Kerikeri

Single

New Zealand

Like most kiwis, I am nocturnal. I have tried getting up early but then the days are very long, because I still stay up late.

I watch TV a lot more than anyone should. I keep the telly on for company much of the time. I have seen/heard more Bowflex and Principal Secrets ads than anyone should normally be exposed to in one's lifetime.

I used to shop more than I should, but then I moved somewhere with so few shops it's just not possible. A person can only have so many can openers.

I used to eat more than I should but I have now solved that by not bothering to eat for most of the day. Partly because then I'd only have to clean up afterwords, partly because I am too engrossed in work to remember to move to go and collect or prepare some food, and partly because for some time after I wake up, my jaw goes ker-thunk on the left side, and it takes till evening for it to stop doing that. This puts me off eating for most of the day but tends to disappear after a while. Hasn't been bugging me of late, though. I also have a theory that anything you eat after midnight doesn't count.

I can be nice, but most people I meet wouldn't describe me as such because they haven't impressed me enough for me to unleash niceness upon them.

I like correct spelling and punctuation and finding the perfect word for every occasion, but I make quite a few typos that I don't correct because I'm busy frantically typing more.

I am not competitive but I do like winning as long as I have deserved it. I do not enjoy playing if anyone else is ultra-competitive as they make it horrible for everyone. If I'm playing, I'll still do my best to win, mind you.

For my fellow kiwis: you seem to fall into two groups to whom this will be relevant. It's like a pick-a-path story!

Group 1: I haven't played WoW and I'm not about to start. The best I've managed is Doom, sometimes last millennium, running into walls and corners in a panic while those dreadful gnashing spiders approached. My geek credentials are few, I'd say, though I maintain my own website using html (I'm speshul!) and have all seasons of Buffy on DVD.

Group 2: While I don't mind playing it, I can't really stand to watch sport, unless someone I know personally is playing or it's a world competition final. Not so much a fan of the cerebral punishment that is our supposed national sport, and cricket is an exception to any generosity - I would rather watch paint dry. On my favorite top.

I am a secondary school teacher of science and biology. That means I work 6 days a week for much of the year but get regular paid holidays and one big one for summer. Yay. The job is challenging enough, and peculiarly draining. I don't think a lot of people could handle it, certainly not a lot of the people I have met. I do know that I must at some stage become significantly less concerned about certain aspects of the job so that I can enjoy it a little more.

I live alone and am well on track to become an eccentric loony as I regularly go for hours, even days, without any first-person human interaction.

It is somewhat amusing to me that I have such high standards of neatness for my work, yet will happily live in this piggy mess. I do, at least, know where most things are in this piggy mess.

Killing houseplants with neglect. Mealy bugs! Where DO they come from?

Procrastinating. OKC has been an absolute goldmine in this regard.

Making huge batches of chocolate orange cream cheese muffins, usually for some bring-a-plate thing.

Talking about myself. About my work. About current issues. About values. Talking. I am grossly out of practice though, so this might actually be only a thing I was really good at, once upon a time.

Making teaching resources of a publishable standard, so they tell me.

Appearance-wise, apart from the obvious (girl, brown hair, 5 foot whatever, wearing a black top etc) I would suggest it is my red cheeks or, more likely, my one-red-cheek. When I am tired, my body's thermoregulation goes out the window and my face goes burning hot while my feet remain cold. I can feel it when it's happening, and when it is, I often get asked if I am feeling sick or something, so I am pretty sure that's what people usually tend to notice. I can't see how they could fail to, given the beacon-brightness of the glow.

Once I open my mouth, though, it's that I'm not the Positive Polly type. I says it how I sees it, and this can sometimes means finding the bad in with the good. I like to think of it as considered critique on everyday occurrences, striving for improvement in every facet of life, with a basic foundation of high expectations. All others say is that I complain a lot. Tell you what though - with this attitude, you're either right or pleasantly surprised, which is great.

I don't get to read often or for very long, but some new and/or enduring favourites include: The Lovely Bones, A Prayer for Owen Meany, Norton's Nighttime, The Life of Pi, Cloud Atlas. I also like books containing stories that are fun to read aloud. I have been trying to memorise Roald Dahl's "The Anteater" from his book called Dirty Beasts for ages now, but am still far from it. I'm good with the necessary accents though! I sometimes read it aloud at school.

E.T., Traffic, Run Lola Run, Life is Beautiful, 12 Monkeys, Strictly Ballroom, In America, Dancer in the Dark, The 40 Year Old Virgin, Finding Nemo, Seven, Romeo+Juliet, Being John Malkovich, Labyrinth, Little Miss Sunshine, About Schmidt. I like my movies to tell a story, often using some tricksy fiddling around with time, with a feel good component, but not of the chick-flick variety. I also like ones which make me laugh or make me cry a lot, for devoid of partner, I live largely devoid of emotion too, so it's good to stay in practice. I do not like my movies to be filled with explosions and people going "HYUUUHHHH" as they get hit. That sounds wanky. I will also point out that I watched Blades of Glory three times.

Coldplay, Bjork, The Beatles, Turin Brakes, some Aimee Mann, The Doves 'Lost Souls' is great, old Radiohead, David Gray, Jack Johnson, Meiko, Lovers Electric, much of the work of Simon & Garfunkel, about half of Led Zeppelin, and movie soundtracks including Gladiator and Traffic. That's not a fair representation at all. Most other music I like is a few isolated songs from a wide variety of artists. The theme is mellow, and being able to discern the lyrics. In a way, it's easier to say what I don't like: country, rap/hip-hop, punk, emo, metal, manufactured pop, and anything being played loud by neighbours after 10pm.

Potatoes, onions, garlic, tomatoes, pasta especially the filled kind, good mandarins, blueberries, kiwi berries (like mini bald kiwifruit), home-grown grapes, cheese flavoured corn snacks like Cheezels or Twisties, a good Greek salad, osterand, chocolate mousse, milk biscuits, Hell pizza (especially Limbo), cous cous, halva the way the Krishnas do it, satay everything, udon noodles, blue cheese dip, rock melon/canteloupe, scrambled eggs, poached eggs, bacon, toasted grainy bread, cream donuts (but only the $1 ones from the Three Kings bakery on Mt Eden Rd), feijoa juice, frozen fruit including banana put in kitchen whiz with a bit of yoghurt to make a kind of very low fat ice-cream substitute, pumpkin soup, fresh corn on the cob, Burger King salad burgers with the onion rings in them, proper pastries, soft black licorice, soft red licorice (the really soft kind that a local company stopped making a few years ago, waaaaaah), complicated desserts, marinated chicken, fresh fish, sushi, food, food and food. Food is good. When I'm hungry, basically anything that is ready quickly is fine by me.

Honesty, rain, my mum, TV, earplugs and eating.

Six things I'd rather not do without are: my bed, sunglasses, the leather sofa, pretty clothes, vision, my health

Six things I have never had but would like to have one day are: a house of my own, a husband, a co-operative complexion, a driver's licence, children, an O.E. (I'm currently working on only one of those)

Six things I have to live with, but would prefer not to have to, are: my cellphone, mornings, ads, marking, cold feet, regrets

Six things I have had in the past, am doing without now, but would like to get back are: a boyfriend, a cat, a social life, a flat stomach, a creative urge, regular access to a Burger King

Six things I have had in the past and I'm glad to see the back of are: mistakes I've made, working in retail, exams, having flatmates, the first year of teaching, spending more of a year being cold than warm.

I am letting my hair go grey. At least until I can't stand it any more. I've been pulling them out, and if I keep going, baldness may soon become an issue.

You have read my profile and thought something worthy of comment. By this I mean you should ONLY message me if you have read my profile and thought something worthy of comment. Please don't message me then ask me what I do as a job, for example. For I will refer you back here. Of course the people that would do such a thing stopped reading ages ago...

Your ego isn't overly large nor high-maintenance.

You have a 3 bedroom house you want to give away. With a pool. In Northland somewhere. I'm not fussed about en suites, really - happy enough to only have to clean one bathroom.

You think I'm awesome. Because you deserve to be congratulated on your astute observational powers.

You're bored. I'm pretty good at responding to messages, but mainly only if they have substance. If they don't, well, it's at your own risk (of being ignored).

Note: If you think Jesus or God is important in your life, then you should probably just stay well away from me as I tend to think of your beliefs as a sign of cognitive disorder and a pretty significant character flaw.

Note 2: If you wish to IM me here, you will find me fairly amenable to the idea, but ONLY if you put some effort into your opening. Have a little personality! Actually SAY something! Hi and/or How are you? are examples of syllables that emit from people in real life regardless of whether they want to talk to you or not. They are so devoid of meaning, I tend to want to flat out ignore them. This is especially so online. That they then tend to just sit there, abandoned, awaiting a response from me, indicates the initiator may as well be a robot, or spammy. Thus, as I have said this here, I absolve myself of any guilt for ignoring bland opening messages and will henceforth close them immediately.

Below are some links to a few places on OKC I wish to always be able to find when I want them. They're for my benefit, mainly.