets/72157600060086 456/ to see them!
Posted by nathanael on Mon, 09 Apr 2007 03:40:00 PST

A pictoral adventure of Brett's visit to the West Coast (and other antics)

Well, I was thinking how I had a lot of fun making that photo blog a couple of months ago, but I was also pissed off because since I put it in the bulletin board section, it permanently disapeared I t...
Posted by nathanael on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 04:01:00 PST

why are things so fucking hillarious, but then not so funny out of context?

Don't you hate when something totally and completely funny happens, and then you try to remember it later, and it's just not as funny--or even worse, you try to explain it to a friend and they're just...
Posted by nathanael on Wed, 26 Jul 2006 12:45:00 PST