Ideas
It’s a bit hard to express how ideas can be my passion, but I just love to listen to, read about, and conjure up my own ideas. People who are open to new ways of thinking and who are willing to challenge their own beliefs, assumptions, and opinions are appealing to me. I tend to think they share my appreciation for intelligent thought. This, of course, does not mean I am any more intelligent than the average curious person. It just means I recognize in myself a trait I find appealing in others.
Writing
I enjoy writing. Writing allows me to communicate ideas and wishes and dreams and fears and desires in ways speaking does not. In the right company, I could do all of that by speaking, but the right company is exceedingly rare. Either than, or I am exceedingly particular. Or both. In many ways, I write like an extrovert; don’t let that fool you. I am an introvert for whom writing is the most comfortable outlet for my thoughts. Words are my currency. I spend them best through my fingers on a keyboard; I tend to hold them in miserly fashion unless I am more comfortable with someone than I am with the average person.
Food
I believe I came by my love of food naturally. While, in retrospect, my mother was not an absolutely outstanding cook, she encouraged me to try new foods and heaped praise on me when I liked foods that were, for the time, a bit out of the mainstream. Foods like spinach, calves’ liver, lamb, kippered herring, and so forth. I think I so enjoyed the compliments about my good taste in food that I went in search of foods that “normal” children would not like just so I could express my “like” of the food to receive the attendant praise.
Whether that’s the reason or not, I grew into someone who likes damn near any and all foods. I love to try things new and exotic. I love spicy foods. I love odd and unusual stuff. It’s what floats my boat. My wife is as adventuresome as I am when it comes to food. We spend our time together seeking out ethnic restaurants and places with odd menus. Fortunately for both of us, we tend to love to experience foods that illustrate the concept that great food need not be outlandishly expensive. We don’t religiously avoid expensive places, but we frequent them quite rarely. Dives are our deal. There’s an entire section of this site devoted to this interest…or, to put it more precisely, passion.
Music
Closely aligned with my interests in ideas and writing is my interest in music. I like the way Wikipedia defines music: Music is an art form whose medium is sound and silence. Its common elements are pitch (which governs melody and harmony), rhythm (and its associated concepts tempo, meter, and articulation), dynamics, and the sonic qualities of timbre and texture. I am not as “in” to music as many people I know; that is, I do not have musical knowledge. Rather, I am moved by music. Melody and lyrics affect my sensibilities.