Unfiltered Honesty: Dating - FAQs

Questions or Feedback? Want to hang out together? hi@mek.fyi

👋 About me 🎂 📏 5'7 ⚖ 145 lb 🔮 INJF-A 🧲 Straight 👫 Monogamous 🔯 Atheist, Agnostic, Jewish 💉 Vaccinated

⚙ Preferences 🍼 Wants kiddos 🐶 Likes pets 🍵 Yes 🍸 Rarely 🚬 No 💊 No 🍗 Flexitarian

🎨 Hobbies ♨ Sauna Philosophy 🍳 Cooking & House Dinners 🗣 Learning 中文 🎸 Guitar, singing 💻 Side projects 📚 Reading & Writing 🎭 The Arts

💪 Sports 🧗 Bouldering 🚴 Bike rides 🏓 Racquet sports 🚶 Long walks

❤ Values 📢 Public ☑ Quantified 🏛 Digital & Human Rights & Libraries 😙 Affection 🗌 Minimalism

🚫 Aversions ❄ Cold 🎢 Freefall 📺 TV 🍷 Bars 🤘 Music Festivals 🤵 Dress-up 🍽 Michelin dining 🛐 Worship 💄 Conspicuous consumption

First, of embarrassment, I'm sorry that this page exists. Its intention, which I value more than my shame, is to save you time and present myself without filter, so people may (sans pressure and at their own comfort and leisure) evaluate whether we're compatible spirits. What follows are a collection of anonymized, frequently asked questions I've received and answers which probably describe myself better than any dating profile I've created. Some answers have been modified and are more complete here than as originally posted. If you're wondering, I am perfectly normal, which is exactly why I have a public, oversharing webpage on dating (sorry Seneca, I've, "part[ed] company with our promise", what have I done).

If you'd like to learn more about me, you may wish to browse my autobiography, dossier, or portfolio.

I haven't looked at the google analytics for this page, but I'm assuming most people drop off here.

Index

Who you might be

You may be a woman of any ethnicity who might be around 5' to 5'7 and may have a similar athletic build to myself. You are open minded and comfortable with imperfection -- I am very imperfect and I expect you to be too. You are genuine, true to yourself, and identify as a bit unconventional or non-conformist without going over the top. You are not weirded out by this page, even if it clearly is a bit much. You may be ambitious but signaling class and material wealth are not your preferences. You may be open to the idea of starting a family without pressure to do so. You might identify as culturally religious but don't consider yourself practicing or devout. You are warm, outgoing, social, active, busy, and are enthusiastic about including others in your plans. You are affectionate, secure, reliable, kind, supportive, and caring. You are looking for a teammate who will be supportive of you and root for you, respect and cherish you, without robbing you of your individuality or autonomy.

You seek someone who is chivalrous, respectful, gentle, someone who can cook and is willing to share chores and responsibilities. You are philosophical and intellectual and you enjoy learning. You value education though this needs not be reflected by some pedigree. You preferably don't consume a lot of tv or sports and instead prefer creating memories, art, social value, and experiences. You believe every day could be better with the right partner by your side. You take trust and confidence very seriously and want to be with someone who has self-awareness, emotional intelligence and understands how to safeguard your comfort. You are honest and faithful and expect the same from your partner. You're not afraid to be naked with friends in a sauna. You're open to camping beneath the stars. You're open about your feelings.

On Dating

Some people love dating. Some people treat dating very seriously, like a job. Some people want to find a partner as quickly as possible or weed out candidates. Some people wear their best clothes, change who they are, and participate in "performative dance" to impress their suitors. Some people treat dating like interviews. Some people go to special places on dates that they wouldn't normally go.

I've traditionally felt incredibly reluctant to date; the formal, performative process of dating is one I truly lament. It's so much nicer to casually meet people as friends without pretense or preconceived expectation. I hate what society portrays dating as. And how people behave in response to this perception.

I just want to live my normal life and be my abnormal self. I just want to find someone else who is living their own life and is their own abnormal self. I just want to find a friend who shares similar goals and values, feels comfortable with me, and I with them, and eventually blossom love with them if it's meant to be. I don't want to go on dates, say that I'm on a date. I don't want anyone to engage in a formal process where people dress up strangely or feel nervous. I just want to create a low-pressure opportunity for possible friends to join in common interest, to venture into streams of life; for it to be natural and for us to be on the same wave-length.

I think many dislike job interviews for similar reasons. These processes may be optimized for outcomes, but they feel optimized for the wrong outcomes and self-defeating. Galen recently recommended, "Reinventing Organizations" (sorry, side-rant) and it describes two types of orgs which emerged to solve different problems. An "Orange" class of org which is quite capitalistic and targets and motivates performance towards specific OKRs (not always the right ones) and "Green" orgs, which prioritize sustainability and mission. I see parallels here in relationships and the idea of treating relationship-building as an outcome feels to me as an "Observer Problem" where the act of participating undermines or conspires against the metric. Don't get me wrong, I appreciate Brian Christian's, "Algorithms to Live By". I think there's a lot of wisdom in evaluating how much time we're spending doing things. But I also see a risk in prematurely automating away the "real work" of getting to know people. I think we get what we measure. Which is why my daily spreadsheet is intentionally a manual process (which requires -- and whose purpose is to motivate -- introspection). The way I've started to think about relationships is, forget dating, just meet lots of interesting people who I'd be satisfied being friends with. This also encourages a selection bias. The number one thing I select for if I chat with someone on a dating app has become, "are they going to think about this or treat this as a date". If it seems like they won't, even though this is quite antithetical to some objective like finding a partner, whatever, great, that's what feels most comfortable and there's nothing wrong with being true to oneself. Unless the strategy fails to meet one's needs, and then I encourage myself to evolve and learn over time.

Why Date? On Tribe & Chosen Family

My nature is one of dedication to others and I believe in the compounding power of investing in people. I've spent much of my adult life living in intentional community houses with people who felt like family. With time, often time these families evolve and drift. It would be nice to eventually find a more permanent tribe/family that I can invest in for a long term. Context switching is expensive and having friends move away doesn't feel amazing. I really like teaching, being on people's teams, listening, building, performing acts of kindness and service, showing people appreciation and affection. I believe that helping the people around me really will make my life better; not just because it makes me feel better, but because it truly is a way of creating non-zero-sum value. Humans have the opportunity to be the real perpetual energy machine. One reason I'm trying to date is because of weary of my family moving on and I want to find someone who I can invest into and grow with.

On Sports

My happy place for exercise is indoor bouldering / rock climbing. I prefer sprints to marathons. I like intensity and trying hard to improve but I'm not a purist or a masochist. I'm typically not looking to push my psyche to its limit. I'm trying to have an efficient and fun workout that gets me strong, happy, and re-energized. I prefer bouldering over rope climbing because I get to control when I start an end a route (when I feel inspired). I can stop exactly when I feel tired. It's easier to sit and socialize with other people. I don't enjoy the stress of, gear required, or downtime involved in belaying for people. I prefer climbing inside to outside, because (a) outside requires more gear, (b) may require much higher time-commitment, (c) feels harder on the hands (my tendons are already messed up from 8+ years of climbing). I also enjoy long walks or hikes where my attention can either focus or relax, but in either case not be ravaged by aggressive car traffic :P. I enjoy racquet sports (tennis, ping pong, badminton) and kayaking. I am a runner, dancer, or rope climber when someone I love needs me to be.

I don't presently especially like watching sports. My childhood consisted of playing lots of sports, from stints of swimming, baseball, and basketball (even though I was comically short), backyard football, ping pong, and most prominently twenty years of tennis. I'd go with my mother's parents to UPenn college football games. I'd go to watch Pilot Pen tennis tournaments in connecticut, ocassionally my father would get tickets through work to go to a Yankees or Red Sox baseball game with me, or a Hartford Whalers or Boston Bruins game (even though I was a NY Rangers hockey fan -- I once met Brian Leetch's mom at my local super market in Cheshire and she randomly gave me a photo with his signed autograph because I was wearing a Mark Messier jersey). Recently, I'll go with my cousin Denis to a SF Giants game since he loves baseball. I do enjoy watching people climb at the gym, but I am more a fan-boy of semi-pros that I can still climb + socialize with (like Anson Whitmer and Austin Lee) than international all-stars. Partially, I just like participating in sports, partially I have other things I prefer doing than watching sports, and partially Noam Chomsky convinced me to ruin sports for myself with this essay. I also trend away from being star-struck. I appreciate when people are outstanding at what they do, I find myself inspired and in awe of their abilities; I just don't typically actively seek out their affiliation out of fandom. If we happen to cross paths or become acquainted or there is an opportunity to learn from them, that's a unique gift. Even as a rock climber of ~10 years I don't know most of the major names in the sport.

On Winter & the Cold

For the reasons above in On Sports, I'm nervous about the winter and staying active because I have a hard time being "out" going; I'm not a huge fan of the activation energy and copious amounts of gear required to do anything (and then still be cold). Hypothetically, I enjoy snow shoeing and cross country skiing, but not enough to buy gear.

On Sauna Philosophy

This is a section about community activities, tribe, philosophical conversations, and closeness.

I used to rock climb at Mission Cliffs almost every day for ~seven years. Most days, after my climbing session, I will go into the sauna and courteously inquiry to those present whether they might prefer "sauana silence or sauna philosophy". I'd then ask if there was a major question on anyone's mind that they wished to discuss or would share one that was on my mind. Here's a list of few previous sauna philosophy questions. Sometimes after the sauna session, I'd explore the topic further in writing, like in this example. During sauna philosophy, I don't typically wear glasses and quite literally have difficulty making out the face of the person next to me resulting in sometimes comical outcomes,

Curious about my biggest sauna philosophy fail? During one fateful sauna philosophy session, I was reflecting about a Richard Feynman interview where he explores what it means to know something versus know about something. As an exercise, I had been inspired by some friends early that week to try to add the phrase "whatever that means" to the end of thoughts I was having, as an opportunity and invitation to explore further. While in the sauna, the thought that entered my head was, "it's hot in here" -- to which I added "whatever that means" and began my reflections and meditations. At some level, I posited, if we dig deep enough, even things we believe we know well might be reduced to something we (and maybe noone else) understand. For instance, what is heat exactly and how does it work? When water is put on hot rocks, what is happening? What does it mean for water or rocks to store heat? Presumably the rock is hotter than the water (whatever that means), and breaks the water's covalent bonds (whatever that means), releasing hydrogen and oxygen which rise.

Likely having heard enough (I'd like to believe he sighed before leaving) the person sitting next to me got up and left. Shortly after, another in attendance said, "hey, wasn't that Adam Savage from Myth Busters?", to which two others in attendance nodded in confirmation. And so this details the time I made an absolute fool of myself philosophizing about basic science next to the myth busters dude who likely perceived I was being even more of an insuffurable showoff than, granted, I probably am. Honestly felt pretty bad and embarassing but I mostly I feel ashamed that/if I ruined his sauna session and wish I could have discretely apologized.

On Pragmatic-Minimalism

I am a functional minimalist and have few (but not too few) belongings. Most my things can fit into a single suitcase and backpack. Keeping things clean and organized is thus pretty easy for me. I try to make my bed, clean dishes immediately after I use them (usually even before eating), and generally leave a room in better shape than I found it. I like making people feel comfortable so I try to wear presentable and modest business-casual clothes. I no longer own a suit or costumes and don't especially enjoy activities which require dressing up in novel or formal wear (fine dining, galas, weddings, costume parties) though I am willing to do so out of respect for those around me. I enjoy being myself, living simply and practically, and living within my means. Spending money on a wardrobe and cosmetics doesn't bring me joy and others expecting me to spend conspicuously makes me feel guilty and like I am violating my values.

On Being Public & Private

"It's funny how much of you is still private. Do you find it easy to share private things (depression, sexuality, kinks) with people irl[*]?"

I think it's only funny how much of me is private if I were to insist (based on hubris, pretense, or consistency principle -- because so much of me is public) that there is ntohing I value keeping private. My leaning towards being public in ways which may help myself and others is not something I experience as inconsistent from wanting to also protect myself and others from certain information asymmetry or at the expense of opportunities to grow mutual trust.

I am happy for my openness to be challenged/interrogated/questioned. I invite all questions, and appreciate being able to answer openly and honestly; I also feel no obligation on principle to share.

I find depression fairly easy to talk about. There are times it's appropriate to be more selective and conservative with what one shared, not of fear of being vulnerable, but rather because some situations call for someone who can demonstrate a strong constitution. Life is a balancing act and in order to best serve those around us who we care about, it requires being in touch with one's feelings, being vulnerable, and sensitive, as it also demands one be demonstratably reliable, capable, and relatable.

On Board Games & Improv

[*] To me, everything is IRL. I think this is one reason I tend to like board games less than others; I don't like contriving simulated situations to lie or collude, to treat people differently, or be a version of myself that doesn't feel right. To me, my job/work feels like a game. I get to program things I'm passionate about into existence with others I like, for people I enjoy helping. Time being finite, I prefer work games to board games. That said, in 2022 I learned that I am much happier playing collaborative board games, like Crew.

When I do roleplay, I prefer doing so through my writing. I do enjoy improv, however, creating moments of spontaneous joy, laughter, and exploring parts of myself in the company of those who I believe care and understand me enough to welcome and protect this of me. I don't particularly like costumes (including wearing clothing which advertises things I don't believe in, a rare exception being the ocassional sentimental gift, which I typically kindly decline).

On Monogamy v. Polyamory

I'm comfortable with people who are polyamorous and support their life choices. I kind of get it, it's complicated but I see how it can work (especially for smart people who like challenges and wish to spend their time managing complex relationships). It's not my end game. I don't want my partner to have any doubt about my love for them. I want them to know fully that they come first to me and that no one else is even in the picture of consideration. And if or when I have children, I would want them to know the same thing, that unconditionally and without question, all my resources, all of my love will go first towards their upbringing and the world they unchoosingly inherit.

On Marriage, Having Kids & Adoption

I would like to have a biological child with a partner.

As one of my role models, Aaron Swartz, once said, "[I take the attitude that] everything you've learned is just provisional, that it's always open to recantation, refutation, or questioning". If I met the right person, I may be willing to compromise on what our relationship looks like. If my partner has the qualities of being a good parent, it would be very hard for me to not want to have a child together. I think this may actually be easier in the cases where a partner is otherwise an amazing fit but where we may have reservations about each other as parents.

Until I was 25 or so, I was pretty opposed to the idea of having children. When I was a child, I felt burned and angsty about the idea of being forced on this earth without having been consulted. But as I've gotten older and experienced things painful and wrong about the world, I believe in my values, my affinity to care, and ability to nurture and raise children with love, respect, knowledge, dignity, passion, and compassion -- qualities which I'd hope they'd share with the world. While it's pretentious and reeks of hubris that I could accomplish all this, if I have complaints about the world being unkind and unfair, trying to upbringing compassionate, educated children is a small way I can fight for a more equitable future. I was raised by two loving parents who gave be a wonderful gift of their example and I would like to share this gift with my future family. I think the feeling and quality of being related by blood and genetics is special and significant and is a connection I'd really value with my children (granted biology is no guarantee of parent-child fit).

I met the right person and we were unable to conceive and chose to adopt, I would love these children equally and unconditionally without doubt or question.

On Weddings

I didn't go to prom in high school and I don't regret it. I had a bar mitzvah and mostly regret it (I would have rather done some sort of casual culturally Jewish coming-of-age celebration devoid of the religious elements). I think the idea of having an expensive wedding feels uncomfortable to me (something something consumerist / manufactured consent). I love the excuse of getting family and friends together and celebrating love with them in a creative, special, meaningful way. I concede that Weddings are as much for others as it is for ourselves and if we love others I shouldn't so quickly or carelessly rob them of their joys. But, I don't really like being celebrated. I experience weddings in a similar way to gifts. Just as I don't like dating on account of it feeling like it's someone else's manufactured tradition rather than than something that would happen organically. I'd rather invest funds in a house/family/education than an expensive traditional wedding. But the bottom line is, I want my partner to be happy and so I'll participate with enthusiasm if that's what's important to them.

On Religion

I am a fairly areligious, agnostic, atheisttic, cultural Jew. The closest thing to practicing religion is doing passover or chanukah with family as an excuse to get together. I do recognize (and did so very late) that Jews don't exactly get to choose whether the world sees them as Jews or not. If you're born Jewish, the world identifies you as a Jew and I've personally experienced antisemitism (e.g. getting beaten up for no reason other than being Jewish). As a result, if I have children, as a matter of cultural education and self-preservation, I'd want them to have basic education of their cultural heritage. Not to the exclusion of anything my partner wishes to teach them. Ultimately I feel people should being given the means to obtain a range of context and perspectives and then choose their own path. I think if would be a problem if I ended up with someone very religiously Jewish (or very religiously anything). I don't want to feel obligated for religion to be a big part of my life, other than the ways culturally I am either empathetic towards or obligated. For instance, I like the broad notion of shabbat (i.e. family and friends eating together on Friday nights). And I appreciate that Judaism encourages people to question and pursue education. I think the history of the Jews is interesting insofar as I think all history is important and interesting, but I am not interested in scripture.

On Being Outgoing

I'm very outgoing (read: caring, nurturing, attentive) for those around me. This whole document is a testament to my dedication to trying hard for others. I like to cook and clean for others and be there for them when they need me. By nature, I am however, not naturally outgoing from the perspective of "going out". I don't love planning dates, going to fancy restaurants, driving for hours, visiting people in other towns. I'm happy to do all these things for people I care about, especially when I have someone to go with, but it takes a lot of energy. There are many things in life I have strong opinions about and want to be involved in decision making (e.g. moral imperatives) but often times I am very satisfied being in the company of someone I love and letting them propose the activities, foods, tripe that they're excited about. And I'm very happy to share the work.

On Hobbies

In my free time, I like language learning. I'm currently learning chinese 因為我很喜歡中文的文化. I also like playing guitar and recording music. I like cooking for other people and I am an avid indoor rock climber (bouldering). I enjoy reading non-fiction literature, watching educational lectures, and I really enjoy writing essays and discussing philosophy with friends. I like hosting house dinners and going for long walks, hikes, or cycling. I also really enjoy my work and often work on projects & prototypes in my free time..

Date Activities

What is your idea of a good date?

Disclaimer: I'm not a big drinker. So I'm not enthralled with the idea of fancy sit down restaurants or bars for "dates". It feels performative like being on a reality show interview. I'm also not a big fan of movie theaters because it perpetually distracts and detracts from conversation. I don't like bars because I want me and my date to behave like ourselves and not hide behind inhebriation. For similar reasons as bars and movies, not a big fan of comedy for not-a-dates.

I'm almost always down for the following activities:

  1. Gym rock climbing @ Brooklyn Boulders, Somerville (specifically bouldering, not rope climbing) -- I go almost every evening ~7p + I get free passes for 1st time climbers!
  2. Walking around the MFA or other art studios/galleries -- I have a MFA membership and am happy to meet + treat you any weekend!
  3. Meeting at a cafe (FORGE, 1369 Cafe, 3 Little Figs) -- Any morning before 11a or weekends.
  4. Cooking food together, hotpot, pizza (alone or w/ a themed symposium group) -- especially Fridays nights.
  5. Jamming / Playing music together
  6. Playing tennis, ping pong, or badminton
  7. Going Kayaking
  8. Browsing a Library or bookstore
  9. Going for a long walk around a city, park, or hike a trail (e.g. Fresh Pond? Blue Hills?), sculpture garden, botanical garden + picnics
  10. Riding bikes on a trail (renting blue bikes)
  11. Fruit picking
  12. Could also be convinced to axe throw, bowl, mini-golf, go ice skating, and more! Wow!

Turn Offs

Sky diving pictures, exceedingly fancy attire, exceedingly fancy restaurants, skimpy bathing suit pictures or staged photos (high fashion dress in a national park?) instagram links, posing with glasses of alcohol, die-hard sports fans, additions to suffer-fest type 2 activities (especially in the cold), music festivals, talk about reality tv, excessive tattoos. In lots of ways I am boring.

On Co-dependence

When I was growing up, my parents hardly spent a night apart, save when my father went on business trips. Even then, sometimes she would travel with him. They preferred not to travel alone (overnight). I don't experience this same degree of smothering imperative to constantly spend time together, but I admit I have a preference for spending time with significant others rather than not. I don't need as much space and recharge best when I'm in a partner's arms. I am an avid cuddler, I like cooking together, emotional closeness, and caring for others. I'm ultimately looking for someone to spend the majority of the rest of my days with because I think life is better when I have a teammate to enjoy & brave it with. I love tagging along to do everyday activities like grocery shopping, listening to podcasts together, spending time with other peoples' friends & families. While I identify as an introvert, I thrive off of the outgoing/fun energy of others (especially people who enjoy planning). In exchange for their "activation energy", I am often easy going / accomodating and willing to put in time to cook, clean, do chores, take out the trash, do food shopping, perform emotional labor. I wouldn't call myself clingly, though I also appreciate that I'm likely more affectionate and appreciate closeness more than the average guy.

On Fine Dining

Drugs

I'm not morally opposed to the idea of most drugs and I'm not a saint; I just prefer being in a state of mind where I'm able to help those around me. I doubt whether most drugs make me a better person and I don't like the idea of giving up control of being my best self for hedonistic, selfish reasons. I don't expect you to have the same relationship with drugs. I do expect one to have a healthy relationship with substance and to not be an abuser. I also feel turned off by drug and party culture.

Flaws & Shortcomings

I have a lot of these.

  1. I have a degree of loss and risk aversion.
  2. I can feel unworthy (not wanting to inconvenience others), insecure about my abilities, and often fear letting my people down (see [1] loss aversion)
  3. I can sometimes be intense or fast-paced; I like to complete things right away when they're top of mind (a strategy for dealing with ADHD so I don't lose track). This may come across as anxious, over-analyzing, or impatient. Some things are difficult for me to attend to and I may make mistakes even if I am trying as hard as I can. As a result...
  4. When things feel off, sometimes it can feel challenging to give people space
  5. I tend to prefer "doing" -- rapidly prototyping and executing incrementally on projects ("make things possible before perfect") -- rather than doting on research, because I'm insecure about [2] my intelligence and anxious whether I'll be able to finish in a reasonable amount of time if I research a solution that is too hard.
  6. I sometimes have difficulty putting a project or activity down if I really enjoy it resulting in "just 5 more minutes" complex.
  7. One might say I am not the primary "creator of fun" in relationships. I don't really need dates in order to feel happy and connected, just the day-to-day company of my partner. This is seldom experienced mutually and I'm working hard to be better at arranging and planning fun dates. Also, this said, I am almost always down to join a fun activity of my partner's choosing.
  8. My resting state is to be introverted in that it takes significant activation energy (until I build a habit) for me to go to a social thing. On the other hand, if I'm able to lower the activation energy and build rhythm/comfort, I love being surrounded by interesting people and being an active member of my communities.
  9. I can be a creature of habit. I typically know what I like and want. As a result, on one hand, I may initially present as inflexible. On the other hand, if I'm given a moment to process, I'm often very easy and willing to go along with the choices my partner prefer (re: dining, activities) especially because, honestly, getting to be with my partner is usually more important to me than many of my other superficial preferences.
  10. Prefers doing things together. Some people like lots of independence. I have a secure attachment style and want my partner to have the space they need to recharge, but I'd be lying if I said I preferred my space. My parents were attached at the hip and actively preferred spending time and participating in activities together than alone and this is a model of love that I also really value (in moderation). I also tend to be a workaholic and have lots of hobbies and its important to me that my partner has my full support and is equally empowered to pursue growth. It's more like, if I'm hanging out with friends, I'd rather my partner be included than have a guy's night out 🤷.
  11. I tend to put other people's needs before my own, take work/life seriously, and take on a lot of responsibility, often resulting in a risk of burnout. I've gotten much better about finding balance and I owe my previous partners for helping me grow, for their benefit and mine.

Strengths

  1. Kind, caring, & nurturing. I have mom energy, am emotionally aware and available and am often perceptive of the needs and feelings of others.
  2. Self awareness
  3. Loyalty
  4. I am a strong, equitable, and proactive domestic contributor (cooking, cleaning, organizing, chores)
  5. Sustainable passion. I have yet to be in a relationship where I felt my love for my partner diminish over time. Usually it's the opposite.

Music

I like singing with people and playing music together. In 2017 I immediately answered: if I could clone myself and he could only do one thing, we'd sing and harmonize with each other. I don't listen to very much music day-to-day and I'm not a big music concert go-er. I'm generally adverse to the idea of music festivals and loud concerts. I enjoy going to universities to hear graduate students playing recitals! Here's some music I like.

On Affection

I enjoy cuddling, I'm very affectionate, I like holding hands and snuggling. I like connecting with my partners physically and feeling our hearts race together. Being with someone who doesn't feel connected through physical intimacy is difficult for me. At the same time, more than I care about affection, I care about others I'm with feeling comfortable, safe, secure, and happy. One-sided affection, to me, misses the underlying feeling of connection, which is what I long for in a soulmate.

On Sexuality

As noted by someone in On Being Public & Private I don't write often about sexuality, perhaps because like many men, I am conditioned by prevailing narratives to feel self conscious, to question my adequancy, and otherwise it's generally an area where I don't feel I have much to teach others. Neither would I feel comfortable being someone who brags on the topic as I worry it risks perpetuating insecurity for others.

On a personal level, so much of my identity and sense of personal value/worth comes from doing for others; so to me, expectation and performative pressure to conflate one's personal worth with their ability to satisfy others can at times feel more stressful than enjoyable, when not discussed or experienced with people whom I share trust, comfort, and understanding. Sex is great, would recommend. I've just become thoughtful and selective about who I like to have sex with because, to me a bad trip can feel like being between a rock-and-the-hard-place of either feeling too selfish (which is a feeling I hate; I don't like taking pleasure when it's at the expense of another), uncomfortable if it's not someone I intimately respect or whom I am not attracted, or anxious about how comfortable or good my partner is feeling. Overall, I'd accuse myself of having a higher-than-average libido and disclose that physical touch and affection are significant forms of connection and love languages for me.

At the same time, there's also a part of me which recognizes the selfish persuance of satisfying my own needs as a possible vector for my exploitation, distortion/manipulation, and distraction away from other things I care about. While this narrative, which Benjamin Franklin aspires and others profess, may not be one I pay much credence, I still appreciate, from a "do as I say, not as I do" sentiment, (as its sentiment caresses several virtues; temperance, tranquility, moderation, justice, sincerity) the wisdom in:

Rarely use venery but for health or offspring, never to dullness, weakness, or the injury of your own or another’s peace or reputation.

Thanks for visiting and accepting me as I am. I appreciate you reading.