My last relationship (which had nothing to do with this site) has been over for about 3 weeks now. While it didn't work out, it wasn't a total wash - I learned a lot about myself.

I consider sex to be something more than a fun activity and tend to attach personal/emotional feelings to it. I've realized that because of this, I'm not all that interested in casual sex. Not that I'm waiting for marriage or anything, but I don't see myself doing it without having some real feelings for the person.

I'm good at reading people, but I'm typically blinded for a while when it comes to relationships. Thinking on this, I believe it's because I tend to see the potential in a woman I'm dating rather than their current reality. That might not make sense, so let me say I like to see the best in them and can tend to ignore the not so good stuff. Thankfully, the time with blinders on has been getting shorter. I mean really, if you're going to really have a relationship with someone, you can't wear rose-colored glasses forever. If you still like how things are after the glasses come off, then you have a relationship with potential.

I don't need to dominate a relationship, but I can't stand being a pushover either. I need to be more assertive and immediate than I was in my last relationship. I'd let things bother me without saying anything until later and that wasn't healthy.

I'm really affectionate, and want affection in return. I was the giver of a good 90% of the affection in my last relationship, and it sucked. I can't be with somebody that hates doing the touchy feely cuddly stuff.

I really hate when someone continually accepts unecessary interruptions while I'm sharing special moments with them. For example, the woman in my last relationship was totally addicted to her cell phone and rarely put it down. It was always on, and she'd accept calls/text just about all the time, and pay little regard to what we were doing to converse with whoever was on the phone. I can understand if there's a legitimate concern or something important really happens, but for every call is out of line. It just makes you feel unimportant.

Well that's enough for now. If I keep rambling I run the risk of turning this into a "bash the ex-gf" post, which is not my intention.

It seems to me that I have difficulty answering some of the questions on here. Not that I'm hiding anything or wishy-washy or whatever, but in many cases I think my answers are colored by a... I guess begrudging acceptance of what I know as reality versus an ideal situation.

Thinking about it, I guess that some of my confusion lies in what my ideal answer (or ideal match's answer) is versus what I'd settle for. Hmm, that kind of opens a whole can of worms there, doesn't it?