after the personality test and the mental illness test, i naturally took the dating test

Your dating personality profile: Liberal - Politics matters to you, and you aren't afraid to share your left-leaning views. You would never be caught voting for a conservative candidate. Practical - You are a down-to-earth individual who is not impressed with material excess. You care about the stuff of like that really matters. Big-Hearted - You are a kind and caring person. Your warmth is inviting, and your heart is a wellspring of love.

Your Top Ten Traits 1. Liberal 2. Practical 3. Big-Hearted 4. Adventurous 5. Intellectual 6. Athletic 7. Shy 8. Stylish 9. Sensual 10. Wealthy/Ambitious

Your date match profile: Shy - You are put off by people who are open books. You are drawn to someone who is a bit more mysterious. You want to draw her out of her shell and get to know what she is all about. Practical - You are drawn to people who are sensible and smart. Flashy, materialistic people turn you off. You appreciate the simpler side of living. Intellectual - You seek out intelligence. Idle chit-chat is not what you are after. You prefer your date who can stimulate your mind.

Your Top Ten Match Traits 1. Shy 2. Practical 3. Intellectual 4. Big-Hearted 5. Traditional 6. Adventurous 7. Athletic 8. Stylish 9. Romantic 10. Funny

Take the Dating Profile Quiz at Would I Date You

I just have to say that the two biggest surprises here are: 1) "Liberal" being my number one trait, and 2) "Funny" being the least important trait of whomever I date. By the way I'm an INTJ personality.

a steady part of my current diet

I'll admit that I intentionally side step a lot of what I deem mainstream pop culture. I don't want to be mainstream, as silly as that might sound, but I have to say that the Saturday Night Live election skits have certainly made me giggle.

1st presidential debate

2nd presidential debate

1st vice-presidential debate

Italian friends on the mind

I'm thinking more and more about getting over to Italy for a short visit next summer (hopefully the $ will still be worth something by then). Despite the fact that ever since my last visit I've been pretty set on going down into Southern Italy, I can't help but think about how much I want to see the folks I learned to care so much about up north. I can't really go off about all the people I'd like to visit, but I can show you some of the beauty of the Dolomites that the Marcellins insisted I enjoy when I spent the summer of 2005 in Italy. I also feel like their enthusiasm for treating me as family is fairly representative of all my dear friends I want to visit.

Paolo pointing out a trail he hiked in his youth.

Gorgeous.

Paolo, Giovanna, Susanna and Fillipo

Who knows if I'll actually make it back or where I'll end up if I do. Just the same, here's to hoping.

Dialogo della Terra e della Luna (Dialogue between the Earth and Moon) by Giacomo Leopardi

The Earth and the Moon discuss the nature of their peoples and manage, after numerous misunderstandings, to come to a few conclusions. (English translation by Giovanni Cecchetti found below the Italian.)

Terra. Almeno mi saprai tu dire se costì sono in uso i vizi, i misfatti, gl'infortuni, i dolori, la vecchiezza, in conclusione i mali? intendi tu questi nomi?
Luna. Oh cotesti sì che gl'intendo; e non solo i nomi, ma le cose significate, le conosco a maraviglia: perché ne sono tutta piena, in vece di quelle altre che tu credevi.
Terra. Quali prevalgono ne' tuoi popoli, i pregi o i difetti?
Luna. I difetti di gran lunga.
Terra. Di quali hai maggior copia, di beni o di mali?
Luna. Di mali senza comparazione.
Terra. E generalmente gli abitatori tuoi sono felici o infelici?
Luna. Tanto infelici, che io non mi scambierei col più fortunato di loro.
Terra. Il medesimo è qui. Di modo che io mi maraviglio come essendomi sì diversa nelle altre cose, in questa mi sei conforme.
Luna. Anche nella figura, e nell'aggirarmi, e nell'essere illustrata dal sole io ti sono conforme; e non è maggior maraviglia quella che questa: perché il male è cosa comune a tutti i pianeti dell'universo, o almeno di questo mondo solare, come la rotondità e le altre condizioni che ho detto, né più né meno. E se tu potessi levare tanto alto la voce, che fossi udita da Urano o da Saturno, o da qualunque altro pianeta del nostro mondo; e gl'interrogassi se in loro abbia luogo l'infelicità, e se i beni prevagliano o cedano ai mali; ciascuno ti risponderebbe come ho fatto io. Dico questo per aver dimandato delle medesime cose Venere e Mercurio, ai quali pianeti di quando in quando io mi trovo più vicina di te; come anche ne ho chiesto ad alcune comete che mi sono passate dappresso: e tutti mi hanno risposto come ho detto. E penso che il sole medesimo, e ciascuna stella risponderebbero altrettanto.
Terra. Con tutto cotesto io spero bene: e oggi massimamente, gli uomini mi promettono per l'avvenire molte felicità.
Luna. Spera a tuo senno: e io ti prometto che potrai sperare in eterno.
Terra. Sai che è? questi uomini e queste bestie si mettono a romore: perché dalla parte della quale io ti favello, è notte, come tu vedi, o piuttosto non vedi; sicché tutti dormivano; e allo strepito che noi facciamo parlando, si destano con gran paura.
Luna. Ma qui da questa parte, come tu vedi, è giorno.
Terra. Ora io non voglio essere causa di spaventare la mia gente, e di rompere loro il sonno, che è il maggior bene che abbiano. Però ci riparleremo in altro tempo. Addio dunque; buon giorno.
Luna. Addio; buona notte.

~ ~ ~

Earth. At least you can tell me if up there people are acquainted with vice, crime, calamity, pain, old age - in short, evils. So you understand these words?
Moon. Oh yes. I surely understand them. And not only the words but the things they mean; I know them perfectly well, for I am filled with them - rather than with the other things you mentioned.
Earth. What are more prevalent among your people, virtues or vices?
Moon. Vices by far.
Earth. What is more abundant, good or evil?
Moon. Evil, without comparison.
Earth. And, in general, your inhabitants are happy or unhappy?
Moon. So unhappy that I wouldn't change places with the most fortunate of them.
Earth. It's the same here. So much so that it is a great surprise how similar you are to me in this, whereas you are so different in everything else.
Moon. I am also similar to you in form, and in movement, and in receiving light from the sun, and this is no less surprising than the rest because evil is something common to all the planets of the universe or at least of this solar system - just as much as roundness and the other conditions I have mentioned. If you could raise your voice so high that it could be heard by Uranus or Saturn, or by any other planet of our world, and if you could ask them whether unhappiness exists on them and whether good or evil prevails among them, each would answer in the same way I have. I say this because I have already asked Venus and Mercury about the same things, for now and then I find myself closer to them than you. I have also asked some of the comets that have passed by me. All have answered in the same way as I have. And I believe that the sun himself, and every star, would give the same answer.
Earth. In spite of all this, I am still hopeful, especially nowadays, when men are promising me great future happiness.
Moon. Hope as much as you like; I assure you that you can hope forever.
Earth. Do you know what's going on? These men and these animals are beginning to stir and make noise. On the side from which I'm talking to you, it is night, as you can see, or rather, as you can't see; and so they were all asleep, and at the commotion that we are making while we talk, they are waking up with great fear.
Moon. But up here, as you can see, it is daytime.
Earth. I don't want to frighten my people or to shatter their sleep, which is the greatest blessing they have. So we'll talk again some other time. Goodbye, then; and good day.
Moon. Goodbye; and good night.