The world never matches up to the ideals which we set for it. This yearning after perfection and objective certainty whilst at the same time accepting that we will never achieve it is the state of nihilistic incongruity. In this sense, I am a nihilist. That's an entirely different concept to the "Big Lebowski Nihilist" for those who know what that means.

Trying to tell you anymore about myself than that would involve a lot of text, and you probably don't want to read it all that much anyway. You're only going to look at my photos and work out whether I'm worth messaging based on them alone.

There now, wasn't that better than reading some crap about "I hate writing self-summaries" or "OK Cupid says I have to fill this in"? I despise lameness.

I graduated from the University of Cambridge (Peterhouse) with a degree in philosophy last year. I currently work as an IT consultant for Accenture. As far as I am concerned, the most important thing I am doing with my life right now is (trying to) write my book.

I live in London SE1. It's an "up and coming place", "a good investment" and "going places" so everybody tells me whenever I mention the fact I've bought a flat here. I just think it's fun.

Being me. OK Cupid thinks I'm selfish and arrogant; I reckon I'm just honest. Most people, if they answer questions about themselves honestly will tend towards sounding selfish, but that's only because by nature we put ourselves first. This is not anything to be ashamed of, and in fact life would be much easier if people didn't constantly try to hide their inherent selfishness behind a visor of spurious religion, preachy morals, or out-and-out self-righteousness. Just be yourself.

That I'm mostly frowning. Or wearing a suit - I still hang out with students, for whom the notion of "suit" is other-wordly... jobless bums! I'm just jealous. To get paid without working? Now that would be ideal. But I think that only happens for investment wankers and professional footballers. And I have no desire to be either of those.

Books:

Pretty much anything by Nietzsche, Confucius, Lao Tzu, Descartes, Plato, William Gibson, Terry Pratchett, Kant, Camus, Milan Kundera, Bertrand Russell, Schopenhauer, Hegel, David Hume, George Berkeley and... well, a lot of philosophers, anyway. Also, if you've not read it before, read "I, Lucifer" by Glen Duncan: it is marvellous.

Movies:

I am always watching movies, so to list all the ones I like would be both time-consuming and dull for the average reader. The following are some notable ones that spring to mind at the point of writing this section: "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon", "Memento", "Kill Bill Vol. 1 & 2", "Hero", "Ringu", "Pulp Fiction", "Requiem For A Dream", "Schindler's List", "The Pianist", "Eternal Sunshine Of The Spotless Mind", "Withnail and I", "Vanilla Sky", "Waking Life", "Audition", "The Matrix", "The Matrix Reloaded", "Pi", "Ichi The Killer", "The Tale Of Two Sisters", "Infernal Affairs", "House Of Flying Daggers", "Ghost In The Shell", "eXistenZ"

Music:

As with movies, I am always listening to new music. In general I like rock music, world music, trance/euphoria, ambient, metal and classical. This list is by no means exhaustive: Thirteen Senses, Muse, Evanescence, Chinese Folk Music, Wagner, Tool, Nine Inch Nails (With Teeth is an amazing album, buy it), Placebo, The Prodigy, Coldplay, Guster, Red Hot Chili Peppers, Johnny Cash, Dido, Han Hong, Enya, Megumi Hayashibara, Ottmar Liebert, Mozart, Sarah Brightman, REM, U2, Feeder, The White Stripes, Chicance, ATB, Robert Miles, Moby, Damien Rice, Mavis Hee, Long View, KT Tunstall, Boards of Canada

Food:

Being English, my favourite foods all come from other countries: Chinese, Indian, Japanese, Korean & Italian

Drink:

The finest beers in the world come from two places: England and Belgium. I have no interest in generic "lager" which, to be perfectly honest, tastes exactly the same no matter what type you drink. Fosters, Coors, Carlsberg, Budweiser... it's all dull, bland, fizzy piss. Now, a REAL beer would be something brewed by a Belgian Trappist monk or an age-old English brewery. Here we're talking Chimay, Westmalle, Rochefort, Fuller's, Young's, Greene King, Badger's and so on. Black beer from the Czech Republic deserves a special mention. Then there's wine. I don't much care for white (unless it's Champagne) but I do like a good red. Good red wine mostly comes from France (though I will admit to liking some Californian reds too). I love sak靝 (both chilled and heated), a gin and tonic is always refreshing, and for psychedelic dreams, a pre-bedtime nightcap of J䧥rmeister is always fun. When I was in China, I was given a drink called "Mou Tai" which almost floored me on the first shot. Outside of alcohol, I am a huge fan of Chinese tea, particularly Oolong, Jasmine and my all-time favourite Longjing. Korean ginseng tea is pleasant during the winter. As for coffee, I only drink filter coffee; as far as I am concerned, instant freeze-dried coffee is vile, and does not even warrant the name "coffee".

A medium to write with

Intelligent company to converse with

Brain stimulants (books, movies, music etc.)

Personal freedom

Culture (particularly Chinese and English)

Travel

The insufferable hypocrisy of the world, the nature of existence, the lamentable stupidity of public figures and those who take interest in them, why it is that religion is at once both irrational and yet so highly subscribed to, how people are hoodwinked into believing they have a choice in what the government does, the inherent bias of virtually all sources of information, the inevitability of eternal suspicion, and why we always yearn after the things we know we can never have.

Still, you've got to laugh.

You can read some of my musings at http://chithecynic.livejournal.com

Out with a friend at a gallery, a play, the latest film or the opera, shortly followed by in-depth conversations about everything and nothing in particular, accompanied by free-flowing drink.

When I was 5 years old I soaked a female classmate's coat in the sink as an act of vengeance, then managed to shift the blame onto someone else and got away with it. I was an evil child.

Oh, and I drive a Smart car. Other drivers hate me, but only because they're jealous of my cheap road tax, cheap petrol and the unnerving ability of my tiny car to accelerate past them at traffic lights (actually, that part probably annoys them most of all).

...you think being a cynic is a positive quality. Because it really is, in spite of the paradoxically negative content that such a position entails.

You are capable of distinguishing sarcasm from sincerity. Seriously.

You are interested in ru jia (aka Confucianism).

I don't do small talk, so you should have something stimulating to say, or else I'm unlikely to reply. And I mean that. If you don't take the effort to read my profile and manage to come up with something interesting and/or intelligent to say, I won't make the reciprocal effort to respond. Think of it as a challenge.