I am endlessly fascinated by people, and by communicating and connecting with others. As a result, I am very passionate about my relationships with my family, friends, and, when I have one, my partner. I think the world is a beautiful place and should be celebrated, and it's difficult for me to understand people who don't feel the same way. Honestly, I'm usually too busy enjoying life to get bored, and I probably couldn't affect world-weary sophistication if I tried.

I'm never interested in being the smartest person in the room. I appreciate people who are curious about the world, and I enjoy learning from others; I am most drawn to people who feel the same. I tend to be strongly opinionated on matters important to me, while freely acknowledging the right of others to their own (educated) opinions. People who view their opinions and lifestyles as the only possible correct and right ones mystify me, and those who are unable to learn from, and appreciate, the educated opinions of others horrify me.

I like people who are slightly geeky/nerdy, but not socially awkward. Wide-ranging interests are good, as are respect and appreciation for human diversity. I get along best with people who appreciate the arts but feel most comfortable in jeans.

I'm the child of a left-brained conservative attorney and a right-brained liberal musician, and as a result, I can usually communicate equally well with engineers and artists. My father raised me to be Catholic, and my mom raised me to be a feminist, but only one of them stuck (you get two guesses on which one). I'm the oldest, and most of the resulting pop psychological profile applies.

Want to know more? Read my bluntly honest anti-personal.

If you're interested, here are the test scores I find significant.

Because I try to appreciate life (some have even said I've retained a lot of my childlike enthusiasm for it), I enjoy a wide variety of interests. I have memberships at the Carnegie Museums and the Phipps Conservatory. I read... a lot. I'm a Penguins fan, and try to catch at least a couple games a year. I am an avid photographer, and while I don't claim to be particularly good at it, I do seem to have an itch to frame the world through a lens. I love to cook and garden (or, rather, I love to plan and plant gardens -- the whole weeding thing is whole 'nother issue). While the allure of the bar scene eludes me, I do enjoy karaoke, and I go out dancing once in awhile. I delight in traveling to new places, and try to visit at least one new destination a year. Most of all, I love getting together with a few friends over dinner or drinks and discussing anything and everything under the sun.

I'm a musician, and music has been a constant in my life. I grew up studying multiple instruments, and voice and piano are still important components of my life. I also occasionally indulge in musical theater.

I should mention that I work as a technical writer, writing documentation for computer software. It's more interesting than it sounds, at least for me!

I also volunteer as a Big Sister through Big Brothers Big Sisters, which is great fun.

- Music
- Listening and doling out effective, but blunt, advice
- Reading very very quickly
- Making people smile
- Nesting
- Acting mature and understanding when I want to kick and scream

Books: My taste in books runs the gamut from the essays of Sarah Vowell to the social satire of Jane Austen to the comedic mysteries of Janet Evanovich, and I read John Sandford and Sue Grafton just as enthusiastically as I read Edith Wharton and the Brontes. Have I mentioned I read a lot?

Movies: Favorites include 80s John Hughes films (Breakfast Club, Some Kind of Wonderful), great action films like Bourne Supremacy and Die Hard, comedies like Ghostbusters and Galaxy Quest, Pixar films, and fantasy action such as Blade: Trinity and Underworld. And, of course, Princess Bride, Office Space, and Kevin Smith films (Clerks, Dogma).

Music: My musical tastes are varied: singer songwriters (Regina Spektor, Kirsty MacColl), modern alternative (Tegan and Sara, Charlotte Sometimes), electronic (Imogen Heap, Air), modern rock (+44, Neko Case), classic rock (Pink Floyd), 80s (Depeche Mode, The Cure), classical music and Broadway musicals and on (are there really people who only listen to one genre of music?). I can't even bore you by swearing I listen to "anything but country and rap" because I actually enjoy a few artists that are classified as country (Kasey Chambers, Mindy Smith). (Rap, though, still continues to mystify me as a musical form, unless you count White and Nerdy.)

Foods: I am used to a racially diverse atmosphere, and I eat a lot of foods from other cultures. Other than a complete loathing for green peppers, black olives, American mustard, and faux mayonnaise ("Miracle Whip"), I'm really not picky. Pasta, red snapper or other fresh fish (perhaps with a basil vinaigrette or fruit salsa), Indian (makhani chicken and matar paneer), Thai (mussuman curry and pad thai), Ethiopian (tikil gomen and doro wat), vegetarian food at funky little cafes, even a steak and baked potato or burger and fries -- all fine with me.

Television: Glee, Veronica Mars, House, Cold Case, Weeds, Gilmore Girls, How I Met Your Mother, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Firefly, Freaks and Geeks, Sports Night, La Femme Nikita, and Babylon 5. Did I mention I'm a total Gleek?!

All in all, my tastes are very varied and egalitarian, so if you're in any way a snob about your literature, music, or food, we probably will not get along.

Gender politics. Relationships. Communication. Politics. Morality. Click the Journal tab and find out!

When people say "Musicals aren't realistic, because people don't just burst into song and dance around on a moment's whim," I look at them like they're nuts, because I totally do.

... you're seeking friends, and either I have talked to you in the journals here, or you're local.

While I would love to have the time and energy to maintain correspondence with many interesting people from 'round the world, I just don't. Unfortunately, I've found that, with the pace of my life right now, penpal correspondence becomes a burden rather than a pleasure for me; I need to spend what little free time I have getting to know people I can actually hang out with in real life. If you're interested, you can read in my journal about my struggle with this issue.

Also, I am only seeking friends at this time. I have a boyfriend, who I met here, but I can always use more local people to socialize with. Unfortunately, many of my closest friends have moved to other cities (or countries!) in the past year.

If you do email me, I may take a few days to answer. I apologize, but I'm not online much during the week, these days, due to a new job and a demanding commute.

Feel free to IM me if you can (I do filter who can IM me). However, I do tend to sit on OKCupid when I'm busy doing other things, including work, so if I don't answer, or say "Sorry, can't talk," I apologize in advance. I do have other IM clients and am happy to talk on them if you email me and introduce yourself.