[Yeah ... so I'm not really actively on much, these days. If OkC tells you I'm logging on constantly ... well, it's lying. Sort of. (Bloody OkC toolbar ... .) I'm edging out of the uber-active dating scene. I was spending too much time 'n' energy on it - and I've shite to do, gol'durn it. ;) Send me a terribly clever/interesting message, and we'll see though, eh?]

[So, I anticipate doing some major rewrites. Keep an eye out. ;) ]

So, let's see: I'm proudly an uber-nerd, not much of a geek, and not a dork (as confirmed by OkC). I'm an information sponge. If nothing else, I look forward to having a kid, just so I have a plausible excuse to learn all sorts of things I've not yet, whilst teaching it. (Yes, it's an "it" until it exists. Bite me.)

I can't help but auto-notice spelling and grammar errors. I've always kinda been like that, and then I was a copyeditor for four-odd years, so now it's just beyond my control. Fortunately, I don't really hold folks to the exacting standards to which I hold myself, spelling-and-grammar-wise or elsewise.[1]

I love great wordplay, and I enjoy abusing the English language a bit - as'll be obvious by the end of this. Love to learn, ramble, debate, mull, ponder, and other verbs involving thought and potentially interaction with others. Hope you do too.

I'm a good person. Truly. One of the best folks you'll ever meet. (And apparently humble, too ... .) I think honesty and treating folks decently is underrated (and, yes, I am a lawyer). I think both eye contact and talking to strangers are important.[2] Contrary to what you might be thinking, people who don't know me very well tend to think I'm a hardass. *shrugs*

I've been engaged twice and married never. I was a part-time nearly-step-mom for three-ish years, and I think I learned a _lot_. Most of the time, I think I'd like to have a child or two ... but I know I'm not ready, yet. Kids like me though: I'm curious and goofy and I talk to them like they're actually people. I just got my first nephew, and he's a blast. Great that I get to guinea-pig with someone else's child. :D

I'm fairly confident in saying that I'm not on OkC 'cause I'm a mutant. I just bet on some relationships that didn't pan out. Like everyone on here over, say, 25, I've got my baggage, but I try not to be bitter (though I'll admit to still being periodically crabby about getting saddled with two dogs and a ferret that weren't my idea).[3]

I have a fairly low tolerance for drama, and avoid ze games-playing. I expect the same from fellows. (Though y'all are less disposed to it than we, as a general matter.)

I like to think I'm pretty enigmatic. (Yes, yes, I realize some of you will automatically award douchebaggery points for my having said so ... .)
-I have high standards and am sometimes bothered by wee details. Conversely, I'm terribly easily amused, and enjoy all sorts of simple things (music, food, good smells, nature-y things).
-I'm damn smart - but am sometimes confused easily (mostly because I'm a literalistic freakjob, or because I can be distracted easily).
-I can be frightfully disorganized, and yet tend toward perfectionism and hyperorganization in certain things - perhaps merely to counteract the former.
-I hate the winter - though I like being cocooned under the covers, cuddling up for naps, hats, scarves, and homemade cocoa.
-(Of course) I prefer to be right but (1) I try not to be a shithead about my superior knowledge ... ;) and (2) I am thoroughly open to being disproven. If you can logically manage it, I would much rather possess a better-reasoned opinion than that which I currently claim. Go for it. Many try, few succeed ... .

I enjoy both going out and exploring new things (my town or yours ...), but also like stayin' in. I've not explored nearly enough of Pittsburgh, and I often fail to take advantage of many of Mo'town's goings-on.

Hrm. That fun what-I'm-looking-for spiel. Well, I'm not purposefully looking for an imminently-serious relationship. I'm a pretty skeptical girl, at this point. I'm looking to spend interesting time with interesting people, and que sera, sera ... . (Note that I didn't say to find people to merely have sex with. I wouldn't need to go online, or to wax eloquently about myself, to accomplish merely that.)

All that being said, I think I'm still a romantic at heart: I would ultimately like to find that person to enjoy all life's little details with, to grow old with. (Yesh, cliche. Again, bite me.)

[Oh yeah. Go do my compatibility-ish test: the Do-You-Match-Me and/or Are-You-A-Good/Mature-Adult Test. (Stupid-looking url is www.helloquizzy.com/tests/the-doyoumatchme-andor-areyouagoodmatureadult-test.) And please let me know if you find any errors, confusing drafting, etc. Thanks much!]

[more editing to come ...]

I'm a lawyer (started my own firm, because apparently I'm retarded) and I waitress (for the crap lawyering doesn't yet pay for and theoretically for the health insurance).

I still plan on changing the world, though I'm still unsure of the scope or method.

Socially? Well, I've ceased the reclusing I'd been working to master. I'm beginning to again get out-and-about on weekends, smirking at the young'uns' bad behavior and fashion transgressions. Oh, and dancing, yay. (As with playin' pool, I'm not necessarily great at it, but I enjoy it.)

Lots. (Had to be succinct at least once, to throw you off ... .)

I s'pose it depends on the context. In a more personal setting, prolly my mouth: I can be a regular Chatty Cathy. In a more out-and-about setting, perhaps my eyes, lips, or arse. *nods sagely*

[Doin' music first, 'cause I may just keep adding tracks that delight me, from time to time ... .]

Music. Ye gods, I live on it. I'll try just about anything, and my "all music" playlist is frightfully broad. What you really MUST try is Zee Avi. Find "Bitter Heart" or "Honey Bee." Wonderful ... . ('Tis a fun YouTube Cinderella story as well.)

Example-wise, I loves me some Cake (though not-so-much for food: brownies are better, ja?) (oh, yeah, music ... "Comanche," "Nugget," "Palm of Your Hand" ...); Regina Spektor ("Fidelity"!); the Avett Brothers ("Distraction #74"); and Madeleine Peyroux ("Don't Wait Too Long").

Try Anna Nalick's "More than Melody", Akon (and Kardinal Offishall's) "Kill the Dance (Got Something for Ya)" ... .

I adore Pachelbel's "Canon in D" - though I've never found the oh-so-ethereal version I first heard, years ago, that made me sit down, entranced, in the midst of my shift-supervisor-at-Subway-closing-up routine ... .

I love books. I've way too many of 'em. (It's the primary reason I dread moving ... .) I'll give just about anything a shot. I tend to devour books, and have from two to six books going at any given time. Presently, I'm reading Bryson's _A Walk in the Woods_ (tearing through it), Pratchett's _The Fifth Elephant_ (meandering through), and Twain's _Life on the Mississippi (sort of ... hard to focus on it, when I've a new Bryson at hand ...).

I'm perpetually picking up _A Short History of Nearly Everything_: though I adore it, I've not yet finished it. (I adore the audio CD version too. The author, who narrates, is snark-tastic.)

For contrast, at quite a distance on the literary spectrum, I really enjoyed _Here Be Monsters!_. (I also liked the Series of Unfortunate Events series, as well as the Harry Potter books. They're pretty well written, and a nice change of pace from more serious stuff.)

I love the discards cart at the library: _obviously_ a crap shoot. I've gotten some pure garbage, but also found very good books there (which I've thought about buying new and donating back to the library, to see if they might make it in Round 2 ...).

[Gah. You want an authors list, don't you? *sets lips primly* Fine. Card, Pratchett, Goodkind, Rice (awhile ago; recently she kind of makes me throw up a little in my mouth ...), King (more _Eyes of the Dragon_ than his pure horror ...). Stuff like that. I can get into a variety of nonfiction, particularly of the political nature. (Jim Hightower frickin' rocks.) I'd like to read a lot more history. I feel frightfully American - er, ignorant - about it.]

Movies, hm. _Labyrinth_ and _My Fair Lady_ prolly top my all-time list. _Liar, Liar_, _Shawshank Redemption_, the Muppet movies, and (ah hell, a bunch I can't think of) come next ... . I'll try all kinds of things, though I'm not big on horror flicks. I've not seen much that's been good lately. (I thought _Wanted_ was just terrible.)

I don't have cable, mostly because my TV filters are crap: I end up watching the most astounding garbage. I'm also interested in 'most everything under the sun, so I can justify watching waaaaaayyyyy too much. That being said, given the chance, I adore "Gilmore Girls," "The Daily Show," and, yes, *sighs*, "Friends."

My theory on food is identical to that on music: any if well made. I enjoy all sorts. I am certainly open to new things - though I can't say I'm a fan of creative sources of carcass: no snake, emu, or turtle for me, thanks. (Oh, and while on this odd topic. Does anyone else find it strange - if not a little distressing - that some things are described simply as having "meat" in them, either at Taco Bell or on this disgusting can of ravioli? C'mon! That could be rabbit, grandma ... .)

I was a demi-vegetarian for twelve-odd years, mostly because of the animal-treatment issues. I finally just got tired of it, as practiced by me: I've neither the time nor money to do it properly. That may seem a dreadful copout. C'est la vie.

The two far-and-away best things I've ever eaten were (1) a homemade smoked-salmon ravioli, with a cream sauce, garnished with capers and luscious diced tomatoes and (2) a motley combination of veggies, over cous cous, with a vodka blush cream sauce. I adore food made well, and regret that I don't manage to cook more. (Though I don't miss my ex2, I truly miss his cooking ... .)

books, my kitties, great food, XKCD, fun/interesting/novel/meandering conversation, and (whelp, surely there's a sixth, but ... )

... how f'in' much Napster sucks. Yes, the pay program. Yes, I'm actually pathetic enough that I pay for this super-duper-piece-of-shit product, every damned month, to RENT music. While I can acknowledge that _part_ of the problem is my magnificently shitty connection, it doesn't even begin to encompass the horror that is Napster. *sighs* (If anyone knows of a _legal_ music-download program that isn't shite, please do tell.)

A variety of things are always cha-cha-ing it through my brain, from uber-trivial wonderings to more cosmic musings. Tangents are my friends, and segues are sometimes mere glimmerings or even invisible to the untrained eye - er, ear.

I think about the car I'll one day have, that I'll be delighted to drive. (As opposed to the piece o' shit Saturn I drive, presently. Oddly enough, though, I actually like driving a standard. I hated driving a standard, when I first learned, but apparently that may have had more to do with you was doin' the teaching.) Oh, so the dream car? Some muscle car of the ~'66-74 era. Say, a black '68 Mustang as a default idea. But just about anything interesting and muscle-y from that era.

[Hm. Nothing new comes to mind. I'll get back to you.]

You've actually read the damn profile, think you're an interesting person, think I might be as well, and are capable of at least semi-intelligent conversation.

Also, don't send "winks." I realize I can check a box and prevent 'em, but this is also an easy test to see if you actually read the profile and perhaps absorbed some of it. If you wink, I'll just delete it. And even if you do it to be contrarian, I won't find it cute. Yes, a guy did this.

Similarly, if you don't get a response to your e-mail, it might be because it's nearly contentless. What I mean: I may not bother to respond to e-mails that just say "You're [cute, sexy, hot, or some other generic adjective]. Let's talk." Or some variant. If you have nothing interesting to say, I just may not either. (Not really) sorry if this may seem like work. Life's short, we're both presumably at least somewhat busy, and there are lots of folks on here: pique my interest or don't bother, eh?

And, to not leave this on a bitchy note ...

[Setting: the author had taken up residence on the crapper, with her worn-to-bed earplugs still in. Her husband has been gesticulating wildly, trying to get her to shut the door. She’s trying to work out the why of it, figure out what he’s so worked up about. It’s not like they’re private amongst themselves, about such things … .]

“In my office, I can walk on my treadmill and knit?” I guessed, to which my husband shook his head and began pretend hammering.

In my office, I can walk on the treadmill and build things? I can walk on the treadmill and work with tools? Work with tolls? Using tools on the treadmill? Fix things on the treadmill? Fixing the treadmill with tools the broken treadmill awwww holy shit in my office is being fixed by a repairperson with tools while I’ve been performing my best trumpet imitation on the crapper with the door open half naked not to mention I just walked down the hallway with nothing on but a tank top, slippers, and my grandma panties holy shit good God holy shit!”

If there were an Olympic event for mortified half-naked women to jump off of a toilet and slam a bathroom door shut with the might of a hurricane, I would have at least won a bronze.

At least.

-Laurie Notaro, _The Idiot Girl and the Flaming Tantrum of Death_

[1] (Yes, footnotes. :P I tend to think the nerds amongst you will find this funny, and the impatient won't read down this far anyway.) So, about spelling and grammar. *sighs* My not requiring perfection doesn't mean that the aforementioned aren't important, or that they don't serve a purpose. While I don't necessarily damn to hell or wish eternal loneliness on apostrophe abusers, the whole idea here is to put your best foot forward, yeah? *shrugs* I don't know how better to explain this, and I guess it doesn't, ultimately, matter. Literate, more intellectual folks sort of generally "require" those traits in their likely dating pool; others don't.

[2] I once had a boyfriend who admonished me for the latter, 'cause theoretically I would be opening myself up to being accosted. (Yet he thought driving an acceptable risk?) This was ex2. If you get to know me, you'll get to understand the nomenclature - and that he was a right bastard. If hearing about exes bugs you, fuck off. ;) I'm a thinker, I dissect things. I'm also friends with most of my exes - at least those I was good friends with anyway.

[3] If anyone's in the market for a pair of German Shepherd mutts, please gimme a holla ... . A pair of former pound-puppies, these sisters'd love to again live somewhere where they could both live mostly inside and still have a place to occasionally run. They're pretty well trained, good with kids ... .