Southern Californian who grew up on the beach. I have been a surfer, athlete, comic book fanboy, Ren Fair dude (the music scene mostly), and D&D (and other games; Champions, Call of Cthulhu, Runequest, etc) enthusiast my whole life so my geek cred is strong. Have played D&D since childhood, DMing 95% of the time. Still use the same game world since I was a kid that started out with just a tavern and a dungeon and slowly over many years put togther a world built-in part from player background/actions. I'm old school but not some fuddy grognard neckbeard (anybody of any persuasion or non-hateful philosophy is welcome at my "table").
I am a character friendly DM who loves PCs and I like them to help create the “story” rather than me scripting everything. I am a strong proponent of "emergent gameplay." That means your actions and very presence in the game world will define it. Or something. I don't really watch much Critical Role or "how to play" videos. With me you get a GenX'er who started with the old stuff but evolved with the times. I try to slip in at least one action encounter in a three hour or so session and let the players role play and interact with my world as much as they like. Story and sandbox CAN live together!
Cheers!