[NOTE: I'm not looking to date right now. All you wonderful, gorgeous, fascinating, kind men who ARE looking to date: perhaps it would be better to chat when I'm in a better place for meeting potential matches.]

I've been told by a friend that "gentle" is the first word she would use to describe me. I tend to be introverted with a "bright streak" that comes out more and more often. (I'm getting better at it.)

I've battled serious depression in the past, but I am also an optimist at heart.

It's my nature to be very analytical and philosophical, so I try to make sure I "keep it real" as much as possible--when I start talking in large words, you have to understand I'm being tongue-in-cheek. I'm really not stuck up, I promise!

I'm very interested in spirituality, and I think that there is something real to spiritual existence, but I'm also trained in science, which means I have a lot to ponder. When you see me lost in my own little world, that's probably what I'm thinking about.

I love language (got my degree in Linguistics), but I'm not a grammar nazi. A few things do bother me, but really it's fine to split infinitives and end sentences with prepositions.

I am intelligent, devoted, and cute; guys' mothers really seem to like me. :-)

I just graduated from Our Lady of Lourdes School of Nursing, so that I can eventually become a family nurse practitioner and try to build a holistic health practice. And to think I was gonna be an academic! Really, though I want to be a teacher, and I'm sure that whatever happens it will always return to that.

singing, academics, listening, organizing things

I get a lot of comments on my eyes. But that just means that it's the first *positive* thing that people notice. In fact, I have no idea.

Books: Conversations with God (Neale Donald Walsh)
The Lord of the Rings (J.R.R. Tolkien)
Les Miserables (Victor Hugo)
The Neverending Story (Michael Ende)
Harry Potter (J.K. Rowling)

Movies: The Lord of the Rings
Labyrinth
The Hunchback of Notre Dame (Disney)
Stardust
Were the World Mine

TV Shows: Fraggle Rock
True Blood
Glee (guilty pleasure)

Music: Loreena McKennitt
Enya
Movie Soundtracks

At this point, OKCupid wants me to increase my profile to 1,000 words in order to achieve 95% completion. Being an over-achiever, I can't help but try. So...

Here's one of my favorite poems, by W. B. Yeats

BELOVED, gaze in thine own heart,
The holy tree is growing there;
From joy the holy branches start,
And all the trembling flowers they bear.
The changing colours of its fruit
Have dowered the stars with merry light;
The surety of its hidden root
Has planted quiet in the night;
The shaking of its leafy head
Has given the waves their melody,
And made my lips and music wed,
Murmuring a wizard song for thee.
There the Loves a circle go,
The flaming circle of our days,
Gyring, spiring to and fro
In those great ignorant leafy ways;
Remembering all that shaken hair
And how the wingèd sandals dart,
Thine eyes grow full of tender care:
Beloved, gaze in thine own heart.

Gaze no more in the bitter glass
The demons, with their subtle guile,
Lift up before us when they pass,
Or only gaze a little while;
For there a fatal image grows
That the stormy night receives,
Roots half hidden under snows,
Broken boughs and blackened leaves.
For all things turn to barrenness
In the dim glass the demons hold,
The glass of outer weariness,
Made when God slept in times of old.
There, through the broken branches, go
The ravens of unresting thought;
Flying, crying, to and fro,
Cruel claw and hungry throat,
Or else they stand and sniff the wind,
And shake their ragged wings; alas!
Thy tender eyes grow all unkind:
Gaze no more in the bitter glass.

And another great work of poetry:

we are the crowd, we're c-coming out
got my flash on it's true, need that picture of you
it's so magical, we'd be so fantastico
leather and jeans, garage glamorous
not sure what it means but this photo of us
it don't have a price, ready for those flashing lights
'cause you know that baby I

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi
baby, there's no other superstar
you know that I'll be your papa-paparazzi
promise I'll be kind, but I won't stop until that boy is mine
baby you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me
papa-paparazzi

I'll be your girl backstage at your show
velvet ropes and guitars, yeah 'cause you're my rockstar
in between the sets, eyeliner and cigarettes
shadow is burnt, yellow dance and we turn
my lashes are dry, purple teardrops I cry
it don't have a price, loving you is cherry pie
'cause you know that baby I

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi
baby there's no other superstar
you know that I'll be your papa-paparazzi
promise I'll be kind but I won't stop until that boy is mine
baby you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me
papa-paparazzi

real good, we dance in the studio
snap snap, to that shit on the radio
don't stop for anyone
we're plastic but we still have fun

I'm your biggest fan
I'll follow you until you love me, papa-paparazzi
baby there's no other superstar
you know that I'll be your papa-paparazzi
promise I'll be kind but I won't stop until that boy is mine
baby you'll be famous, chase you down until you love me
papa-paparazzi

whether matter or consciousness is actually primary to existence. Is any amount complexity in matter actually able to generate the essential capacity to experience anything? That's all! Discuss.

wondering whether I ought to be going out somewhere.

I get head rushes if I get up too quickly. I've blacked out a few times in my life. Not too bad, I guess.