Let's see, I've spent most of my life in a small town in Iowa. I went to college in Missouri for a year and then to the University of Iowa for another 3. I've spent a summer in India and lived in upstate New York for about 6 months before winding up back in Iowa again. I've lived in Des Moines for almost a year now, but I'm still learning my way around.

I am a former band geek and soccer player. I was one of those "smart" people in high school, but I've never really had any clear direction as far as career goals. I went to college to delay the inevitable having to get a "real job" to support myself, but that eventually fell apart when I ran out of money and still didn't know what I'd do after I got a degree.

I'm pretty low-maintenance and basically live in jeans, though I'm much more "girly" than I used to be. But I still feel more comfortable hanging out with guys rather than a bunch of girls. I often prefer to connect with people one-on-one, mainly because I'm not very good at group conversations. I tend to spend more time listening than participating.

I've always been somewhat skeptical about online dating, but wouldn't you know it, I actually met my boyfriend through this profile. So thank you, OkCupid.

Editors

• CompulsoryName

Striking out on my own (again/for real this time), working nights, trying to pay down my student loan debt, trying to figure out what I want to do with my life

Looking things up online, editing, empathizing, learning new things/figuring things out, getting cold, being 5 minutes late, rationalizing things for other people, stating the obvious, getting distracted, daydreaming, staying up all night, reflexively hearing double entendres in just about anything, being oblivious to my surroundings, getting wrapped up in silly details, accidentally sneaking up on people (I've been nicknamed "ninja girl"), laughing at the stupidest things

How little I am and how young I look (people are always surprised that I'm not in high school). And then probably how quiet I am (I'm kinda shy).

Books: The Catcher in the Rye, The Hitchhiker’s Guide, Childhood’s End, Ender’s Game, The Eyre Affair, The Simoqin Prophecies, Lullaby, Sophie’s World, Interpreter of Maladies, The Perks of Being a Wallflower, The Valley of Horses, The Pillow Book of Sei Shonagon

Movies: Moulin Rouge, The Princess Bride, Entropy, Before Sunrise, Dogma, Sin City, Kung Fu Hustle, In the Mood for Love, When Harry Met Sally, Labyrinth, Love Actually, Serendipity, Office Space, High Fidelity, Rocky Horror Picture Show, Shrek, The Wedding Singer, Minority Report, The Fifth Element, American Outlaws, Garden State, the X-men trilogy, Underworld and Underworld: Evolution, Kill Bill Vol. 1 and 2, the Blade trilogy, V for Vendetta, The Prestige, Memoirs of a Geisha

Music: Incubus, David Bowie, Cake, Fiona Apple, Bjork, Panic! At The Disco, Utada Hikaru, Magnetic Fields, Stefy, Weezer, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Dresden Dolls, Savage Garden, Silverchair, George Gershwin, Brad Paisley, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, Marilyn Manson, the soundtrack to Avenue Q, and a lot of stuff on 103.3 and 105.1

Food: Poultry (mostly chicken and turkey), roast beef, ham, fish, pizza, pasta, pumpkin pie with whipped cream, chocolate, cheese sticks/balls, KFC's mashed potatoes and gravy, Subway's chocolate chip cookies and Wisconsin cheese soup, Chinese, Mongolian BBQ, Indian, Mexican

Music, a computer with an internet connection, my cell phone (I always need it when I don't have it), social interaction, a pen and paper (anything to write on), sleep (I don't function well unless I'm averaging around 7 hours a night)

My finances (it can be a juggling act), conversations I will have (or should have had) with various people (I even plan out voice mail messages ahead of time so I don't ramble), things I should get done during the day but decide to put off 'til later, lists and things I should write down on a list, kittens, important things happening in the near future, random topics that grab my attention throughout the day

Either working or spending time with my boyfriend.

I was an English major and I like to write now and then, so language and grammar are kind of important to me. Even so, I'm pretty forgiving of mistakes and tend to make many myself. Still, I can be somewhat judgmental of native English speakers lacking even the most basic grammatical skills. Especially with people I haven't met in person, but I'm really trying to work on that.

Honestly though, I learned more about grammar in foreign language classes than I ever did in an English class. And yet, I'm still not a very good speller (I rely a lot on spell check).

All that grammar stuff hasn't scared you off, because you don't cross the line between using some common internet abbreviations and completely butchering the English language (unless it's for the entertainment value, of course). And honestly, I'm not nearly as serious as this profile probably makes me sound.