Professional nerd, international adventurer, short-attention-span technophile. Most everything else changes every few years. Be forewarned: this is one of those years.

I've made video games (some that you've heard of), consulted to VIPs (ditto), done volunteer work in developing countries (ditto again), and slogged through the lower decks of tech support. I watch TED talks and Doctor Who, shop at pinupgirlclothing.com, and have needed to buy extra passport pages.

Now the more relationshipy bits: I'm actively poly (and in a relationship or two), Kinsey 2-3 bisexual, and allergic to drama.

Unfortunately this is not the unicorn you are looking for, as I do not do housework, couples, or 24/7 anything. (Exceptions made for autonomic functions and being logged into an IM client.)

And the sexy bits: Kink as a fun activity, yes. As an identity, no. As a profoundly important part of a relationship, possibly. As the raison d'etre of a relationship, no.

Kids: Eh? Sometimes no, sometimes well-maybe-if-I-adopted-teenaged-twins-from-Romania...

Ephemera:

I have a keen sense of ethics and stronger willpower than people expect. People trust me with their passwords.

I am terrifyingly patient.

The movie Jaws made such an impact on my childhood that I learned how to scuba dive so that I could swim with sharks. Seriously.

Though I appear to be a polite lady, this actually hides a train wreck of tactlessness.

When I was a kid I wanted to be either Indiana Jones or Pollyanna. I succeeded.

I've spent enough time living in the developing world to have cultivated a deep and abiding appreciation for indoor plumbing. Camping is a non-starter, unless by "camping" you mean toasting marshmallows over the gas range in the kitchenette of your suite at the Fairmont.

One day I decided it was cold, so I moved to Thailand. It was nice. I'm back now.

90% of the time, I think before I speak. The other 10% are usually hilarious, or at least we laugh about it later.

If it's going to be funny later, it might as well be funny now.

Touch is my strongest sense by far. I've spent most of my life dancing -- I was a dance teacher throughout high school -- and now have something akin to synesthesia that interprets much of my thought as sensation.

I possess one MBA and two plush Weighted Companion Cubes. Two-thirds of these things are useful as travel pillows.

Stories are vastly important to our development as individuals and societies, regardless of the medium through which they are delivered. TV, movies, comic books, and video games are all vital to our lives and ought to be respected as such. Really.

I hate shoes.

It takes me a good six months to miss anything -- people, TV, Oreos, whatever. This can come off as being cold-hearted, but I look at it as a reflection of how deeply absorbed I am in the moment. I'm in love with the future, twitterpated by the present, and have already forgotten five minutes ago.

A nine-year-old described me as, "Warning: May Contain Typhoid Fever."

I did actually have typhoid fever.

I like my body.

I do not hate cooking as much as I used to.

Being happy. Really.

I have a high-tech career that I love, even though I work for The Man. (No, not that one. And not that one either.) It requires about 25% travel, 99% geekiness, and 150% of a 40-hour work week. There is a possibility I may be transferred to another city or country (in order of likelihood: SoCal, San Francisco, NYC, London.) This might understandably impact my relationships.

-Writing (short stories and screenplays; I'm published but not recently for fiction. My non-fiction writing is impressive for volume, not subject matter. I got paid by the word. Can you tell?)
-Weight lifting (I like the superslow protocol lately.)
-Dance (I've tried most kinds, and am trying to figure out a new style to get involved in -- potentially something aerial, as I tend to break my feet.)
-Swimming (not nearly as much as I'd like, but I do get to the pool once a week or so. I loved living on the beach in Thailand; I swam in the Andaman Sea every single day except during monsoon.)
-Tea (I own a truly stunning amount of beverage-making equipment.)

Travel has been one of my hobbies since childhood, but now it's all for work. I've been to 48 states and lost count at around 15 countries; and lived in 4 states and 7-ish countries, depending on how you define "live."

Someday I'll get my PhD. I've wanted one since I was six and knew only that it involved going to school and being called "Doctor" rather than "Miss" or "Mrs." That still sounds like a pretty sweet deal.

Listening. Traveling. Making plans. Biting off more than I can chew. Owning up to my faults. Finding the positive. Thriving where most people would simply survive, and surviving what most would not. Driving large cargo vans in tight spaces, in reverse, with minimal visibility.

I'm really bad at:

Reading between the lines. Returning messages. Staying in one place. Sticking to a plan. Remembering what I was going to do when I got here.

I've never asked, but if I had to guess I'd say it'd be the hair. It seems to stand out, at least figuratively. Strangers comment on it at least once a week.

Also that I'm genetically incapable of being concise.

I have one 6' bookcase full of fiction, mostly sci fi and fantasy arranged alpha by author, and one vastly overflowing 6' bookcase full of nonfiction, arranged by subject and structural integrity. One shelf is devoted entirely to economics. I loves me some sweet, sweet international political economy. Also I did my undergrad in Philosophy of Science, so I have lots of textbooks about evolutionary biology (meh) and random pop science (yay) and various philosophers. But mostly I have a Kindle and an iPad and various friends I borrow books from.

Box office receipts are a sadly accurate measure of my enjoyment of a film. (Exceptions made for anything starring Jim Carey or Adam Sandler.) I like summer blockbusters and comic book movies. I'd rather see Independence Day than Citizen Kane. Princess Bride is near and dear to my heart. I still hold a grudge against the roommate who made me watch Requiem For a Dream. I was one of the 4 people on earth who saw A-Team in the theaters and loved it. Weirdly, I also love the old silent films. I heart Lillian Gish.

The most awesome show I've ever been to (not counting Cirque de Soleil) was Cinematic Titanic. I'm not sure if that's the kind of show the question is asking for, but seriously, you cannot get better than Joel and the 'bots snarking live on stage over Hercules in a red bikini.

I've recently acquired a large television -- my first since high school -- because I honestly do love media. Well told stories, beautifully framed shots, heroes making journeys. I do not pirate, and I will frown vehemently when you do so, because God kills a kitten every time you torrent. But I watch Hulu, Netflix and Amazon on my iDevices and The TV of Ultimate Awesome. Mostly Joss-related reruns or TED talks, but also True Blood, Bones, House, Once Upon a Time, etc. I have no shame in loving the guilty pleasures of television.

For someone who played half a dozen instruments for a number of years, I have a significant obliviousness toward music. I like Pandora because I can listen to "stuff" and don't have to know what it is. I can't hear song lyrics no matter how hard I try, and chances are I have no idea who wrote, sang, or performed your favorite song. I don't even know who wrote, sang, and performed my favorite song. Hipsters and I probably explode upon contact.

Food... well, here's where I alienate 90% of Seattle: I'm distinctly carnivorous, and am in fact bacon-powered. Due to the weightlifting and dance I keep to something approximating "paleo/primal" eating, with various meats and vegetables and some fruits. It's a habit, though, not a religion. If I want a donut I will eat a donut and it will be delicious and awesome and I may text you to describe its exact level of deliciousness.

This is a new development for me. Due to my dance background I had a longstanding "food is evil and must be stopped" eating disorder, so enjoying it has taken time. On the up side, I had a blank slate for a palate, so now I actually really like healthy, whole, not-invented-in-the-last-century foods.

While I'm generally quite picky about my nutrition, I'll try most anything once. Seriously. I've eaten fried spiders, boiled sazae, and dog curry. Horrifyingly, the dog was actually kind of delicious. The best meal I've had lately involved pork belly and roasted bone marrow. I will admit to having drawn the line at haggis. There are some horrors mankind was never meant to know.

Friends.
Internets.
Books.
Brains. (Braaaaaains.)
Goals.
Sex.
iDevices.

Yes, I know that's at least seven things.

I also know that I can actually do without all of them, and have done without things much, much lower on Maslow. In fact, because I could also never do without lists, here's one of things I have actually lived without for surprising lengths of time:

Food.
Oxygen.
Heat.
Shelter.
Plumbing.
A common language with those around me.
Underwear.

I think it's understandable that now I might prefer luxury whenever I can get it.

Friends, internets, books...

I think about work a lot, since I'm excited about it. I mean a lot.

I think about writing. And technology. And character development. And why bad water tastes bad to everyone even though we all have different tastes in food. And zeppelins. And how I would explain space travel to Laura Ingalls Wilder. And whether or not it would work to go back in time 200 years with your current net worth in gold bars, open a bank account, and will it to yourself 200 years in the future to be distributed to you on tomorrow's date. And how to write out my philosophy of economics, which is neither capitalist nor objectivist nor socialist nor marxist nor keynsian nor any -ist I'm familiar with. And how to build a better bra. And.. wait, I forgot.

It's generally hard to shut my brain off. I've been an insomniac since I was 2 because my brain will just never shut up, and it's often wandering from topic to topic without my permission. I daydream.

At tea with a friend, or working, or watching last week's The Network, or on a train traveling somewhere, or working, or going to see the latest and greatest totally terrible action movie which I will nonetheless love and subject my loved ones to, or swimming, or flying to/from some other time zone, did I mention working...

I occasionally fantasize about eloping to Massachusetts with a female anthropology professor twice my age. Not a specific individual; the fantasy merely lists these as requirements.

Also, I once saved a life while mostly naked.

And I'm afraid of butterflies.

You got this far without thinking, "Dear god, will this profile ever end?"

The wise and all-knowing algorithm thinks we're approaching the third standard deviation.

You have something to contribute to a conversation, since this is a requirement offline as well. Bonus points for being an extroverted motormouth. I like a good conversation, but I also really like to listen.

You're not simply after a quick hookup.

You're willing to put in the effort to use a spellchecker. (Curiously, OKQ believes that "spellchecker" is misspelled.)

You're capable of being in a relationship that has depth and closeness. You might already have a partner or multiple healthy, stable relationships. I'm down with that.

More Kinect-hacking, 401k-contributing, Science!-doing, passport-wielding, political-joke-making, suit-owning, epicurean. Less Sakura-Con-going, Klingon-speaking, comic-book-dustjacketing, Burninating. Just saying, I have a preference for my flavor of geek hotness. Also, OKQ really wants to hook me up with Burners. I've been to Burning Man, and once was enough. But that's like a third-date story.

Warning: I often have this site open but am not actually looking at it. I may miss your chat.