Back in California after a 15-year adventure around the world! I just moved back from New York City, and I'm excited to meet new people and reacquaint myself with the West Coast.
Who I am in, let's say, 75 words or less: I grew up in California, but was born in Paris and lived there nearly half of my life. That makes me a French and American dual national of Chinese descent, which sounds a little weird, but I can't overstate how important my multicultural upbringing has been to my outlook on life. I'm adventurous, inquisitive and compassionate, and I'm looking for someone with the same qualities to share deep belly laughs and madcap adventures with.
Still reading? OK, let me hit you with some knowledge! Or just a few totally random factoids: I only started going to concerts late in life, but I think I've done a decent job of catching up since. My drink of choice is cheap Mexican beer. No, actually, it's good wine. Either way, ply me with enough booze and I may demand that we hit up a karaoke bar. I have cooked full Thanksgiving meals from scratch several years running. (It's not been without mishaps.) I lived in the Middle East for a few months back in 2009. Like every man, I think I'm much better at barbecue grilling than I really am. This past summer, I rode my motorcycle from New York City to Los Angeles. I enjoy lazy evenings in with friends playing board games. Unless that board game happens to be Scrabble, in which case the evening turns into a bloody take-no-prisoners deathmatch that is sure to end in insults, bitter recriminations, and quite possibly the game board being tossed across the room. I ski, well. I surf, poorly. I've scuba dived at night in the bioluminescent fjords of Oman. I've tried and failed to learn the guitar three times. I ran the NYC Triathlon and I ran with the bulls in Pamplona; strangely, both were similar experiences in a way. I read voraciously and, given my recent horrible moving experience, probably own way, way too many books.
I'm an optimist, curious by nature and an explorer. I'd describe myself as being laid-back and having an even-keeled temperament. I like hanging out with solid, dependable people. I abhor drama. I'm loyal to my friends and my family is very important to me (even if I don't visit the 'rents as often as I should). I'm old enough to have been hurt a few times and become marginally wiser at this whole dating thing, but young enough to still be enthusiastic and wide-eyed about it.
So, here's the part where I share my Christmas wish list for who I am hoping to meet. Let's see. "Dear Santa, for Christmas, I would like to meet a nice girl who is mature, confident, and knows who she is. It'd be cool if she was a kind person who has dreams and ambitions and an appetite for life. If it's not too much to ask, please also let her be fun, sparkling, irreverent and maybe even goofy. (Nerd is a good word in my book!) Thank you Santa. PS: Please be careful dropping her off down the chimney."
Let me wrap up by saying a little about my approach to first dates. I'm all for starting things off casual and no-pressure. I figure it's always fun meeting a new person: we can have a drink, swap dating horror stories (hopefully not real-time commentary!) and share a laugh; if the chemistry isn't there, no hard feelings -- we part on friendly terms. But hopefully, just maybe, perhaps, we hit it off and there's magic! And even though I'm all for a casual fun drink, it would be awesome to feel there's some long-term potential between us.
