When I made this account, I failed to realize that I had the option to be creative with my screen name. Sorry. Guess what? Those technically aren't even my real initials. Still lame.

Bittersweet. Tender. Surprising. Humorous. Downright absurd. This is what it feels like to be human. I delight in every moment of my charmed life.

I collect postcards and love to take naps in the grass.

Going to graduate school for geographic information systems, interning at a government organization and researching health issues, living in a small, artsy urban collective with a few women who love bike-riding and cheesy horror movies as much as I do, and generally having a pretty good time :)

I've been away for 5 years now, and have found a home in 5 other states and 1 other country since, but I'm realizing that I am missing Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania more than I ever thought I would. I'm even thinking about buying a house there in the medium-term future. Damn. Never thought that would cross my mind.

*Laughing
*Resourcefulness
*Domesticity
*Scrabble
*Knowing lots of stuff about abortion
*Fermi problems
*Reading maps and orienting myself in space
*Decorating cakes and writing in icing...in Farsi
*Adapting to new places
*Knowing when to let go
*Getting myself into jams
*Inventing demonyms
*Befriending librarians as part of secret plots to steal books I desire
*Making friends in general

thick cat eye glasses, septum piercing, brown person of indeterminate origin

Classy on the outside, tasteless as hell within.

Books: The Prophet (Khalil Gibran), A Thousand Splendid Suns (Khaled Hosseini), Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead (Tom Stoppard), Lolita (Vladimir Nabokov), Eat, Pray, Love (Elizabeth Gilbert), Reading Lolita in Tehran (Azar Nafisi), the Chronicles of Narnia (C. S. Lewis), Start Where You Are (Pema Chödrön), The Sacred Path of the Warrior (Chögyam Trungpa Rinpoche), Sky Burial (Xinran), Claire Marvel (John Burnham-Schwartz), World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War (Max Brooks), Guesstimation (Lawrence Weinstein and John A. Adam)

Movies: The Last Unicorn, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead, Secretary, Wild Zero, Heathers

Music: I'm hardly a music snob. I mean, I like that shitty electronica they play at shitty retail stores. Don't judge me. I also have a particular fondness for murder ballads, Persian dance music (OH SHIITE), Neutral Milk Hotel, Lisa Hannigan, Fever Ray, MGMT, and just about anything from Bicycle Records. And while I'm not the hugest fan of the Gossip, I do love what Beth Ditto is doing to promote positive body image.

Food (and drinks): Afghan, Thai, bubble tea, rosewater ice cream, mangoes, soy milk, Surinamese pindakaas (peanut butter) purchased at a Dutch market, milk and honey in a blender, chocolate martinis, plum wine, Unibroue's Trois Pistoles, Riesling

my independence, access to education, a creative pursuit, my passport, compassion, the kindness of others

*What's on my to-do list
*(sexual, cultural, generational, geographic, gender) Identity
*Serendipity
*Feminism and technology
*Karma (read: cause and effect)
*Reproductive justice
*Reincarnation—I'm kind of an atheist, but I really like being alive and being human, so I hope I get to do this more than once.
*How can I make myself understand statistics and calculus again
*When can I afford that new piercing/used dress on eBay/textbook for my class that starts tomorrow/tattoo/software that would make my life so much easier/car/dental appointment/concertina/sewing machine/bike I saw on Craigslist two weeks ago that's definitely already been sold/trip to India/whatever.

Oh, and really, really rough sex.

NOT sipping a $4 cosmopolitan at a backwoods Colorado bar whilst smacking a tambourine on my ass and dancing to my friends singing karaoke and hearing the word "auspicious" for the 108th time. Sad face.

Editors

• pumpkincrayon

Sometimes I can't decide if I want to be a burlesque dancer or a Buddhist nun.

Back by popular demand: Click here for my reaction to that great Japanese woodcut—"Dream of the Fisherman's Wife"

Aaaand I've met 50+ people from this website. OkSlut?

...you're at least the same age as me, and not more than 5 years my senior*

Also, if you're kind, supportive, sex-positive, open-minded, queer or queer-friendly, an artist, activist, humanist, or know how to ride your bike in this city, and you like beer.

If you're nice, and I like you, maybe I'll make you dinner.

Caveat: I'm not exactly seeking anything serious or long-term at the moment. I'm just starting to figure out what I want out of my own life; the addition of another life and another quarter-life crisis would result in complications that I'm simply not up for right now. That being noted, I do remain open to whoever comes into (or goes out of) my life, and to whatever happens in that interaction. What will be will be.

Also, don't bother messaging me if you're listed as "available." If you're casually dating other folks, that's cool, but if you've already got something committed going on with someone else, save your time. Unless we're already friends, and have been friends for a long-fucking-time, I don't really dig on the poly/non-monogamy deal.

*I spent the last 5 years pretty much exclusively dating people 8 or more years older than I am. You know what? I'm done with that bullshit. I am interested in dating/hanging out with someone I can talk to about Twitter, trapper keepers, quarter-life crises, oh-my-god-my-first-professional-job, and Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? I loved that show.