So. Now I'm 30, or have been for a few months. I'm not sure what to make of that. Ostensibly I should feel all grown up and stuff, but I don't--nor did I at 21 or 18. I more or less feel like I'm still 16. This shouldn't be taken to mean that I still *act* like I'm 16, though.

I mean, not always.

I'm an academic, which is both a profession and a way of life. It means I spend way too much time thinking about minute details of things that no one else cares about. I promise I will do my best not to bore you with them unduly. I mean, heck, I'm bored with them sometimes. But you never know--you might find them interesting. Maybe. ... Who am I kidding?

But anyway--being an academic means being bookish, detail-oriented, monomaniacal at times, and occasionally slightly off-kilter. Also, since I'm in the humanities, I'm a social liberal: may as well put it out there now, right? I think Marx had some good ideas. If you think Adam Smith got everything right ... well ... you might be a good person but we may not get along very well.

I tend to be overly analytical and will heed small details of things you say that you might not have noticed. This is especially true via txt or chat. It is a known fault of mine, and one I have to beg your patience for in advance.

I am witty, brillig, blisteringly intelligent, adorable, cuddly, and caring.

As noted above: I'm an academic. Specifically, I'm a grad student in rhetoric and composition; I'm entering my last year and a half of grad school. I'm very slowly starting to write my dissertation and will begin the job hunt in a little less than a year. My hope is to find placement somewhere outside of Michigan, but ... well, we'll cross that bridge when we come to it.

Scholarly studies of rhetoric that make no difference to anyone beyond a limited circle of other scholars; off-the-cuff wiseass comments that I can pass off as a sense of humor; weeping and moaning about my life; double entendres.

I've been told that I'm an attentive listener and a very good friend. Which, like ... is good and all, but mostly that's just me being me.

My hat.

No, not really. It's not like I have a proclivity for funny hats or anything. I did wear a couple of berets for a while after high school, but I think that's something everyone does in their late teens/early twenties. And besides, it was the 2000s! EVERYONE was wearing berets.

No. I know. They weren't. It was a fashion faux pas of immense proportion. You have no idea.

Gosh. This is always the hardest box to fill out. I will do three top-five lists for now, though it should be noted these aren't in any particular ordert:

Books (and yes, some of these are academic texts, but--I'm an academic)
1) James Berlin, *Rhetorics, Poetics, and Cultures*
2) Mark Z. Danielewski, *House of Leaves*
3) Herman Melville, *Moby-Dick*
4) Michael Hardt and Anthony Negri, *Empire*
5) Douglas Adams, *The Hitch-Hiker's Guide to the Galaxy*

Music (five albums)
1) Neutral Milk Hotel, *In the Aeroplane Over the Sea*
2) Brian Eno, *Another Day on Earth*
3) The Go-Betweens, *16 Lover's Lane*
4) LCD Soundsystem, *Sound of Silver*
5) Wilco, *Yankee Hotel Foxtrot*

Movies
1) *E.T.*
2) *Wings of Desire*
3) *Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind*
4) *Duck Soup*
5) *Monty Python and the Holy Grail*

I like bunches and bunches of stuff more than just these, so if you want to compare notes or chat me up about like comics or sci-fi or Beatles or whatever, feel free to do so.

1) My computer. Mostly because I'm terrible at backing things up and if I lose all of my fun files and things, my pooch is totally screwed.
2) Books. Just in general--not even particular books. Obviously, I have favorites and preferences, but if all there was to read was, like ... Maeve Binchy or something? ... I'd still read.
3) A good hoodie. I know it's lame, but, like, a hoodie is great. It's so comfy and snugglie and versatile. Hoodie hoodie hoodie! It's also fun to say.
4) New socks. Not all the time. But few things bring me as much pleasure as a brand new pair of socks.
5) Pillows. I love a lot of pillows on my bed. Right now, I have, like ... six pillows on my bed. Maybe seven.
6) Skechers. I know, I know, lame, but I totally dig the way they look and when I can find a pair in the right size they almost always totally amazingly comfortable. Skechers ftw, yesyes.

For professional obligations, I spend a lot of time thinking about language and rhetoric and writing and capitalism and the commons and Greeks and public spaces and agency and postmodernism and modernism and post-postmodernism and hypermodernism.

Personally, after a string of near-misses and fractured-if-not-broken hearts, I've been spending a lot of time thinking about what I want from a Someone and what I can offer a Someone in return. I don't think it's something I can really figure out on my own.

Likely reading or watching DVDs, probably eating either stir-fry or Greek salad from the corner coney, staying up far too late and not getting enough sleep.

Sometimes, I think Yukio Mishima had the right idea. Also, I blog, and I like exactly two Kelly Clarkson songs.

I come across as remotely charming here. Or you want someone to kvetch about Star Wars canon with. Or you want someone to play charades with--yes! I totally love charades. I do. Sad.