My name's Chris, and I'm a 27 year-old dude living in Pennsylvania. I work as a software engineer building emulation software for virtual environments. It's what I wanted to do in college, actually, but my degree is in creative writing. I've done NaNoWriMo a couple times, and a friend keeps pestering me to finish one of the four novels on my hard drive. We'll see. When I'm not doing those, I program, cook, bake, game, and learn. I'm actually trying to go back to school (read: take online classes) to essentially get all the practical knowledge of a computer science degree without having to pay another 80k. We'll see how that one goes, too.

I've got several app ideas that I'd really like to get off the ground by the end of this year. Keeping my fingers crossed on those.

In my spare time between both of those, you can find me oscillating between PC and tabletop gaming (I just recently picked up Hades, so I've been oscillating between that and The Long Dark). I'm actually building a couple tabletop game based on all the ones I used to and currently enjoy: I just got one of them through its first round of playtesting and am trying to get the second one to be rules-complete.

I'm used to my own silence and doing things for myself, but having someone to lean on and be leant on in turn is sure something, let me tell you. To boil things down to basics, I'm looking for someone who has, at the very least, these two qualities: one, a constant desire to improve themselves, if not the drive - we all fall off the wagon sometimes; two, a constant curiosity, whether that's about the world around us or anything else - I ask tons of questions and not having someone else asking questions alongside me just feels weird.

Here's some of what I bring to the table:

• A love of almost all movies and TV (except for horror, no thank you!) I've recently been watching movies with my COVID book club, and have tried to keep up with what's currently playing, although the most recent thing I've seen is "Knives Out", which I really enjoyed despite not thinking I would.
• A penchant for creativity in the kitchen - I love love love to cook, and I'd love to feed you my recipes, from raspberry cheesecake to beef stew to smoked gouda pizza.
• A love for hiking, camping and the outdoors. Hiking the Appalachian Trail is on my bucket list, and I'd love to have somebody to hike it with.
• A love of learning. I absolutely adore museums - especially if they have interactive exhibits. I will always be down to go to the zoo, or the aquarium (I never got to see the Baltimore Aquarium before I moved, and really want to) or any kind of museum that takes your fancy. I'd love to just wander through a museum with someone, sharing the little tidbits we learn as we go.
• The ability to listen when you talk, provide sage advice, and just generally be the rock in the currents of life.

What I'm looking for:

• The whole package, so to speak. Someone who is successful in her own right - fully capable of buying her own shit and doing her own thing.
• Someone who constantly wants to improve themselves, whether that's working out, learning a new skill, or just reading a new book. (I'm currently rereading Percy Jackson And The Olympians for the first time, myself!)
• Someone who wants to get to know me almost as much as I know myself, and doesn't mind my learning them just as well.
• Someone who asks just as many questions as I do, whether somewhat off the wall ("What did you want to be when you grew up, and why did that change as you got older?") or somewhat trite (Favorite snacks, favorite colors, things like that).
• Someone who enjoys hiking and bonfires, and is okay with at least giving fencing and/or paintball a try.
• Someone who has, if not a plan, then at least a bucket list that I can help cross things off of.
• Bonus points if you're goth or follow the goth aesthetic.

Some dealbreakers:

• Smoking, either cigarettes or MJ - mostly because I hate the smell.
• The inability to hold a conversation. Getting to know someone's a two-way street, and if I find myself asking all the questions, I'll also find myself getting bored pretty quickly.
• Kids. I do not want kids in any way, shape or form.

I promised myself when I sat down that I wouldn't write a novel, so I'm going to cut myself off now. Feel free to delve through my posting history, though. If you like what you read, shoot me a message - I look forward to hearing from you!

Best,

Chris