Mottos:

Think deeply, speak gently, love much,
laugh a lot, work hard, give freely,
and be kind.

Be your own pack leader
--exercise, discipline, affection, rules, boundaries, limitations.
(This is Cesar Millan's expert advice to dog owners. For humans like me, I would add some adventure, sprinkle in some spontaneity, stir in a strong dose of UNlimited thinking, and grill up some great goals to finish this tried and true recipe for the good life.)

Little things: I abhor profanity in public, and prefer 24-hour clocks.

Pros:
trustworthy, easygoing, curious, reasonable, enthusiastic, intuitive, loyal, ethical, insightful, witty, respect privacy, friendly competitor, good conversationalist, critical (as in analytic, not carping and deprecatory), appreciative, optimistic, fun to be around, hygienic, honest, straightforward, reflective, resourceful, possess common sense, admit when i'm wrong, WYSIWYG, self-improving--actively working to diminish my cons list (see below).

Cons (i didn't lie about being honest):
distracted, telephonophobic--have trouble keeping in regular contact with friends and family, cold hands and feet, live in apartment above parents, recurring depression and anxiety, dislike crowds, need lots of alone time, procrastination.

I am lipstick, dresses, and blue jeans and tees.

Honoring my cat of nearly 12 years, Annabel Lee, who passed away in 2010, and getting to know the new kitty in my life, The Pandorable Fox.

Work: Copywriter and marketing communication strategist. Started new job as Marketing Writer/Editor at a local college in January 2012.

Games: Connect Four, Rummy, Scrabble and Free Cell; interested in learning to play chess and billiards.

Sports: Yard work and dwarf turf type tall fescue lawn care; walking outdoors; interested in roller derby (but no skates), and bicycling (but no bike), and tennis (have a racket and some balls but don't know the game). I didn't play sports growing up, so now I will try anything and usually enjoy it--for example, batting cages and driving ranges. Also like canoeing and climbing, though I've done little of either in recent years.

Hobbies: Educating myself about Buddhism and other spiritual paths, such as Science of Mind aka Religious Science; darts (taking a break from this now, but I did play in a few leagues for a couple of years); designing clever graphics; stoking laughter and punning; growing herbs indoors--my jalapeno and basil plants are gorgeous; reading and writing gregg shorthand; blind drawing; cartomancy with playing cards; handwriting analysis; dream analysis; skeet shooting; singing and songwriting being more charming and entertaining than my OkCupid profile.

Want to learn how to: play piano and guitar; turn funny stuff into written comedy; read and write braille; speak and read sign language; crochet and maybe knit; make compost; identify plants, trees, and wood grains by sight; build things with power tools; sew 1930s-1940s style clothes--well, sew ANYTHING to start; cook thai, japanese, and vietnamese food; preserve herbs; whistle with my fingers; snap gum.

Want to learn more about: comedic and dramatic writing; scientific explanations of extrasensory perception (ESP); barbershop harmony; creole languages; American folklore; drawing and comics; etymology; organic gardening; architectural design and civil engineering--especially bridge building; a wide variety of social science, life science, and technology topics.

Enjoy: learning almost anything. developing words, pictures, sounds. yardwork. walking. winning Connect Four. getting better at everything.

Want to: make documentary videos. find a writing partner. design a home. laugh more. live and enjoy life.

Life Goals: always changing. this is a pro and a con.

- Keeping people laughing.
- Not deciding whether or not to use capitalization when I am typing.
- Marketing communication, writing and editing--except for random patchwork unplanned and undeveloped profile pages such as this.

My eyes, my smile, my wicked sense of humor.
Or my rack.

Yeah, probably that.

Currently Reading: Blood, Bones, Butter. ..and many books haphazardly stacked in piles on the "empty" side of my bed. I am also addicted to reading articles in Wikipedia; would like to contribute to that project one day.

Recent: The Psychopath Test; Moonwalking with Einstein; Ogilvy on Advertising; From those Wonderful Folks Who Gave You Pearl Harbor; Adland; Tipping the Velvet; Huckleberry Finn; Buddhism--an Introduction and Guide by Christmas Humphries; The Sermon on the Mount by Emmett Fox; Basket Case; The Man Who Sold America; Frank Lloyd Wright by Ada Louise Huxtable; Confessions of an Advertising Man by David Ogilvy...

On Pause: Truman by David McCullough. I had trouble getting into this, despite my personal interest and its actually having won the Pulitzer Prize. Unbearably unecessary and unthinkably excessive details, such as the specific type of fabric used to make Truman's wife's wedding dress, bog down most pages--so the pace positively hobbles along in a crippled but determined sort of crawl.

And it's like a THOUSAND pages.

Gah.

Nevertheless, David McCullough Wrote One of My Favorite Books:
The Great Bridge

Quite Liked: Understanding Comics by Scott McCloud

Much Loved: The Alcoholic, illustrated by Dean Haspiel

--

Watch: the girls go by (Andy Williams, anyone?); people in waiting rooms, lines, and transit stops; the backs of my eyelids (I need more than six hours of sleep per day); educational television shows like Modern Marvels, Engineering Disasters, Good Eats, Top Chef, Dog Whisperer, The Blue Planet and Earth, Into the Wormhole with Morgan Freeman, Turner Classic Movies, USA network dramadies (Psych, White Collar, Burn Notice, Covert Affairs, Suits); Buffy and Angel reruns; and live performance (plays, musicals, comedy, music, dance).

Lately Watching (and LOVING): Grimm, Ringer, Revenge.

Wipes are crucial.

(I prefer individually wrapped Original Scent Wet Ones.)

What I could better spend my time thinking about.

Obsessively editing, reading, writing, or researching. Cleaning. Maybe making cookies. Watching Grimm or classic movies on TCM.

Surely you wouldn't pry.

You are willing to play Connect Four with me and you can deal with losing, along with the fact that I'm "omni" and not just plain old gay.