I've lived around D.C. almost my whole life, but I feel like I've still got so much to do and so much to learn about the area. I'm glad I feel that way, but it doesn't stop me from thinking occasionally about chucking it all and heading somewhere else.

I'm generally happy and optimistic, and I hope that I help others feel that way, too. I get to spend a ton of time doing what I like and learning about things I find fascinating.

Attempting to meet sweet and intriguing people, in addition to those wonderful friends I already have.

Teaching myself how to cook, wandering around D.C., hunting down out-of-the-way used bookstores, gathering with friends, watching movies (especially documentaries), and working as a radical militant librarian.

Stuff with books: reading them, writing them, writing about them, or librarianing them.

Making enthusiastic recommendations about what to watch, read, or listen to. I think my friends get a kick out of seeing how excited I get (unless they're just humoring me...).

Hugging. That probably sounds twee, but it's true.

I shoot a mean hook shot.

Wide-ranging conversations with those I'm close to. I can be a bit shy or awkward around new people, especially in large groups. But as soon as I feel comfortable with someone, I talk a blue-streak.

Apparently, I often look like I am lost in thought. Some interpret this as my being very serious, but that may be because they can't tell what I'm thinking about.

Books: Too many to list (you did see that my profile pic was me standing outside a bookstore, right?), although I tend to read more nonfiction, especially history. With fiction, I'm getting ready to reread Hermann Hesse for the first time since high school; in my memory, either Rosshalde or Demian was my favorite of his novels. For nonfiction, I'm reading David K. Johnson's The Lavender Scare and David Wojnarowicz's memoir Close to the Knives.

Quite a bit of poetry, too. My favorite poets include Minnie Bruce Pratt, Edward Field, Dan Bellm, Constantine Cavafy, and Richard Ronan. I've just finished editing a poetry anthology that comes out later this year.

TV: Not very much, but a big "yes" to The Amazing Race. Oh, and what's on PBS tonight?

Movies: After Hours (no, I've never lived in SoHo), The Crying Game (no, I'm not transgendered), The Big Lebowski (no, I don't bowl), To Live and Die in L.A. (no, I've never visited the city of angels), Raise the Red Lantern (no, I have never been the wife of a feudal lord), and Clue (no, I've never murdered anyone). I'm on a documentary kick recently, though; one of the best I've seen in the last couple of years was the Arthur Russell biodoc Wild Combination. It made me, by turns, gape, cry, and want to leap up out of my seat in the theatre and dance. So I went out and bought the doc and a lot of Russell's albums, and now I can do those things whenever I want to.

Music: All over the map, but a lot of late '70s and '80s pop and soul, broadly defined (Climie Fisher, Go West, Alison Moyet, Robert Palmer, Sade, Sylvester, The System, Wang Chung, etc.). I also listen to some musicians who are very cool, but harder to classify, like Joan Armatrading, Bruce Hornsby, Oka, and Y'All.

Food: Thai, Middle Eastern, good Italian (esp. Northern), and Indian. (Though I'm also happy just chowing down on a burger.)

Oh, and I'm adding an "art" category here: 18th and 19th century American, photography (particularly Pictorialist), and anything from the Renaissance quirkier than the typical Madonna-and-child portrait. Oh, and Edward Gorey. I have a great fondness for everything Edward Gorey did.

Interesting people, good books, my glasses, peppy music, something to write with/on, and air conditioning.

Gay history and literature, as I write and edit books and essays in some way addressing those broad topics.

Where I should try to go next. I'm developing urges to travel, and a friend is about to get stationed by the state department in Paris. Serendipity?

About moving into D.C. The time has come.

Usually I'm in the city having dinner or otherwise spending time with friends. After a long week dealing with teenagers, I tend to go for quiet Fridays.

It's possible that I'm a closet Canadian. I've been told that my natural sense of reserve is distinctly Canadian and that I'd get along really well up there. I kind of like that idea.

You like to talk and are interested in heading out to museums, restaurants, forests, coffeeshops, movies, and other local (or not-so-local) places and events. I love getting out-and-about.

Talk to you soon -- thanks for reading!