Justin, a Baltimore-bred artist, is willing and eager to talk about love.
"I think love is inherently a narcissistic thing, and a lot of people don't think of it like that," he says. "The act of love is to be a narcissist. Because those traits you are looking for, you originated those traits within yourself somehow that are internalized. So, externalizing and loving someone else is, in a sense, loving yourself, finding yourself in other people."
Name, age, status:
Justin Kelly, 23, "I'm sort of seeing someone."
"In a sense I'm single, but I'm seeing someone. I'm not single.
"But I'm that kind of guy who's like rambunctious and is always in the kinda mindset of 'What's next?' kind of thing. I kinda always have my eye out. I'm sort of restless.
"But I'm seeing someone. So yes. So I guess I'm not single. But if I were to meet someone I was really intrigued with, and was like totally blown away by, unfortunately, I might say that. Is that wrong?"
How long have they been together?
They've been seeing each other about a year.
"That's the longest relationship I've ever been in, if you'd call it a relationship. It is a relationship. It's just there are different kinds of relationships. Different depths."
Where he calls home:
"I've sort of graduated from the warehouse/Copy Cat living up to Hampden. There are a lot of artists living in Hampden, a lot of creative people out there."
How does he make a living?
He's a musician, artist and freelance artist ("That's how i pay my bills," he says.)
"I'm into really taking advantage of the time that I have here and making something that people can see and experience what I experienced. Time is short and the spark of life I was given you were given, we're all given."
Where did he grow up?
"Born and raised" in Baltimore. "Southwest. Stricker Street."
"I really like Baltimore. ... I'm into the arts, music, so in that scene, Baltimore is on the map in a very specific way, and that way is very original too."
Favorite neighborhood:
"I like the divide between Station North and Mount Vernon. Because it's so drastic. I know it happens a lot. And more and more with gentrification and expansion."
"... That's my sort of neighborhood, but I don't really have a hood, a stomping ground. Baltimore is small enough for me to say it's my favorite neighborhood. I don't want to cut it any thinner.
He says he'd pick the CopyCat building as his favorite neighborhood, if he could.
"It exists on a plane where the audience really gives to the performer and the performer gives back. ... It's exploiting reality in a certain way that's a lot more fun than at Fletchers or Sonar where the crowd is here and the performer is here and you have that divide.
Does Baltimore have a dating scene?
"I don't know if any one place is better for meeting people than anywhere else. I think it's all up to the individual's drive and ambition and free will to project themselves on their own path. No city is going to hand them the keys to a relationship.
Worst date:
He says he doesn't prescribe to the conventional concept of dating.
"The whole dressing up thing ... all the fake false fronts and the makeup. That's not what you look like. Take that [expletive] off. ... Let me cook you breakfast like you just woke up or something. Let me see you then."
Honesty is key, he says.
"Perfume isn't honest. Makeup isn't honest. Small talk isn't honest. I don't have time to waste on liars."
His ideal mate:
"It's someone exactly like me or the exact opposite. But still existing on a relative plane, a common parallel plane.
"...To say that I want someone like me, I guess it would be someone who's so into themselves in such a way, with creation and productivity, that they're not so reliant on other people, and they can be self-sustained emotionally.
"I think that's a good way to put it: self-sustained emotionally. Someone that doesn't need -- everyone needs someone to lean on every now and then -- but a lot of people I run into need someone to lean on constantly. And I can't. That's draining and detrimental. And for creative energy, it's detrimental. That's like the core of my existence, I feel, is my creative energy.
"... Someone that can sustain themselves emotionally and is like into their own existence to the extent that they don't need to use someone else's existence as a crutch."
Deal-breakers:
"I'd have to say, the way someone dresses. I'm not sure that's fair to say, because I'm sure there's plenty of people I would get on with that, if I was to look at the cover, I would say, 'No I don't want to read that book.'"
For example:
"Uggs. Sweatpants with the [words on the butt]. Definitely. Carbon-copy, cookie-cutter college girls that look the same, with the same college imprints and the same Towson tiger logo. You know, straightened, dyed hair. I hate girls that dye their hair! Hate's a strong word. I've gotta be careful with that thing [the tape recorder]. Girls that excessively dye their hair, girls that wear too much makeup, girls that wear too much accessories, sometimes.
Bad communication skills are also a deal-breaker, he says.
"I like it when communication is at a level where there's no cutting off. If someone else goes to speak, the other one stops and the other person talks and there's a ... rhythm.
"My roommate had a girlfriend that would just talk over you. If you started to say something and sort of interject, she wouldn't stop. She would just keep going and you would have to wait until she was done. I hate that."
What's the best thing about being single?
"Significant others can be vastly draining. Whether it be time or emotion."
Worst thing?
"The worst thing about being single, obviously, is not having someone for companionship. It's so obvious, I don't even know how to put it. Not having someone. Not having someone to talk to and when you come home from work, not having someone to vent to about the shop talk that went on at work. Not having someone to do that with is painful."
If he could date anyone in history?
It turned out to be a bit of a stream-of-consciousness exercise for him.
First response:
Amelia Earhart.
"I don't know why that's the first person that came into my head. I don't know if I want to put that."
Second response:
Cleopatra.
Third response:
Neko, of Velvet Underground.
But I did say anyone.
"Let's go with Amelia," he says, pausing. "But I don't know anything about her! Maybe she was horrible and had bad skin and wore sweatpants [with words on the butt]. And Uggs," he says laughing.
And finally, he throws out one last woman, Margaret Thatcher. "Women and power, I dunno."
You've been working with the office hottie on a project for a few weeks now, and you realize that not only is he cute, but he's also smart and funny. So much so that you've developed a bit of a crush on him. There's only one complication: You're with someone.