Describe Yourself Completely in 60 Words or Less
It seems that, every couple of years now, the spectre of Internet dating raises its rather scary head. I’m not comfortable at all with the process, and indeed have a horrible record of keeping up with social networking sites anyway,* but I keep thinking I should actually give it a try. I generally only meet people through various aspects of work, which means that the options are pretty narrow and would be complicated and/or messy in the case of someone interesting popping up. My attempts last year to get out on my own and do things in the evenings were pretty miserable, expensive, and uncomfortable, and I’m hardly likely to strike up worthwhile conversations while walking the dog (whose hearing remains dreadful, btw, but I’m getting less freaked out about that) or poking through the veg section at R2E. Thus, the only other option I know to try is the Internet.
I can deal with the photo requirement; given enough time, I can often luck into at least one photo of myself that doesn’t make me look like I have three chins or a head that resembles one of the more esoteric dice from D&D. (I also find it helps if I remember to clean my glasses beforehand.) This one might be okay, if I bump the brightness levels up a bit — need to re-download Picasa for that, though. (I’m still gradually recovering from the Great Computer Splattage of ‘07.)
Still, the hand to the face is a little coy and posed-looking, so maybe not. Hmm.
In the signup stage, though, what really stymies me is the “tell us a little about yourself” bit. How the hell are you supposed to summarize yourself truthfully in a little paragraph — especially if you’re as long-winded as I tend to be? If you’re accurate, don’t you come off as a little scattered, at best? I mean, just to take music interests as an example, if you look at the top 25 playlist on Fenric the iPod, I’ve got songs from Rise Against, the Dead Kennedys, the Smiths, the Decemberists, Old Blind Dogs, and the soundtrack from BtVS’s “Once More, With Feeling.” That’s not exactly consistent.
Anyway, this is about the best I’ve been able to come up with so far. Anyone have suggestions, edits, or complete rewrites?
“I’m a kind of bookish thirty-something vegan editor, with particular interests in environmentalism and energy efficiency, ‘green’ engineering, sci-fi, British history, dabbling in languages (mainly German, Swedish, and a little French), and occasionally messing about in the kitchen. (I do a pretty mean cupcake, but have yet to master the fine art of cupcake decorating.) Travel to Europe is admittedly a very guilty pleasure, but for me it’s such a necessary reminder that it is possible to run a country in a more environmentally responsible manner, and that societies can be structured in a way that balances the rights and needs of both individuals and the society as a whole.
“Favorite authors include Terry Pratchett, Neil Gaiman, Frank Herbert, Isaac Asimov, Margaret Atwood, Ben Elton, and P.G. Wodehouse. Favorite music includes Rise Against, Loreena McKennitt, and the Pet Shop Boys. (Yeah, no inconsistencies there.) Favorite dog is a 12-year-old beagle who is fond of tofu, wrestling, and endless games of fetch. Favorite color is black (surprise). Favorite season is winter, which of course begs the question of why I’m living in a preposterously hot and humid city like Atlanta. Favorite punctuation mark is probably the parenthesis, judging by how often I seem to use it; second favorite is the semicolon.
“Warnings: in restaurants, I am something of a pain when ordering, but I try to be very polite about it. I also obsessively proofread menus and will probably announce, in incredulous tones, every single typo I find. I also have the bad habit of quoting from Pratchett books, which often annoys people who haven’t read them yet and don’t know the characters.”
Horrible and pathetic and blithering, I know. I just hate having to summarize myself. It just underlines how boring my life really is. Any ideas for improvement are welcome, please!
Seriously: I need help. This is way harder than it should be.
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*I’ve been mostly inactive on Flickr for ages now, largely because my desktop’s built-in slot for my camera’s memory card has stopped working, and I keep misplacing the USB card reader. I joined Shelfari, which has the benefit of not requiring photographs, but I find it annoying when I can’t find the correct cover for my edition (I am very particular about some of them; hardcover Pratchett books, for instance, that I’ve special-ordered from the U.K. — or the copy of Wintersmith I got in the sci-fi bookstore on Gamla Stan last year); it’s also overwhelming trying to catalog my entire library, and quite frankly I’m not convinced yet that I really care what total strangers are reading. I’m probably just cranky and haven’t spent the time exploring the system.
Ok, you asked: I’d add that you’re a redhead, which you might not want to do but you should (trust me) and that you like British comedy (or just British stuff in general, not just history like you have listed). I also think that the entire last paragraph could go, but that’s just me. :) Also, you may want to have sentences like “I’d prefer to curl up with a good book or British DVD than go bar-hopping or clubbing” or some such so that it’s clear you don’t like those things. Also you’ve no mention of outdoorsy type things - you could say you aren’t fond of sports or any outdoor activity that requires you to blister in the sun or whatever but you DO like walking Nigel and will brave the sun for a Ren fest or concert or whatever - something like that. That way you cover the bars/clubs and the outdoors, which both are pretty common topics of interest from what I know. :D:D:D:D
July 16th, 2007 | #
It’s not that I really have anything against going out to bars; mostly, I don’t go out much because (1) I don’t like going out by myself, (2) it’s expensive, (3) all my friends live at least 20 minutes away by car (double that for weekend evening traffic), and (4) Nigel gets rightfully annoyed if I leave him alone more than one evening a week, and will retaliate all over the futon. When I do go out — for instance, at meetings — I rather like it.
Addressing the sportiness issue is a good idea; I like hiking and am open to the idea of camping, but am hardly the beach volleyball type or likely to go tailgating. o.O Also the British comedy. . . . I guess, though, I should probably stop short of saying that guys would get major bonus points if they hold British citizenship, or indeed citizenship in any major EU country in which I even remotely speak the language.
I’ll reconsider the warnings. I thought they were kind of entertaining, but maybe not.
July 16th, 2007 | #
I like Cindy’s comments, especially about mentioning a love of British comedy, hiking, and maybe photography. I like the picture, but hope it can be lightened. Maybe the dark picture is symbolic?
July 17th, 2007 | #