I'm: self-aware; intense and passionate about those subjects with which I'm engaged and those people about whom I care; more than a little gun-shy about my next lover/relationship; trying to be hopeful about the future.

I'm in the process of reapplying myself to my true vocation, writing fiction. I've had it called by one close friend "my first best destiny," and rather than running any longer, I'm trying instead to embrace it.

... writing, editing and proofreading. I'm not called the Grammar Grinch for nothing.

... cutting to the chase. I've neither the time nor the inclination to bandy words—which is not to say I don't enjoy good banter. There's a difference.

I'm quite articulate, with a droll and occasionally somewhat acid sense of humor—though I now seldom direct it at anyone other than myself. My eyes are hazel-green in the right light.

Favorite books: Tolkien's Silmarillion; Caldwell's Dialogues with the Devil; Ford's The Final Reflection; Katharine Kurtz's Deryni books; anything written by the late Robert B. Parker.

Favorite movies: The Adventures of Robin Hood; The Lion in Winter; Ivanhoe (I doubt it's a coincidence that all three of those are set in the same period); any clever romantic comedy; much science fiction and fantasy. I have a particular weakness for the old Showa-era Godzilla films in which he's saving the world from alien menaces and/or malevolent abominations.

Favorite TV series: Over the years, any incarnation of Star Trek; The Big Bang Theory; Avengers: Earth's Mightiest Heroes, M*A*S*H; and The Odd Couple. I don't really watch much network TV, other than college football, professional tennis, and historical documentaries.

Favorite music: Late 60's, 70's and early 80's rock, soul and pop, specifically Billy Squier, Boz Scaggs, Billy Joel, Heart, Hollies, Zombies, Toto, Led Zeppelin, Wings, Pointer Sisters, etc.

Favorite food: Italian, sushi, Chinese, traditional American

"Faith, hope and love"
A good book
Pen and paper (or keyboard, if you're not old school)

the road not taken, and finding my way back there.

doing whatever intrigues me at the moment. I have *zero* interest, though, in the bar/clubbing scene.

I like the Partridge Family's music.

Shut up.

• ... you're *genuinely* interested in friendship first—I'm not eager to rush into anything—but are nevertheless open to possibilities
• ... you're looking not for the person who 'deserves' you, or the man who can keep you in the style to which you've become (or wish to become) accustomed, but instead the person with whom you're *intended* to be involved by God/The Fates/The Universe, whether it's perfectly profitable and pleasant or not—in other words, someone who has *real* struggles of their own, and doesn't possess completely irreproachable character, the serenity of the Buddha, and a five-, six- or seven-figure salary/bank account as well as stock options; *real* love is not just about attraction and security, but instead mutual caring and, yes, at times, sacrifice
• ... you're not one of those people who are looking for companionship in addition to occasional sexual gratification, but feel as if you've *already* encountered the great love of your life and are merely seeking someone to make the rest of it tolerable
• ... you're not a person at either two extremes of physicality: *So* obsessed with appearances that your every spare moment is taken up with Pilates/P90X/zumba etc., or *so* unmotivated to take care of yourself that you're heavy and unattractive, yet *astonished* and indignant when someone doesn't consider you a ravishing beauty
• ... if "gifted but troubled" doesn't scare you, but instead recalls for you a kindred spirit
• ... you still believe in love