So, the short version is that I am New Yorky and California-y at once (big talker, big greenie, love to explore restaurants, love to volunteer and pick up trash on the beach, super sincere, but hidden under big layer of smartypants wiseassitude). Have pretty serious JuBu tendencies -- you're about 1000x more likely to find me in a yoga studio or meditating than in shul, but it's not nothing, my upbringing.

In some respects, I'm looking for companionship for checking out foreign movies and divey neighborhood bars and alt-type bands and ethnic food stores and art and hole-in-the-wall restaurants, etc. etc. In others, I'm looking for the real thing, someone smart and handsome and kind, who makes me laugh, and whose companionship I prefer above all others. Please note that I am not lying about my age or my appearance, and in fact will not lie to you at all, unless I absolutely totally have to. I'm pretty WYSIWYG: I don't dye my hair, I kind of max out at lipstick, all my body parts are mine, and my tan is uneven and comes from hiking and biking. I think that self-development is more interesting than self-presentation. I heart integrity.

Finally, although I have filled out a lot of that stuff below, let me note that I don't think there needs to be complete overlap in terms of tastes or interests -- it's your approach to life that's key. Also, I think it takes time to get to know someone, and I'm not looking for something overly intense right away. Just nice, normal, pleasant, enjoyable times.

I try and make the world a better place by teaching people how to understand it with a bit more clarity. Turning the opaque transparent, or maybe just more translucent.

-Boggle.
-When in various parts of town (and various cities), knowing where a good, reasonably priced restaurant is. And the best way to get there.
-trikonasana
-talking to people I don't know
-navigating
-teaching
-misplacing my glasses
-finding bargains
-getting my fingernails mysteriously (and perpetually) dirty

Depends on what I'm wearing. Am I in a coat or jacket or cardigan? Probably my hair. T-shirt or tank top or yoga clothes? Attention not so much on my head, I don't think.

Also, I like to banter. Like Nick and Nora maybe, but with less alcohol. I would have liked to be in a 40s screwball comedy, except that glossy hair and those tiny hats and high-waisted pants seem hard to maintain.

BOOKS
Oscar Wilde, Rick Moody, David Foster Wallace, Jane Austen, Carl Hiassen, Lois McMaster Bujold, P.G. Wodehouse, Diana Wynne Jones, Jasper Fforde, Walter Mosley. Neal Stephenson (but not the trilogy). David Mitchell, but really just Cloud Atlas.

MOVIES
Hedwig! Rushmore! Early-to-mid Rob Reiner, all Billy Wilder. Things made in France, except for that silly werewolf movie. Noir. Pre-code comedies. Diving Bell and the Butterfly. Comedies that make me laugh, though I can't think of many (oh, 40 Year Old Virgin, that's one).

MUSIC
Just saw Andrew Bird and Jenny Lewis at a music/yoga festival in Tahoe, and enamored all over again. Balkan Beat Box, Golem, Amr Diab, can't not dance to bhangra, salsa too so taking a class so I can learn the moves, old-school 90s alterna stuff, Peggy Lee, Blossom Dearie, Pixies, Cibo Matto, most classical except for very early Baroque and 12-tone usually not so much my thing.

FOOD
sushi, exploring Chinese province-specific restaurants in the San Gabriel Valley, Mediterranean cuisine (esp. when eaten outdoors), real NY or Southern Italian pizza, spinach and swiss chard, stalls at the Hollywood Farmer's Market, Korean tofu soups and also jap chae

Vegetables
The companionship of like-minded people (and animals)
Sunshine
Places where you can't hear traffic noise
Hiking shoes
Books

lately:

how it is that I'm always happy to hear early Led Zeppelin but don't actually own any.

(once again) how oddly unempathetic so many people seem to be

(driving through the Central Valley) how I have never regretted my decision to stop eating red meat

How to get to South America using miles before my schedule gets too busy and I lose them.

out somewhere. With people or person. Doing something.

Unless I'm completely wiped from the week, in which case I am home with the cats and a book or movie. Or the ceiling, which can be surprisingly interesting when you don't have the energy to look at anything else.

you're smart and kind and within 8-9 years of my age. And you want companionship when you're enjoying good food and art and music and scenery. And are engaged with the world around you.

I'm happy to just go out on dates with people who are looking for something short-term only, but note that I'm hoping to find (here, or elsewhere) someone who is looking for a real long-term relationship -- a partnership that is dynamic without being overly dramatic, that's nurturing while leaving sufficient space to be yourself, that's respectful and loving (in all the right ways) and kind.

Looks like I should add that you are single, and if married, only technically because there is some hold-up with the divorce. I'm not interested in playing a role in someone's open relationship, or having one myself, sorry.

Oh, and also, if you are on the younger side and considering writing to me, I cannot recommend strongly enough that you avoid using the word "cougar."