A Little Bit About Me
I value integrity. Integrity refers to two things: honesty and “wholeness,” and for me that means I try to be much the same person no matter what.
We all have to wear masks in life, nothing wrong with that, they’re quite useful… fun, even. I studied acting in my teens and 20s, and even though I ultimately left that behind and made the switch to academia, I believe my background gave me a unique insight into the extent to which “all the world’s a stage.” People who know me would agree I still have a talent with a handful of accents/cadences/types and when I joke around or try to make a humorous observation I'll easily switch these on and off to make you laugh or make myself laugh or lighten the mood or highlight some absurdity or whatever.
(Sidebar: ...see what I'm trying to do here is say that I'm pretty much a goofball who is fun to be around but do so in serious and thoughtful way to show that I have those qualities as well as self-awareness.)
We all have different multiple roles in our jobs, society, families, no big deal. For me, having integrity means not over-identifying with any one of these roles, and rather appreciating them for what they are: tools that keep us labile, mutable, adaptable, flexible, helpful, and other synonyms. So regardless of the different roles I play, the work I do, or whatever else, I believe the extent to which one has integrity is the extent to which one can live by their core beliefs and values, even while switching roles, switching company, circumstances, or even cultures. I think people who know me would tell that, for better or worse - though I think it's mostly for the better - I'm very much the same person no matter the company, situation, setting, or culture.
My MBTI is ENTP if that kind of thing interests you.
I’m tutoring right now while I finish my Masters thesis, which I'm nearly finished with. I’m looking for someone to talk to while I do that, after which I plan to begin teaching and start a life with someone, by next year or sooner inshallah.
In my spare time I help design psychometric tools that use eye-tracking/pupillometry…. they say the eye is the window to the soul, and maybe it is but it’s also a window to the Locus-Coeruleus Norepinephrine system, sympathetic/parasympathetic systems, heart rate variability, lighting conditions, and uh… oh yeah vision. The purpose of these tools is to make health-related biofeedback fun, easy, cheap, and able to be done from home for all people regardless of age, location, or income.
I'm also helping design a very unique video game with my brother--which I'm also doing all the music and sound effects for. It's top secret so don't expect me to share too many details unless I start to like you.
I have lived in the U.S. my entire life. My mother worked for an airline so I grew up traveling a lot (and continued to into adulthood) but never left the U.S. I'm half Lebanese, half Italian-American. English speaker, my Arabic is broken and only the spoken Lebanese dialect, mostly what I picked up while living with my beloved grandmother for several years. I'm always eager to learn more, and I would want my kids to speak it Inshallah.
I love light outdoor sports. I eat healthy, and this is super important to me. I make all my own food, and I go out of my way to avoid all the crazy things they put in food, but which are not food. I pray five times a day, read the Qur'an every day, and for several years now I've fasted twice a week (per Hadith for single men).
Read More
What I Am Looking For
Looking for someone with whom I have chemistry. I know, it's hard to figure that out online, but I suppose beyond the superficial (i.e. what we may have in common on paper), I guess the goal here is to find out what each other is like IRL. How do I find out what you’re like IRL? I don't know.
One thing I do know: if there's going to be a connection, it's because we've gotten to the point where we've both become really forthcoming, and I really like how you think. Some ways to find out how someone thinks: through personal anecdotes; what and how you self-narrate; discussing abstract ideas. Don't worry if it's a little awkward at first - first impressions mean nothing to me! I'm serious, they really mean zero to me. As I often say: I don't judge - judging is for Allah, not for me. I can only perceive, my perceptions are often wrong, and I always want to be ready to admit when I'm wrong. Unless I'm right. :-P
Necessary conditions for love: someone with shared priorities (Allah first), perspective on life, healthy lifestyle, and sense of humor. Probably in that order.
Read More
