Profile overhaul! It's 29th December 2008 and my profile has been pretty unchanged for some time, so I'm going to see about rewriting it entirely.

I'm what you might call a hopeless romantic. I have unreasonably high standards when it comes to women, but not in a very definable way. I don't demand perfect hair, figure, shoes or anything of that sort, but I refuse to settle for someone I don't feel that wonderful spark with. An old friend of mine once said that nobody should ever settle for someone they're only half satisfied with, and I couldn't agree more.

Still, whether I find you irresistible or not shouldn't stop us from talking. I'm very keen to talk to anyone really. I'm not one of the "never IM me unless you have a signed permission slip in triplicate" sorts (I've never understood that attitude, is closing a window really that arduous?) - please fire off a mail or an IM message if you're even slightly curious. I love to meet new people and am always flattered that someone has taken an interest in me, whatever the context.

I work in IT at an academy for young adults with learning difficulties. As the entire IT team amongst a company of 80 or so staff, I have quite a lot of contact with both the students and colleagues. It's stressful but rewarding.

Someone once said to me that I'm "disarmingly easy to talk to". It's a sentiment that's been echoed several times since then; I honestly don't know why, but people do seem to find me very approachable and friendly.

I'm extremely empathic and, as such, always try my hardest to make people around me feel at ease. I think it's a great shame that it's not such a high priority for many others.

Well I've grown my hair a bit lately, and apparently that'd be the current answer. I've been told that I have nice eyes, but I've never really understood that one.

Beyond simple physical features, I'm told it's that generally friendly look I have.

I must admit that I'm not much of a bookworm these days. I'm reading Obama's "Dreams from my Father" at the moment, but most of my "reading" comes from the internet. I'm very much the sort of person who can start at one page on Wikipedia and go off on wild tangents, ending up reading about something seemingly unrelated.

The Dark Knight is probably my favourite film of all time, despite my not really being much of a Batman/comics fan.

My taste in music is eclectic to say the least. I'm not a fan of clubs at all, but I do enjoy the energy and pace of dance music. I'm a big fan of Nightwish, Machinae Supremacy and Within Temptation, and can happily enjoy more mainstream music as well. The only genres you can be pretty sure I don't mix with are the garage and hip hop types.

I think the internet has to be one. It's changed society so enormously over the past decade or two and, despite the manic parents who knee-jerk to everything that threatens their cotton-wool-wrapped children, I think for the better.

Cuddles. Call me girly or something, but I'm extremely touchy feely and love a good hug or cuddle. I love to be touched and to touch (I'm not speaking sexually here).

My phone. I hate the feeling of being cut off.

My bed. Doesn't anyone else really hate the feeling of not being able to climb into your own bed at the end of a night out somewhere?

Friends and family. I'm extremely gregarious by nature.

Solitude. Call it a curveball; despite my love of people and the intrigue they bring, I'm an only child and got used to being able to shy away from the world when I wanted to. I need my own space from time to time.

I'm quite deep and analytical - too much so on the latter, really. I'm cursed with a pathological fear of others thinking poorly of me. It's honestly crippling, as my imagination will always run away coming up with the worst possible outcomes for any action I might consider.

I can't help but think about more metaphysical things as well. I sit firmly in the agnostic quarter when it comes to whether there's a god (my view could be easily summed up as "I don't know, and neither does anyone else, they just speculate without evidence" - if anyone can challenge that with a straight face I'd love to hear from you), and am rather sad at how much that's out there will remain an utter mystery (and far more that's not even acknowledged yet, let alone declared a mystery) until long after I die.

Not clubbing. I honestly cannot deal with clubs.

I'm just as happy at home on MSN (etc) as I am out with people in a pub or bar somewhere. I'm not one of those people who believe it's an unwritten rule to be out every friday night.

I'm a not-very-secret WoW player. It's the best/most entertaining use of spare time I've found, and have made a great many friends on there. To those who are now considering me a loser and such, I'd ask you to remember that it's considerably more social and engaging than being slumped in front of a TV.

Frankly, you just should message me. What do you have to lose?