My music is very important to me, so I’m going to start with that. I think that a person’s taste in music is a huge indicator of what kind of person they are and what kinds of things they like to do (though it does not necessarily define who someone is). My personal preferences in music are best described as an eclectic collection of indie rock, folk, and electronica. I am originally from a small town (seriously…small…2000 people), so moving to NYC has allowed me to see my favorite artists as well as discover new favorites. Naturally arising from my love of music is my love of karaoke (don’t knock it till you’ve tried it!!) and dancing. While I will readily admit that I’m not great at either, I love both.

Film is my second love after my music. While I love and appreciate all art forms, cinema is my preferred medium. The way that so many factors (acting, Mise-en-scène, camera angles) come together to tell a story fascinates me. I usually prefer indie movies and foreign films, but I also don’t mind taking in the occasional blockbuster movie.

I am a proud science nerd (unfortunately, I was blessed with good vision so I can’t display my geek chic-ness with glasses). Of course, I understand that not everyone loves science as much as I do and I try to keep my science talk in check, but it will come out eventually (but don’t worry, I don’t go into full professor mode).

Politics and world events are of great importance to me (and are usually how I relate best to people who don’t like science). While I am a very proud liberal, I come from a conservative family and have no qualms about respecting someone else’s opinion if it differs from my own.

As a foodie, I enjoy eating out at a lot of the great restaurants that NYC has to offer. I also enjoy cooking for others (though I rarely cook much for myself). While I enjoy almost any type of cuisine, if I had to choose just one type of cuisine as my favorite, I would probably choose Vietnamese. Vietnamese cuisine has a great blend of flavors with a wonderful French influence which, I feel, blend together extremely well.

I like first dates to be very conducive to conversation. One of the things I love most about dating is meeting someone new and learning about them. Everyone is unique and it always fascinates me to discover what course of events made someone who they are today. Conversely, while I love to meet new people, I will admit that I am somewhat introverted at first. However, I find that building a rapport and exploring our commonalities helps to ease tension/awkwardness and helps make it easier to enjoy one another’s company.

That being said, dinner at a restaurant is typically a good starter in order to get to know each other better. Then after dinner, maybe going to see an off-broadway show, some live music, or maybe something funny to keep the mood relaxed (think Upright Citizen’s Brigade Theatre and the like). Depending on how we feel afterwards, a quiet bar or lounge is a great way to keep up any rapport we have going.