I'm a school teacher and I just completed my 10th year of teaching (primarily 5th grade). I went to military college at West Point, so I was in the Army for a few years, but decided after a short time that military life wasn't really for me. I have a 13 year old son who I've been raising on my own (with some help from relatives :) since he was just over a year old. My son is obviously the most important thing in my life, however, he has reached an age where he's not really interested in hanging out with "Dad" so much anymore. I enjoy being around kids and trying to affect their lives in positive ways, which is why I became a teacher.
I have pretty diverse tastes when it comes to the things I enjoy. I love listening to music (all types, although I guess indie/alt rock probably describes a lot of what I listen to in addition to the Beatles and Stones, etc.), and I enjoy going to shows. I like to exercise a lot and primarily focus on weights, hiking (and camping), and cycling. I used to run a lot, but tend to get over use injuries from it, so don't run so much any more.
I can be both a very serious person and quite silly. When it comes to serious issues (e.g., poverty, racism, current world events, war, violence) I take them very seriously; however I like to joke around a lot and tend to be a bit of a prankster with a mischievous and sometimes sarcastic sense of humor.
I like to read a lot, but you can look at that part of my profile to learn more about that.
I don't think I have an ideal match, because I'm interested in meeting and spending time with a lot of different types of people. The people I've dated before have all been very different from one another; and at various times I've been happy with each of them. Therefore I find it hard to imagine that I have an ideal match. Chemistry is very important, and common interests are nice too, but I've dated people that I had very little in common with and that didn't always seem to matter so much. Basically, I'd like to meet someone and become friends and then take it from there.
I will mention one other thing, and that's that I'm a bit of a hopeless romantic. Whether that's good or bad I don't know. I do know that it's lead to both happiness and sadness in relationships. I won't go into the details of what I perceive as hopelessly romantic, you can connect the dots or just ask me. However, it is an appellation that I've been told I deserve.
