I was that quintessential nerdy kid growing up; short, skinny, backpack bigger than my body and walking around with a violin case because I was in orchestra. I didn’t get a girlfriend until senior year of high school and we had to break up because her dad found out I’m black, which I’d always seen in movies but experiencing it at that young age and as your first “love” absolutely broke me, she even started dating someone else a week after…my first real heartbreak in life but life moves on. I went to college down in Houston, where I started working out and dramatically changed. I got more attention in the few months in college than I’d ever had in my life and I went down the asshole route for awhile until end of junior year where I realized I didn’t like who I was becoming so I decided to stay single and work on myself and my insecurities. I graduated, got a job and moved to Dallas where I currently reside and I’ve found it so hard to date because I’m not experienced in real dating. I’m a very concise man, very minimalistic in the way that I’m not willing to spend money to get love but I’m willing to spend money of people I love. I know what I want in a women: being kind, considerate, loving and just a fun person to be around and I’ve gone on dates where I see some of these qualities but any deviation from it completely turns me off and I’d rather have my peace of mind with being able to do what I want, when I want, without some form of burden of a time constraint if you will. I’m 26 but mentally I feel 55 and I think I’ve already given up on love but in my heart I like to think I’m a romantic…it’s a losing battle to be fair. Just needed to get this off my chest, any advice or book recommendations would be greatly appreciated.