I am a strong proponent of open relationships. Although I don't like the word, you could call me polyamorous. I have quite a lot to say for that, but let it suffice to mention three things: First, I don't think all that fuss about sex is in any way justified. Why can't grown-up people just have sex if they like (and refrain from it if they don't)? What harm does that do to third parties? Second, I fail to see how arbitrarily confining your partner's freedom can be a proof of love (if love is to be a good thing, that is). Third, all intimate relationships are one-of-a-kind individuals, so I really appreciate getting rid of useless questions like "Is this really love?" or "Are we a couple?" or "Is this more than friendship?" I don't care if a relationship conforms to this or that stereotype. Relationships should be unrestrained by preexisting conceptions of how everything is supposed to work. They should be about what makes sense for the unique persons involved in their specific situation.

As it doesn't really fit anywhere else, I might mention here that I am rather rigid in rejecting sexism (or what I consider as such). I'm the kind of guy who would take offence if somebody called me "masculine". If you think being a woman or a man is a substantial part of your identity (except perhaps insofar as society does, of course, force gender roles upon you), I see potential for conflict there. And if you are looking for a "man" (in any sense of the word that extends beyond anatomy, at least), I am most likely not what you are after.

I never use emoticons, and I and never go swimming dressed. These two basic rules of life are the closest thing to a religion I have.

I'm working on my dissertation in philosophy. "Working on PhD program" (in my details) seemed to be the option closest to that, but I am not in any program. I also work part-time as a corrector at a left-wing newspaper that pays pretty poorly.

I'm somewhat lazy. In fact, I see moderate laziness as a progressive virtue: What could contribute more to the general improvement of human living conditions than the continuous struggle to minimize the burden of labour?

Critical thinking. We will swiftly run into problems if you have difficulties with criticism or, even worse, tend to mistake interested questions as such (many people do, once the questions go beyond the superficial). Nevertheless I do give new acquaintances credit - sometimes too much too fast, in fact - and I am, or at any rate try to be, twice as critical of myself. Then again, I *can* be flattering. Sometimes.
I may be a good listener, too.
Also, I'm quite good at being profoundly bored or annoyed by what is generally considered "fun".

Occasionally I wear a skirt and/or kohl; people tend to notice that, for some reason.

It would be hard to name my favourite books. The list would start with Homer, and it would not contain much contemporary literature. Recently, I've been in love with Moby-Dick, it is definitely one of the best books I've ever read. But I also loved Watchmen (the graphic novel, not the movie). As to non-fiction, I should mention my appreciation of Marx and the better part of Marxism (notably Adorno and Horkheimer). Nietzsche is one of my favourites, too. You get the picture - I'm that annoying sort of elitist communist.

Some of my favourite movies are Tarkovsky's "Solaris", Miyazaki's "Nausicaa", Cukor's "The Women", and Scott's "Bladerunner". I also appreciate the work of Akira Kurosawa, Takeshi Kitano, Stanley Kubrick, Woody Allen. Add the better of David Lynch, David Cronenberg, The Coen Brothers, Mamoru Oshii, among others. I also have a taste for "Naked Gun"-style comedy. I loved "Teeth", "The Fountain", and "There Will Be Blood".

My favourite TV shows include Monty Python (of course), The Colbert Report, Friends, The Whitest Kids U Know, Gilmore Girls, Beavis & Butt-Head, Ally McBeal, Drawn Together, Married With Children, Big Bang Theory and some Anime like Legend of the Galacitc Heroes, Vision of Escaflowne, X, Mushishi, and Record of Lodoss War. I'm also entertained by science fiction like Star Trek (up to DS9), Babylon 5, Battlestar Galactica and Stargate.

Some music I like: Swans, PJ Harvey, Coil, Nine Inch Nails, Nirvana, The Angels of Light, Nick Cave, The Fall, Can, Soap&Skin, Godspeed You! Black Emperor, Madrugada, Slayer, Mogwai, David Bowie, Mono, Tricky, Johnny Cash, Blonde Redhead, Jesse Sykes, Grizzly Bear, Blur, The Cure, Devendra Banhart, Flaming Lips, Barn Owl, Anna Calvi.
Only quite recently have I started to go out dancing every now and then, mostly to noisy, experimental electronic music and techno.
I also love Bach, Mahler, and Shostakovich, but I have to admit that as of late, I rarely find the time and interest to listen to that kind of music. Maybe this is how growing old and dull starts.
I don't like jazz. There, I said it.

I just counted and found out that there are precisely five things I could never do without, three of which I have to do without at the moment. Now that obviously shows that I am a total failure in terms of doing, and I am so embarrassed by that fact that I decided to keep the list to myself.

...how it is possible that, even today, people still believe in things like astrology, Jesus Christ or (for that matter) human rationality. Actually I don't exactly spend a lot of time with this, but it bothers me a lot.
(Due to such attitudes of mine some people call me a misanthrope or a pessimist, yet I myself prefer the term "realist".)

As a student of philosophy, I am in fact spending a lot of time thinking. So what am I thinking about? If you will, I am some kind of moralist. I really do care more about doing the right thing than about convenience. So I think a lot about questions like what the right thing is, what it even means "to be the right thing", and how to figure out all such complicated stuff. I have some rather strong (and, needless to say, partly unconventional) views on ethics, and what is worse, I can argue for them. That makes me a *dangerous* and *dreaded* person, but I don't care, I like the *perils* of philosophy, the *hazardous adventure* of reason unchained, the *wild* and *cunning* life of the intellectual between sofa, desk, and bookshelf! No wonder many people are scared by someone like me, someone who thinks faster than his shadow! Who could blame them? Well, I could. And I do. But that's a different story... One I told a few lines above.

Phew... Just pick the item that seems most private to you (and write me which one that is, for scientific purposes):

I think clothing is overrated.

I am a pretty romantic person, in my own way. All that rationality stuff, to me, is only a means to be romantic more efficiently!

As befits a true romantic, I am fundamentally unhappy and always will be and hope you are too, as this would much increase the probabilty of us getting close.

I don't like to sleep alone. For eight years I lived with a girlfriend, so I had company most nights. When she moved out, every night alone used to make me feel painfully lonely. Of course I got used to it, so nowadays it doesn't positively bother me that much most of the time. But it's still not my preferred way of sleeping.

I had myself circumcised a couple of years ago. Part of the reason the idea appealed to me probably was that most men here in Germany seem to be somewhat horrified by it. Must be fear of castration or something. I don't have that. Or might it be one of these "special" issues in the German collective subconscious to dread circumcision because it is thought of as Jewish? I don't have that either.

It annoys me that, for some unfathomable reason, so many Germans can't figure out the difference between an apostrophe (') and and accents over an empty space (´ or `). I mean, really.

If you can think of anything more private you would like to know, just write a message and ask me. I'm pretty up-front.

...you would rather I messaged you first.

...you tend to despise people who use expressions like "easy-going" or "fun to be with" in their self-summary.

...you want to write a book with me.

We have a gender problem here. Women tend to get messaged more often than they would like to (or so I have been told) and I am not too eager to join what can hardly be perceived but as a crowd of testosterone-intoxicated spammers. Men, on the other hand, rarely get messaged. All that is a sexist state of affairs which each of us should strive to change.
Of course, men are welcome to write me as well.