Came for the redheaded engineers, stayed for the journals.

Eccentric para-quadriplegic, one time martial artist and writer. I've been happily in love with my long term long distance forever boy for quite a few years now. I am also cheerfully multiply and flirtatiously involved (long-distance, yet again) with a handful of lovely intimate friends on a more occasional basis. Still, I am open to an interesting hello.

(Note: "Great tits" is not an interesting hello. Yes, thank you. I appreciate the effect the "Tits of Doom (tm)" have on folks, but do try something more subtle. The rest of me is attached to them, after all.)

I try to be a good listener and challenging conversationalist. Far left-liberal with odd centrist spots, but I respect any well reasoned point of view. Mine are of the "Earth mother from another planet" sort.

In addition, I'm bed-bound due to the effects of advanced Multiple Sclerosis... and still alive, curious, and charming in my own off-beat way. Are you? (3 out of 4 will do nicely! Though "alive" is strongly preferred, really.)

I'm not looking for new love, as the odds are that my girlfriend is hotter than you(rs) and the are boys smarter and deadlier (I tend to attract black belts and engineers.) I enjoy the friendships and flirtations though -- who doesn't? Have a touch of genius and a sense of humor and a desire to share time with a truly odd Jewish paraplegic? Come introduce yourself in my journal...

Surviving and enjoying it despite the paralysis, brain damage and assorted other challenges. (Yes, I'm not joking about the brain damage... or rather, I joke about it constantly, but it is a fact and a challenge. And a great excuse for forgetting people's names.)

Enjoying life. Really. I've tried ranting and raving, but it's too much like hard work. A sort of zen judiast approach works better for me.

"Was that woman actually holding a sword?"* or "How many kids can she fit on one full sized hospital bed while reading a story?" (Current record: 7 kids aged 3-11, 1 6' para-quad aged 38, and 1 Shitzu, age 5.)

My overdeveloped sense of the ridiculous.

The Tiny Dog sitting on my head/by my feet. (No, she's not a stuffed toy. I think. The part cat thing is still open to question.)

The kid or kids likely to be perched at the top of the bed for several hours a day, pestering me to show them old public domain cartoons or read out loud or provide an opponent in ticklefighting. I'm an Auntie... and do love it.

*Yes, a relic of Tai Chi and Aikido learnt while I was still on wheels.

Books... Gaiman, Pratchett, Twain, Walker, Winterson, Russ, Calvino, ad infintum. (Neil, Terry, Mark, Alice, Jeanette, Joanna and Italo, when I'm feeling daring.)

Writing about books was what I did for a joyful 20 years. (And writing columns on this and that, editing, and designing games.) I also had a serious non-fiction history of science/philosophy/neurology-for-liberal-arts-geeks habit that I don't keep up these days, along with a history-in-general, current-tech, classics...er... it's written down. Therefore I must read it, brain damage be damned.

Television is an on-again off-again cycle, currently set to off.

The movies that make me gleeful: Brazil, Casablanca, Princess Bride, snappy 30s & 40s romantic comedies.

Music? Moderate musicals geek. Serious BBC addict. Flirts with NPR when Auntie Beeb isn't looking. Jazz, Blues, satiric folk, intelligent rock (all eras), big dumb rock operas (fun!), the standard 3Bs and company for classical, Irish/Canadian Celtic Folk/Rock, the Sinatra brat pack, Leonard Cohen (he's a genre all of his own), Lit. Rock, the... erm, let's go with "I like music." It'll save time. I like it best when the words attatched, if any, are smart and clever.

Food... Senegalese/West African cooking. Japanese, Thai, Indian. And Appalachian/SW Pennsylvanian. Apple butter on stone ground bread can seduce me.

Two webcomics I adore: xkcd and Skin Horse

My 8 year old live-in nephew AKA my kid. My sister of the heart, mother of said kid. The tiny dog and pit bull that own us. Interesting things to read. Curiosity. Joy.

Also my 02 line, but how prosaic can you get? Oh, and if you try to get at my netbook, I'll unleash the attack shih tzu.

That about covers it.

Words...whatever's streaming through my computer, often spoken or sung. Tom Lehrer, Kingston Trio, Heather Alexander, Ella Fitzgerald, Lois Armstrong... or my bbc/npr news quizzes and serialized books. Or whatever's on my computer screen, which always includes a story or play or novel.

Silence...or at least, the peaceful background hum of my medical equipment.

Joy. Which keeps finding me...

Watching a movie, reading, netsurfing, entertaining & corrupting assorted neighborhood kids. And sometimes, typing to interesting strangers. Sometimes, cuddling with an interesting other of varying significance.

What, you expected "going clubbing?"

I'm *not* kidding about the brain damage and paralysis. Really, folks, why would I?

(Because it is the Internet.) (sigh)

Para-quad means, in my case, that I have less than ten percent use of any of my limbs, arms or legs. Paralysis, with multiple sclerosis, is not a binary state.

That and the "bi" means not "Bi-curious" but "Bi-dyke." I like the menfolk just fine, but it's not an idle "Oh! I'd like to kiss a girl, it might turn my boyfriend on" type of thing for me.

And, along those lines, edgy pixies are a weakness and delight.

Sneaking in a piece of information: pixie, giant or otherwise, a touch of genius is what does me in.

You have a touch of the unusual. There's only one hard and fast exclusion... if you don't read... don't bother.

I don't care *what* you read, but read. Law briefs, engineering specs, the NYT, trashy romances, puzzle books... just be active with the mind.