I quite happily call myself a dork and therefore would love to meet another self-identified dork/nerd/geek out there. I figure my love of books, graphic novels, board games and computery things all help qualify me for this title. Other indications of my dorkiness include my love of the absurd moments of life, willingness to embrace the random and my sense of humor. I love to laugh and make others laugh, so you will probably be someone who both keeps me laughing and finds my own odd jokes hilarious.

Travel is something I absolutely love, I compete with my family on the number of countries visited (my parents are still way ahead). Along with visiting other countries, I plan on living for at least a few years in somewhere other than the US. Places I have been and loved include: China, Northern Ireland, South Africa, Egypt, England. Places I really want to travel to include: Turkey, Israel, Italy, Australia, Greece, India, etc.

Cooking is also something I enjoy, especially when my friends and I plan complicated dinner parties that sometimes turn out. This past winter I spent some time perfecting my bread-baking technique and sometime this spring/summer I would like to try my hand at cheesemaking.

As for lifestyle I live in a close community of people that are connected to my church and I take my Christianity serious. However I have an interest in other religions and spirituality, so it is okay if you don't share my views. Another huge influence on my life is my family, I love and value my immediate family quite highly and have a large, rambling, loud and completely amazing extended family. Growing up I could never understand why other people my age dreaded family reunions, because mine were always the highlight of my summer.

I am currently working in a high school library, while also working towards my Masters in Library Science with a certificate in School Libraries. This of course keeps me rather busy, but right now I am in enjoying my long awaited summer and celebrating by taking an extra grad course. However I still find time to enjoy all the great activities (anything from open-air cafes to picnics by the lake) possible during this great Chicago summer.

Giving advice, at least a good number of my girl friends think so. Or course, this may also just be that I tend to find people and their problems very fascinating.

But really I find the whole topic of pointing out my own skills a little odd, so here is a list of things I am actively trying to get better at:
- photography
- bread-baking
- herb growing (currently only basil)
- seeing the glass half-full

I also recently (and for the first time) upgraded the memory cards in my Macbook all by myself (and by that I mean, with the help of a lot of googling) and I am inordinately proud of that fact.

I think I have a pretty good smile and I have been known to laugh loudly (laughter is one of my favorite things). Other than that, it depends a lot what kind of group or situation I am in.

A good number of my favorite books are ones I have re-read from my childhood, this may have something to do with a recent class I took called Young Adult Literature:
21 Balloons by William Pene du Bois
Anything by Louisa May Alcott
Watership Down by Richard Adams
Pippi in the South Seas by Astrid Lindgren (I may have read this book 20 times or more as a child)
All of a Kind Family by Sydney Taylor
Little House on the Prairie by Laura Ingalls Wilder
anything by Madeleine L'Engle
anything by John Green

Alternately I also love Lord of the Rings, the Sandman series by Neil Gaiman (okay everything by Gaimen), World War Z (by Max Brooks) and recently Safekeeping by Abigail Thomas, so I tend to be a bit eclectic in my reading preferences.

1. writing with parenthesis (as evidenced by this profile)
2. peanut butter
3. living near water
4. community
5. a sense of humor, both my own and the hilarious ones my friends have
6. the dueling combination of faith and cynicism

You aren't afraid of your goofy side, like to laugh and generally care about the world around you (I have to admit that sounds totally cliche, but it will have to do). Also a sense of purpose in life and a desire to live or at least travel abroad would be greatly appreciated.

Also I should note that I don't really use the IM tool here at OKCupid, so if I ignore your chats, please don't offended. Feel free to wink or send me a message, so we can get to know each other.