I have a rule to only date people “in my generation” - they must be in their twenties. I'm pretty sure humanodon would find this rule completely silly.

To me it sounds like you're saying that you're interested in dating people who are in the same phase of life that you are, rather than solely a similarity in age but correct me if I'm wrong. For me age is less of an issue than being on the same page as far as life stuff goes. I've ended some pretty great relationships with some great girls because of that difference and when that difference is something like wanting to fulfill personal and professional ambitions vs. the desire to start a family, well then that's a big divide that needs to be addressed.

5. Cannot allows fears to define or rule them.

In an ideal world, I'd subscribe to this wholeheartedly, but my problem with this is that people are often unaware of the forces that drive or shape their lives, simply because they haven't ever stopped to think about what shapes the choices they make. It's tough to notice patterns from behavior from the inside and it can be embarrassing to ask someone to help do so. Hell, sometimes people are in a place in their lives where they haven't cultivated enough quality relationships such that they could ask a friend or a family member to help them figure out what's up.

As for my own stuff, I used to have a rule that I wouldn't date any girls who were proportionally hairier than me. I don't have alopecia or anything, but I am pretty damn free of body hair. Anyway, no matter what, I look for good grooming in a person. If someone cares about how they present themselves to the world at-large, I'd guess that they care how they present and represent themselves to people they're close to.

I like girls that can handle themselves and are independent, but choose to make time for another person in their life so that both their lives are better. However, it seems like a lot of American girls I've encountered take this to mean that they should show that having another person in their lives is not necessary. I don't like tough-guy attitudes and I don't like tough-girl attitudes either.

That said, I need to be with someone who has their own life and does their own thing and is content to let me have my own life and do my own thing. Choosing to have those lives meet and collaborate is, y'know . . . a relationship. Co-dependency is not cool. Neither is mutual boredom with intermittent sex.

Basically, what I look for is someone who is willing to give things an honest try in all areas of their life. A friend of mine once dated this girl who would openly laugh that since she was in a relationship with my friend, she no longer had to try and that's why she'd put on so much weight. I could see that it shocked my friend that his girlfriend would admit something like that in front of me, but what shocked me was the blatant disrespect she had for the relationship, my friend and herself. She was gross on multiple levels, but that kind of laziness was and is absolutely disgusting to me.

TEXTING. I moderate my texting to reflect the texts I receive. If I have to text you to hear from you then you are going to stop hearing from me. Hopeful phone hovering “in case” of texts makes me feel pathetic. I therefore refuse to do it.

I like this. I feel like people in the US in particular are pretty terrible at communicating with each other and that part of it is because they're unused to the intimacy of human to human interactions in general. Some days I just want to walk around slapping people. Of course, that wouldn't help anything, but the urge is there. Trying to connect to others with short messages and emoticons is a dumb use of "smart" technology.

What's your stance on phone calls?