Adjectives for me: goofy, loyal, friendly, generally easygoing except when I'm neurotic. I pride myself on being a good friend and on being honest. I don't have much choice as my face reveals most everything, including emotions I barely know that I'm having. People detect them on my face.

I like random things such as hula hooping, amusement parks, movies, eating healthy, dancing, frisbee (though I play v. poorly), tennis, ping pong, and more. Mostly I like to feel connected to others and to myself, and to have fun conversations with people, as well as quiet time (alone and together).

I like trying new things, though i also get stuck in ruts and patterns (definitely like to order the same things at restaurants unless i'm pushed). A friend recently accused me of liking only bland foods too, which I had to vehemently deny!

My ideal partner would be adventurous. I feel deliriously energized when I travel somewhere new or even cook something new.

I am actually looking for a long-term partner, ultimately, in case I wasn't sufficiently clear about that. San Francisco can be a strange place where people don't necessarily feel like they are adults yet. I don't like the negative associations with the word "adult" as in giving up on your dreams and accepting limitations and settling down in some boring predefined way. However, I am ready to be an adult in terms of being responsible for others and committing to my own dreams and helping others achieve theirs (and to take care of loved ones too).

I'm a personal essay writer and a community builder. Mostly, I like to write about things that illuminate secret, hidden sides of ourselves and get people talking about things they are often silent about. I've written two books and continue to publish stuff when I find myself obsessed with a topic that I find important. But I'm also an Internet worker of sorts at the moment. . . I know about widgets and an absurd amount about Twitter.

I typically have some obsessive extracurricular project going on, though I'm trying to temper that with more travel and adventure and fun, less work.

I'm into lots of things, tending to dabble rather than get too serious about one thing: karaoke, climbing, camping, hiking, dancing, improv, whatever else sounds fun, say whitewater rafting. Mostly I hang out with my friends and we do stuff!

At the moment, someone very dear to me is quite ill and I am providing a lot of care and doing a lot of coordination.

ping pong, speaking French, learning new languages relatively quickly, writing, listening, being honest, talking to friends about their problems, singing Celine Dion ironically at karaoke, writing to-do lists and crossing things off

i nod compulsively when other people are talking. it's some need to show that i am with you, i hear what you are saying.

fruit: acai

beverage: coconut water (i have a brazil thing)

music: feist

food: peruvian

currently reading: liar's poker and the wishing year.

the last book i loved: geography of bliss.

recent movies i loved: rachel getting married and happy-go-lucky

tv show: lost

most recent celebrity doppelganger: elisabeth moss

friends
money
a comfortable bed

i think that's it.

where and when to travel next, how we do and don't take care of young and old people in our workaholic, career-obsessed society, what book to read, how to keep everyday life exciting, how to cook more, how to feel engaged in politics and civic life, what to do with the rest of my life, why i still prefer reading the old-fashioned print newspaper in a cafe, even though that experience may vanish (other than the examiner and the onion), the merits of meeting someone online vs. in the outernet, and lots of other meaningful minutiae

with friends out dancing, or, on the other hand, in a bath, reading the New Yorker

the username "Fake Russian" was chosen utterly randomly, so no need to ask what it means.

the spirit moves you