The parts equal the sum.

My name is Melanie, but nearly everyone shortens that to Mel. Someone years ago told me my name was hard to remember because it had more than two syllables. Though I think maybe they were just making excuses for being forgetful, there might be something to that. Mel seems to stick more.

Into music the most, movies a lot, and reading in what little time I have left.

Computers fascinate me.

Conversationalist from hell.

Libra, Taurus rising. (Sometimes it makes sense, sometimes it doesn’t.)

Not a Christian, but not quite an Atheist. I believe in something, sort of, somewhere, maybe, but damned if I could define it for anyone other than myself.

Half couch potato, half social butterfly. (Ok, maybe it’s more like 60/40.)

A fruit fly. (Duh.)

Has a sense of humor that ranges from dry to sarcastic to warped and wrong to all out wacky, all within about 5 minutes of each other.

Smoker. Sometimes drinker. (Though that’s very very rare these days.)

The polar opposite of a neat freak.

Completely political, happily liberal, and completely apathetic all at once.

Total nerd in the best sense of the word. (And a poet apparently.)

Had my nose pierced for my 30th birthday present to myself.

Not shy, ever.

Not ‘girly’, but still a girl.

A big kid at heart but somewhat gainfully employed - working for my best friend.

Poor most of the time. I gave up the corporate money in LA for the happier life in Cleveland, and though I’m poorer than ever, I’m also quite happy.

Shallow and deep, sometimes in the same moment.

Contradictory.

Is in possession of a boyfriend who’s a video game freak and likes sci-fi, but he also likes a lot of the things I like. I love him very much though many days I’m plotting his demise as I clean up the coffee grounds he spilled on the counter for the millionth time.

Also has a great big shedding psychotic freak of a cat, who I adore with all my heart (whose demise has also been plotted a few times after cat transgressions involving waste materials have been discovered).

Spends the homebound free time available plunked in front of the computer in the second bedroom of the apartment, a room my boyfriend has lovingly dubbed my “lair”.

Parentheses function as a favorite literary device. (In case you couldn’t tell already.)

Sometimes mixes perspectives when writing descriptions of myself, despite status as a grammar nerd.

There’s so much more to tell you, but I’m even bored with me by now.

How about you look at me for a second or two then?