I haven't used OKCupid very much in the past few years (I just started trying it out again, and noticed I had unread messages going back a full year from now). Admittedly, I'm not the best at returning messages (ask anyone who knows me), so don't take it personally if you message me and never hear back.

So. What about me?

I'm a former Christian, and now an atheist. I had my militant atheist phase, though now it just seems obvious to me that religion claims too much for itself and that any critical person could realize that. The debate ceases to inspire me, but I try to be nice to people who still are believers, as long as they don't go about trying to give me credit for Hitler, Stalin, Mao, and Pol Pot (we non-believers get that quite a lot).

I'm a libertarian, primarily in philosophy. In other words, I advocate the greatest amount of individual freedom to the extent that it does not injure anyone else's, or the fruit of their labor. I am not so much a libertarian in a political sense, though it describes me more accurately than words like "liberal" or "conservative" do. Some libertarian philosophies, in my view, do not work out so well in practice (especially in an unfettered, puristic sense), and thus certain degrees of government regulation are necessary. The question, however, is more quantitative (how much regulation?) versus qualitative.

I'm gay, which should be very obvious at this point if you've even come across my profile. If this is a problem for you, then perhaps we're best off not talking.

I'm not flamboyant, but I have no problem with people who are. I do like sex quite a lot, but I can do without it. I'm not really sure what my place is in the gay community since I don't consider myself very much like everyone else. Really, I just like to find a few close friends and keep it there.

Those are probably the big things. Some small things include:

- I'm deaf in my left ear -- it's a birth defect. If we're having a conversation, and you're left of me, or we're in a noisy environment, I shall likely often ask you to repeat yourself
- I'm adopted, and it does not bother me in the least
- I'm a quarter Korean. I looked a lot more Asian when I was very young.

If you want to see me about me, feel free to look through the following profiles of mine (though don't expect me to accept any friend requests if I have no idea who you are).

http://www.facebook.com/Antaeres
http://www.youtube.com/user/Karanis
http://www.last.fm/user/Karanis

I am libertarian, realist, and eclectic

Trying. I'm keeping busy with small jobs here and there, but I'm also into travel and making adventures from time to time.

Well... compared to people my age, there's nothing that I truly excel at... there's much I'm good at, but nothing to the point where I'd consider myself an expert. Regardless, I am fairly good with computers (I put mine together, thanks be to Newegg!), I can work enough with Adobe Photoshop to make some simple adjustments to a photo, and I really like to sing. Unfortunately, it has been a very long time since I have been in a choir, and am thus losing my technique as time goes by... but I still know what I'm doing, and, on a good day, can do so pretty well.

Anything else you want to know about what I can do, feel free to chat!

How young I look, even though I'm twenty-five. If I'm at any place where alcohol is consumed, people come up to me and start shouting in my face that I look like I'm twelve. I hear this far more often than I care to mention.

I'm still not convinced that this is the good thing everyone tells me about: "Well, when you're older, you'll appreciate it". It's scarcely a consolation to admit that while they're currently insulting me, I can feel flattered ten years later. As though being compared to a middle-school student was just the thing to boost my ego.

Books

I really enjoy reading books; mostly non-fiction, but there are some very good fiction books out there as well. I won't list all of my favorite authors and books here (you can always ask), but I'm a big fan of Voltaire and Thomas Paine. I also enjoy Richard Dawkins, Sam Harris, Daniel Dennett, Douglas Adams, to name a few. I generally enjoy reading about science, religion, politics, and philosophy. As far as fiction goes, there are, of course, the classics, but I'm also a big fan of the Night Watch series by Sergei Lukyanenko (the same books the movies are based off of).

Movies

I'm not too much of a movie-watcher. I sort of see movies as a risk wherein I may end up losing two hours of my life for something I may not even remotely enjoy. There are, however, a select few movies I like enough to want to see more than once.

The Fall, Jodhaa Akbar, Kabhi Khushi Kabhie Gham, Night Watch, Repo! The Genetic Opera, Run Lola Run, The Emperor's New Groove, Kung Pow! Enter the Fist, Rat Race

I do enjoy some Bollywood films. I'm a big fan of things from India.

Music

I'm very eclectic. Probably more so than you. Don't try to out-eclectify me; you can't. I win. That's right.

But seriously, I really enjoy a lot of foreign music. My favorite genres include A Capella, Classical, Choral, Vocal, Opera, Industrial, Gothic, Darkwave, Opera Metal, Symphonic Metal, Bollywood music (of course), and Oldies to name a few. As far as foreign types go, I like Russian (including Russian liturgy), Scandinavian, German, Arabic, Turkish, Persian, Indian, Tuvan, and even bits of Reggaetón.

Some of my favorite bands, artists, and composers include Alanis Morissette, Natacha Atlas, Azam Ali, Braindead Monkeys, Chirgilchin, E Nomine, Gåte, Garmarna, Huun Huur Tu, Laibach, Mercan Dede, Muse, Nightwish, Niyaz, Omar Faruk Tekbilek, Russkiy Razmer, Sa Dingding, Therion, Tomás Luis de Victoria, Tristania, Vas, Antonio Vivaldi, and Weird Al.

More of my musical tastes are detailed on my Last.fm profile:

http://www.last.fm/user/Karanis

Food

I love trying new things: if it's foreign, spicy, exotic, or is from the sea, I'll probably like it. My favorite foods are Indian, Thai, sushi, and just general seafood. I'm also a Subway junkie :)

Physiological needs aside, that would be:

The Internet
Music
My car (or other reliable means of transportation)
Personal freedom
Good sex
Travel

You know, it really depends on what's happening. There's not much that I think about which is different than what ordinary people do: bills, work, weather, things like that... I'll also wonder about what's happening in the world, and I try to read the newspaper or listen to NPR as often as I can (I don't watch television). Aside from that, it's just a matter of what interests me, like various philosophies, religions, political thought, sciences, music, foreign cultures, or whatever the books I'm reading are talking about.

Eh, it's not always typical. I'm just wherever I feel like being.

I don't really keep secrets; I'm a bit of an open book. I'll only keep things to myself if I don't really feel someone is worth the whole effort of talking to.

You feel like it. You've nothing to lose, and at worst, I'll just fail to respond. But I would prefer messages from people who are interesting, intelligent, literate, attractive, local; preferably a sizable combination of the above.