OK Cupid won't let me change my relationship status for some reason, but I'm engaged and monogamous.

I like relationships for countless reasons, but among the foremost: because intelligent women have a set of invaluable sensitivities that the male brain lacks. I appreciate a keen feminine perspective, partly for her ability to address issues that I can not perceive, and partly for the thrilling window on reality that only she can open. This dynamic is hard to explain, but women who have spent time with men already know more about it than I can ever say. This, combined with human instinct, accounts for much of my desire to spend time with a gentle and bright minded woman.

More specifically, I look at difference as a potential for strength and growth, so although similar perspectives offer comfort, I prefer to know competent people that come from backgrounds as different from mine as possible; up to the point that communication remains meaningful. I strongly admire women with curiosity for new knowledge and experiences, a sense of balance between pragmatics and ideals, expertise in some subject as a result of study, lifelong commitments to growth and improvement, and dedicated practice of some art, skill, craft, or trade.

More superficially, I enjoy looking into alert and contemplative eyes, running fingers through wavy hair, and gently kissing soft skin; all the darker, all the lovelier.

About me, and what I bring to relationships:
After completing film school, I earned a degree in Economics, and have nearly finished another in Computer Science. I also have minors in Latin American Studies and History. This mix of art, humanities, science, and engineering has left me rounded and able to entertain, inspire, and lead others. I know how to be interesting, and have not personally felt the sensation of boredom since 1999. I've always put effort into comedy and love to laugh and make laugh.

I believe that mental and physical health and well being are essential to relationships and that honest and meaningful communication keep them strong. This foundation vivifies the compassion and loving kindness that breathe fun and fulfillment into partnership. I listen, cook, encourage, give great massages, and put forth a lot of patience and understanding into my relationships. I try not to punish, admonish, discourage, or criticize, but I get annoyed when my partner is not growing in some way.

Generally, I read and write software, cultivate happiness, and talk to women.

Specifically, I start each day with yoga breathing, fruit breakfast, a bike ride down a mountain side, and half a cup of coffee. After that comes research, homework, or class, depending on the day.

When will OK Cupid staff add computer games to this list?

Books:
First, can you recommend any romance novels? I keep meaning to read one or a few of them, but wouldn't know where to start. Please don't just send titles, but some explanation of why you made the suggestion. I'd really appreciate it.

I read with exhaustive rigor, astonishing retention, and the speed of an old snail. Although I am educated and read every day, this slow pace severely limits the number of books I read cover to cover. That is why I adore well read company and listening when others talk about the books they treasure, but only read for self improvement, knowledge, skills, and to satisfy intense curiosities.

Movies:
Film school has left me with two favorite ways to experience a movie: to hear an animated fan tell the whole story in whatever order that enthusiasm allows, or to write and produce it myself.

Music:
If your friends make music as well as mine, it won't be that hard to imagine an alternate reality where the people you know make all the best music in your life. If you make music well, lets be friends.

Food:
My favorite recipe:
1. Select culture.
2. Learn its cuisines.
3. Incorporate methods and ingredients into everyday meals.
4. Repeat 1-4.

At the moment, I'm developing Indian/Mexican fusion dishes, and will probably stick with the project for a few years.

I appreciate quality ingredients very much, but poverty eliminated most culinary prejudices long ago.

I love making and drinking coffee.

For an American, I'm extraordinarily good at doing without.

Although useful, the bicycle, the iPod touch, the leatherman, and the personal computer could disappear at any moment without any significant negative effects on my well being.

Buddhists warn against mixing possession into the preconditions for happiness on the grounds that the ephemeral nature of material objects inherently destabilizes any joy that may come from owning them. However, I came to this dissociation through entirely different mechanisms.

Living in poverty throughout the Bush Administration necessitated countless material sacrifices, but the ultimate irrelevancy of these left a lasting impression of their frivolity. At the same time, I studied Economics. Whatever stigma the field may carry, its core amounts to little more than a philosophical investigation into what humans value. For centuries the greatest economists have consistently failed to identify any means of detecting intrinsic worth except to declare it subjective and variable by individual.

The value of a thing depends on time, context, and belief; after some years, from different perspectives, in different settings that value vanishes.

It is the mind that creates value, and so value begins in the mind. Congruently, the most valuable treasures life has to offer are mental not physical. Nobody should ever have to do without:

1. Happiness or well being, also known as health.
2. Knowledge and its sources.
3. Generative imagination or creativity.
4. Sensory and cognitive awareness.
5. Compassionate Love.
6. Human interaction.

Unaware that it is Friday and wondering why nobody is online.

There were too many words in this sentence. It should read: "You should message me."