Hello! This is me, playing "Spot The American" in Vietnam. This is (unflatteringly) me being too tall for a bridge in Japan. This is me taking a selfie with a dumpling mascot because honestly, how could you not. And this is me as a stack of pancakes, because my friend is wonderfully weird.

If you've landed here, you might be wondering who I am, wanting to get a feel for my interests, opinions, activity, personality.

Here's the thing.
A while back, a large group of communities called on Reddit to do more to combat COVID misinformation, especially in subs like No New Normal. Reddit's response was "eh...no."

I deleted my profile the next day. Reddit can remove FatPeopleHate but can't remove a sub that promotes people hurting themselves and others, encouraging science denial and the use of livestock feed/medicine to treat a human illness?

I was off Reddit for a while thereafter. And I found that my life was a bit better. My mental health improved slightly, even as my awareness of what's going on in the world, and even in my home town, declined.

However.
It just so happens that, of all the ways to meet people, Reddit has been (by and large) the most successful for me, particularly in light of my various interests and dreams for relationships. Odds are, you know about those from whatever post of mine, or message to you, brought you to this page. But I have no post/comment history to provide more information.

But it doesn't matter. Reddit history may not convey what's important to me anyway. So, informed by years of therapy and decades of chasing myself, here's a view of who I am.

I'm a moderate homebody, introvert, and nerd, dealing with mental illness most of my life. I'm a DM, perpetual wanderer, and underfunded learner.

My life has been at its best when it has been lived in line with two values: dynamic, and interesting. I fully intend to build my future on these values.
Dynamic means that I do not stagnate in one place for long, doing one thing for long, without a really good reason. This will largely mean that I do a lot of exploring (aka traveling), ideally in a digital nomad lifestyle kind of structure. Dynamic means that something about my life is always growing, always changing, and that it sustains my passion for life.
Interesting is a bit more nebulous, and easier to explain by example. I was a truck driver for about half a year back in 2008. I taught English in China for a year, 2018-9. I wrote and workshopped a musical while in my Bachelor's program. I directed a one-act that I wrote, and produced it through a local fringe festival. Whenever I tell people any of these things, I often get a "that's so cool!" reaction, to some degree or another. The validation isn't important to me; I didn't teach English in China to impress anyone, including myself. I didn't drive a truck so I could tell a story about seeing someone do karaoke of Korn in New England. I didn't workshop Molotov so I could preen about it to other theatre-goers. I did these things because I wanted to do them, because I wanted to do interesting things. I never want to stop doing interesting things.

I don't believe in "ideal" people/partners. But I know that for me to be truly content, I must share a few things with my partner:

-an intellectual chemistry, where we both challenge each other and feel free to dive into expression, exploration, and investigation, learning and growing together;

-an emotional chemistry, where we feel safe not only in being together, but in pushing to grow and improve together, where we feel driven to build and encourage and uplift each other, seeking and nurturing the best in each other, even if it means difficult or uncomfortable conversations;

-a kink compatibility, where we have an element of power exchange that comes naturally (even if it sometimes takes work), where pain is as much an expression of affection and intimacy as sex (and the two are almost never entirely distinct), and where playful defiance is treated as an invitation, not a rebuke.

Whether or not it's wise to lay myself this bare while leaving the more day-to-day elements like musical tastes, hobbies, and favorite jokes in the dark...this feels like the most honest approach to me. Not honest to you, but honest to myself, honoring who I am and who I want to be, and by extension, who I want to invite into my life.

Thanks for stopping by! Have a wonderful day!