intro.

   Well, you've come this far so I'll start with some of the basic stuff that people might be interested in finding out about someone they don't know. Here goes nothing...

My name is Timothy Ryan Grubbs, and I've been taking up oxygen since March 5, 1978 at 6:26pm. My ancestry is mostly Welsh and German. I'm 5 feet 6 inches tall (5'7" on a good day). I have short, brown hair, and my eyes are usually this blue-green sort of color. I weigh close to 170lbs. I am a laid-back sort of person. I have a high sense of morality, but I'm not a closed-minded fundamentalist. I basically just believe in doing what's right. I believe being up front and completely honest is the best way to be, and I don't have any patience for lies. I guess you could call me a spiritual person, but I'm not "religious," by any stretch.

For all you psychology buffs out there, according to Meyers & Briggs, I'm an INFP. If you're interested in taking the Keirsey Temperament Sorter quiz on the web (the quiz takes 15 minutes or so), or if you're interested in finding out more about yourself and other people through "personality typing" via Keirsey's system, head to www.keirsey.com.

background.

I've lived in the same small town all of my life. Some people might think that living in the same place for twenty-ywo years would get to be a drag. Well, I can't really argue with that because it starts to get boring and almost repetitive at times. Even so, I've learned there's alot to be said for blooming where you're planted.

I was born in a hospital in Gainesville, Florida and was labeled Timothy Ryan. My mom divorced my biological father and remarried the man who has been an actual "father" to me by the time I was four. I lived in a small, old house with my brother, mom, dad, and then some years later both of my little sisters. We lived right on a lake with 80 acres of woods for a back yard so, for a kid, I had it pretty good. I lived there until I was 12.

At 13, I started taking Judo, attending a public school, getting interested in girls, moved into considerably nicer accomodations, and discovered how to have an attitude all around the same time. I wonder sometimes how our family has survived. Somehow, though, we've managed to get through all of it relatively well.

My grandparents were a huge factor in being where I am today. Their simple and charitable personalities deeply influence the way I perceive the world around me. They taught me to think and not just listen. I've looked into all sorts of "pagan" cultures, such as Wicca, Druidism, Buddhism, Hinduism, Taoism, the research by Dr. Timothy Leary, etc. Though I've learned valuable concepts from all of these perspectives, none of them seems to hold as true as the simple, fundamental wisdom found in the Bible. My beliefs are pretty simple, which makes explaining them rather complex, generally. My beliefs seem to change each day, so it gets hard to define them completely.

Despite my restless spirit, I feel at home here in this small, rural town in North-Central Florida, as boring as it gets sometimes. There's just something about the sunsets over the lake that I don't want to uproot and leave behind.

interests.

This section could go on forever. I'm in love with life, and I enjoy all sorts of different activities. I suppose my main interests would be playing a guitar, practicing Judo, and utilizing the internet.

Pickin' - I've been pickin' around on a 1972 Yamaha FG-160 acoustic box since I was about fourteen. Mostly, I play for the creative "release" that playing gives to the soul. Someone who doesn't play won't understand, but I play emotion through the strings, and sometimes it's the only way I can really express what's swirling around inside (can you tell I'm a Pisces?). I compose some of my own music, though I've only written a few semi-complete pieces - mostly because I don't read sheet music. Music theory is just too technical for my tastes.

Judo - The Japanese characters "ju" and "do" literally translate to "The Gentle Way." There are no punches or kicks in judo, and a skilled "judoka" performs a technique with fluid motion and with little or no sound, throwing an opponent or holding him or her down without much physical effort or strength. The whole principle of judo is to attain the most out of the least, while achieving "the harmonious development and eventual perfection of human character," in judo competitions and the tournament of life. I've been a judoka since 1990.

The internet - I spend a great deal of time these days working on HTML documents and designing graphics, and I try to get a bit of web-surfing and IRC in as well. I've been using computers since I was 12, and most of the people I associate with, I've met directly or indirectly as a result of my involvement with computers and being online. The internet is a powerful new entity with a great potential, and it pays to know how to use it. Hopefully, we can keep it out of the hands of government.

likes & dislikes.

Top 10 Likes   1 Kelley Lynn (my girl)   2 sunrises   3 Indigo Girls   4 primitive cultures   5 traditional Celtic music   6 my cats   7 my Yamaha acoustic guitar   8 seafood (especially sushi)   9 lightning storms 10 live oak trees

Top 10 Dislikes   1 cops (can I get an "amen?")   2 lies & liars   3 cheap beer   4 potato / pasta salad (spew!)   5 sexually promiscuous people   6 Microsoft illegal operations   7 tree-farming (grow hemp!)   8 cold weather   9 arrogance 10 negative perspectives

spiritual view.

I tend to think about spirituality alot. I believe a world as magnificent as the one we discover more about every day could not have been created by chance alone. Science has a very valuable purpose, but even science has its flaws. I believe in an unknown and mysterious side of life. I'm not pretentious enough to think I understand it, but there is something out there. Who can deny that?

The Bible depicts a vivid and exciting history of humanity, and from what I can tell, people haven't really changed all that much over the years. If we love each other, things work out. The wisdom that it presents is profound in it's simplicity, all religion aside. I believe that Jesus is God's voice to the people, and that a sinful people crucified that man because he spoke with that voice. As far as him stepping out of a tomb three days after having been declared dead.. well, stranger things have happened.

personal view.

I live on 80-something acres just outside of Gainesville, Florida. I've lived within five or six miles of this small town all of my life. Obviously, when I went to Michigan for Christmas, I stayed pretty well indoors. There was so much snow, I could have sworn we got sucked into a wormhole and landed at the North Pole.

I've always been brought up to live simply. Now that I'm a bit older I find myself requiring relatively little in the way of material things to live comfortably. I guess I'm what people around here would call "real people." I give what I have, take only what I earn, and have faith that my needs are provided for. Anything beyond that is extra, realistically.

local view.

I live about 85 minutes (via bicycle) from the University of Florida. The campus at the University of Florida (a.k.a. Shands Hospital) takes up a larger section of the city, as well as massive portions of land throughout the surrounding counties. Unless you're a student or retired, Gainesville can certainly get boring in a hurry.

Almost the entire peninsula of Florida is seated above an underground water system called an aquafer. During the summer months, thunderstorms start rolling through almost daily. This area generally accumulates more lightning strikes per year than any other place on the planet. This is mostly due to the unusually strong charges being generated by the underground water, the relatively flat geography of the area, and the massive thunderclouds which steam up from both the Gulf of Mexico and the Atlantic Ocean.

If you're a physicist or a storm-chaser, this area is a pretty hip place to be. The lightning displays around here are amazing! Especially when it hits a powerline transformer. Need a little excitement?! That will certainly get you there. :-)

national view.

Every day, it seems like we lose touch with why we came to the "New World" in the first place. Instead of establishing a morally just society with freedom from oppression, we have raised morally corrupt people with a passion for oppressing one another. We are all to blame. We all have the responsibility to make ammends for this, though it seems most people have neither the courage nor the conscience it will take to change the state of things.

It's a wonder that our "establishment" hasn't already disintegrated.

global view.

Humans have taken over the planet; there is no question about that. We have grown to recognize and predict patterns in the world around us, and we are quick to label things with letters and numbers.

The question now becomes, "Will we, as a species, manage to learn what is necessary about our world in time to keep from unwittingly destroying it?" Already we can see some of the more drastic environmental effects our activities are causing.

Over the next millenium, if we can manage to recover the delicate eco-balance we're currently screwing up, we may just figure out a way to automate life to the extent where we can begin to expand our awareness into the rest of the galaxy as a "humankind." Someday we may venture even further. Only God knows for sure, and only time will tell.

infinite view.

It's humbling to think, that the real, tangible world extends, in every direction, farther than any human could travel in a hundred thousand lifetimes. What else lies out there?

Just from our limited vision, we can see that there are thousands of solar systems within this galaxy. Judging from pictures taken with NASA's "Hubble Space Telescope," there are well over 1,500 other galaxies surrounding our own, and a high percentage of those are considerably larger than the one we're in. It would almost seem foolish to believe that humans are the only sentient, self-aware life form in the neighborhood.

We're evolving like never before. We have adapted, with a swiftness, to a technological and computerized lifestyle, but we are quickly allowing the lifestyle to go to our heads. We're essentially forgetting our "roots" as beings within an ecosystem, and I find it hard to believe that this would go un-noticed by other inhabitants of our world. It blows my mind to think that anyone would believe this world is only a matter of scientific research and complex calculations.