Memelet from atreic

atreic gave a brief introduction to herself. It came under the heading, "What do you do when you're not folk dancing?", which doesn't apply to me so much since I only manage folk dancing about once a year (unfortunately, as both CRI and I are eminently amenable to ceilidhs and the like, but few opportunities seem to present), but I can try for a general introduction. I suck at brief when I am talking about things that are important to me, but I'm going to give it a go...

"I work at a university in the southeast of England, doing research on beetles and how to stop them eating African people's food stores. My background, however, is in pollination biology and bumblebees - but I'm genuinely fascinated by anything involving insects, their sensory organs, and how they interact with the world.

In my spare time I do zumba once a week, I'm learning to drive (slowly) and I enjoy sampling Real Ale at pubs with friends! I have previously done Aikido and horse riding most passionately, but financial and geographical constraints currently limit my pursuit of such activities. Whenever possible, I like to get outside to places with flowers and insects - which, unfortunately, is a bit difficult during winter and sends me a bit stir-crazy, causing me to turn to lesser pursuits such as watching endless episodes of Coach Trip on 4oD! I like most alive things, especially bees, beetles and hamsters. Oh, and I'd like to own a cat one day.

I'm currently nearly 5 months into a relationship with The Man Only Known as CRI, which is the longest relationship I've managed so far, and as far as I am able to ascertain, it's going quite well - probably because we're both a bit older, so have more realistic expectations of these things and seem to have a fairly instinctive understanding of appropriate ground rules for dating. He's doing my self-esteem a load of good (who wouldn't want to be called "my sexy genius"?!) and in short, he makes me incredibly happy.

Religiously, I'm largely not. I always have this vague sense there might be something interesting out there, but I'd prefer to keep my relationship with it/them strictly business-only, and I don't have a lot of patience for conventional afterlives. My philosophies in general are to keep balanced, tread lightly and seek moderation in all things. Sometimes this works, other times not so much."