I'm a British-Canadian-American hybrid living in Houston, TX where I work at Rice University. I have a B.A. in English from the University of Toronto which I guess means I'm qualified to correct your grammar and drop books in the bathtub professionally. I like to read, walk, run, learn new things, re-discover things I'd forgotten I liked the first time around, laugh, travel (most recently to Norway, next up are Scotland and France), argue in circles, listen to music, go to lectures, museums, plays and movies, drink tea, drink alcohol (sometime too much, oops), spend time outside. (This list of things I like feels redundant; what crazy person doesn't like all this stuff? To maintain equilibrium here are a few things I don't like: spiders, the color yellow, dogmatism, people who use the word "irregardless".) More specifically, I suppose, I like sci-fi, robots, comics, silliness, nerdery/geekdom, the internet, zombies and cheese. Make of this what you will and message me if any of this sounds like the start of a fun conversation over a beer.

Argh! It's not enough that I had to answer this question to my parents all through my teens and early 20s, but now the electronic ether wants to know what I'm doing with my life?

Hmmmm...what am I good at? Do you really, really want to know people of the internet? Absurdity. Oh, and I make a mean grilled cheese sandwich. Oooh, and Connect Four! I will trounce you at Connect Four.

I guess the accent. People ask if I'm Australian a lot. I'm not.

Music:
Andrew Bird, Andrew Jackson Jihad, The Beatles, Belly, Billy Bragg, Blur, Bob Dylan, Bonnie “Prince” Billy, Bright Eyes, Bruce Springsteen, The Buzzcocks, Calexico, Camera Obscura, The Clash, The Cure, David Bowie, Devendra Banhart, Dresden Dolls, The Flaming Lips, Florence and The Machine, The Gaslight Anthem, Ghostland Observatory, Grateful Dead, Hefner, Her Space Holiday, Hot Hot Heat, James Brown, Jesus and Mary Chain, Joanna Newsome, Josh White, Jurassic 5, Kimya Dawson, Kings of Convenience, The Kinks, Leonard Cohen, Lightnin’ Hopkins, Loudon Wainwright III, M. Ward, Madvillain, The Magnetic Fields, Mark Lanegan, Mary Lou Lord, The Misfits, Morphine, Morrissey, The Mountain Goats, Neutral Milk Hotel, New Order, Nick Cave, Nick Drake, Okkervil River, Old Crow Medicine Show, Olivia Tremor Control, Pavement, Phoenix, REM, Radiohead, Red House Painters, The Replacements, Rilo Kiley, The Roots, Sam Cooke, Scout Niblett, Sigur Rós, Silver Jews, Simon and Garfunkel, The Smiths, Songs: Ohia, Talking Heads, Teenage Fanclub, The The, Tim Barry, Tindersticks, Tom Waits, Tori Amos, Townes Van Zandt, Trash Can Sinatras, Van Morrison, The Walkmen, Weezer, Wilco.

Food:
I've been vegetarian for just over two months now, although I am still eating fish because, dammit, otherwise it's just too hard. I miss bacon.
Fortunately cheese, avocados, tomatoes, eggs, and sushi are all still on the menu. I really like fruit too; oranges, strawberries and raspberries are delicious.

the sun
laughter (and bad jokes)
my brain (but I'm rather attached to all my other organs too)
cheese
This amazing age we live in with all the wonderful, technologically advanced amenities it provides: plumbing, A/C, all things that plug into electrical sockets especially my computer; the fact that I can boil water on a stove top is utterly brilliant.
books
(I'm also fond of my 240 Volvo station wagon. I mean, I could live without it, but I'd be sad.)

language
pattens
perception and memory
funny stories
people I know
whatever I'm currently reading

There isn't really a set plan for Friday nights. If I'm in, I'm probably reading. If I'm out, then I'm hanging out with friends, getting a drink and/or going to a show.

This is a dumb section. Let me tell you something silly and embarrassing instead, that's way more fun.

I once accidentally swallowed a Canadian dollar coin. They are rather large. How old was I when I did this, you ask? I was 22, way too damn old to be accidentally swallowing coins. I panicked, didn't know what to do and so I called Poison Control.

Me: Excuse me, yes, hello, I'm wondering what the procedure is for someone who has swallowed a large coin?
Poison Control: Ma'am, how old is your child?
Me: [mortified]...No, no, it's for me.
Poison Control: [silence, and then what might be stifled laughter] Well, you're going to want to make sure it comes out again.
Me: [!] What if it doesn't come out?
Poison Control: Then you may need surgery to remove it.
Me: Oh dear, OK then, thanks.

Fortunately there's a happy ending and I did not need surgery although, in the interim before the happy ending, I was rather concerned at the airport about how I might explain things if I set off the metal detector.

I don't know, because you weren't totally repulsed by the coin story?