(Last edited: Oct. 27th)

Y HALO THAR, world. This is Andrea Miranda typing (and quite quickly so). Welcome to The Profile of DOOOOOM. The mere length of it will make your brain explode and eyes pop out. So: Write your last will, feed the cat, take a deep breath and carry on reading.

(Whilst on the subject: As a lot of people have been so clever to point out, this is indeed a long profile. I don't expect nor demand that you read all of it (at least not at once), but I would like to mention that I have a thing for people who like to read, and especially people who are interested in reading what I write, especially on a site like this where one basic goal is often to get to know another person, and I do imagine one could get to know quite a few things about me by reading this. There's a reason I wrote all of this.
So, if the first thing/all you have to say to me is "loooong profile", I will probably say something like "Oh, nicely observed, Captain Obvious. Ever considered becoming a private detective, or perhaps working at an Observatory? I think you could really enrich and radically change society with those groundbreaking perspectives of yours."
(I admit it: I enjoy the occasional sarcasm. (And yes, I actually do read people's entire profile before contacting them. (Their profile would be the very reason I'd be contacting them, so I think it's worth investing some time in, so, go figure.)) Furthermore: If you go on asking me about basic things which I do indeed write about in my profile, and at the same time claim you've read my profile, I won't be very impressed.) (Also, I love parenthesis.)

On a friendlier note:
I'm a rather weird girl who grew up with a very geeky and nerdy older brother. This kind of influenced me, as you'll realize if you happen to read on. By accident. (You know, accidentally - if you suddenly get some disease that doesn't allow your eyes to do anything else than reading this text. That would be quite sad, actually, at least if it lasted forever. Imagine that, reading someone's profile over and over again for the rest of your life...)

ANYWAYS:
I recommend you seat yourself comfortably, whatever that would mean to you (I mean, for all I know you could be a spike mat fanatic).
Disclaimer: I tend to write a lot of stuff, often random, because something I write makes me think of other things, and then it all begins and never ends etc. You may or may not have noticed this already. Mayhaps.

Self-Summary, eh? Well, I guess it might be suitable to shamelessly promote one of the nicest things written about me, ever.
My roomie and best mate (isaksellanra) has written the following (which may or may not be biased) about me:

"Andrea Miranda is the most open-hearted, curious and amazing person I've
yet met. Intelligent, creatively skillful, peculiar and caring.
Unforgettable. Top notch!"

Anywho, here's some background info about me. Some part of my brain thinks it's a good idea to give you this, as it would most likely give a general idea of who I am, which backgrounds often do. I guess there must be some kind a reason for why you have to tell possible future employers what the heck you've been up to the last ten years. Huh.

AND SO, THE TALE BEGINS:
As I had few other friends growing up, being the loner and the weird, smart, shy kid and all, I spent a lot of time gaming with my older brother and his friends. I loved playing with his Transformers action figures or with his space or medieval LEGO, watch a game of Warhammer 40 000 between him and one of his friends or dad (with miniatures I painted!), watch Army of Darkness and the other Evil Dead movies (and all other movies he was too afraid to watch alone, really) with him, play Metal Gear Solid, Worms, Duke Nukem 3D, Liero, Castle Wolfenstein, Magic: The Gathering (which I actually beat him and his friend at when I was 13. I'll never forget the looks on their faces.), Heroes of Might and Magic, Doom or a random game on our Atari with him, or try and charm my way into his room whenever there was roleplaying (and cute geeks) present. My cakebaking skillz sometimes got me in, at other times my roleplaying skillz did. I've played more boardgames than I have roleplayed, though. I really love Settlers of Catan, Wallenstein and Hero's Quest, and I really suck at Risk, not to mention Monopoly.

We later found out that guitars had strings that could be strummed by us, and started singing and playing songs we liked, which most often ended with us attempting to play Blue Öyster Cult, Radiohead, Nick Cave and eels songs. Occasionally, we would each compose our own songs.

When I was not pestering my brother, I often found myself playing the piano situated in our living room, composing small melodies, at other times praticing classical pieces. I would also suddenly and unexplainably, as if by magic, find myself with my nose buried deeply in some book, or even writing semi-angsty poems and not-so-angsty short stories. I also occasionally went to dancing class, and ever since I started I've always had a knack for it as my fav way for working out, and I will probably take a lot of dancing classes before I die, as I really do love dancing. I tend to look like I'm just panicking, waving my limbs hither and thither seemingly uncontrollably. You have been warned. Not into competition or anything, I just really love music, and it feels natural to move around to it, as music tends to make me ecstatic.

At 15, I finally found a group of friends who cared about more than make-up, alcohol, smoking, clothes and BEING 2KOOL4SKOOL (N SpeLigN PRORpreRLY lol!!11one!!!).
We spent a lot of time together, listening to music, drawing and chatting about Harry Potter, watching movies, going to the local anime club to meet likeminded dorks and geeks, followed by dancing the night away on a Dance Dance Revolution machine. Oh, we were such wild party people.

When I started secondary school at 16, I had drama as my main subject. I've always loved theatre and improvisation, and spent three great years having fun and working hard, learning about myself, developing, learning about life, avoiding homework, drawing silly cartoons on the natural science test papers, wearing ties and being oh-so-special.

Music has always been a huge passion of mine, and at that time, I started playing in various bands, playing various instruments with varying results.

I've tried studying at the University of Oslo since 2006. Mononucleosis stalled me for quite a bit, and I've also struggled with anxiety and depression. I am very open about these things, as I don't see why I shouldn't be.

However, I'm very careful not to load all of my problems onto other people, which is why I see a professional when I see the need. Also, I actively try my best to avoid any kind of whining, as I really appreciate it when other people manage to not whine and pout a lot. I often try and remind myself how much we (in the western world) take for granted. (Y'know, clean water, peace, limbs not missing for reasons such as lack of bombs and mines and torture.)
Oh, and speaking of things I appreciate a lot: People who manage to not interrupt other people all the time, and who actually pause to let other people contribute to the conversation. I put a lot of effort in to listening to what other people have to say, and to not interrupt, and I appreciate it when others do, too.

But yes, about anxiety and depression:
I'm actually doing better than ever right now (which, of course, is highly relative). I'm filling my days with... Well, you can read more on that under the "What I'm doing with my life" section.

It would, however, be nice to have a significant other to cuddle and discuss with, to pwn in some video game or computer game, to see a zombie movie with, to compose a song with, to admire the terminal and programming skillz AND/OR guitar/music skillz AND/OR writing skillz, or other skillz that Napoleon Dynamite might approve of. (That turned out to be quite a weird sentence.)

A note about the bisexual thing: I am quite gender neutral, and it just means that I am able to feel attracted to and have feelings for anyone, no matter which gender they are. It does not mean that I would need to be both with a guy and a girl at the same time. I'm monogamous. So, if you're a person who would like to pursue a polyamorous relationship, I'm not interested in being more than a friend.

Oh, by the way, if you feel like watching IMAGES GALORE of this conceited creature, go to http://dailybooth.com/sikksakk and be FLABBERGASTED by the awesumnes. Or, not. Whichever you prefer, Person Who Deserves A Hug For Reading All Of The Above, And Deserves A Cookie Also For Continuing To Read. (:

I care a great deal about the enviroment, and make sure I turn out lights in rooms that aren't being used, recycle, repair things rather than throw them away, don't buy stuff very often, make an effort to buy Fairtrade and ecological food, stuff like that.

As any other person, I have my negative sides. In random order:
- I am sometimes kind of socially awkward in the way that I don't often think very much about things before I say them (I rather spend hours thinking about it after saying them), and often fail to recognize that it might be too blunt and forward, although I try my best not to hurt anyone's feelings, and never intend to do this.
- Related to what's written above, I'm not very tactical in my dealings with people. I honestly couldn't manipulate someone if I tried, cause I am not able to imagine how they would react, plus I'm terrible at lying and am practically an open book most of the time, saying what pops into my head, quite bluntly, and sometimes a bit childlike (not to be confused with childish), not always understanding why I certain things shouldn't be talked about and are taboo.
- I am very emotional and tend to easily feel hurt, which I wish I wasn't. The positive thing about this is that when I feel positive feelings, I feel them very strongly.
- My level of self-esteem varies a lot, and I might be very insecure and seek affirmation, which can be annoying.
- I am very conservative when it comes to manners (thanks a bunch, mum), and can become very annoyed if someone chews with their mouth open or doesn't say "thank you" when I hold up the door for them, or don't help me clean up a mess they've left in my house.
- I tend to distance myself from issues that need to be dealt with, and am very good at procastinating.
- I am prone to be pessimistic and expect the worst
- I am always afraid to fall and hurt myself and such, cause I know I am very clumsy, and that if do actually I fall, then there's no way back. I am very ungraceful and will be lying on the ground before I even realize that I was actually starting to fall four seconds earlier.

Probably loads of other stuff as well, but those are the ones I could come up with right now.

I really love animals, and I miss having animals in my life. My brother had a guinea pig from I was 5 until I was 9 or so.
I had a cat from I was 10 til I was 20, and we were very close (in the sense that she practically slept on my head at night, followed me to the bus stop, and came running with her tail in the air when I came home, and complained if the door to my room was closed when I was there). Sadly, one is not allowed to have pets in the student housing apartment I live in. I also don't know if I can handle the responsibility by myself.
I really don't think animals deserve to be treated the way they are today: Simply as living only to please humans, be it for entertainment, fashion or food. I was shocked when I found out how the meat industry worked, and have been a vegetarian since May 2008 as I don't want to economically and ehtically support the industry and torture of animals.
I'm up for a discussion on this, but only if you're actually interested in actually learning, and discussing the ethics of it, and have done some background research. Lines like "Oh but you need meat to survive" will be ignored and followed by a "*headdesk*", possibly a "*facepalm*", and maybe a sarcastic "lol." (I never use "lol" seriously, and can't help but feel awkward when other people do).

Trying my best to impose as little harm on others as I can, trying to spread joy and happiness and kindness, which is basically my mantra for life, and is greatly inspired by the many clever philosophies of Buddhism. (This is mainly why I am a lacto-ovo-vegetarian. (And no, I don't eat fish. I don't eat anything that is born in captivity, tortured and killed for the sole reason of pleasing my taste buds.)

I'm also trying to study, and the success rate of this is variable due to aforementioned depression and social anxiety, which goes up and down and in phases and eras and what have you.

I'd like to be a researcher, a writer and a musician. I'd like to make people happy. And I do LIKE to make people happy. Making people smile and laugh is my all-time favourite activity.

About what I'm actually filing my days with:
Watching movies with my best friend and roomie and playing the Monkey Island games with him and another friend, singing my heart out, composing music on the piano and the guitar and bass, sometimes clumsily attempting to play the drums, studying gender research and sociology, playing in a band with my brother, my roomie and another good friend of ours, baking cake and making fantastic vegetarian food, laughing, smiling, not being religious and loving it, being geeky, spending time with my fabulous friends.

cooking, being kind, playing the piano, laughing, being silly, being geeky, being curious, being fair, reflecting, being friendly, hugging and being solution-oriented.

That I'm rather short (1,62 cm), that I have quite a few curves that are soft and not pointy, that I'm compactly built (short neck, broad shoulders, fleshy and chubby), whilst at the same time having what COULD perhaps pass as an hourglass shaped figure to some (see pictures), that I'm friendly, that it doesn't take much to make me smile and laugh, and that I'm probably not the stupidest person they've ever met, that I'm sometimes shy at first, but then open up a lot quite quickly, of course depending on the chemistry.

I'm genuinely interested in (nice) people and getting to know them, and therefore tend to be curious about them and don't hesitate to ask questions. I can sometimes be laidback and calm, and sometimes energetic and silly, depending on the situation and the people I'm with. I can dance wildly at concerts, laugh so hard that I fail to keep on standing/sitting (I have witnesses), be quiet and shy, randomly start to sing, and have calm and serious discussions.
All at the same time.

Oh. Where to begin?

For a glimpse of my taste in music, go to: last.fm/user/barbedwirelips.

Some of the series I love:
Twin Peaks, House, Babylon 5, Whose Line Is It Anyway?, Cowboy Bebop, Heroes, Buffy: The Vampire Slayer, The Pretender, Black Books, Dexter (not the cartoon, but the one about the serial killer), The Simpsons, Mad About You, Red Dwarf, Seinfeld, 3rd Rock from the Sun.
I never watch TV (although I do have one merely for console purposes), so the shows that I do watch/have watched, are mainly those either I or my friends have on DVD or have downloaded.

Some of the [movies I adore: Labyrinth, Donnie Darko, Amélie, Hellboy, the Batman movies, the Indiana Jones movies, the X-men movies, Fjolls til Fjells, Pulp Fiction, Dr. Strangelove or How I stopped worrying and love the bomb, Wilbur Wants To Kill Himself, Lasse og Geir, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Dancer in the Dark, A Clockwork Orange, American Splendor, American Beauty, Så som i himmelen, Fifth Element, Being John Malkovich, Star Trek, Star Wars IV, V and VI, Memento, Meaning of Life, Monty Python and The Holy Grail, Life of Brian, the Back to the future triology, Eraserhead, Inland Empire, Wild at heart, the Ghostbusters movies, The Matrix, The Nightmare Before Christmas, Lost in Translation, Six String Samurai, 28 days later, 28 weeks later, Sin City, Vincent, Labyrinth, Edward Scissorhands, Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind, Velvet Goldmine, The pianist, 12 Monkeys, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Adaptation, Man on the Moon, Fight Club, O Brother, Where Art Thou?, Withnail and I, Reservoir Dogs, Meet the Feebles, Idiotene, Festen, Elsker dig for evigt, Breaking the waves, Summer of Sam, Life Aquatic, Apocalypse now!, Evil Dead, Evil Dead 2, Army of Darkness, The Lion King, Fear And Loathing In Las Vegas, Oliver and Company, Beauty and the Beast, Napoleon Dynamite, Gladiator, Neverending Story, Land Before Time etc. etc. etc.

---

Books... Ah. I love reading.

Some of the books I love (a lot of them in Norwegian): Ambulanse (Harstad), Amatøren (Christensen), Harry Potter series, Lord of the Rings, Syden (Kalvø), Etter Kairo (Nilsen), Kompani Orheim (Renberg), Dikt (Wildenvey), Samlede dikt (Hagerup), Du kan ikke svikte din beste venn og bli god til å synge samtidig (Hiortøy), Samlede Dikt (Bjørneboe), Dance Dance Dance (Murakami), Fugledansen (Ambjørnsen), Pulp (Bukowski), Factotum (Bukowski), The Little Prince (Saint Exupéry), Ambulanse (Harstad), Jimmy Corrigan: The Smartest Kid on Earth (Chris Ware), everything by Jason (comic artist), The Bell Jar (Sylvia Plath), Time Traveler's Wife, Marvel Comics, poems by Lord Byron, Robert Burns, Sylvia Plath +++ and a huge lot of other stuff I don't remember right now.

As for food:
I have an ambiguous relationship with it. There are periods when I just think food is a hassle, and that nothing really tastes good, wishing I could just get my nutrition through tubes. At other times my cooking creativity flourishes and I tend to compose vegetarian dishes and experiment with ingredients. This is mostly when I have someone to cook for, and my roomie tends to cook for himself (and sometimes me, when I haven't bothered to), so it's not that often that I have fun in the kitchen, unless we have other friends over and I feel in the mood for being praised, which, in danger of sounding conceited, tends to happen when I make an effort in the kitchen.

Favourite food would include your typical regulars like (vegetarian) pizza and lasagna. I'm also very weak for mexican cooking, and I adore Indian food, especially curry and korma. Other than that, I'm a real sucker for greek salad. I could eat it five days in a row (and I sometimes do) just because I love it so much (or because it's hot and I can't be bothered to cook something warm (yes, Norway does actually get ridiculously hot during the three seconds or so of summer we have). At the moment I have a thing for adding barbeque sauce to places one wouldn't think it belonged (like a wok dish).
I care about nutrition and eating right (but not to any extreme level), which I need to do, being a vegetarian and all, so I also fancy the chickpea burgers I make, cause they're chock-full of vitamins, fiber and proteins and all things good.
Unfortunaley, both due to ethics and health reasons, Sprite is my all-time favourite beverage, and I tend to savour it in the week-ends.

Music. My friends/Love. Creativity. Sexual stimulation. Human contact. Intelligence.

... why people are who they are.
... animal welfare and the meat industry (and why so few other people ever think twice about/ethically deal with this)
... ethics.
... my future.
... politics.
... my own behaviour towards others and how to improve it.
... why I have the opinions I have, and if they are valid.
... the past.
... why people act the way they do.
... the universe.
... civilization.
... how nice it would be to find someone who likes the same things as me AND likes me as well AND whom I like AND yeah.

probably just hanging out with my roomie or a few other friends at our apartment, jamming or watching a movie, making something lovely and cruelty-free to eat, discussing life and politics and philosophy and lolcats.

By the way: 99% of my friends are geeky/nerdy guys. I tend to get along better with guys. Might just have something to do with my interests sadly not being shared by a most girls. Also, I've had a lot of bad experience with girls (Highschool! Drama!). Stupid society, having expectations for your behaviour based on what kind of body you were born in. Socially constructed lame stereoyping mumble mumble grarhl. (Will get back to you on this I have a Master's Degree in gender studies.)

I know very few people with as high a sex drive as mine. In fact, I've yet to meet my match (HAR HAR SEE WHAT I DID THAR ...er, yes). So yes, once a day is kind of a minimum to me, and it's kind of important that my significant other is also into sex. A lot of sex.
EDIT: And no, that doesn't mean that I'm willing to have cybersex with complete strangers.

Slightly related to the latter paragraph: I like my body, but I'm often anxious other people (whose opinion on my body matters to me) won't/don't. This is slightly irrational, as the people I've really hoped would like it, actually have, but still... [insert clever comment about society, pressure, norms, expectations, ideals, insecurity etc.]

I don't always have the best self esteem in the world, as I was bullied a lot when I was younger. (Apparently, caring for more than what brand of clothes people are wearing and using something else than hit lists as a general music guide is a bad, bad thing.) However, as mentioned, it varies. I can go from thinking I don't suck all that much at playing the guitar to thinking I should never touch one ever again, all in less than two days.

any of the following apply:

you're an atheist, agnostic or into Buddhism or other non-religious thingies which are neat, you're a geek, you're a musician, you're an artist of some sort, you're socially awkward in the shy way and not the obnoxious way, you have long hair, glasses and/or facial hair, you're super skilled at video games, computer games, programming and/or terminal thingies, you're a Linux user, you love music, you're a writer, you're up for a playful jam session, you want to have your arse kicked at some FPS or Street Fighter, you're kind, you're not too fond of getting super drunk at ever opportunity, you're warmhearted, you have a dry humour, you're interested in words and language, you're not superficial/shallow, you can spell properly, intelligence is a good thing in your book, you think we have something in common and would like to make a new friend (either online, offline or both), you're a nice guy (!), you don't hate smelling nice (I'm way too weak for men's perfume/other chemicals which smell nice), you're up for maybe hanging out some time and talking and playing games and watching movies or series, you're a vegetarian or thinking of maybe becoming one, you love animals, you don't have a problem with girls with curves who couldn't tan if it were a matter of life and death and are a bit socially awkward at times but still interesting and at times even moderately cute.

(Warning: More serious paragraph ahead, related to my "Looking for"-thingie)
Oh, and I don't care if you're practically a neighbour or if you are 2958203952 km (approximately) away. I enjoy talking to people from all corners of the world. I don't see distance as a hinder, especially not for friendship.
I've had long distance relationships before, and if the right person tags along, I would do it again. "Love knows no boundaries", isn't that one of those sappy cliché sayings? To me, distance is basically just time, and I might just as well sit down and read on an airplane/bus/train as sit at home and read. I love travelling, too, so it'd actually be a bonus if I were to befriend someone in ...not-Oslo. Of course, there is the issue with money and having to take time off work or school (if traveling far) and not seeing each other so often and such, but as mentioned earlier, I am solution-oriented and have been known make an effort for loved ones.
Also, I guess, being as picky as I am, I can't really expect to find a bunch of matches in tiny Oslo (and Norway for that matter), either.
Not saying it's easy, but then again, love isn't supposed to be easy. But it's very often worth it. /hopeless idealisticnaiveromantic

... On a less serious note: Feel free to say hello and write me a silly message, it makes me smile. :D?