Living Room

The center of the room is dominated by a large, sturdy-looking table. Scattered across the table are polyhedral dice, dry-erase pens, a Nintendo DS, and unopened mail, as well as various colorful figures atop some sort of game board. Next to the wall by the door, there's an electronic keyboard, which has been carelessly left switched on from the last time it was played. Adorning the walls of the room are a map of Middle-earth, a shelf covered in dragon figurines (above which is an illustration of a group of dragons playing a game of Houses and Humans), and, inexplicably, a rectangle of shiny wrapping paper.

In a plain metal folding chair facing the TV sits a young man, his attention so keenly focused on the game currently in progress that he doesn't seem to have noticed you enter.

> EXAMINE YOUNG MAN

Very short, but of about average build, and wearing clothing that is clearly intended more for comfort than fashion; the color-coordinated bandanna and beaded pendant are small concessions to the latter. Even so, there's something about his demeanor that makes you feel at ease, and were he illuminated by something other than the phosphors of the screen he might even look reasonably handsome.

He winces as something explodes on the screen, then shifts his grip on the controller to push several buttons at once, resetting the game. He turns toward you, the frustration on his face immediately melting into a warm, if somewhat shy, smile.

"Hey, sorry about ignoring you a moment ago... I was doing really well that game, and didn't want to break my concentration. Having a hard time beating my last record. Anyway."

He adjusts his glasses and stands up, pausing awkwardly as if trying to remember something.

"Um.... Right. Hi, I'm NMcCoy and this is my profile.... is that right? Sorry, still kinda new to how this 'stalking' stuff works...."

A shrug, a tentative attempt at a handshake.

"I'll get the hang of it eventually, I suppose. Have a seat on the couch, if you like - ah, you might need to scoot the table forward a bit to get to it easily. Can I get you anything, something to drink maybe? I've got water, grape juice.... No?"

Another pause, not as awkward as the first.

"Well anyway, I've got a bunch of games here if you're interested; Brawl maybe? Wait, no, the Wii's not working right, won't read discs. Still, we've got Super Mario Kart, Starfox 64, Pokemon Stadium 2, Puzzle League, also got F-Zero X on the Virtual Console.... Oh, there's that unwatched episode of Mythbusters I've got on the computer, if you want to do that. Or we could just sit on the couch and talk, whatever you'd like."

He looks at you and smiles again.

>

Between schools at the moment, planning to move to Portland, OR within the next few months - Currently living in Tacoma WA and trying to escape.

Abusing the profile format of OkCupid in the hopes of attracting a fellow playful gamer geek who appreciates that sort of thing.

Learning, geeking out, gaming. Aspiring; to what, I'm not sure.

Heh. This is practically a trick question for me. My superpower is demonstrating an astounding aptitude for learning anything I take an interest in. The price I pay is that I'm never better than anyone who considers that particular activity to be What They Do. I can do really well at DDR compared to anyone who doesn't play regularly, but I get knocked out in the qualifying rounds at DDR tournaments. Or anything-else-tournaments.

Ever since seventh grade I've been worrying about the day when I won't be able to get by on talent anymore and will actually have to work hard at everything. I'm a senior in college and this still hasn't happened. This worries me a little.

Dunno, really. My playfulness and sense of humor? The fact that I can somehow manage to be both respectful and irreverent at the same time? Oh, wait -- probably my height (or rather lack thereof). I honestly forget that I'm short sometimes - I mean, I sometimes notice when I have trouble reaching something, but if asked to list words that describe me, "geek" would be at the top, and I might forget to add "short" entirely. That said, feel free to make all the short jokes you want, once you know me. Among the sort of friends I tend to make, teasing is a sign of mutual respect.

Books: Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Douglas Adams, science fiction classics (Asimov, Clarke, Heinlein, Niven, et al.)... Neal Stephenson's less-doorstoppy works. Recently read Vinge's "Rainbows End"; it was pretty great, like a Neal Stephenson novel without all the excess Neal Stephenson. The Dragonriders of Pern series was quite good at one point but the later books seem rather shark-jumpy. His Majesty's Dragon is awesome. Patricia C. Wrede's Enchanted Forest Chronicles has some of my favorite characters ever. Oh, and Gerald Morris's "Squire's Tale" series, also brilliant. Dang, I need to reread some of these...

Movies: The Princess Bride is kinda my "classic" movie. I personally think the Lord of the Rings movies were great; they deviated from the books in precisely the ways needed to make the story into a movie, and I don't think it could possibly have been done better. The first Pirates of the Caribbean movie. The Fifth Element. Galaxy Quest. Shrek. The Three Musketeers (1997). Also: just finished watching Firefly/Serenity. AMAZING. Why did people not tell me about this sooner? (Okay, okay, you did, I'm just bad at getting around to that sort of thing.)

Music: Jonathan Coulton. They Might Be Giants. All sorts of video game music, and chiptunes in general. Mashups and remixes, especially involving any of the above. I have an unnatural affinity for songs that have the Pachelbel's Canon chord progression. Blues Traveler's "Hook", My Chemical Romance's "Welcome To The Black Parade". Anything with electric guitars and a good melody.

Food: I'm a very, very picky eater. I don't eat complicated food - too much potential for conflicting flavors. The taste and texture of most vegetables literally nauseates me. Breakfast foods in general are good, and are by no means relegated to morning. Bacon is awesome and belongs on everything, except perhaps desserts. Pizza with pepperoni, bacon, cheese, and nothing else. Proper, non-fast-food cheeseburgers. Galway Bay in Ocean Shores makes the Best Burgers Ever. Chocolate-covered pretzels. Cheerios.

#include maslow.h

Also: Play. In my experience there is no purer joy in life than that of a well-played game between close friends. Intimacy. Being able to truly be myself (the whole myself and nothing but the myself) around those I trust is my greatest source of comfort.

Something to hack. Computers are a marvelous embodiment of this, and dang useful besides, but Leonardo da Vinci managed to be a hacker centuries before his time.

Hugs! I tend to be a little prickly in reaction to physical contact with people I don't know, but once I trust someone I am insatiably snuggly. Cuddling + playing + laughing, all at the same time, = epic awesome.

So this one time, I was in the hospital, and they were supposed to take out my appendix, but apparently there was some mixup and they removed my epilogue instead. People keep asking me whether it turned out all right in the end, but to be honest I can't really tell anymore.

Hoping a dragon will come rescue me from all these princesses.

The sight and texture of certain plants inexplicably squicks me. In particular, I find dandelions to be viscerally horrifying. Taproots... *shudder*

...you meet one or more of the following criteria:

- You read and appreciate xkcd. I've found this to be a startlingly reliable indicator of people I'll like.

- You have a match percent of over 80%.

- You're looking for someone to play video, roleplaying, board, and/or card games with.

- You like monkeys.

- You like ponies.

- Maybe you don't like monsters so much.

- Maybe I used too many monkeys.

- Isn't it enough to know that I ruined a pony making a gift for you?