I enjoy strange, philosophical, debate-y, ridiculous conversations and the people who will share them with me.

If you're not a geeky person, I'm just as geeky-cute as I sound in this profile. If you are a geeky person, I am significantly less geeky than I sound in this profile. But just as cute.

I just returned from teaching nursing as a Peace Corps volunteer in Malawi (that's where Madonna gets her babies). I am applying to go back to school--I want to fix the American health care system . . . before I fix the world. :/

I'm looking to get back into rockclimbing, but I only like the gym type. The real stuff terrifies me unless it's bouldering, and I irreparably suck at bouldering.

I'm trying to keep up with my yoga and other similar hobbies that I enjoy, somehow without becoming too woo-woo.

I'm in between knitting projects at the moment,but that never lasts long.

procrastinating . . . .

my hair
my laugh
people think I'm outgoing, but I'm not so much. I'm not an introvert either, though.

Books: Douglas Adams, early Neal Stephenson, Neil Gaiman, Barbara Kingsolver, Margaret Atwood, midrange Marge Piercy. I am unsure how I feel about the existence of the new Eoin Colfer Hitchhiker's installment. I'm waiting desperately for the new George RR Martin installment.

Of the new, geeky, smartass literary set, I love (and I mean *LOVE*--It's the closest I get to fangirliness--well, ok, these authors and Ben Gibbard) Nicole Krauss, Jonathan Safran Foer, Michael Chabon, and Junot Diaz (aw man, can I explain the sheer bliss of having my geek, spanish, comics, and beautiful language cylinders firing all at the same time?)

Speaking of which, yeah, comics. I go there. I like the art house-y types and the straight up Marvels. I used to be a DC girl, but Vertigo doesn't seem to have the same titles it used to. My all time favorites are Sandman, Transmetropolitan, and Strangers in Paradise. You may have noticed that they are all finished. Woe is me. Not that that stops me from adding to my collection every month.

I go through phases:
Sometimes I'll spend a month or so just reading sociological books (I love Barbara Ehrenreich, Jonathan Kozol, and Stephanie Coontz).

Sometimes I'll go through an armchair science phase (I love Carl Sagan and Stephen Jay Gould and haven't found anyone to replace them since they died--which I guess is ok since I haven't finished everything they've written yet) Mary Roach--who wrote Bonk--is pretty fun and I've just picked up Stiff.

Simon Singh makes mathematical history fascinating.

After a month of a couple books like that, I'll go through a phase of books so light and silly I won't actually admit I've read them.

Movies and TV: I'm sorta out of date at the moment. In Malawi all I saw was the movies (perfectly legal copies, I swear) that got passed around between volunteers. I did have friends who took pity on me and kept me up to date on Dr. Who, Torchwood, Chuck, and Pushing Daisies.

I don't know why, but I have a weird fascination with WWII history. Particularly cryptanalysis. Which is why Neal Stephenson is still one of my favorie authors even though he really needs an editor to take him in hand. It's also why I hate the movie Windtalkers--it taunts me with the prospect of Navajo codetalkers and replaces them with heads blowing up.

Music: Anything and everything. Less so death metal. I especially like Death Cab. And music that makes me want to bounce around the room being a goofball. So that would be not Death Cab.

Food: home cooked monstrosities of random deliciousness. I bought a cookbook for my mom in Tanzania, and am teaching myself to cook spiced--but not spicy--foods from that. I like to bake. I seldom cook a recipe the way it's written after the first time I try it. I want to try every recipe on 101cookbooks.com. The homemade thin mints are excellent, although when I made them they were more like thick mints.

I like to go out for Greek, Ethiopian, Sushi, Indian, and Thai food. I'm not a vegetarian, and I have no intention of becoming one, but I like to eat vegetarian most of the time.

Where I'm going next; where I've just come from; how to save the world; whether I can fly if I really put my mind to it; how to live a life full of meaning that's also incredibly fun (and not in a carob instead of chocolate way).

I like to ponder social relationships, and this often gets me thinking and talking politics. And religion. I like to laugh while I'm talking politics and religion. We, the human race, are wondrous, scary, amazing, and horrible--and doesn't that just provide endless fodder for, well, *everything*?

I haven't had a typical Friday night in 3 years.

Did you *see* what I said about my reading habits? Isn't that enough? Geez, peez Louise.

You should message me if you're funny and sarcastic. Bonus points if you speak a foreign language. Extra bonus points if your foreign language is one I speak.