You ever had a crush on someone back in the day, see them now and go "what was I thinking"?

This happens to me when I rarely open up Facebook. I'd see someone I was obsessing over in the 10s, and now I just wonder what I was ever feeling with them. It's not like something happened and they're massively different, they're more or less the same. Really the world changed a lot and I'm not the

I used to be.

I'm not dating anyone new now. But if I had to judge someone as hot, they would have many of the following characteristics:

left of some soft (Marxist, Anarchist, hell I'll date a decent socdem)
mask wearing
vegan
high empathy, worry about the suffering of others
reader
actively organising something in their community

To be honest, I had a pretty basic taste in dates back in the day. If anything, this should be a self-crit.

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This is the energy I've been having about my former partner (I don't like saying the word "ex" for some reason) with whom I broke up with very recently. I was the one who asked her out, I was deeply into her, and I really appreciated how kind she was to me, but I started to realize that we were at odds in some ways, especially since she was rather libby. She ended up eventually being more in love with me than I was with her, but I couldn't take it.
With this in mind, I have a list of five things that I require my partner to have in common with me, and she missed the mark in some way, shape, or form on practically all fronts. I actually am so strict with my requirements that I had to conceptualize what all of the nuances around them look like on paper. This is my "dating requirements manifesto:"

I am strikingly weird—you don't have to tell me.
- The VOLCEL POLICE are on the scene! PLEASE KEEP YOUR VITAL ESSENCES TO YOURSELVES AT ALL TIMES.
  نحن شرطة VolCel.بناءا على تعليمات الهيئة لترويج لألعاب الفيديو و النهي عن الجنس نرجوا الإبتعاد عن أي أفكار جنسية و الحفاظ على حيواناتكم المنويَّة حتى يوم الحساب. اتقوا الله، إنك لا تراه لكنه يراك.
- Honestly comrade, you're super cool, and your requirements are very good. You deserve someone do can do the basic minimum. And honestly, so many people's requirements are bougie, and you have none of that.
  Ya I find drunkness to be unattractive, although no shame to my using comrades. I just seem to date people who drink less as that's my vibe.
  2-3: Hell ya!
  Not a massive big deal for me. Although I've dated a religious person and it can create problems, although this ex was religious and conservative.
  Totally fair, and this is my thinking too
- Love is Irrational: The last thing I want to acknowledge is that I'm wholeheartedly aware that love is hella irrational. I often develop pretty intense feelings for people who do not check even 3 of these boxes, let alone all 5. It creates a very rough battleground in my heart and mind, but ultimately I tend to let rationality lead the way with this stuff regardless, especially with what happened with my former partner. I literally have avoided pursuing relationships with people I was into simply because of the fact that I enforce this stuff very harshly.
  Ahh the magic of stated vs revealed preferences. It's why I don't take a lot of dating advice seriously, people, including myself, don't actually know what they want until they get it. To be honest I'd date a "lib" with their heart in the right place over a self righteous leftist 100 times out of 100.

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