Basics:
Grew up in Berkeley 1960-
I have worked as an Alexander teacher, opera-singer and librarian.
Was married for 12 years, helped raise two stepkids.

Good news: I am funny, frighteningly bright, affectionate, tactile, and odd.

After two, much too long, relationships I am trying to reconnect with my romantic/erotic potential. I really want a loving, long term partner, but I know I have to be more open, fearless and available to make progress in that direction.

I am officially disabled due to vision trouble, but am working towards employment again.

I offer nothing in the way of money, property or prestige. All I have to give is myself. I can be very generous if your intentions are honorable.

I am too old to try to pass for normal/ordinary. My ex-spouse once described me as a 'heterosexual femme top,' I recently described myself to an OKC member as 'A goddess-addled lust-puppy.' While I don't think either label is perfect, it should give some sense of how out of step I feel among 'straight' people.

Adapting.
Lost 75% of my sight in 2012. Emergency surgery saved what is left, but my finances and work prospects were ruined.

I have landed in the remains of the safety net, and I don't believe I will be stuck here forever.

I read, study, work out, cook, shop etc. A great deal of time is spent sharing my experience with others.

Finding absurd comedy in everyday life.
Researching, problem solving, information seeking, listening, touching, kissing.....

Singing and acting were work, but I was good enough to get by professionally.

Probably my voice, I'm often asked if I work in radio.
My height; I am just six feet tall, but people tend to overestimate that. 28 years of Alexander Technique probably account for that.

Music: Lester Young, Sidney Bechet, Louis Armstrong, Bird, Monk, Ellington (the two-bass and Blanton/Webster bands, not the kitschy 'suites' from the 50s) Zoot Sims, Pee Wee Russell. Songs by Schubert, Brahms, Alec Wilder, Strayhorn. And so on.
Opera: Fidelio, Mozart/DaPonte, late Verdi, Rosenkavalier. And so on.

Films: Notorious/Bound (I'm linking them because both hinge on surrender to trust, love and desire), The Third Man (I used to identify with Holly Martins, now I recognize him as a schmuck) Hannah and Her Sisters, 'M,' Fargo, Miller's Crossing, A Serious Man (not Barton Fink, No Country for Old Men). Anything by John Sayles, anything with Natasha Richardson, Jean Arthur or Helen Mirren. And so on. Finally saw 'Wings of Desire,' certainly worth including here.

Books. lately: 'Fraud,' David Rakoff. 'The First Salute,' Barbara Tuchman. 'The Great Oom,' Robert Love. 'All We Know; three lives' Lisa Cohen. 'A Visit to Don Otavio' Sybille Bedford. 'Persepolis' Marjane Satrapi. 'Primitive Rebels' Eric Hobsbawm. 'The Baroque Trilogy' Neil Stephenson. All three of Gillian Flynn's novels.
Old favorites: Orwell (esp. the collected letters and essays) Pratchett, Chandler etc. Gibbon, 'Decline and Fall...' v. V, I've got to Mohammed at last!
[V. 6, the first crusade]
Finished 'Sex at Dawn.' While not entirely convincing about the authors' notions of human behavior, it IS convincing in showing how unreliable our assumptions about 'natural' behavior really are. The book is much too long and sloppy for its message.

Web: 'Arts and Letters Daily,' 'Butterflies and Wheels.' 'Greta Christina,' Dawkins, Slate etc.

Food: love multiple varieties, used to cook for spouse and kids. Nowadays I have to eat pretty stringently low-carbohydrate, which makes dining a poor bonding activity.

I've lived without a lot of things at various times. Things I never want to miss again:
The company of a loving fellowship of friends.
Freedom from the need to drink.
Books.
Music (I may even play or sing again)
My odd family.
The affection and desire of a loving partner.

Men and women, the toxic atmosphere that keeps us from being kind, fearless, and loving to one another when desire enters the picture.

I'm home about eight, just me and my radio.

Apparently, the most shocking fact I can reveal is that I cannot drive. I tried for a while in my twenties, and you can all be grateful I gave up on it.

You actually would like to meet. The language of singles ads just doesn't convey enough for us to know what to make of each other.
A simple, safe meeting, with lots of convenient exits for discrete escape, ought to be a reasonable thing.