Hello, my name is Mercedes (yes, like the car), and I'm interested in finding at least friends. If something ultimately develops beyond that. then cool, but I'm not dying to get married or anything like that. I'm also not into ONS, and I'm extremely anti-cheating, so if you're after either/both of those, keep scrolling. Going to make this a hard rule to save myself some time: You should be at least part Asian. Yes, you read that right. Asian, Asian American, either way.

Other deal breakers, to prevent any of y'all from wasting time: I'm super liberal politically, I'm agnostic and skeptical, I'm pro science, I'm pro gun control, I HATE TOBACCO, I identify as nonbinary/androgynous more than female, I hate machismo and egoism, I tend to be dominant and prefer my men to be equal with me or at least somewhat submissive, I'm bisexual, I'm independent and need alone time/space, I don't want/like kids (I work with them enough!), I hate people who are snobby about how "adult" they are in life or are "too old" for stuff, and probably some other stuff I'm forgetting...but that's prob good enough. Anyway!

I have a BA in Psychology and plan on applying to PhD programs in neuroscience later this year. I work two PT jobs currently, one as a tutor for children in foster care (ages vary) and another as an RBT in an applied behavior analysis clinic (mostly working with autistic children). Since I also technically do have disabilities (not apparent when looking at me!), I sometimes do putter out of energy and can't always socialize or talk as much as other people. I'm also an ambivert, so I happily bounce between feeling energized by people sometimes...and feeling energized by alone time sometimes.

I've belly danced on/off for about 6 years, and I plan on returning to martial arts in a month or so, specifically a traditional type of karate. I've always loved Japanese martial arts, and Japanese food is easily one of my top two fave cuisines of all time (second only to my mother's home country food, Peruvian!). I used to be a huge weeb, but now I don't have as much time or energy for anime, but I did love binge watching the first season of Kakegurui. I also adore Aggretsuko.

I enjoy playing video games and used to do PC only. Since getting a PS4 and having my computers inevitably die/get old, I typically just play console now. I mostly play Warframe, but I'm huge on the Yakuza/RGG series. I'm super excited about Borderlands 3, as I've always dug the Borderlands series. Horizon Zero Dawn and the Mass Effect games have been my jam, too. Oh, and Killing Floor 2. If I'm not playing a game on my PS4, I'm probably watching LPers like Markiplier, JSE, Game Grumps, etc., or some BuzzFeed or cultural stuff.

I live with 6 cats and a tarantula, and I'm a huge animal lover. I wish I could hug every cat. But I can't. Can't hug every cat.

Ideally, I prefer someone relatively close in height to me, mostly for practical reasons (lol), but I know I'm short even for a female (5'3"), so that can be a tall order (ha, ha). I usually can't stand facial hair because I'm extra sensitive to touch and textures (guys, it's okay to use strong conditioner in facial hair!), and some guys (esp. within my Latinx communities) do some over-the-top shit with it that I just can't understand the aesthetic appeal of. I find East Asians the hottest (and many Southeast ones) - I mean, I've crushed on Markiplier, QPark, Yoshi Sudarso, Takaya Kuroda, etc. I am open to online/distance stuff, but I do strongly prefer that someone be at least in-state and/or visits a lot because I find it easier to befriend and get to know someone; Discord, texting, etc. can only do so much. Please be between the ages of 28-40, and don't make any age difference a creepy, fetish thing. Last, I don't care if you have a 6-pack or a gigantic dick . . . seriously. Just please try to eat okay, don't overdo it on the alcohol ("alcoholics" ain't attractive, y'all), exercise, take care of yourself, etc. I do my best to take care of my body, and I expect and hope that you'd do the same.

If you made it this far, enjoy this album of selfies and photos of me: https://imgur.com/a/qRR3oDG