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My name is Damien. I am impossible to categorize. Whatever box you might think you can fit me into... WRONG. I defy your expectations.
I never know what to write here. I'd love to write something deep and profound and poetic. But I'm not a poet. When I try to be introspective, I run at the keyboard until I realize I'm wasting my time and yours.
I guess I'll just offer what comes into my head.
I'm a mystic/scientist/artist. The mystic in me sees everything as part of a connected whole, sees us all as travelers on a journey with no beginning and no end, and tries to see the hidden side of everything. The scientist in me continually analyzes the world, marvels at the intricacies of the material plane, and always tries to dig deeper. The artist in me sees the necessity for everyone to create and appreciate other's creations, tries to do everything with artistry, and continually tries to push his own creative boundaries.
It would be a stereotype and a somewhat inaccurate representation of me to say I'm passionate about life, but I feel as though I should use the term "passionate" somehow. Passionate about what? Perhaps about creating, about digging deeper, about searching for Truth/God/Source (whatever you want to call it), about learning how to be loving and compassionate towards everyone (a lofty goal!).
I consider myself a pretty sane, detached, level-headed person, and I probably come off that way most of the time. But that would not be entirely accurate. The truth is I don't know exactly who I am, and I don't know if I ever will. All I can do is make a constant effort to know myself more, and along the way come to love myself, others, and God.
I compose, arrange, sing, and play music. Music is the single most important material pursuit in my life, and it's what I hope to make my living with, somehow, some day.
I also love social dance, especially Tango, and how it helps us learn to be in our bodies, express ourselves, and connect with people.
I consider myself a hippie/geek hybrid. Hippie values, geeky interests.
My most important pursuits are spiritual/personal growth and artistic expression.
I like to bang on stuff and make noise. I also like to write down little dots on paper so other people can bang on stuff the way I want them to. I have a myspace music page here. In fact, a few years ago I wrote down enough of these dots to convince the mucky-mucks at UCSC to let me do this in a recital hall. That was a lot of work, but not as hard for me as the kind of work needed to be a concert pianist, which I mistakenly thought I wanted to be when I grow up. It's a different type of work. One that doesn't require Me Of Short Attention Span to hole up in a practice room for 4 hours a day. Or 6. Or 8.
I also like to build stuff. Big stuff, small stuff, whatever. I love it.
I'm not insecure about my masculinity so I don't have to hunt or binge-drink or drive huge behemoth trucks or lift huge weights or watch movies with tons of explosions or play/watch football or any of that crap. In fact, if you watch football regularly, it's not super-likely that we'll get along, though I invite you to make me eat my words.
Here are a bunch of completely useless, random tidbits about me, in no particular order:
* I like movies but don't watch them much
* I'm not very funny when I'm really trying to be funny
* I can be really funny when I'm not really trying
* I'm a huge astronomy geek
* I like to cook
* I'm a grammar/spelling/pronunciation geek
* I can get really excited about useless tidbits of information
* I think exercise is important but I don't do it enough
* I believe that what I want isn't all that important
* I eat too much ice cream
* My car's name is Jed (I didn't name it! I swear!) and it has 162,000 miles on it, and I'm not currently using it
* I like to work with my hands even though I'm the sensitive musician type
* My hair grows fast
* I'm very sure-footed and like to rock-hop
* I fell on my bike once while talking on the phone and it was really embarrassing
* I don't have a best friend
* I sometimes read the dictionary for fun
* Whenever I do laundry I often forget about it and leave clothes sitting there for hours
* I get excited when someone calls me but I try to hide it
* My 8th grade teacher sometimes jokingly called me "Jim" because I used to act like Jim Carrey in Ace Ventura
* I incessantly drum on whatever surface my hands/fingers are near
* Whatever opinion you've formed about me from these tidbits is probably wrong!
I believe in God, I believe in music and its ability to change people's lives, I believe in people's ability to change themselves.
Don't worry: I won't start banging you over the head with it. A spiritual path has to be a conscious decision, not a decision made for you by your parents or your church or your priest. Despite what some may say, no one should be pressured into believing something they don't find to be true for them.
The idea of trying to prove God or spirituality is really kind of pointless anyway. I could converse with an atheist (ok, argue) all night and neither of us would budge. So rather I just try to live my life and be a positive force, being in the world but not of it, and if someone is interested in listening to my rambling ideas about God, great.
Here's a video I did with Joel: