Hey, I'll be traveling until mid-December, so no OKC action for me until then.
-S.

I'm honest and direct, but also compassionate. I'm curious: I like looking and listening as much as talking. Most people who are generally considered smart seem to consider me smart as well. I'm adventurous, although sometimes I forget to be. I'm 47, but it's a young 47, inside and out.

If I push myself a bit, I'd say I'm a quirky, slightly brainy sensualist with a sense of how things could be, and who is also very able to pull back a bit sometimes and enjoy the flow of things as they are. I'm financially secure and responsible, and emotionally stable, but also passionate, cheeky, and able to laugh at myself.

I generally eat healthy, but I'll have a brownie or a pint of ice cream whenever I feel like it. I like to relax with a good espresso every morning (I'm an addict, so I have a decent machine). I don't smoke (which means, I should say, that I don't like kissing women who smoke, unless it's really rare and only when I'm either not around or we're both a little tipsy). I'm conscious of how and where I spend my money, but I appreciate quality stuff, and I buy any music or food I like. My politics are definitely left-leaning, but never, ever, knee-jerk or simply fashionable. I enjoy hanging with my close friends, but I'm also happy on my own.

I really like my slow time, but I also get off on bicycling through traffic just this side of the raggedy edge, or walking the streets listening to fast, energetic music.

About work: I'm not working much now, but I was a computer programmer for awhile, and I'm living on savings from the glory days while I try to figure out a new career direction. I've always been driven by social ideals and a sort of practical interest in "making things work better", so some sort of public policy work is a possibility. This would probably mean doing a Master's degree program of some sort. But I'm also interested in public-interest law (meaning law school) and energy-related issues (meaning....a bunch of possibilities). Lately I've been thinking about working as a therapist, perhaps combining that with work as a mediator.

A career counselor is helping me sort through all this -- a few months ago I decided that I'd been at a stand-still for a bit too long, and that professional help would be good.

I also volunteer a few hours per week as a counselor at the SF Tenant's Union.

Kissing! Oh, and fixing things.

Hmmm, I'm not sure! Probably that I'm thin and somewhat tall (they accentuate each other, I've heard), followed by my little under-the-chin beard. Also, I'm usually pretty open right from the beginning.

So many, so much,....

I read the New Yorker and Harper's regularly (every issue cover-to-cover), and then occasionally get to actual books.

I love movies (and for 6 years I was part of the Red Vic Movie House collective, a full-time job). A few things I've liked in the last few months: "Vanishing Point", "Gomorrah", "Serbis" (Philippine family drama with an edge), "Hunger" (IRA guys in prison), "Fallen Angels" (Wong Kar-Wai), "Control" (about the Joy Division singer), "Happy Go Lucky" (Mike Leigh), "The Diving Bell and the Butterfly", "Persepolis", some Bette Davis and Bergman flicks at the Castro, "The Band's Visit", "City of Men".

My music tastes are pretty varied: Yo La Tengo, The Clean, Public Enemy, V.U., Lou Reed, Galaxie 500, Cat Power, Cornershop, The Muffs, The White Stripes, Smog, Dan Bern, Clash, Pistols, Stiff Little Fingers, Coltrane, Miles, Monk, Bettie Serveert, Steve Earl, Dylan, James Brown, Bach, Charpentier, Baroque trumpet concertos...

Food -- hey, I like just about all of it! I don't eat much meat, but I'm not completely strict about that.

Oh, c'mon now...

There's all the obvious stuff (air, food, friendship, blah-blah-blah) which I'm not going to officially list. But I do really, really like having, and riding, my bicycle. It's not tricked-out or especially stylish, but "it works", ya know? In the *big* sense, I mean. I get a lot of good from it: transportation, exercise, in-the-moment and in-my-body "now-ness", often some excitement, sometimes some head-clearing relaxation, and, I'm told, a toned bod with a nice butt...

My next career move, certainly. Also, making things (little and big) work better. And best of all: how the twain shall meet.

90%: out (doing the usual night-out stuff)
10%: in (ditto, but "in")

When I'm on OKC or Nerve I hum the tune to Lou Reed's "I Love Women":
http://www.garagetv.be/video-galerij/popmuziek/lou_reed_i_love_women.aspx

Nah, just kidding. Really, kidding. But there *is* something about online dating that triggers that sort of thinking. (Oh, if you're not familiar with the song, check out the video: the song is an homage -- it's NOT just a riff on sex, or anything like that.)

A lot of things that I enjoy doing with friends or alone (going out for movies, music, food, a drink or several; getting outside or traveling; just hanging out at home) are things that I also enjoy doing with a woman that I have at least the beginnings of some sort of connection with. I've had my share of relationships, some long, some not. My last LTR, which lasted 6 years, started with meeting online, so I know this can work!

I'm single now, open to some sort of LTR but not insisting on it. I take these things as they come, and I've been pretty happy so far. I prefer women who are strong, intelligent, confident, creative, and somewhat unconventional. Someone who lives in SF would be my preference. While I'm not a slave to conventional ideas of feminine beauty, I do find that I end up with women who are generally considered attractive and fit, and they tend to also be slim. Someone who enjoys doing at least some of the outdoor stuff I do -- hiking, biking, camping -- would be nice. Someone who would like to turn me on to new stuff (salsa dancing? dinghy sailing? snowshoeing? bookclub? ???) would be great.

I find that I need to emphasize that I'm really, really hoping for someone who lives in SF, or is at least happy about having SF be our primary playground. (I've done the bridge-commute romance thing, and I guess I'm a bit tired of that!)