Growing up as an Italian-American in the Chicago suburbs, I was heavily indoctrinated into Roman Catholic culture and beliefs. In addition to going to mass every weekend, I attended Catholic elementary school from first through sixth grades.
As early as kindergarten, however, I remember looking up at the sky, imagining the universe beyond, and wondering why there was something rather than nothing. Even then, I felt "God" to be an inadequate explanation, for then the existence of God would require an explanation. By the age of 12, I had convinced my mother I no longer needed to attend mass and effectively "dropped out" of the Catholic Church. Both before and since then, I have been an agnostic.
Nonetheless, I am deeply interested in the nature of reality, and in humanity's constructs and explanations of it, including both scientific and religious/mythological ones. I got my undergraduate degree in folklore & mythology (ultimately going to law school), and currently am the co-organizer of a monthly quantum physics discussion group in Los Angeles, at which I have given a number of presentations on various topics in physics.
After spending most of the middle of my life hopping from coast to coast (Boston and the Bay areas, San Diego, Manhattan), I settled in Los Angeles for 19 years, and last year moved to Oceanside, California. I would love to chat with and meet similarly-minded people!
Btw, I'm a travel junkie, love to travel both in the US and abroad (50 countries and counting!), and am always open to new experiences (within reason and the law, lol).