If I had to describe myself to someone else, which is in fact what I'm trying to do here, I would say that I'm friendly, intelligent, understanding, a little quiet, but I open up when I get to know people. I'm a very loyal friend, and tend to forgive a bit quicker than I probably should, but life's too short to hold grudges, and all that. My sense of humour tends towards the dark, the absurd, and the geeky.

I'm originally from Scotland, but now live in Seattle. I've been here for a while now, so I feel like my accent has faded a lot, but I still get people commenting on it once in a while, so I suppose it hasn't disappeared yet. Seattle is a great fit for me. The weather is just a bit nicer and warmer all the time than Scotland, I'm surrounded by laid-back geeks, which are my kind of people, and there's lots of great food, beer, and activites around.

Lifestyle wise, I'm pretty active these days. A couple of years ago I found myself really unhappy with my weight, appearance, and general state of being. After a couple of failed attempts at changing everything overnight I realized that the only thing which was going to work for me was slow and steady, which I've been doing ever since. It hasn't all been smooth sailing, but I'm pretty proud of what I've achieved when I look back at where I was. What I never really expected was to enjoy it as much as I do. I love getting for walks, or if I'm feeling energetic, a run, I've recently started doing some rock climbing, and am hoping to get out kayaking as the weather gets nicer too. I'm pretty much always up for trying something outside on a nice day.

That said, I'm no health nut. I'm still in the process of quitting smoking after a recent stress induced restart. I still love videogames and pizza and beer, but I find I just can't do that all the time any more, nor do I want to. I also spend a lot of time playing keyboard and guitar. Music theory and improvisation fascinates me, and while I'm very much an amatuer I love trying to understand what makes music feel the way it does. The more I learn the more I feel like I have yet to learn, and I'm not sure my instrument playing abilities are ever going to take me anywhere, but I'm enjoying the journey, and I find it strengthens my appreciation of all music. Besides, it keeps me out of trouble.

Politically speaking I'm quite liberal. While I will happily argue my viewpoints with anyone who cares to debate them, I also do not care to push them on other people. I'm always willing to listen to someone who disagrees with me, and if they can explain to me why my position is incorrect I will reconsider my viewpoint. Reason, logic, and evidence are important to me. I consider myself a skeptic, which is a term often loaded with negative connotations, but really just means that I strive to always back up my positions with adequate logic and evidence. It is for this reason that I do not believe in the supernatural, and am not a follower of any religion. That's not to say I know for sure that those things aren't real, I have just never seen any compelling evidence to suggest that they are real, either.

In terms of what I'm looking for, honestly, I don't really know what to expect from OKCupid. I'm interested in meeting anyone who is interested in meeting me, really. I'd love to make some new friends. If I happen to hit it off with someone I'd be interested in short term dating, and if that goes well I'd be interested in longer term.

I should probably add that polyamory is not for me. I spent a couple of years in a poly relationship, and while it's something I certainly don't regret having done, it's also not something I'm looking for in my future. I've seen some very successful and happy poly relationships, and I wish all the best to anyone who can make that work for them, but that's just not me. Turns out I'm just a one-on-one relationship kind of guy.

During the daytime I work as a network security support engineer. It's not terribly exciting, but it pays the bills and fits well with my geeky side.

If I'm having a quiet night in I'm likely to be cooking vegetarian food, working out, reading, programming, playing video games, keyboard, or guitar.

I've been dabbling with writing music since I was a teenager, but have recently started to take it more seriously, and I'm currently spending a lot of my free time studying music theory and learning to play keyboard. Music theory fascinates me, and I'm thoroughly enjoying learning about it. The more I understand the more I feel like I'm only even seeing the tip of the iceberg.

If I'm not home I'm likely to be hanging out with my small but insanely great group of friends, which will probably involve drinking, boardgames, video games, getting high, and lively discussions of music, politics, and utter nonsense.

I currently smoke. I've been a smoker on and off for years. Most recently, I started again a couple of months ago during a period of intense stress after being quit for about a year. I plan on quitting again soon, hopefully for good.

Listening, hugging, being playful and silly, exploring, cooking, loving, making tea, wondering, giving massages, thinking, laughing, forgiving. I also cook some pretty great food, so long as you don't mind vegetarian.

Depends if the see me or hear me first. Usually it'll either be my long hair, or my Scottish accent.

Books, I love Douglas Adams, and he was very influential on me as a child. As was a lot of science fiction - Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Philip K. Dick, Neal Stephenson. Fantasy less so, but I can't go without mentioning Tolkien, Feist, Weis & Hickman.

Movies: I have a somewhat dark and cynical streak to my sense of humor, and that's probably reflected in this list a little. That said though, I'm really not much of one for horror - at least not the extreme stuff. 28 Days Later, I enjoyed. Saw.. is definitely not my thing.

Some memorable films I've enjoyed:
Fear And Loathing in Las Vegas
Human Traffic
Wristcutters: A Love Story
Night on Earth
Trainspotting
Silent Running
Gravesend
Blade Runner

Music, I'm all over the place. I love hearing new music. John Peel was something of a hero of mine, and I was greatly saddened when he died. He's not very well known outside of the UK, but to summarize, he had a radio show on the BBC where he would play anything and everything. He loved exposing people to new music, and it really came through in his show. He'd play say, 40's big band jazz, followed by Swedish grindcore, then minimal house from some producer in Detroit, or perhaps something from a punk band from Aberystwyth.. you get the idea.

Listening to his show not only exposed me to a great variety of interesting music, but his love of music was infectious. I didn't like everything he played, but I always appreciated having heard it, and that approach to music has really stuck with me since. I don't really understand people who just dismiss others taste in music. Ultimately, if someone else enjoys what they listen to as much as I enjoy what I listen to, then I'm happy for them.

Obligatory 'stuff on my playlist recently' time:
Boards of Canada
Jonsi
Mad Rad
Jonathan Coulton
REM
Amanda Palmer
Orbital
The Swans
Ministry
The Dead Kennedys
Disposable Heroes of Hiphopracy
Mogwai

Tea (did I mention I'm from the UK? :)
Coffee (Did I mention I live in Seattle? :)
Beer (Did I mention I'm a human? :)
Friends
Music
Being outside

All of the things

Ready to go have some fun!

I'm a little quiet. Not really shy, but I don't really open up to people until I know them a bit.

You should message me if you think I sound like the kind of person you'd like to hang out with. Maybe we could go get a beer, go to a club, find something to do outside on a nice day, or even just stay in and play boardgames.