two and a half years of flailing through grad school taught me that i need structure for this sort of thing. sorry, okcupid. maybe the specific questions will help.

i realized recently that i hadn't updated this in a couple of years, so i'm just going to put the new stuff up at the top. lazy, but hopefully effective.

about a year ago, i went to my ten-year high school reunion, which i viewed with a mixture of dread, curiosity, and indifference. while there, i spoke to several of my former teachers, one of whom asked me if i was teaching middle school as a form of penance for my own behavior.

maybe, but only partially so. i teach 8th graders about the earth, which is a wonderful job. i remember 8th grade as an endless highlight reel of social embarassments and horrible judgment, but it's very different from the other side - students are young enough to retain some wonder and optimism about the world, and old enough to understand pretty much anything you throw at them if you explain it well enough. i'm teaching them the equivalent of a condensed undergraduate geology curriculum, with few complaints. i have total curricular freedom and write my own textbook as necessary. life is good.

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i had a good answer to this question a few months ago. now i don't. instead, i have the beginnings of a standup routine.

two months ago, i was a graduate student in geology at texas a&m university, working on something challlenging and exciting that i was occasionally certain would change the world. two weeks ago, i had a difficult but potentially fascinating job developing renewable alternatives to fossil fuels from used deep fryer oil. today, i am not sure.

i'm currently working my way through texas looking for a better job that does not involve stirring 55-gallon drums of grease, and avoiding the return home to illinois as long as possible.

standardized tests, bar trivia, and interpreting things for people.

other, more personal things, too.

height? eyes? voice? i think it depends on how i'm encountered. someone on the phone's not going to notice the visual stuff. someone walking down the street's not going to hear the voice. it's all subjective.

this question changed since the last time i answered it.

haruki murakami; pretty much anything by. rushdie. stephenson. gibson. give me something to read and i'll enjoy it. despite the authors listed above, i'm not a total book snob - although i do feel a little bit guilty about enjoying pulp over Serious Literature, the pulp's more likely to get read quickly. i'd happily read a phone book written by elmore leonard, but i don't get to read fun stuff often these days.

i'm going to categorically refuse to answer the movie question. not because i don't like movies, but picking favorites is both hard and a slippery slope to pretentiousness and/or poor taste.

music: 'anything' is overused, but at one point earlier this semester my cd player contained lucinda williams' 'car wheels on a gravel road', N.W.A.'s 'straight outta compton', captain beefheart's 'clear spot', type o negative's 'life is killing me', and the cocteau twins' 'heaven or las vegas'. in the past few weeks, i haven't been able to stop listening to swervedriver's 'mezcal head.' generally speaking, my tastes tend to run towards things which are both beautiful and noisy; the aforementioned album is a great example. shopping for used cds is one of my favorite vices.

foods: there are a few things on the do-not-eat-list (bananas, mayonnaise, and a couple of minor items), but i'm pretty open-minded.

in an ideal world: korean, indonesian, persian, ethiopian, turkish; anything unfamiliar gets high marks, really. when i cook, i basically put together things i like and see what happens. usually it works, although this may not hold true if one is worried about caloric content. i'm never going to be rich - the food i cook is as close as i'm likely to get.

laughter. music - something to listen to, something to make it. i guess that's two things. physical affection. sex is good. hugs are better. well, no. hugs are more appropriate for everyday interaction. i'm not seriously going to give up sex for hugs. food. specifically, i don't want to give up my addiction to bulgogi. but i need to have stuff around to cook, too. transportation. it bothers me on some level that i drive so much, but i'd have a hard time losing the freedom to get in the car and disappear somewhere for hours. stimulation. intellectual, artistic, literary, physical. i like knowing how things work, and i like knowing stuff.

currently, how to demonstrate aquifer recharge using a sponge, a turkey baster, and a pile of bricks. this is going to be cool.

previously, i would have answered 'more drunk than you'.

now, i'm not really sure. i haven't had a whole lot of friday nights available for a while. at the moment, the answer is probably coaching a lacrosse game.

if this is an invitation to one-up you with a crazy story, i win. you can even pick the topic.

you feel like addressing a class full of eighth-graders.