I am a bit of a nerd and oh so proud of it. I tend to take this whole self-assessment/profile creation thing much too seriously. This creates some confusion when people go from reading my responses to actually communicating with me, since I am seldom so earnest. I am really sarcastic and critical, but in the most affectionate way imaginable. But how to portray that here?

Eventually I want to be able to travel extensively. I want to see all that this world has to offer; the good, the bad, and the exceedingly ugly, as it were. (Anyone willing to hand over their frequent-flier miles to aid my cause?)

I plan to go back to college soon. My intended major is Biology with a concentration in Behavioral and Neural Science. There is nothing as fascinating and mystifying as the human brain. I spend as much time as I can manage studying for classes that I may not even be enrolled in for at least another six months. (I told you that I was a nerd.)

I believe that I would also greatly enjoy teaching. Thus, I am considering a minor in Education. Maybe I will just chuck the Ph.d idea and go teach Kindergarten. I love Dr. Seuss and macaroni art more than anyone I know! Not to mention the joys of recess and nap time.

My other great aspiration is to be a writer. It is the childhood dream that I gave up on once I was introduced to the real world. Now I am attempting to pull it down from the shelf, dust it off, and make it work again. Welcome to my quarter-life crisis!

Reading for hours, wandering aimlessly, cheering people up by threatening violence against the people that upset them. I am sure that there must be other things that I am good at, but I must be so good at them that I am not even aware of them anymore. Man, I'm good.

Good at moving cross-country on about 24 hour notice! Hopefully that is not a skill that I will be implementing again soon.

Most people comment on my cute librarian glasses before anything else.

A) To save time, let's just list authors: Twain, Dostoevsky, Vonnegut, D. Adams, Turgenev, Dunant, Rowling, Flaherty, Braff, Austen, Gibran, Winchester, H. S. Thompson, Sedaris, Salinger, Orwell, Burgess, Kerouac, Ginsberg, Burroughs, Rushdie, Updike, Danielewski, Pollan...I can go on forever. That is what happens when one spends 6+ years in book retail. Not to mention starting my college career as an English major.

B)Lost In Translation, Amelie, Ghost World, But I'm A Cheerleader, Fight Club, High Fidelity, Drop Dead Gorgeous, Old Boy, Rushmore, Igby Goes Down, I Heart Huckabees, Dot the I, King of Masks, Secretary, Fear and Loathing in Las Vegas, V for Vendetta, Ninth Gate, Peter Greenaway films, John Hughes films, Monty Python films, Wes Anderson films, Kevin Smith films, Trey Parker films, etc. **300! The most beautiful, violent thing that I have seen in a while. Thank you, Frank Miller. And may I please live in your brain?**

C)Styles: some punk, a lot of jazz and blues, some (real) hardcore, classic rock, many independent bands/musicians, some classical, some bluegrass, a little contemporary rock, some electronica/techno, some hip-hop...a little of everything, I suppose. Currently listening to: Moving Units--Dangerous Dreams; Beck--Modern Guilt; The Arcade Fire--Neon Bible; Simone--On Simone

D) After 15+ years of vegetarianism, I am making baby steps back into the omnivore lifestyle. I still find most meat unappetizing, but I am willing to try new things. That's what matters. Otherwise: sushi, salads, pastas, fresh breads, lots of fresh vegetables and fruits, Indian food, Mexican food, Thai food, Szechuan Chinese food, Italian food, etc. I like food! I especially like being introduced to new flavors and styles. I am more than willing to swap recipes.

1)My grandmother 2)My closest friends 3)Good food 4)Good music 5)Good books 6)Freedom to wander

Selling everything I own, running away from home, and traveling the world. I also spend copious amounts of time trying to work out the fuzzy details of my future and how, to get to said future, I need to get out of my own way. I make many conscious efforts to remain positive and overcome my natural inclinations toward cynicism.

Suffering from insomnia, reading and writing the night away in an effort to clear my mind. Or, if I am lucky, sleeping with an open book on my head. Sometimes the book is replaced with my neurotic cat, Ringo Starr.

My wild party days are pretty much behind me. I do still go out from time to time, but in general, I feel like I have more constructive things to do now.

I am afraid of escalators. I am always extremely cautious getting on or off of them. There are other similarly odd, random things about me that I am sure will come out later. We don't even want to start on my obsessive need to alphabetize things or have them all facing the same way. (Completely serious about that.)

You have two firing synapses to rub together. I also appreciate people with a functional grasp of English grammar and usage. I should warn you that I find incorrect spelling and lack of proper punctuation to be quite annoying. I often do not reply to messages that contain such crimes against language.