I'm a 21-year-old girl interested in asking the hard questions, discovering the interesting answers, creating something out of almost nothing, and soul-searching.

I'm currently sort of a senior at UC Berkeley studying the social sciences and computer science. I say "sort of" because I'm taking some time off right now to figure out what I really want to do -- be it psychology research, graphics design, coding, living on a yoga center, or living on a farm.

I'm bad at describing myself, but others have described me as the most skeptical and introspective person they know, with a bleeding heart to boot. I would also say I'm geeky and artsy.

I'm from San Diego, the land of soccer moms and suburban sprawl, but now live in Berkeley. It's a quirky town where everyone claims to be very liberal and tolerating of all viewpoints, but are really only tolerant of their own left-wing opinions. Which would be fine if they were honest with themselves and the world about it, but oh well.

I recently got into yoga, meditation, and dancing, and have been spending much of my time doing that. I spent two weeks over the summer at Green Gulch Farm, a zen center on Muir Beach, which was quite the experience.

Academically, I'm studying how power influences people's thoughts and behaviors in modern societies. I’m specifically interested in psychology, anthropology, sociology, public policy, and the effects of marketing. While I’m doing my best to actually learn things at UC Berkeley, my attempts are often thwarted by large class sizes, lackluster and busy professors, inefficient and complicated bureaucracies, and narrowly focused students.

Since I’m more than a little dissatisfied with the academic side of UC Berkeley, I’ve gotten involved in several clubs, where I’ve probably learned more about how power relations than I’ve learned in my classes anyway.

Most significantly, I’m the founder and head of the polyamory social group on campus, where I and other nerds gather to hang out and play board games. I like the idea of polyamory because it just makes sense to me, ideologically. I’m very picky about who I go out with and I’ve rarely been involved with more than one person at once, but I want to be able to have more than one relationship at a time; not having the option makes me feel caged in. Writing about how and why I became polyamorous would take too long to put down here, but message me if you’re curious.

I was an editor on the Berkeley Undergraduate Journal for a year, but I got fed up with the drama.

I occasionally attend meetings for the Informal Debate Society. We ostensibly debate about an intellectual topic for an hour a week, but it usually degenerates into a competition of who can come up with the most intricate and hilarious logical fallacy. Which, frankly, is at least as fun.

Not at figuring out what I'm really good at. But some of my skills include writing, editing, graphics design, organizing people and events, accidentally getting into altered states of consciousness, singing, biking up the steep hills of Berkeley, cooking, archery, intellectual debates, making xkcd and lolcat references, composing music, zazen meditation, and parkour.

My fuzzy fuzzy hair. I have seen strangers start to reach out to fuzz it, and then realize that doing so would be culturally inappropriate. But I just smile inside at both their desires to fuzz my head and cultural models.

Books:
Although I've been too busy for much leisure reading lately, I enjoy reading fiction (specifically, fantasy, science fiction, and Chuck Palanhiuk novels) as well as non-fiction (especially in the topics of psychology, anthropology, sociology, and technology).

Some of my favorite books include:
Dystopian stories like 1984, Brave New World, and Welcome to the Monkey House.
Books describing how people function, such as Freakonomics, Blink, and The Tipping Point by Malcolm Gladwell
Books pointing out un-obvious reasons for how and why our society is messed up, such as Flat Broke with Children and Supercapitalism.

Movies:
I'm not a big movie-goer -- I probably only watch 3-4 movies a year, and I only see half of those because I'm dragged along by friends or family. I don't like Hollywood's formulaic and sensational scripts, but I'm so used to Hollywood films that foreign or indie films feel slow and boring.

That being said, I like movies with strange psychological components, such as Memento, American Beauty, and Ghost World. I also like eye-opening documentaries, such as Iraq for Sale, The Price of Sugar, and Roger and Me, although I recognize that they’re very biased.

Although I don’t watch or own a TV, I’ll occasionally watch old episodes of some TV series with friends. I particularly like Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Invader Zim, Bullshit, and House. I particularly dislike that the word “series” is, awkwardly, its own plural.

Music:
My music collection is pretty eclectic – I enjoy many different genres depending on my mood. However, I can’t stand rap and metal and I generally find country and techno annoying. Lately I’ve been listening to soft rock or folk music by obscure artists. I’m a big fan of Pandora, a service that uses users’ music preferences to find similar songs.

Some artists I have liked include Tori Amos, Kimya Dawson, Voltaire, The Wild Oats, 8 bit peoples, and Offspring.

Food:
After moving to Berkeley, I realized that most animals being grown for food are treated very inhumanely. Since I didn’t want to economically support factory farming, I decided to boycott meat and immediately became a vegetarian. I oscillate between perceiving meat as disgusting dead animal flesh and getting cravings for it, but I’ll only eat meat if there are leftovers that would otherwise be thrown away. But I don't mind if people around me eat meat, as long as they employ cognitive dissonance between their meal and its factory farm origins.

Similarly, I want to economically support more humane and sustainable farming by buying organic and locally grown dairy, eggs, and produce. So I tend to visit farmers’ markets pretty regularly and cook when I have the time.

I don’t know if I have a favorite food, but I do like omelettes, ice cream, chocolate, burritos, and ratatouille.

1) My computer. It’s an all-in-one tool that gives me the ability do research, write, keep in touch, and lose valuable hours perusing amusing websites.
2) My journal. If I’m walking around and an idea comes to me, I can write it down without being afraid that I’ll lose it.
3) My friends. As an introvert, having several close friends is really important to me, though I like going to the occasional large social gathering.
4) My bicycle. I hate driving, partially because I’m always afraid I’m going to get in an accident and hurt myself or someone else, and partially because cars are not environmentally friendly. Plus, I love biking and hiking up the scenic Berkeley hills.
5) My education. Doing administrative work made me all the more enthusiastic about going to college and never getting stuck doing routine drudgework ever again. I also love learning new things and being in an environment where I can openly talk about my ideas and my lifestyle without fear of getting kicked out.
6) Earplugs. I can’t sleep or concentrate unless I’m in a pretty quiet environment, and I need to read and study on a fairly regular basis. (And sleep on an even more regular basis.) Otherwise, I’d definitely live in one of the co-ops on campus.

Me. You. The world, and how to make it better. What I’m going to do with my life. Why we’re here and where we’re going. What makes people tick, including the individuals with Tourette’s.

I’m usually burned out from socializing and working hard all week, so I tend to spend Friday nights at home reading or poking around on teh intarwebs. If I’m feeling like socializing, though, I’ll go to one of the co-ops on campus or hang out at the Computer Science Undergraduate Association.

I have an epidermis and I’m stockpiling dangerous quantities of dihydrogen monoxide.

I'm currently looking for close friends and people to do shared activities with, including outdoorsy activities, dancing, roleplaying, doing artsy stuff, or discussing meditation and philosophy. I'm interested in a relationship if we get along particularly well.

I like people who are open and genuine, and who I can learn stuff from directly or indirectly, whom I can connect deeply with, and who are compassionate and caring. I especially like connecting over creating things, intellectual conversations, and geeking out.

Also, you can drop me a line to let me know of some local event you think I’d like, or to ask about some local event I’m a part of. You can message me for any reason, really.