I'm living in the Washington, DC area now, working my way out of a rut. I'm a self-professed nut about world travel but for now fill up my time writing (travelogues and short fiction mostly), reading, drawing or learning to cook dishes from around the world. I also enjoy films; foreign films mostly but I've seen my share of Hollywood trash at the Cinema & Drafthouse, where alcohol makes them better than they are. When I can, I put in time studying Mandarin Chinese and Tamil and recently, have been learning a little Hindi. I am technically seeing someone right now but not in a "committed" way - that would be impossible, as I'm planning to move back to east Asia in less than a year.

I am talkative, unpredictable, and me

Right now I'm an underemployed cube monkey and not happy about it one bit. I've lived abroad studying and teaching English before and am planning to do so again - it's just a question of when. I'm not planning to make a career of TEFL though, and eventually hope to go to graduate school (preferably in London).

I'm an excellent writer and a reasonably good artist. I've got a knack for language acquisition.

Ebullient and talkative, plus bright blue eyes and red hair. The hair is from a bottle, but the eyes are real. I love to learn from and be influenced by new people but always hold up my end of the conversation, often with odd travel stories or strange facts from around the world.

books:

"The Great Indian Novel" - Shashi Tharoor "The Guide" - R.K. Narayan "Waiting for the Mahatma" - R.K. Narayan "Balzac and the Little Chinese Seamstress" - Dai Sijie "The Love Wife" - Gish Jen "Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister" - Gregory MacGuire "Fierce Invalids Home From Hot Climates" - Tom Robbins

movies:

Never really thought about it. "Chaudvin Ka Chand", "The Royal Tenenbaums", "Snatch", "Raise the Red Lantern" and "Lagaan" are all superb. I recently saw and loved "Crash". "Office Space" had me laughing hysterically. "Lost in Translation" hit a little too close to home.

music:

I listen to rap and hip hop partly for the irony of a blue-eyed white girl from a po-dunk town listening to, well, rap and hip hop. Also I genuinely like it. Also lots of "desi" music (bhangra, Bollywood soundtracks, traditional Carnatic music from South India), a lot of modern music from the Middle East/North Africa, classical music (Romantic and Baroque specifically) and classic rock.

foods:

Indian (southern tiffin, spicy Punjabi dishes, various kinds of chaat, shrikhand and mishti doi, Bengali chicken with lots of mustard), Ethiopian dishes - the spicier the better, Thai food, sushi, various kinds of Chinese cuisine but especially Sichuan/Guizhou style, good coffee, custard tarts, anything with cheese.

1.) a computer/pen and paper for writing 2.) sufficient reading material 3.) pens/pencils/paper/art supplies 4.) someone to really *talk* to 5.) higher education 6.) it's a tie between "the ability to get the hell out of anywhere, to anywhere" and "some level of internet access".

what the hell people do with the blank slates of their lives (this can take any form, starting with "42" and going on to "maybe Sartre was right", "was it really smart to tell grandma that all religions are false? maybe they aren't", "maybe Russell was right", "life is art", "art is life", "everyone seems so unhappy", "everyone seems happier than me", "aren't I actually happy? yes..." and finally "get me the hell out of here!")

out. Anything from at a restaurant with friends, at a coffeeshop with a sketchpad, Chinese textbook or my laptop, living it up at a bar or club...rarely am I in.

sometimes I wonder if I'm an introvert hiding in an extrovert's body. sometimes I wonder if that's why I keep moving.

you're bored. or you don't mind reading pages and pages of banter on any random subject we might discuss.