My life experience: Time flies, and maybe faster for some than others. I find myself at 34, with time seeming to slip away faster than ever. Wasn't I just 24 a moment ago? For many in my age group, their 20s was spent finding themselves and their partners, and by their 30s, they are either settling down, looking to settle down, or have settled down. That's simply not the trajectory my life has followed. It feels like I'm just coming alive, and I want to experience so much more in life. I was incredibly awkward as a teenager and in my early 20s, plagued by mental health issues and a variety of other insecurities. I was very late to lose my virginity, and always found it hard to be around women because of my awkwardness. But I've come a long way in the last five years or so, gaining a new level of confidence and well-being, sexually, mentally, financially and in other ways. I do believe I have a certain level of maturity and wisdom that comes with being in my 30s. But there's still so much more for me to learn about myself and I'm at a point where I'm very exploratory when it comes to the types of romantic and sexual relationships that I can have with other humans.

My age gap experience: With that in mind, this is where my interest in age gap comes in. Before about a year and a half or so ago, I didn't have much thought or interest in dating younger. But as it happens, when I moved to Arizona from Massachusetts, I found myself alone and lonely, so I turned to gaming, as I've often done. It started out with thoughtlessly sending a friend request to another gamer I'd played a match with in passing. A month passed, and we gamed more and more. Eventually, they put a mic on, and I found out this mystery person was a woman. As we gamed more, we grew closer, and eventually I started feeling things for her. It was around this time that she told me she was 20. How unfortunate. But then she did the unbelievable, and asked me if I'd like to meet up. I was shocked, but flattered. I knew by this point that I had real feelings, so I asked my closest friends and family, and they said go for it. I confessed my feelings to her, and she reciprocated. After that, we spent so much time together across multiple platforms (and not just gaming). It was a whirlwind experience, and I've never experienced the feelings I did then before, or since then. For reasons that go outside the scope of this post (essentially, though, we weren't a good match), we never did meet up. But it left me with an indelible set of impressions. I was reminded that, while someone in their early 20s might be a bit short on life experience, in many ways, they are every bit as much an adult as at least I am - at least capable of being every bit as smart, responsible, emotionally mature as me - and filled with energy and generational differences of perspective that I find exciting.

What I'm looking for: So all of that is to say that after some thought, I believe my life experience is such that in many ways, I'm closer in energy, outlook, and desires to someone in their mid 20s. And my experience in Arizona made me realize that when it comes to dating and interests, I believe I am better aligned with people in their 20s. I actually am still looking to date people in their 30s as well. But I currently think someone in their mid to late 20s would probably be perfect. And I have to admit that based on my experience above, the idea of dating someone in their early to mid 20s is exciting to me. I am still interested in exploring myself and others sexually, so I'm open to the idea of short term engagements. But ideally, I'd find someone who would at least want to be friends with benefits, or even better, go the dating track and see if a relationship works. I'm not looking for any sort of arrangement that involves money. I'd want to get to know you in a public place or spend time talking online (ideally with voice and video). Particularly with the dating track, I'd be totally fine with taking things slow and building both romantic and sexual tension while having a lot of fun around town, before things deepen. Longer term, I'd hope we could have a good mixture of fun nights out and cozy/romantic nights in, watching a great show or maybe gaming together, if that's your thing too. Eventually, I'd hope to be able to call you girlfriend. :)

About Me: Physically, I'm a hair under 5'9", with a heavyset/stocky dad body. I have a head of hair and often wear a short beard, with dark, Hispanic features that at least some have found to be handsome or attractive. I'm willing to share pictures if you are verified, or if you are willing to do a short verification process (ideally snapchat/instagram). I live in the metro Boston area and mostly use a car for transportation (but am fine with public transit). I have a humble apartment of my own, and a stable white collar job. I'm single, and have tested after every partner, with no issues. I can definitely still be kinda awkward and shy, especially around people I don't know, or if I like someone a lot haha. But get to know me, and I can be a bundle of friendly, goofy energy. I've always been a garden variety nerd, without going too deep into any one thing. I like reading here and there, am into gaming and anime, like to listen to music (deeply), and generally enjoy learning about new things and having lively conversation.

I'm sure there's more to say, but that's long enough, so I'll wrap up! First of all, *thank you* if you chose to actually read all of this haha. I've thought about this for a while, and decided that if I was going to do it, I was going to take it seriously, so I put the effort in to fully describe what I'm looking for. Hopefully if you've gotten this far, it means that you are interested. If so, please feel free to send me a dm telling me a bit about yourself! :D