User Profile

Chadwick O'Brien, though you can call me Chad. Currently 20 years old and a student at Rutgers University in New Brunswick. About time I update this thing, since the last time I did was before college began. Majoring in Comparative Literature with a minor in Japanese. My goal is to become a teacher of English abroad for at least a few years before possibly going for a Master's degree in Library Sciences and become a librarian at some university.

If you're interested, I'm a survivor of the IB Programme.

That being said, I love books. I don't think anyone would want to be a librarian unless they did. I also love to do research. One of my hobbies is Wiki-chains...starting at one entry and following links while trying to find out a number of other interesting things. I'm also a Japanophile, collecting and watching anime, samurai films, sword-training manuals, manga, Japanese poetry and novels, music...just about anything dealing with Japan. This is not to say Japan is the only interest I have, as I'm also a big fan of German culture, specifically in the philosophy department.

I'm also a collector and admirer of weaponry, owning a set of tonfa, kama, nunchaku, a few shortswords, a maul, kusarigama, numerous bos and jos, etc, and some projectile weapons thrown into the mix. I've not had much formal training outside of military hand-to-hand lessons, but I do a lot of self-practice. That being said, I'm a pacifist, through and through. I will fight in order to defend myself and others, but I will not fight unless it's necessary to survive.

My favourite anime series include Naruto, Bleach, Great Teacher Onizuka (the inspiration for my new favourite phrase), School Rumble, Cowboy Bebop, and Hajime no Ippo (known as Fighting Spirit in the States).
Movies: Star Wars IV-VI, Lord of the Rings, Hayao Miyazaki films (Nausicaa, Mononoke), Akira Kurosawa films (Seven Samurai, Sanjuro), the Samurai trilogy, Black Hawk Down
Books: Ender's Game, 1984, Brave New World, Lord of the Rings, Dune, Ringworld, Harry Potter, Harry Turtledove's World War alternate history, any Japanese folk tales or historical romances.
Games: Final Fantasy X, Metal Gear Solid, Half-Life, Guild Wars, Neverwinter Nights, Resident Evil 4, Tales of Symphonia, Naruto: GNT 4

"I can do you love and blood without the rhetoric, and I can do you blood and rhetoric without the love, and I can do you all three concurrent or consecutive, but I can't do you love and rhetoric without the blood. Blood is compulsory; they're all blood, you see."

-- Tom Stoppard, "Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead"

Friends (41):

Friend of (41):