I'm a South African attending a university in California paid by a university in New York, living in France and working in Switzerland. Easy, huh?

I'm sacrificing everything in the quest for pure science! I'm also trying not to blow up the planet, so far so good.

- Making and carrying out ambitious plans. - Taking spontaneous trips to random locations. - Reading very fast. - Cooking exotic dinners. I used to cook dinner for 80 people every week!

My blue eyes. Generally they sparkle with a mischievous grin.

music (at the moment): green day, smashing pumpkins, wilco, the magnetic fields,...

food: sushi, spicy food, pain au chocolat, coffee, greasy breakfasts (when hungover)

movies: almost famous, pulp fiction (and other tarantino movies)

books: always changing, margaret atwood is one of my favourites. i also have been known to get (secretly) very, very excited when the latest harry potter books comes out. here in switzerland i've been struggling a bit with the lack of access to english books.

Tomatoes. I think that they are the most delectable fruit/vegetable. I've been known to pick a fresh sun-ripened tomato from the garden and it eat it like an apple. Of course, my favourite way to eat tomatoes are on bruschetta.

Having grown up in Cape Town, I'm never truly happy unless I'm near both mountains and oceans. Ideally big mountains and serious oceans that just ask to be conquered by a sailboat. Sadly, there aren't all that many places where you can be 20 minutes from each. Skiing and climbing the mountains around Geneva make me very happy.

Coffee. There really isn't anything I know of that's tastier than the espresso-pain au chocolat combination. It's the first thing that I have to have once I get off the plane to arrive in Switzerland. Of course, the best coffee in world is the stuff to be had just the other side of Mont Blanc in Italy.

The rest need little explanation: my laptop and the tubes, my awesome friends and my collection of cookbooks.

too many things! science, people, how to fix the world. otherwise, i'm plotting new adventures and things to try out.

at work. sitting in front of my computer slaving away. isn't that required from a physicist?

not really ;) my friday's are varied but generally involve wandering the streets of Geneva with a gaggle of friends dressed at robots and shooting each other with water pistols.

I have a dirty addiction to cheap, trashy thrillers. I think most of my friends would probably not speak to me any more if they found out.

you feel like chatting, silly!

I'll be super impressed if you have a question instead of a dodgy come-on line like "do you feel the solitude". On the other hand, if you have a dodgier line than that you get points for wit.