I want to do everything there is to do in the whole wide world, and I am gradually realising that nobody gets to do that. Trying to narrow down the list. It's hard.

I really like writing (for human or computer consumption,) cooking tasty gluten-free things, exploring pockets of LA I haven't seen yet, and camping in the desert with a great honking big sound system (sometimes lately I am throwing the party.) I like goth/industrial clubs and no-nonsense minimal techno warehouse parties. I have a bass guitar that I should have practiced more with by now, but I'm really enjoying making it go *PLONK* and *THWANG* and also occasionally sound like a bass guitar. I sing, and apparently I do it pretty well, but I'm absurdly shy about it. Trying to stamp that out, tho. Shyness is vanity. If I'm going to look stupid, I'd like to learn to do it shamelessly.

I enjoy being aggressively competent, and by some extension I am not much of a girly-girl. One way in which I am anyway: spiders. I'm scared of them. A lot. I do not kill them, because that is dick: they are just doing what they do, and as to having a right to a given chunk of space, I'm sure their species has done a lot less to wear out their welcome than mine has. However: boy I do not like them in my house. I do not kill them even then; I am fine enough catching them in a jar and taking them outdoors most of the time. However, sometimes if they are really big, my strategy is more about going away for a while and hoping wherever they take off to next is not my bed, or nervously ushering them doorwards with a broom.

I want to teach english... to computers.

I just developed a novel spell-checking algorithm for AT&T. More rightly, it is a distance metric between string x and string y based on how close a human might adjudge them to be, visually, without context. If you think this is cool, you should talk to me. Coz problems like this are how my brain works (literally, even!) and I am rarely more happy than when I'm geeking out about natural language processing and AI.

BUT. One-dimensional people are pathetic and sad. I also get all glowy about good music, from glitch to folk to industrial and points south. I love love love dancing, especially to something nice and glitchy that I can twitch and wriggle around to. I like adventures -- nothing's worth doing unless you wind up with a crazy story to tell. I don't like movies -- too much sitting, not enough doing. You could say that what I'm doing with my life is filling it up.

summarising a whole conversation in a couple of words. turning everything into a dirty joke. arranging social situations. conversing with just one eyebrow. throwing parties. thinking abstractly. cooking great food. debugging. killing houseplants. covering all the bases. flying by the seat of my pants. giving backrubs. trying to open the wrong side of double doors. monopolising the bathtub. thinking in regular expressions. looking funny when i dance.

I'm incredibly short. In fact, I'm even shorter than people tend to initially realise, because apparently I've gotten good at coming across as taller. I'm a very animated talker, and I think it's kind of an evolved strategy, like the way monkeys will put their arms out to look bigger when they're threatened. I wave my arms around and talk with my hands and folks think I'm normal-sized, and then they see me next to someone they know is short and realise I'm even shorter and go "wtf??" It's pretty funny.

Also I've got kind of a weird haircut and I guess people notice that early on too. Think Kim from Doonesbury, with bangs.

And after that it's probably the leprosy.

Just kidding.

[Books] Anything by Vonnegut, most things by Sinclair Lewis. Everything by James Thurber or any of the Algonquin folks. Gaiman. Pratchett. Mysteries. I'm a sucker for Agatha Christie. I like books I can interact with a little, and try to get one step ahead of the characters. I also like to play Dr. House and read medical mystery type stuff. The human body is rad and its failure modes are fascinating.

[Movies] Like I say, I don't like movies much. If I want to sit still for 2 hours, I'll take a nap. But here are a few that have reliably held my attention: Brewster McCloud, Northfork, They Might Be Giants (yes dammit it is a movie, not just those guys who did Particle Man), Mad Max 2: The Road Warrior, and Blade Runner. I'm a big fan of fast-talkin' black and white comedies, too, and baffling caper flicks where you're never quite sure what the hell's going on 'til it all unfolds in the end like an origami-perfect reveal. I also have a soft spot for Hackers... and I love to troll thrift shops for old VHS tapes of dumb 80s movies, and bring them home and watch them with my friends whilst swilling booze.

[Music] ...do you have all night? There is no genre I just outright dislike. Every time I think there is, someone plays me something good. However, lately I've been on a darker kick: Nitzer Ebb, NIN, Velvet Acid Christ, Angelspit, Front Line Assembly... more generally, I like stuff as varied as Elastica, Portishead, Nick Drake, Tracy Bonham, Antipop Consortium, Aphex Twin, Bjork, The Eels, Neko Case, Phil Ochs, Coil, Joanna Newsom, Cornelius, Sonic Youth, Joy Division, Psychedelic Furs... I'll have to stop myself here, or I'll never finish this profile. As you might imagine, tho, I can assemble absolutely eye-popping mix CDs.

[Food] Indian, Korean and Thai food are all way good. I'm allergic to wheat, so that mucks things up quite a lot -- all three of those have plenty of food for me. But mostly, I just cook at home... show me a fridge full of random crap, and I can probably show you a pretty good and interesting dinner in under two hours.

1. Pen and paper. There's something infinitely satisfying about writing something down in longhand.
2. Fresh organic produce.
3. Cuddling. Seriously if I don't have people to snuggle with on a semi-regular basis I start getting funny in the head.
4. Intelligent conversation.
5. A warm cozy bed.
6. Something to write code on. Well. And run it, too, I suppose. That tends to be important and pointful.

Honourable mention goes to my two adorable weirdo spazcats, Pearl and Sasha. I could do without them, and in the natural order of things it's likely that I someday will. But I'd be awfully, awfully sad about it.

I used to think that the internet was one of my 6 things. The internet is really cool and all, but at some point it began to be more of a timesuck for me than a positive useful thing. I've been experimenting with ways to limit my engagement with it and I think that is making my life more interesting. I'm all for that. An hour on Wikipedia -- that's fine. And probably good for me. An hour on Facebook? Something is the matter.

patterns in human behavior, stupid brain tricks, the way language shapes experience and vice versa, how to be less shy about creativity, sustainable living and community building, how to save the world, what to make for dinner.

making a huge dinner with some of my former housemates and then sitting around the living room with drinks and philosophising; heading out to some grubby warehouse to dance all night; hanging out nekkid in a heated hilltop pool looking down at the city; taking a drive through the mountains; curling up in bed with a book. I welcome sufficiently interesting additions to this list.

I talk to myself. A lot. About all sorts of weird things. I know people catch me sometimes and think that I'm crazy, but whenever I'm anywhere where I feel the least bit anonymous -- walking to class, riding on a bus, in the car with the music up -- I start ruminating to myself and sooner or later end up muttering out loud. I just can't help it... words taste too good.

Also Nitzer Ebb's "Belief" album totally gets me all hot and bothered.

I want to meet people who are smart, creative, passionate, iconoclastic, shameless, quirky, and kind. Some of these are negotiable, but in particular I have come to notice that very very many people who are confident, socially adept, and very bright eventually realise that they can get real far by using their powers for evil. They can be manipulative and selfish, and get away with it. I am sick to death of those punks. However, I most enjoy the company of people who are confident, socially adept, and very bright. This leaves me in a bind. If you are one of those rare people who's insightful, and a good communicator, and sharp as a tack, but you have NOT let this turn you into a total jerkhole, please please talk to me. I want to meet more of you.

Some filters, tho: 1) Long-term monogamy does not come naturally to me. If you require this, our relationship is likely to be short. 2) I'm also not interested in brainless screwing. If that's what I wanted, I wouldn't need to hang around here to get it. 3) I mostly date scientists. It just seems to work better.