It seems I'm becoming less and less nerdy as time goes by. Especially over the last few months, the things that seemed to define me as a nerd have faded dramatically. The strongest indicator has been my loss of interest in computer games. It was a great love affair and I sunk many, many hours into them, but now they just don't draw me in like they used to. It's a bit hard because now I need to find other things to pass the time, by the way wondering if passing the time is the best I really can hope for.

So I'm looking for friends in earnest now. I know I'm late to the party but I'm here now and I'd love to join in.

Recuperating financially from grad school. Working for a successful company in the home audio industry. Not owning a gerbil *and* not owning a chocolate fondue fountain.

Algorithms and software for computer music. That's my calling. I'm pretty good at Word Racer, a Boggle-like game on Yahoo. I'm not the best you'll find but I can hold my own. I can type at a sustained rate of 80 WPM. I'm good at reading people, getting better at understanding their motivations. If I already know a song I can sing improvised harmony to it.

I'm slightly dorky.

Books: Permutation City by Greg Egan
The Heechee series by Frederick Pohl
Just about everything else by Greg Egan
Vacuum Diagrams by Stephen Baxter
Revelation Space by Alastair Reynolds
Stories of Your Life by Ted Chiang
Accelerando by Charles Stross
There probably are some others.

Movies: The Big Lebowski, Eternal Sunshine, Napoleon Dynamite, Being John Malkovich, The Royal Tenenbaums, Contact, Pulp Fiction, Terminator and T2.

Music: I still love Depeche Mode, Erasure, Yaz, Soul Coughing, The Sundays, Alphaville and Aphex Twin. Of course I will follow Martin Gore until he stops making music. David Gahan's solo stuff also isn't bad. I quite like David Bowie, Deep Forest, Joy Electric, Goldfrapp, and Autechre. I miss the B-52s. New interests include Disasteradio, Leiahdorus, And One, MGMT, Ochre and De/Vision. I think Enya's first two albums were wonderful. Each new album since has been a lame derivative of the one before. Some stuff by Gary Numan, like "Are 'Friends' Electric?" is good. I also dig selected works by Apoptygma Berserk, VNV Nation, Ulrich Schnauss, Ultravox, Pet Shop Boys, and Covenant.

Foods: Cold cereal, French fries, pizza, sushi, lasagna, chocolate, smoked almonds, oatmeal, chocolate oatmeal

A computer, caffeine, mathematics, a compiler, good friends, occasional exciting or beautiful weather.

What I can be doing in my spare time that will help me meet new people

Either chilling at a bar near work, home reading, or having a little get together with friends.

I am a bit embarrassed to admit that "Only In My Dreams" by Debbie Gibson is one of my favorite songs.

You're looking for someone to stimulate your intellect as well as your loins; you actually want to get to know me as a person; you aren't just looking for someone to give you attention; you aren't looking to marry your way into U.S. citizenship.