Note: I recently cleared all of my questions, so yeah.

I'm currently in Leeds and have recently received a third piece of paper telling me that I am learned. This is the third continent on which I've lived, but I still love my home the most and always will.

The two great loves of my life are my culture and football. My culture (and its accompanying history) is not only the only thing with which I have ever identified but also the only thing that ever will, perhaps even can, accept me wholly. If you don't like it or have no interest in it, then we should probably go our separate ways.

My other great love, football, is something that happened only recently. The German National Team stole my heart during the 2010 World Cup, and I haven't looked back since. Why do I love them? Because they are good, because they are classy on and off the pitch, and because they seem to have genuine affection for each other. I like it when men aren't afraid to show their feelings for other men. Although it may be soon to call this a love of my life, I feel this deeply for little else in my life, and while this may not last, I'm going to go as far as it takes me.

I also like tea and high culture. While I have very elitist tastes and tendencies and consider myself an intellectual, I am also a strong supporter of regionalism. Regional cultures are the products of differing regional histories and thus allow us to remain linked to the past and the processes that have shaped us. I see no contradiction in preferring to speak in my topolect and write in Literary Chinese.

That said, I'm not someone who never has fun. :P I'm a pretty serious person, in my opinion, but I also care less about things than others may think. While I have a tendency to sound snobby and/or elitist in online profiles, not in the least due to my elitist tendencies, my friends also describe me as nice and friendly (how sadly generic, though!), so don't let that discourage you. :) I also quite obviously like using emoticons; you can't always tell my tone through just text alone, nor can I do so with yours, and my life is srs bsns enough as is.

keysmash is one of my best friends. Reading her profile may allow you to better understand what type of person I am, as I think the company we keep says a lot about ourselves (and frankly, I'm not very good at summarizing myself on the internet - but should any of us be?).

I'm trying to become the person I've always wanted to be.

being self-aware. I recognize, accept, and admit my biases and shortcomings and wish more people could do the same.

I don't know!

I hope that one day, the first thing people will notice about me is that I am the person I have always wanted to be.

The superficial answer: I've been told I have a pretty smile by many people.

Books: photobooks, scholarly studies, dystopian novels. Some titles would be Wizard of the Crow by Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o, Brave New World by Aldous Huxley, Brokeback Mountain by Annie Proulx, No Country For Old Men by Cormac McCarthy, and Animal Farm by George Orwell.

Movies: Arthouse/limited-release/independent film in general, though I have a thing for war films that portray their characters as humans without humanizing them, tragic/bittersweet films, and films with subtle messages. I also really enjoy foreign films. A few of my favourites are L'Homme de sa vie (The Man of My Life), Der Untergang (Downfall), 圖雅的婚事 (Tuya's Marriage), No Country For Old Men, Mysterious Skin, 鉄コン筋クリート (Tekkon Kinkreet), 빈집 (Bin-jip/3-Iron), and Sweet Land.

Music: I like anything with a good melody. My favourite artists may or may not be Utada Hikaru, Rin', Carrchy, Ellie Goulding, and others. My favourite genre is probably east Asian classical music, but I have a healthy love for folk/traditional/classical music in general.

Alternatively, you can visit my last.fm. :)

Food: I've been told I'm a picky eater; I prefer the term "having a sensitive palate", or you can chalk it up to my being brought up with a different set of food than people in the West generally. I like authentic Chinese food more than anything else in the world, although I enjoy fine dining as well. I'm also a supertaster.

my culture, my family, my intellectual ability, real physical books, food, and my closest friends.

the various ways relationships manifest, especially when they blur boundaries.

my culture and how to become more worthy of it.

probably on the interwebs. I am really not that interested in social situations people generally seem to believe should comprise Friday nights. Occasionally I will drag myself out to an indie film or to some high culture event.

While I'm generally apathetic about most things, including things that would make most people label me as an uncaring, callous misanthrope (all true to varying degrees and extents), I can also feel very deeply. This is how I know that my culture and football are the two great loves of my life - nothing else comes close to them in their ability to make me feel.

you want to. I'll warn you now, however, that I don't use this site very often, and I have a habit of letting messages languish. I do try harder if your message is interesting, i.e., includes topics dear to me in a way that makes me want to answer you, but a lack of response is not a rejection. I do try to answer pretty much all of my messages (unless it's, say, for example, something asking to hook up)...even if it's months later. What can I say, I have a bit of a thing about not being the person who stops talking if the conversation is still going.

A note, though. I'm not impressed by messages with big words for the sake of them, nor am I impressed by people who want to prove they are ~intellectual~, mainly because people who act so are often pretentious jerks. I do like nice and friendly, though, and I don't really understand judging people, so I don't really do it. :)