A recent photo of me. Going for the swarthy look (I expect to get tired of needing to keep beards tidy, and it'll never get any thicker).	A not so recent photo of me with bleached hair. First time I ever did that (just felt like the change). Took three treatments and hurt like hell (my scalp never felt anything like that before).	Me (spot the sparkler in my ear) with my hair mostly grown out I only had blonde highlights left (which I quite like).

I've often got up in costume for parties or events. These are some photos of me doing so...

This is me as Baron Samahdi on Halloween.	I'm ready for my close up Mr Demille.	Your money and a kiss m'lady.	Slash, the rocker.	Lawrence of Arabia

I want to suck your braaains!	People thought I looked like Jenny Shipley - not as successful as some other outfits, but you gotta love those legs.

Me...

My defining characteristic is curiosity. I like to understand things 'n stuff, so I'll quite happily stick my nose in anywhere. It doesn't translate to academia very well though, it took me a year to realise I wasn't going anywhere at varsity. I can't sit still and receive lecturers wisdom.

So I went to Europe instead and cycled around, built bicycles and managed a D.I.Y store. I know the Rhine like the back of my hand. Cheapest camping is above Lorelei (and if you're in that part of the world don't miss Charlemagnes Cathedral at Aachen). I've traveled widely around the Pacific as well (love that Indonesian food).

I've worked at a lot of things, bicycle mechanic, salesman, business manager, postal clerk, bank teller, set painter, labourer and editorial cartoonist but never anything approaching a career. Work is just what I do to pay for my life. Currently when not on a contract (computer stuff) to buy my daily bread I work on my own companies software project.

I live in my own house that I'm gradually redecorating from early eighties gruesome (textured wallpaper, stucco ceiling, apricot shag pile carpet eeeewwww) to my own minimilast tast (that wall is going to go, and all that beautiful rimu wood is getting cleaned up). I picked my property because it's the one with the most mature growth in it's suburb although I'm a lousy gardner (well, that and the easily maintained brick). The rose bushes left by the previous occupants are great but I'll probably kill them by over-pruning. I was attacked by wasps recently trying to clear out some elderberry. I'm having great fun rewiring the lights and networking my home.

I've sold paintings and worked on several stage productions painting sets and working back stage. I have a guitar and amp in my room but can't really play it. I spent twelve years learning how to play keyboards but never really got that far. The music I listen to is wide and varied. I like a strong beat, alluring melody, and clever lyrics. Oh look, I've six CD's on my desk. They're 'Stoneage - by Stoneage' (kind of new age easy listening), 'Creole - the best of Kid Creole and the Coconuts' (upbeat creole rock), 'Home - the Hothouse Flowers' (straight forward four piece rock), 'Little Earthquakes - Tori Amos' (haven't really listened to this one, bought it on a whim), 'MCMXC A.D - Enigma', and 'Mixed Up - The Cure' (extended mixes of The Cures best).

That doesn't really reflect what I'm listening to now though - I've been listening to a lot of modern remixes of older music. I really want to buy a good stereo but can't bring myself to buy anything not up to scratch and it seems up to scratch costs lots (but guiltily after using a sales assistants afternoon at a SERIOUS STEREO shop I did buy some damn expensive head phones which I'm now listening to Peter Gabriel and Deep Forest  perform the Earth Sleep's as produced for the sound track of Strange Days).

The last movie I saw that I unconditionally liked was 'The Sixth Sense'. I can be pretty critical of movies (I dream of making one). Having suddenly realised that I could buy the DVD's of some favourite movies I've suddenly begun thinking about it (I always thought I'd resist DVD until they could be recorded on). The first movies I would buy are The Three Musketeers (with Michael York, Oliver Reed, Richard Chamberlain, Charlton Heston, Rachel Welsh, Faye Dunaway etc etc) and The Four Musketeers because those movies just rock (romance, passion, action, drama, tragedy - the works), Bladerunner (the directors cut, with the correct ending) and The American President.

I really like The American President just as I like West Wing on T.V these days (indeed they're so similar I suspect the series of being inspired by the movie). I admire the talent that produces such art and the respect they have for their audience (oh, I've just noticed, they're both written by Aaron Sorkin). My other 'must see' T.V series at the moment is E.R.

My bookcase has six shelfs, the top two are filled two rows deep of paperbacks mostly science fiction short story collections and Terry Pratchett's discworld. The third row has classics such as O'Henry's stories, Jack London and the like. The fourth row is reference books and technical manuals. Fifth is hardbacks and my collection of Comic Relief - a monthly collection of the best editorial cartoons and humour columns from the U.S. Sixth is comics and only the very best, Calvin and Hobbes, Doonesbury, Love and Rockets, Halo Jones and Frank Miller's Sin City.

I play a lot of sport - well, actually, that's more a 'used to play'. I used to play one or two games of squash, a game of indoor cricket, indoor soccer, golf and a high social grade football (that's when you play with your feet and a ball) game a week. But my injuries have been mounting and since having my right leg broken into many pieces a couple of years ago (now held together by a pin) I generally play only one or two games a week.

Bought myself a new (1991 import) car this year. After three years of yearning for one I finally found an affordable Nissan NX. I like my Nixxy because it's pretty (oh, and it's really functional for city living)

Dislikes... I really really don't like most news reporting. The blatant attempts to form opinion with emotional appeals and distortion irks me. People letting someone else give them an opinion raises my hackles right up. I got that from my father, we're a very anti-authoritarian family. I  don't actively dislike much else (apart from pretension and hypocrisy) as I try to appreciate and understand the aesthetic that drives things. Doesn't mean I like it all though.

Well, that's some of me, oh, and I have this ambition to write a book.