My turn for an intro!

I have lots of new lj friends thanks to magsmom's friending frenzy, so I'm happy! Active lj friends always please me.

So I'm Liza, but usually I usually go by Lisa because native English speakers mispronounce "Liza" as "Laiza". My full name on all my IDs is Yelizaveta and it's just Russian for Elizabeth. I was born in Russia but left when the Soviet Union was falling apart in 1990 when I was 5. Excellent time to immigrate! My father is a Russian Jew and my mother Russian. I never really considered myself Jewish until later in life. I still consider myself American primarily and I'm very happy to live here. For the first 5 years we lived in Denver, and then moved to Northern California in 1995 where I've basically been since then and keep returning to.

I've also lived in Japan for a year and a half teaching English, Northern Michigan for 3 months doing an internship in a private performing arts school, and I've been here in PG County Maryland (DC suburbs) for two months now. I got my Master's of Library Science with an Archives Focus in 2011 and I'm a processing archivist right now. It can be kinda dull, but I write about it quite a bit. I'd rather not publicly write about whose records I'm working on because I think technically we're not supposed to say. Let's just say it's the records of a very famous person's youngest son : ).

Probably my biggest hobby is video games. I'm a big fan of nintendo and have been ever since I first played Donkey Kong Country in a Target when it first came out. I think the SNES is the best console ever made. My favorite game of all time is Chrono Trigger, and Flea there in my UI is a character from it. He's pretty cute and silly (yes, Flea is a he!). I'm also REALLY into the Zelda series, the Kirby series, and especially the Pokemon series. I still play the games. I started with Pokemon Red back in 1998 and Arcanine is my favorite pokemon. "Arky" is actually short for Arcanine, and some friends still call me that.

I'm also really into board games/card games. I've been attending a game night in California for a few years and wished to continue it when I moved to Maryland. I usually end up going to at least two game nights/days a week. One on the weekend, and one on Wednesday nights. I'm most into strategy games and Eurogames. I'm big into Settlers of Catan and have played hundreds of matches online. I can sometimes be a little competitive, but I try not to rage quit too much XD. Other board/card games I'm into include: Betrayal on House on the Hill, Red Dragon Inn, Ticket to Ride (both Euro and American versions), Power Grid, Guillotine, Chrononauts (but NOT fluxx!), hearts, spades, and many more. My least favorite game is "Set". I prefer to be the dealer if I can.

I'm also into reading. Mostly I like best sellers, historical fiction, sci fi, Victorian dramas, and some chick lit. Currently, I'm obsessing over Pillars of the Earth. It was the first audio novel I listened to, and I'm in the middle of listening to the sequel "A World Without End" right now. My favorite book is probably Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte. It's so melodramatic and totally my thing. It has the best quotes EVER. Sadly, Emily Bronte died before she could ever write another novel. Jane Eyre, by her older sister is another one of my favorites. I'm really into coming of age stories. I'm also really into Jane Austen, Michael Chriton, Amy Tan, Orson Scott Card, and the Harry Potter series and the Hunger Games Series. My favorite Potter character is Snape, followed by Regulus (even though most is left to imagination), then Hermione, and Luna. Although Hufflepuff is my favorite house, I consider myself decisively Griffindor.

I'm into trashy reality TV and trashy books series (Twilight anyone) WITHOUT SHAME... ok maybe a tiny bit of shame. I stopped watching Jersey Shore recently, but I keep up with "Dance Moms". I've also watched Jerry Springer off and on since I was about 10 years old. I don't have a TV right now, but when I get my basic cable back, I'll still be keeping up with Grey's Anatomy. I've watched all cycles of Top Model up until this last one and most cycles of Project Runway too. I used to be really into anime, but I stopped about 4 years ago. I still sometimes watch J-drama though. I'm a trekkie and my favorite series is DS9. Because I like Trek so much, I've never really been into Star Wars except for "Return of the Jedi" because the Ewoks are cute. Maybe it's a loyalty thing, I don't know XD. The movies I'm into tend to primarily be drama. I'm not really into action, but I'll see it if it has good reviews/good plot. My favorite movie is probably "Princess Mononoke" by Studio Ghibli, which I'm a huge fan of.

I love exploring new places, especially cheap, local places. I like traveling overseas/out of state too, if I can. I've been to Israel twice. Once as a graduation present to visit my friends/family, once through Birthright. I go by myself to walk at different parks fairly often, but a lot more when I was unemployed. I listened to most of Pillars of the Earth that way. I'd walk a couple miles at the park while listening to it.

I've been with my Floridian boyfriend for 8 years now. We meet up every few months. I do tend to "break up" with him about once a year because being in a long distance relationship for so long is just taxing, but at some point we always end up back together. I met him and several other friends I'm still pretty close with these days in this Pokemon chat room in 2002. One of them, a friend from Australia whom I've already visited back in 2009 is coming here to see me in 2 weeks! I'm very excited. I'm sure I'll write all about it soon.

Also, I'm super into 80s music and have been for about 10 years now. My musical tastes are not varied. I mostly like 80s classic rock/pop. I like classic rock in general, too. Right now, I'm big into REM. But I've been big into many different 80s artists. I like some modern pop, though. Mostly female singers like Pink and Lady Gaga. Today's male pop singers just really don't cut it IMO. I used to be into anime music/J-pop too.

I'm kind of crazy and quirky. I'm sure I have ADHD and I probably have Aspergers too. I have trouble in social situations and I often say inappropriate/random things. I tend to be more honest and blunt than most people. I don't fear much other than things popping out, which is why I can't really handle horror movies. I invite strange people into my house and then continue to talk to them while getting kind of irritated with the semi-stalkerness, I love climbing things, wandering around outside alone, and walking/running around in the rain.

This is getting too long, so here's a pic or two


( Chimchar! )