I started by saying that 'I'm something of an existentialist but with an eye on tomorrow', but discussing it with a friend recently, maybe I'm not so much of an existentialist as I thought, at least not in the popular definition. What I mean by it is that I'm aware of the fragility of life, we're only here for a short while and one never knows when it might end. Without a doubt, I am a generous and happy, open-minded soul, I love to be physically active. Especially cooking/baking, mt biking, motorcycling, dancing/going to gigs, walking and travelling, particularly "the [path] less travelled by". Those first three are my favourites by far, but just about anything (preferably outdoors) will do. Indoor sports are fun too, for sure.

It doesn't mean I can't be content to sit still and enjoy a film or a museum, or a quiet moment or hour watching the sun come up or go down, nor does it mean that I'm mentally or emotionally empty. Quite the contrary, I'm deeply passionate, and I tend to think about things a lot, and enjoy a good discussion about anything from say, our perceptions of reality, to deep important things like what makes for a really comfortable pillow. It's just that my natural state is usually one of being in motion.

I'm a big fan of the little things in life, it's the simple pleasures, and small, thoughtful gestures that make all the difference in my world.

I am happy, go, and lucky

I endeavour to enjoy myself in most anything I do, or at least gain something from the experience if it's painful. My goal in life is to make the world a better place, even if it's only my tiny corner of the world. If I can do nothing more than share with a few people, a little of the agonies and the ecstacies that make life so thoroughly memorable, so worth living, I can sleep at night.

Currently, I've been trying to figure out how to change what I do for a living. I work and pay my bills as it is, but I haven't got a career path as such, and have yet to find out where a sustainable, satisfying way of making money will come to meet with sustaining the life I want to live.

Cooking and baking; my mother grew up in her father's bakery, and really wanted her second and last child (me) to be a girl, so I got a good training in the domestic arts from her, and my father's side is Italian so there's a natural love of food and sharing it.

Massage; I trained for a year as a masseur, and apparently I have a very good feel for it.

I'm also pretty good at keeping an even keel, and my housemates will tell you that I'm very organised and pro-active. I've also been told that I'm a good listener.

My eyes/eyelashes I think, that or the tall and slender thing. The last thing most people notice about me is usually that I'm not from around here. As in I'm not British born.

This one is going to take a while,

Books; any by Cormac McCarthy especially 'Suttree' and 'Blood Meridian', most any by Robert Olen-Butler esp 'They Whisper', 'Wicked', 'House of Leaves', 'Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance', Jack Kerouac, Jack London, 'Skin' by Kathe Koja, 'Il Cucchaio d'Argento', 'Consilience',, 'A Brief History of Time', 'Metamorphosis' by Kafka, Irvine Welsh, W S Burroughs, most anything to do with food, philosophy, physics... Recently been reading Birdsong, The Eden Project, some Rumi, Ryokan and Rilke. I've been rediscovering poetry, something of a shameful omission.

Movies: Waking Life, The Science of Sleep, Amelie, Trois Couleurs trilogy, Happiness, Almodovar, Being John Malkovitch, Donnie Darko, most any Tim Burton, Rushmore, Secretary, Hitchhikers Guide to the Galaxy, Kung Fu Hustle, Zatoichi, Shaolin Soccer, Oldboy, I'm a Cyborg but that's OK, Infernal Affairs (sic), Il Postino, The Bothersome Man, The Unbearable Lightness of Being, Harold and Maude, Requiem for a Dream, Faster, V-Four Victory, On Any Sunday, Chasing Amy, Clerks, Belleville Rendezvous, Spirited Away...

Music: On BBC6 Music I like most of what Marc Riley and Gideon Coe play, but almost everything really from classical and opera (thanks to my parents), through American Folk, alternative/indie, ska to guilty pleasures like anyone else, but not so much pop or hip-hop/modern R&B.
I especially like Grandaddy/Jason Lytle, Joan as Police Woman, David Bowie, the Shins, Nirvana, Richie Havens, Eileen Ivers, Tracey Chapman, Cracker, Morphine, Dinosaur Jr., Philip Glass, John Coltrane, Charlie Parker, Nina Simone, Ella Fitzgerald, Bjork, Magnetic Fields, Pearl Jam, the Maccabees, Eels, Bon Iver, the Yeah Yeah Yeahs, Bat for Lashes, Fishbone, Blur, Field Music/British Sea Power/Week That Was/etc, Boards of Canada, Cake, Joanna Newsom... Yeah, somewhat arbitrary.

Food: Yes Please! Italian, Mexican (mmm... Tamales), Middle Eastern, Indian, good old slow cooked BBQ, and I've a powerful sweet tooth, so homemade ice cream, cakes, chocolate of course. So much food, so little time!

I'll probably come back to this to add more...

I can survive on surprisingly little of course, but to really enjoy life, that's a different story. In no particular order:

Good friends. I owe it to my older brother for teaching me a long time ago to surround myself with quality individuals. I feel I'm quite fortunate to have a few very good, very close friends. Unfortunately, we've mostly scattered across the globe, but we keep in touch, of course.

Good food. We can't live without food, it's what fuels us, so we really ought to enjoy it, and enjoy it I do. That friend who said I'm not an existentialist, she calls me a sensualist.

Intimacy. Not necessarily sex, although that's tremendously important to me in a relationship and a beautiful thing that I don't like to be without, but affection, and/or physical contact whether on a platonic level or not. Even if it's just a hug from a friend. Massage taught me that, that touch is pretty crucial, and most people don't get enough of it. I know at the minute that I don't.

A bicycle, preferably a mountain bike. It's one thing I keep coming back to that I love to do, and it keeps me sane. I find I really miss this if I don't get to do it. Although other physical activities can be substituted ;)

My motorcycle. I love riding it, and enjoy working on it. I don't need the latest and greatest, just let me keep my HawkGT. Update: this was stolen last autumn, and between moving house and life, and negotiating with the insurers about the value, I've been without it since September, so maybe, just maybe I can do without it, but I don't like it much...

Good music. Enough said.

Well there's six, but there are so many other things that make life worth living, things I really wouldn't want to miss.

How other people perceive the world. Sex. What I'm going to cook next. What I'm going to do/where I'm going to go explore next. How I should pay the bills (I pay them now, I just need a different way to pay them).

It could be anything from cooking for friends, sitting in front of a movie at home (usually avoid crowded Friday nights for going out to the movies), out for a night on the town, or out for a stroll through the nearby fields. As they say, Variety is the spice of life.

I'm more materialistic than I'd like to be, but I know it's just stuff and isn't really important. I'm fairly shameless really, so I'll tell you most anything, I just can't think of anything private that I'd broadcast to the world here.

you want a recipe, someone to do things with, a hug, want someone to talk to, or want to ask me anything. I'll even give you the recipe for the Trianon, an ungodly brick of a french chocolate cake that is so simple, yet divine. It's that good, it's what I usually make for my birthday.