**Please note** This "wink thing is overrated, if you want to actually get a response back from me, skim or read my profile, and initiate an actual conversation. 1-line introductions aren't worth either of our efforts.

I am a free spirit. I love life, and love exploring it fully. I enjoy living and learning. I like to hike, and prefer to find My own paths. I tend to skim around the edge of the rules, pushing limits, though making a conscious effort to not disrespect others' rights and privileges.

I desire honesty, in everything and everyone around me. I truly would prefer to be hurt by the truth than lied to. I find loss of trust more painful, and much harder to overcome. I have trouble sometimes trying to explain this to people who "don't see anything wrong" with lying. If honesty and openness are hard for you, I may not be the person you want around, unless you are in a process of change and that is part of you that you desire to change. I have been known to be a catalyst. Careful what you wish for.

For those of you who follow these kinds of things, I am a Libra Fire Snake, with a feline personality. For those of you who are unfamiliar, the Fire Snake is from the Eastern zodiac.

I am open to both polyamory and monogamy, depending on circumstances, but please don't try to fit me into the category you favor right off the bat. What I need most is trust, love, and respect, without possessiveness and unreasonable jealousy.

Everything starts with friendship.

(Updated September 2010)

I am enjoying it, adding value when I can, and sharing it with others.

Avoiding stagnation. Expanding the basic dictionary to fit My needs, offending grammar and language Nazis everywhere, while maintaining coherency, and being a hypocrite when people misuse a and an. (Hey, even chaos disciples have to have standards...)

Drawing, doodling, cooking without a recipe. Writing deep and shallow thoughts in My myspace journal.

Journal entries here: http://blog.myspace.com/shadymist

Art located here, slower updates however due to My own lack of a scanner or lack of motivation: http://shadymist.deviantart.com

For the kinkier side of Me, find me on FetLife under "PerceptionShift".

Being me. Really, there are none better at it than I am!

Problem solving (technical or people problems). I often find I put myself into controversy, either of my own actions or being drawn to it by friends or co-workers, and nearly as often find myself the mediator resolving whatever conflict by reasoning and soft persuasion. I don't actively look for these things, at least not intentionally (anymore...) but it seems nature puts them into my path, and if I'm given the choice, for some reason it's often the harder one that I choose, offering the least comfortable ride, but a lot more activity. Adversity.

Once past the initial physical appearances (which mean little to me), my honesty, lack of tact in my own personal matters, and sometimes dry humor, seem to be what is most noted at first "glance".

People often tell me that I seem shy/timid upon first meeting me, which I find quite humorous because it just is so contrary to how I am. First impressions of me rarely are accurate.

After an extended period of time of not seeing me, the first thing I hear often is, "God I missed your smile." Which I still am absorbing, even after all these years, and the number of times I have heard it from varied sources.

Books... Usually sci-fi/fantasy, occasionally I pick up random instructional books and history books, but I don't stick with them from front to back, merely skimming them.

Movies... maybe Lord of the Rings; Iron Man was great, and I am impatient for Prince Caspian to come out. For the record, I've had a crush on Johnny Depp since way back in the 21 Jump Street days. I realize that was 20 years ago... this fact somehow feels odd to me, I don't feel that old, but it seems so long ago.

Music... rather open-minded, I like most musics, don't really have a favorite. Examples: 80s/90s pop/rock and metal, Latin pop/merengue, some country though not really blues/grass roots, classical/instrumental.

Food... Indian, Sushi and Thai. I love to cook, and explore new foods.

1. Introspection, Inner peace and the constant search for Balance

2. My Towel

3. People, the quality kind who are honest to the core, and who care about others.

4. Empathy and the will to heal

5. Change, Order and Chaos

6. Love of life and all its complexities, even the hard falls and scrapes

Finding my Chi. Procrastination, and how I have made it a form of art. Time and how there is never quite enough of it. Social conditioning and the effects upon our minds as we become mature, "self-thinking" adults.

Also wondering how many who read my profile will catch the drooling sarcasm between those quotes, and how many of those who do will assume they know my full view of said topic and roll their eyes at me without a second thought. Eh, I try to be unbiased, but it's really never fully possible. I am willing to admit that I may be wrong, though. These days so few people will do that.

**EDIT Oct 6 2008**
I have found my Chi, nestled in those elusive moments of clarity and peace that one finds when one stops looking, and learns to let go. I still look for it at times, when I forget my path... such as it is, it is the seeking that makes life great.

Out, about, and finding life. Or at home reading a book and devising my weekend plan to take over the world. Lab mice may have every night to plan, me however, I do need my beauty sleep, so I only do my take-overs on the weekends. (Reference: (for those of you who missed it) Pinky and the Brain.)

Many of my answers to the questions might be different now than they were when I answered them, but I'm too lazy to go back through and answer them again. They are 3 years out-dated, and my perception of the world has shifted vastly since then. If you wonder about any of them, just ask.

I cry at sad moments in books I enjoy. Some songs give me chills when I play them, either at for lyric content or the emotions of the instrumentals. My dating life is polyamorous at this point in time, which is not because I feel a need to sleep around, but because my relationships are not about having sole ownership of anyone I choose to include into my life, nor being property of those same people. I do believe that they should be included in my decisions, but that's a choice I make, not one made for me by others.

- You like honesty in yourself and others
- You want to see if we'd make good friends before you try to see if we make good lovers
- You know these mountains like the back of your hand, and want to show me off the beaten paths that lead to rarely visited waterfalls or hot springs (bonus if you can show me both), actual paths optional as long as it's passable.
- You are looking to commission your life story, and after reading through my blogs (on myspace or livejournal) like my style of writing

**Disclaimer: I would need to get to know you before running away to secluded places with you of course...