I've decided to take my self-summary in a different direction. I could share my full autobiography with you, all 114 pages and counting, but I doubt many people are interested in my first encounter with Pascal's Wager or the heartbreak I faced at being the top-placing alternate in Mathcounts in seventh grade. Instead, I'll be adding snapshots that I feel show something about me as they come up.

Note: I don't really have a 114 page autobiography.

It's only 87 pages last I checked.

3-24-13 I'm currently relearning a piano piece that has diverging octaves in it, which are very fun to play. It's one of the few times playing a piece has physically made me smile while in the middle of it.

I was in a Ph.D. program, headed towards a career I realized was appealing to me less and less, so I decided to get out. I really enjoyed the teaching I did as a graduate student and found that I would enjoy this much more than the research itself. Now I'm headed in a direction I find much more satisfying.

I recently picked up piano again (literally and figuratively) after a sizable interim. I've been relearning some old favorites with a couple new additions.

I don't really get the purpose of this essay. I get to find out that you're tall or short, have long hair or short hair, or wear certain types or styles of clothes, all of which I could have gotten from your vital statistics or pictures. Of course, some people take the route of introducing some personality tidbit, but that's just making the prompt into something it's not, which again leads back to the question of why this is here.

Books: I like my humor like I like my chocolate: dark.
Brave New World
1984
Catch-22
Slaughterhouse Five
Cat's Cradle

Movies: I'm not a big movie person and think the movie date at the theater is a fairly ridiculous idea, at least early on. I'd much rather watch a movie together at home where we're free to chat away without bothering others, pause or rewind for bathroom break or replay, and nosh on something better than popcorn with a 900% markup.
Lost in Translation
Inception
Spirited Away

Shows: A couple of my favorites.
House
How I Met Your Mother
Frasier
Death Note

Music:
Classical including Chopin and Debussy in particular
The Cranberries
Boa (but don't know anything about BoA)
Orchestral/Instrumental Soundtracks

Food: I'm fairly boring when it comes to food. I usually don't eat out more than once a week, so when I do go I'm happy to get the same dish each time I'm at a particular restaurant. This isn't to say I'm against trying new things, but I don't feel the need to give up something I like simply for the sake of novelty. While I don't like seafood, I'll still go with you for sushi as long as the restaurant serves something else. Maybe I'll get tonkatsu.

Intellectual stimulation
My immediate family
Interweb access
Humor
Soft serve
A fan

Learning and education, both for myself and future generations. I've participated in a couple MOOCs, and I'm interested to see how this platform develops.

OkCupid's function that allows us to message people about specific questions they answered. It makes no sense to me that it allows us to message people regarding questions we agree on but not about questions we disagree on.

Allowed: "It bothers you when people say PIN number? It bothers me too! How interesting!"

Not allowed: "It seems you favor social/interpersonal intelligence, but you didn't like my answer that I favor logical/mathematical intelligence. Could you tell me more about why?"

Ok, maybe this doesn't keep me up at nights, but every time I see an interesting, opposing answer, I wonder why I'm not supposed to message the other person to ask about it.

The first time I watched Spirited Away, I already knew what was going to happen at some key parts. I'm still trying to figure out how.

You should message me if you'd rather meet over an activity than lattes. I propose an archery lesson. I did a little archery back in my summer camp days, and it'd be great to try it again. Or maybe pottery? Not one of those places where you buy something and paint it, but one where we actually throw or sculpt. What would you suggest?

Or if you want to/already have joined CUPA's summer ultimate league. I'm doing the beginner one. Registration closes soon!