I am an intelligent, confident, enthusiastic woman. Some men find this intimidating or even off-putting, but not you! You love a woman with a great sense of humor who isn't easily intimidated and who knows what she wants in life! I am passionate about the humanities, especially literature. Music is also an important part of my life, and though I don't play an instrument, I do enjoy a diverse range of music, including classical, big band, Bollywood, jazz, disco, funk, industrial, techno, hip-hop, indie, rock, and blues. I also love movies, hiking, trips to the zoo, bowling (at which I am horrible!) and traveling. I've been to India and Italy, with a trip to Israel planned in the near future. (Apparently, I love those "I" countries.) I'm not necessarily looking for a life partner just now, though I'm certainly not opposed to meeting him. My schedule is hectic and crammed with responsibilities, so more than anything, I'm looking for someone I can just be mellow around and have a great time with, whether we're hiking, snuggling in front of the T.V., trying new beers, or out for an evening of dancing. I'm open to meeting new friends here, too.

I'm currently in limbo between grad programs, so I'm moonlighting as a super hero. A girl's gotta pay the bills, and brightly-colored tights are ALWAYS in fashion. :)

Writing (except for poetry. I write awful poetry.) I'm also a decent singer, as long as I'm singing one of the 3 songs that are in my vocal range. I'm good at making friends, and usually good at being a friend.

my raucous laughter, my big, bright eyes, and my smile.

Among the music I enjoy:
John Adams, Arcade Fire, J.S. Bach, Badly Drawn Boy, Bauhaus, The Beastie Boys, The Beatles, Georges Bizet, Frank Black, Bollywood music, David Bowie, Dee Carstensen, Cat Power, Manu Chao, Frederic Chopin, The Church, The Clash, Leonard Cohen, Nick Cave and the Bad seeds, Nat King Cole, Concrete Blonde, Cousteau, The Cranberries, The Cure, The Decemberists, Leo Delibes, The Dresden Dolls, The Dropkick Murphys, Echo and the Bunnymen, Duke Ellington, Ella Fitzgerald, Béla Fleck, Flogging Molly, George Gershwin, Philip Glass, Edvard Grieg, Billie Holiday, Nora Jones, Joy Division, The Killers, The Kronos Quartet, Led Zeppelin, Madonna, Gustav Mahler, Marilyn Manson, Moby, Nine Inch Nails, Jacques Offenbach, Astor Piazzola, Pink Martini, The Pixies, Primus, Giacomo Puccini, Radiohead, Lou Rawls, Otis Redding, Dmitri Shostakovich, Nina Simone, The Squirrel Nut Zippers, Andy Statman, Richard Thompson, Tones on Tail, Sarah Vaughan, Giuseppe Verdi, The Violent Femmes, Richard Wagner, Martha Wainright... to name a few

Among the movies I enjoy:
Lucky # Slevin, The Dark Knight, The Red Violin, The Princess Bride, Casablanca, Monsters Inc, When Harry Met Sally, the Harry Potter series, Casino Royale (newest version), Rear Window, V for Vendetta, Pan's Labyrinth, Fire, Secretary, Hero, Donnie Darko, Philadelphia Story, The BBC Pride and Prejudice, Annie Hall, Blazing Saddles, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, The Departed, Dirty Pretty Things, Chocolat, the Shawshank Redemption, Finding Neverland, The Illusionist, Amadeus, and so many many more...

Among my favorite writers:
Jane Austin, Jorge Luis Borges, Charles Dickens, Mark Danielewski, Richard Powers, Margaret Atwood, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Ernest Hemingway, Gabriel Garcia Marquez, Pablo Neruda, E.E. Cummings, William Carlos Williams, Wallace Stevens, Edgar Allan Poe, Frank O'Hara, George Bernard Shaw, Henrik Ibsen, Angela Carter, Don Delilo, Oscar Wilde, T.S. Eliot, Virginia Woolf, Friederich Nietzsche, Jean-Paul Sartre, John Barth, Umberto Eco, Albert Camus, Amy Lowell, William H Gass, Don DeLilo, Dashiel Hammett...

Other things I enjoy:
Bollywood movies, bad lounge music, ballroom dancing, bindis, burning CDs and DVDs, buying books, collecting people, Diet Mountain Dew, disco, dying my hair, ethics, filip-flops, flirting, frequent flier miles, getting degrees, going to the opera, hops and barley, hot pink toenail polish, Indian standard time, J. Alfred Prufrock, making up words, Marc Chagall, Moses Maimonides, musicals, my brothers' kids, philosophy, poetry, procrastination, Rodents of Unusual Size, roller coasters, salsa dancing, saris, sudoku, swing dancing, the perfect eyebrow arch, theology, toe rings, very soft toilet paper, winning at Scrabble, world travel

And for those of you who dig poetry, here's one I love:

Someone
By Jorge Luis Borges

A man worn down by time,
a man who does not even expect death
(the proofs of death are statistics
and everyone runs the risk
or being the first immortal),
a man who has learned to express thanks
for the days' modest alms:
sleep, routine, the taste of water,
an unsuspected etymology,
a Latin or Saxon verse,
the memory of a woman who left him
thirty years ago now
whom he can call to mind without bitterness,
a man who is aware that the present
is both future and oblivion,
a man who has betrayed
and has been betrayed,
may feel suddenly, when crossing the street,
a mysterious happiness
not coming from the side of hope
but from an ancient innocence,
from his own root or from some diffused god.

He knows better than to look at it closely,
for there are reasons more terrible than tigers
which will prove to him
that wretchedness is his duty,
but he accepts humbly
this felicity, this glimmer.

Perhaps in death when the dust
is dust, we will be forever
this undecipherable root,
from which will grow forever,
serene or horrible,
our solitary heaven or hell.

Chai Lattes, coffee, friends/family, my iPod, my computer, and my pets.

Though I think that sometimes, Sartre had it right (Hell is other people), for the most part, I can't imagine my life without friends and family... So I guess that's the most important on the list.

my ambitions, what I want to eat for dinner, peace plans for the Middle East, the most recent poem I loved, friends, family, which color toenail polish I should buy next... I spend too much time in my head, I guess. :)

Working/ at synagogue/ at a movie with friends/ socializing on the internet/ at an opera/ reading. Really, there is no one typical Friday.

I sing in the shower and in the car. Loudly, and usually off-key. I also occasionally spontaneously break into dance. And I'm a huge nerd, but that's likely already apparent. :)

you love James Bond movies despite their misogyny; you love great poetry, and are willing to laugh at bad poetry; you have ever laughed so hard you wet your pants; you are funny and generally wonderful; you think I am funny or generally wonderful; you are bored.