Why 'allo thar.

Recently, I've been having a hankering for a pen pal (even though I haven't really had one since I moved when I was twelve)-- someone who I don't especially know who will write me with both intriguing, deep thoughts and silly commentary on life, like how "underoos" is a better term than "skivvies" and so on.

And so, I present the survey that most everyone seems to stick to for some get-to-know-me info:

Name: Bridget
Age: 20
Email: bferrigan [at] gmail [dot] com
Location: Michigan, U.S. (Michigan State University if you'd like something more specific)
Sexuality: The love I have for girl parts seems just enough to extend only to mine.
Family: I usually live at college, but when I'm home there's my mother and father, my brother and very soon his girlfriend, and two cats. My sister visits with her husband, but usually only on holidays and when she's dropping off my toddler niece for the weekend.
Me: Hoo boy. Where to start?
I go through phases, it seems. In high school, there was the goth/pagan rebellion (yes, I was a Hot Topic girl until I realized that spending $50 for a pair of pants that are too short for my legs isn't worth it), also the anime-loving phases, the slut phase, etc. Currently, it seems to be the quarter-life crisis.
I love music. I was in band for seven years, and also played for a season at the local Renaissance Festival. I am addicted to my iPod and need to have it on me when I go walking. I'm also a bit of a music snob, but that comes later.
I have lived in five places to date: mostly small towns and villages, except for the current college town, where the campus is bigger than my hometown. I'm not a fan of moving (I've done so at 5, 12, 17, and 20), but it usually turns out well.
I love to talk about religion, sexuality, as well as class/race relations. I do not claim to be an expert, I just like to talk about them.
I am a dork, and I'm okay with that.
If you know anything about the Myers-Briggs tests, I remember being an ENTJ, but that changes depending on the day and all.
I work at the university bakery, and I think should be getting paid more, or have a better position.
Among three of my friends, I am the pirate. Another is the ninja, and the last is the Viking.
I am Irish, English, Scandinavian, French-Canadian, some portion of Canadian Indian, German, and who knows what else.
I am addicted to webcomics.
I giggle at emo kids and scenesters.
Schadenfraude will probably come back to kick my ass, but I don't care because you need to be able to laugh at life. Even if it's someone else's.
School: Graduated high school in the top five of my class (although, that's not saying much when there were 143 of us). Currently a junior with senior standing at Michigan State University as a history major with a specialization in Museum Studies and a cognate (basically a minor, but MSU is stupid like that) in political science.

Interests
Movies: The Princess Bride, Ever After, The Blues Brothers, Amelie, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Pirates of the Caribbean, Saved, Fantasia 2000 (and for that matter nearly every Disney movie from my childhood in the 90s and back), Lord of the Rings trilogy, the Harry Potter movies, Moulin Rouge, Shaun of the Dead, Gremlins, the X-Men movies, Mel Brookes movies (except the new, musical version of The Producers, dear me), Crash, Clue, 1776, The Breakfast Club, Chicago, most of the Star Wars movies, the more recent Casino Royale...I'm sure I could go on but nothing much is coming to me.
TV: On a regular basis, the TV in my room is turned on to Heroes, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip (when it was on), The Black Donnellys (until it's not on anymore), House, Lost, The Office (US), and occasionally The Daily Show, The Colbert Report, Scrubs, and 30 Rock. If we got Sci-Fi, I'd also be watching Battlestar Galactica; if we got the BBC, Dr. Who would be on as well. When there's nothing on, we watch "trash" TV like Wife Swap, Deal or No Deal, America's Next Top Model, etc. I'm also a fan of Cartoon Network and Nickelodeon, but only for one or three shows on each channel. I've also been a fan of The X-Files, Buffy the Vampire Slayer, older CSI, Are You Being Served?, The Office (UK), Extras, among others.
Music: I won't lie, I'm kind of a music snob. I used to be really into hard(ish) rock and emo and the like, but then I realized that there is much better music out there. I was raised on oldies stations and Broadway musicals. Because of work and ex-boyfriends, classic rock has also grown on me. Right now, my interests are a bit eclectic, but mostly lie in relatively radio-ignorant indie-type music (The Islands, Belle & Sebastian, The Decemberists, Matt Nathanson, Spoon, The Raconteurs, Stars, Ted Leo + the Pharmacists, The Magnetic Fields, Stephen Kellogg, The Postal Service, Cake, Gogol Bordello, The Boy Least Likely To, Electric Six, Badly Drawn Boy, Tally Hall, The Mountain Goats, etc.) as well as some more mainsteam groups like Jimmy Eat World, Barenaked Ladies, Weezer, Modest Mouse, The White Stripes, System of a Down, Mae, The Beatles, Led Zeppelin, The Rolling Stones, ELO, and others.
Books: I just finished Twilight by Stephenie Meyer. I recently read The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffeneger, Angela's Ashes by Frank McCourt, The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, The Red Tent by Anita Diamant, and The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Usually, I don't have that much time to read after classes and work and all that. I also like Piers Anthony books, and Anne Rice had some pretty good stuff the summer I decided to read her work. I also loved Ender's Game when I read it last year. I remember loving The Giver, Bridge to Terebithia, My Side of the Mountain, and A Wrinkle in Time when I read them in my younger years.
General: I love videogames, but before I turned 13 I was terrible at them. I own nothing newer than my N64 and Color GameBoy, neither of which I play enough (or at all right now...). My favorites are still MarioKart and MarioParty, as well as most Zelda games. I've played only Super Smash Brothers and Double Dash on GameCube, and was terrible at both. I'm a button-masher on games like Street Fighter and Super Smash Bros. and fighting games, unless I know the combos (which I usually don't).
I like history, hence my major. Mostly I like learning about different cultures and the way members of those cultures interact with others within and without their general culture (I'm writing a thesis next year that's hopefully going to be about Irish immigration in the industrial pre-Civil War era in New York and Boston and other urban areas and its effects on class and social relations, especially between freedmen and the Irish and upper-class whites and lower-class Irish immigrants).
I like to flirt. I like to cuddle. I like to make sexual innuendo that often leads to awkward silences. I am not afraid to talk about sex, baby.
I also like shiny things. And kilts. And looking up at a sky filled with stars. I like being near to water, but I haven't gone swimming in ages and I've never been in the ocean.
I like to daydream.
I like random.
I like dinosaurs and rubber ducks.
I like to sleep and procrastinate (I seem to work best under pressure. Or only under pressure).


Penpals
I'd like: A penpal, obviously. I wouldn't mind multiple ones.
I have: None currently. Except for the occasional postcard, I haven't sent anyone mail on a regular basis since I was twelve. That was nearly eight years ago.
Type or handwrite: Hey, I'm getting mail. I'm not going to be picky about it. I'll probably handwrite since I don't necessarily have constant access to a printer.
Length?: Again, getting mail, so I'm cool with any length you feel like writing. My hand gets crampy after two pages, so I'm not expecting a novel in the mail every time.
Age of pals: Well, I'm 20, so if you feel like we can relate to each other, I don't care how old you are. However, if you can't spell or have at least mostly correct grammar, you might make my brain a-splode. If you live in a non-English speaking country, this doesn't apply to you as I know how wonky English is and that multiple languages can be less than easy.
Male or Female: Either. I seem to get on with both, as long as you can form a coherent sentence.
Gifts with my letters?: Gifts? All for it! Just, y'know, small things, for I am a poor college student with limited money and I'd feel guilty if I were not able to give back.
My ideal penpal: Someone who can write, and do it well enough to either make me laugh, make me think, make me happy I have mail, or some combination of those three.
My replies: As often as possible, but probably once every week or so because of school and life and forgetfulness.
Penpal from where?: I'll be stoked to get mail from anywhere. U.S. mail is cheaper, but that's not by much. I'm going to Ireland this summer for two months (County Mayo), so if someone from the area wanted to write me I would be especially spiffed.

That seems to be a good deal of information; besides, I need to go read about dead white guys conquering American Indians.

I also have a Facebook Profile if you have a desire for more of me.