I like language, and research, and learning, and reading, and games, and puzzles, and music, and cooking, and baking, and exploring, and traveling, and whiskey, and wine. I don't like summarizing, but apparently do like mixing nouns and gerunds.

I think I'm happiest when I approach life with curiosity and compassion.

I do research on language, and the acquisition of phonological (sound) systems. Currently, my research is focused on child language acquisition, and differences between monolingual and bilingual acquisition. My work has mainly been on the production side of things, but I find perception research to be compelling, and am interested in branching out in that direction. To pay the bills, I TA. I didn't expect to, but I love teaching.

When I'm not working (or sometimes while I am working), I like to listen to music, be outside, cook, bake, read, play, or converse. I should probably find one or two more structured hobbies. I'd also like to take advantage more often of what San Diego has to offer, such as Residents Free Tuesdays at Balboa Park. I've only been a few times, and have particularly enjoyed the Mingei, the San Diego Museum of Art, and the Natural History Museum.

being really verbose.

I have curly hair. When strangers talk to me in non-routine contexts, it's usually about that.

I tend to be a bit quiet and reserved, especially in situations where there are many people around, or where I don't know people well. I am capable of being outgoing with new people, but it does take some effort. In the long run, I can actually be quite talkative, but this tends to happen when I am comfortable and know my conversation partner very well.

A mix of old loves and new flames:

Books: American Gods, Neverwhere, Flatland, The Confusions of Young Torless, A Portrait of the Artist as a Young Man, Everything is Illuminated, Hitchhiker's Guide, Embassytown (not the greatest plot, but interesting ideas), Shadow Show, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (play), collections of poetry (especially Billy Collins, E.E. Cummings, A.R. Ammons, Jack Gilbert)

Movies: Yes, Paris je t'aime, Le fabuleux destin d'Amélie Poulain, Fight Club, Secretary, Real Genius, Clue

Shows: Doctor Who, Community, Sherlock, Battlestar Galactica

Music: Andrew Bird, Beirut, Björk, the Black Keys, Buena Vista Social Club, Cat Power, DeVotchKa, Dirty Projectors, Erykah Badu, Fat Freddy's Drop, Feist, Frightened Rabbit, Hey Marseilles, Iron & Wine, Joni Mitchell, José González, Kishi Bashi, Lykke Li, Madeleine Peyroux, Mingus, Nine Inch Nails, Placebo, Portishead, Ratatat, Starfucker, Thao Nguyen with the Get Down Stay Down, Tinariwen, Tom Waits, TV on the Radio

Food: I am partial to things that are spicy or inventive. I love to cook and bake, and enjoy constant novelty, as well as a set of dependable dishes. Trying new things while out is always exciting, but I think I will always prefer home cooked food. Lately I've been enjoying playing with recipes from Deborah Madison's "Vegetarian Cooking for Everyone."

Here is a (privileged) list of six things I'd rather not do without, in no particular order:

1. Tea or coffee (can't choose)
2. Good music
3. Clever banter (which requires an interlocutor, so one or more of those get(s) cheated into this list. I enjoy wordplay and, fair warning, am pro pun)
4. Sources of interesting information (Such as radiolab, for example. I like learning new things, especially when they are presented in a thoughtful way)
5. A library (it felt unfair to let this be cheated into 'sources of interesting information', especially given that I'd mostly use the library to find fiction or poetry, and I'm already cheating 'language data' into several of these answers)
6. ...Affection?

If I had access to all these things, I would probably be pretty happy. Although the list could be improved by the inclusion of alcohol, and implements/ingredients for cooking/baking.

Language. More specifically, I spend time thinking about what we know about the languages we speak, and how we learn what we know about the languages we speak. I'm particularly fascinated by sound systems, how sounds relate to each other within the system, and how people acquire and categorize the sounds their language uses, especially when they have or are acquiring multiple linguistic systems. I'm interested in complexity and emergence in linguistic systems, and how linguistic development relates to more general (cognitive, social) development. I'm also interested in psycholinguistic methods, especially those pertaining to experimental syntax, and I have a particular fondness for resumptive pronouns, or otherwise odd utterances.

I think about cooking and baking. I probably spend too much time looking at recipes, or reading design blogs, but I can't think about language *all* the time. When I'm able, I'll bake to de-stress. There's something comforting in precisely following rules to achieve a specific, predictable result. But then, riffing is fun, too. I seem to spend a fair amount of time thinking about topics related to gender, sexuality, and power in society. I like to walk and be outside, letting my mind wander, or trying not to think. I read. Does that count as something I spend time thinking about?

{Working (likely reading or writing), out with friends (doing things that one does out with friends), staying in and playing games with friends (most frequently euchre, or agricola, or telephone pictionary), reading for pleasure}
{Cooking, being cooked for}

Sometimes I worry that this is too often an accurate description of how I interact with the world: http://wondermark.com/464b/

you think we may share an interest or two (or more). The primary reason I created this account was to find a music buddy. My girlfriend and I have somewhat divergent tastes, and I like to go to shows, but prefer having company to going alone. So, I'd be particularly interested if you think we may share taste in music, and if you, like me, are looking for a show companion. However, I also generally enjoy meeting new and interesting people. If you think we'd have something to talk about, why not start a conversation?