I haven't updated my "about me" post in almost as long as it takes to gestate a baby, so I'm going to redo that now. Not too much has changed, but enough has that it bears redoing.


basics »

name/nicknames: Danielle Marie, aka Dani, Da, the Mystery, Tits, I'll answer to Speccy or SGG, but pretty much if you're my friend, call me Dani, won't you? :D
age/dob: 25, July 19, 1985. That makes me a Cancer on the Leo cusp, and I really, really typify the stereotype of a Cancer. I'm emotional, caring, packratty, a homebody.
height: 5'4"
location: Auburn, New York. This is smack in the middle of the Finger Lakes, which are in Central NY.
gender: female
ethnicity: 1/4 Irish, 1/4 Portuguese, 1/4 Italian, 1/4 German. I don't look very German. I have an Italian nose and Portuguese hips and an Irish last name. xD I'm pale, argumentative, and if you come to my house I will try to feed you. My mother says I'm Western European Heinz 57.
sexual orientation: bisexual. About a 2 on the Kinsey scale.
relationship status: unhappily single.
pets: one cat, The Butcher.
education: junior at Wells College, majoring in psychology.
employment: I'm a jobless bum.
religion: raised Wesleyan Christian, lost my faith at age 14, now agnostic with spiritual leanings and a healthy amount of respect for most religions. I'm awesome at reading tarot cards though.
political party: Democrat
tattoos: a rat on my left collarbone, a lizard on my right collarbone, the VFD eye on my left ankle, and a semicolon behind my right ear.

backstory »
online: I have had my journal since 2001. I am a permanent account holder, and I will leave LJ when the last server goes down for good and not a moment before. I post... kind of a lot. At least daily. Usually closer to four times a day, that's about my average. If you need someone to entertain you regularly, you have come to the right person (I hope!); if you get sick of seeing a lot from one person, you might not want to friend me. I post a lot of memes, a lot about my day-to-day life, a lot about television shows and fandom, a lot about my cat, and a lot of music. I have a writing journal at drive_thru_rx, a 101 things in 1001 days list at i_am_tl_dr, and a lot to say in general.

I keep a list of fanfic recs on my Delicious, if you're looking for something to read. If you want to know what music I've been listening to (and I am kind of a music snob), you can check my last.fm page. (Please ignore the country. That's Rachael listening to her music on my computer.) If you want to download music, have at my MediaFire folders or go through my music sharing posts! If you want to find me on other sites, here's my rarely-used MySpace, my often-used Facebook, my PaperBackSwap, my incredibly rarely-used DeviantArt, and my profile on YouJustGetMe that I wish more people would do because I am really interested in psychology and this thing is nifty.

irl: I live with my parents and my younger sisters, Julia and Rachael, and all our pets. The animal that owns me personally is The Butcher (I think he's a Russian Blue/Siamese mix, and he is looooong). The family pets are Xena (10-year-old black lab mix), Sadie (10 year old lap-sized terrier mutt), and Oreo (double-stuff sized cow-print cat).

My mom and dad are captains in the Salvation Army-- basically, they're pastors and handle a lot of social services for the community through running the church as well. I'm the eldest of four children. Julia (91cemeterydrive) is 19, and she's the one I have most in common with in the house. She goes to Cayuga Community College, works at Marshalls, and spends a lot of time with her boyfriend, Jake. Rachael is 17 and very, very social. She's smart and optimistic, but puts way too much attention into getting Vera Bradley purses. She's in a vocational program in high school to become a nurse's assistant. Her boyfriend is a Marine about to be deployed to Afghanistan. My brother Dennis is 23 and he stayed in Plattsburgh, NY when I left in 2008. He's pretty much awesomesauce, a party kid and generally popular and well-liked. He's attending Clinton Community College with the intention to become an electrician.

Mental health issues run in my family, from my father's side. I am on a couple different kinds of medication to manage my depressive-bipolar issues-- Geodon and Aplenzin. I don't mind it; honestly having to take them every day is one of the few daily routines I keep to in my life. Julia is bipolar, too, and Rachael's prone to massive exaggeration (I hesitate to say chronic liar), and I'm not sure how (or if) my mom is clinging to sanity. I used to smoke pot pretty regularly and drink a couple times a month; now that I live with my parents I have severely curtailed all of my vices except sugar. I quit smoking cigarettes in January 2009, and although I have slipped up a couple of times, it has been a full year since my last cigarette.

I want to be a social worker when I finish school. I worked for my parents as a secretary for a few years, and I saw a lot of people who had been screwed over by the Department of Social Services. People need someone to guide them through the paperwork and bullshit to get the most benefit out of what's available to them, and I want to be the person who makes sure that the maximum help possible gets to the maximum number of families. This is kind of ironic because I hate talking to people on the phone and I hate paperwork, so I'm probably going to get a really rude awakening when I actually start doing this stuff. I just want to get people the help they need, really.

I lived in Plattsburgh, NY for nine years. I still haven't made any real friends in Auburn. I miss everyone I know too much to open up to new people in real life. I'm plenty social on the internet though. :P I'm hoping that I'll make more friends once I'm living in the dorms at Wells; being forced into a social situation is about the only way I'm going to meet anybody new.

I used to write a lot of fanfiction. My main way of participating in fandom now is by recording audiofic. If you'd like me to read one of your stories, just ask me! I'm always looking for new material to work with.

I have lost almost 25 pounds in the past two years, thanks to a lowered appetite and sporadic use of my Wii Fit. I look pretty awesome and I feel pretty great. I'm still short, but at least now I'm short and satisfied with my weight.

other »

television: Sherlock. White Collar. True Blood. The Big Bang Theory. Fringe. Heroes. Lie to Me. The Good Guys. Glee. Chuck. Supernatural. Psych. Criminal Minds. Firefly. Pushing Daisies. Stargate Atlantis. Wonderfalls. Star Trek: the Original Series. The Granada Sherlock Holmes series.

films: The Princess Bride. Kiss Kiss Bang Bang. The Fall. Thumbsucker. Ocean's Eleven. Lucky Number Slevin. The Usual Suspects. Reservoir Dogs. The Fifth Element. Star Trek IX. Star Trek II, III, and IV. The Royal Tenenbaums. Rushmore. The Life Aquatic. The Talented Mr. Ripley. Fight Club. V for Vendetta. Charlie Bartlett. The Faculty. 28 Days Later. Shaun of the Dead. Hot Fuzz. Stardust. Ever After. Labyrinth. Everything Is Illuminated. Idiocracy. Little Miss Sunshine. Stranger Than Fiction. Dan in Real Life. Hedwig and the Angry Inch. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead. Sherlock Holmes. Star Trek (the new one, The Wrath of Khan, The Search For Spock, and The Voyage Home). And a whole lot more.

books: Young Wizards by Diane Duane. The Dresden Files by Jim Butcher. Abhorsen trilogy by Garth Nix. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci by Dianna Wynne Jones. Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson. Weetzie Bat by Franscesca Lia Block. The Books of Great Alta by Jane Yolen. Fight Club, Diary, Survivor, Lullabye, Invisible Monsters and Rant by Chuck Palahniuk. The True Game by Sheri S. Tepper. Crystal Singer by Anne McCaffrey (I know, shut up). Beauty by Robin McKinley. The Assassin's Apprentice, Liveship Traders, and Golden Fool trilogies by Robin Hobb. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams. The entire Sherlock Holmes canon by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. The Southern Vampire Mysteries by Charlaine Harris. The Temeraire novels by Naomi Novik. and so so so many more.

music: Death Cab For Cutie. The Mountain Goats. Ani DiFranco. Regina Spektor. Florence and the Machine. Lady Gaga. Fall Out Boy. Jason Mraz. Jack Johnson. Ella Fitzgerald. Elliott Smith. Mumford and Sons. The Postal Service. The Barenaked Ladies. James Taylor. Owl City. The National. COVER SONGS. I love music more than you want to hear about, trust me. This is just the tip of a very fucking big iceberg.

actors/actresses: Robert Downey Jr. Zachary Quinto. Tim Roth. Anne Hathaway. Lee Pace. Anton Yelchin. Kristen Bell. Steve Carell. Matt Damon. Kevin Spacey. George Clooney. Amy Adams. Jeremy Brett. Martin Freeman. Lots of others.

video games: Katamari Damacy and its sequels. Guitar Hero. Okami. Wii Fit. Trauma Center. Gears of War.

food/drink: chai. blondies. pasta salad. chicken tikka masala. vegetable samosas. hot chocolate. apple cider. Chinese mixed veggies and tofu. shrimp lo mein. California rolls. cinnamon dolce frappucinos. all kinds of cookies. peanut butter and grape jelly sandwiches. black olives. cucumbers. strawberries. pomegranates. raspberries. blackberries. blueberries. cherry tomatoes. cherries. cinnamon sugar toast. apples and chunky peanut butter. cinnamon coffee, extra cream and sugar. coffee ice cream. cherry garcia ice cream. chicken and broccoli alfredo.

colors: grey. black. blue. green.

animals: cats. fennec foxes. firefoxes. lizards. rats. dogs. dragons. otters. ravens. owls. cardinals. any kind of baby animal.