I was almost a scientist once; now I'm a librarian, but I not-so-secretly want to be a park ranger, or possibly an epidemiologist. Or write goofy list articles for the internet.

I'm kind of realistic and fatalistic about some things but I'm also awfully optimistic. Basically, I think it's quite likely that the world is going to hell in a handbasket, but I'm pretty confident everything will be OK in the end. I like to laugh and I do it a lot, but I'm also have regular freakouts about how US health care expenses will bankrupt the world.

I’ve lived in the Valley for over a year now, but I don’t really have close friends here; I’d like to change that, and I’m even willing to change my current terrible habit of spending two weekends out of every three out of town. I like hiking, travel (international and domestic, solo or accompanied), chilling with my friends, whatever. I like trying new things - glassblowing, kayak camping, tap dancing, yoga (actually now that I write this I realize it's been a while since I tried something properly new - feel free to supply suggestions).

Part of me wants to settle down, part of me wants to put some real effort into developing my career, part of me just wants to ditch everything and couchsurf my friends and family until I get tired of it or they do (I’m pretty sure I could get a good six months out of this, maybe a year if I played my cards right - I’m a very good houseguest). I don’t think all (any?) of these are *completely* contradictory, though I recognize it might be difficult to do all of them at once.

Being too clever for my own good, singing, making pies, teaching. Talking science. There are a fair few things I’m quite bad at but I keep on trying to do anyhow, albeit in a half-assed way.

The hair, always the hair. Cashiers especially like to comment on my hair. Once in a while someone will comment on my calves, which are surprisingly muscular due to my lifelong habit of walking on my toes.

For the most part, I don’t really care what your favorites are... I have so many good friends who love things that I couldn’t care less about (or even actively dislike). Maybe if your faves were all Ayn Rand, torture horror movies, Two and a Half Men, and plain white rice I might have a problem with that.

Really good pop-science/technology books
Golden Age mystery novels
Parks & Rec.
I loved the X-Files (first six years or so), Lost, Alias, BSG, but I don’t have a big mythological genre show that I’m psyched about right now. I also don’t have cable.
Pad See You
Music is complicated... I like to listen to lots of stuff, but most of it I don’t feel particularly passionate about. I’m trying to teach myself to read a fake book and accompany myself on the piano when I sing standards. I buy Gillian Welch's albums the day they're released. Oh, and I'm super-excited for Benjamin Britten's centennial year (2013).
Movies are less-complicated - I love a good movie, but I don’t really think much about movies most of the time. The ones I think of as my favorites are mostly older - Some Like it Hot, Casablanca, Birth of a Nation (kidding!)

I’m pretty much a minimalist, but I would be sad if I had to go without:
- a reasonably-constant stream of photos of my baby niece
- singing
- my phone, and the terrible, terrible, buggy crashy Scrabble app on my phone
- travel
- some kind of wheels, whether bike or car or, I don’t know, sail-skateboard (if that’s a thing)
- skirts

How, the more time I spend with my (various degrees of long-distance) friends and family, the more time I want to spend with them. And how this is pretty inconvenient, really.

Lately, I'm on the road, going to visit family members (especially my adorable baby niece) or friends.

I read books with titles like "More Than a Mistress" and "At Last Came Love." Also I watch Murder She Wrote on a fairly regular basis. Some people might say I have terrible taste; I prefer the term "broad."

- You want to know more about me!
- You like a little science and/or skepticism in your life
- You wanna ride bikes