Note: I am happy to report that, thanks to OKC, I am seeing someone. I'm still very much available for the kind of thoughtful, reflective online conversations (especially about men, women and relationships) that have been such an enjoyable feature of OKC, which I seem to be using more like a social network than a dating service.

Tall, funny, intellectually ambitious, enthusiastic, confident but prone to fits of self-doubt, passionate. British accent, but not the snooty kind nor the Spinal Tap kind. Nor the sexy Hugh Grant kind either, alas. I talk with my hands, my arms, my shoulders, pretty much my whole body. I have a very broad nurturing streak--surprising, perhaps for someone who has traveled so much--but I really, really like intelligent, independent women for whom this is not their first rodeo.
The best way to see who I really am, and what I'm up to, is to check out www.timbrookesinc.com and www.endangeredalphabets.com. More than you could possibly want to know.

Teaching, writing, playing guitar, learning to make furniture, carving Endangered Alphabets, riding my bike, playing soccer, trying to work out how to fit together the parts of my life after my recent (sudden, surprising) separation, and mulling over what I want to be doing in five years' time, and where.

The two events I wish were included in the Olympics are (a) peeling oranges in one long curling string of peel, and (b) screwing up pieces of paper and throwing them into a bin across the far side of the room, even if there are obstacles in the way. The trick to the first one, I can reveal to you all, is to use a teaspoon rather than a knife. My record is a whopping four feet. Oh, and I can also play blues guitar using an iPhone as a slide, surely the most expensive bottleneck in history. I have been told by reliable female informants that I'm a really good kisser, but I think that probably says more about the kissee, and what she has contributed to the moment. Oh, and I am really good at cricket--but then again, who cares?

Um, my British accent, and the fact that I always seem to be moving.

Oh dear. I feel my brain shriveling already. Well, at the moment I'm reading three consecutive books by Colin Cotterill, though if I were freezing to death and were forced to burn all my books except one, it would probably be Gravity's Rainbow. Or possibly Mason & Dixon. Or Against the Day. Really, anyone could spend a lifetime just trying to work out what the heck Pynchon is on about.
Music? I'm a huge gypsy jazz fan, but I also really like Brazilian/Latin music, some of which I arrange to play on the guitar. But then again, one of my favorite contemporary musicians is Regina Spektor.
Food? Start with an avocado....
Movies? Too many to list, though I'm forever telling people about the unknown masterpiece by Barry Sonnenfeld called Big Trouble. But really, my favorite TV shows and movies are just about anything my daughter and I get into and watch together, and then spend years quoting lines to each other.

Is this where everyone writes "World peace?" Or was that just in "Miss Congeniality"? I couldn't do without my daughters, writing tools, carving tools, good wood, weekend soccer, tea, and, much though I hate to admit it, my iPhone. No, scratch that last one. Let's get serious. I couldn't do without my sense of curiosity, and the resulting conversations.

These days I'm also thinking about this new post-marital phase in my life, what I'm trying to do with it, and what I want from a new relationship.
I think what I'm trying to do right now is to get into the habit of being completely honest, especially with women. It's not that I'm a liar, or a cheat, but after all, I was brought up British, and my default setting is to defer--to be polite and kind and not to make waves. In a relationship or a marriage, that's not always the right priority.
As to what I'm looking for, I'm honestly not sure what this new phase of life will bring out in me. I'm certainly not a playa (too much self-questioning, not enough bling), but I am an explorer, I love meeting new people, and I like the idea of using friendships built up over OKCupid to be something unusual, what in the 19th century was called a "gentleman caller": someone who visits every so often on my various travels, dropping in for tea and conversation, catching up, building bridges. But I'm just as much a family guy at heart, and I love opening the door when my significant other gets home, taking the bags of groceries from her, making her the standard English cup of tea when she's a bit down. Who knows? Maybe the one will lead to the other.
Finally, I guess I should say what I'm hoping for above all. Once in a blue moon I've had an amazing conversation with a woman I barely knew--one of those conversations in which the other person is excited by what you're saying and finds it new, but even before you've finished your sentence her quick mind has raced ahead and is asking a really interesting question in response, or opening up a whole new avenue of thought. You feel dazzled, and appreciated—you feel understood on a level that is somehow a level you didn't even know you'd reached. The conversation seems less like an exchange of information and more like a mutual construction of an entirely new Eiffel Tower of ideas. I find that extraordinarily sexy, and very rare.

Okay, you got me. For the past month I've spent most of my Friday nights either building a set of cherry bookcases or carving spiritual/poetic phrases in Glagolitic or Khojki. (See the third of my photos for a work in progress.) There--aren't you sorry you asked? Oh, and talking to the rabbit. (This is not a euphemism: I have a hyperintelligent rabbit, who I'm pretty sure is not a figment of my imagination, given the cedar shavings I have to vacuum up each day.)

I like Marmite. I know, it's a substance that is covered under many toxic waste treaties, but when you're born in England you just have a natural immunity.

Um...is this a trick question? You should message me if you're interested or curious. What did you expect me to say?
But actually, I like what MoxyIn Montreal wrote: I joined this site so I could meet people, not spend more time in front of the computer. Of course, it's a necessary evil when you meet someone online. But as far as I'm concerned, the briefer the cyber-interlude, the better.