A visualisation of the bookshop/cafe’ of my dreams.
I live in the tiny town of Dookie in Victoria, Australia.
I share my home with my wife, two dogs, one cat, six chickens and one blue-tongue lizard.
I’m left-handed.
I grew up deeply involved in the Stargate SG-1 fan community. The show is still my happy, sad and ‘just-because’ watch.
I taught myself graphic design using Adobe software when I was young. If I weren’t working in marketing and fundraising for not-for-profits, I like to think I’d be a graphic designer.
I have a heart condition known as tachycardia. It means my heart can beat too fast. The fastest it has ever been clocked is around 250 beats a minute.
If I ever had an unexpected (and substantial) windfall, I’d open a bookshop and café, complete with a giant tree sculpture in the children’s section to make storytime a little more magical.
I wanted to be an archaeologist with a talking parrot named Doris or a journalist when I was younger.
While at university, I built an online community of more than 80,000 students, giving them a place to confess their crushes on campus strangers.
I believe in protecting nature and wildlife, often from ourselves.
I dream of writing a novel.
I’ve been told a million times (okay, maybe not that many) to avoid putting personal information online – but here I am, doing it anyway.
I hate thriller and horror movies.
I have one older brother.
I have a very odd and uncomfortable phobia of balloons.
My favourite movies of all time are Twister (1996), Jurassic Park (1993), Home Alone (1990), Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles (1990) and Field of Dreams (1989).
I don’t see the purpose of, nor do I particularly enjoy soup.
Autumn is my favourite season. I love sitting in parks, among the fallen leaves with a coffee.
My favourite novels of all time are Paper Girls by Brian K. Vaughan and Cliff Chiang, One Would Think Deep by Claire Zorn, Land’s Edge by Tim Winton and The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger.
As of October 2025, I don’t drink alcohol.
I would love to find more video games to enjoy. I often replay Stardew Valley, The Sims 4, Halo, The Simpsons Hit & Run, Hogwarts Legacy, Final Fantasy VII and Jak and Daxter.
I could eat Hawaiian pizza every day for the rest of my (what would no doubt be shortened) life.
I wish I liked board games more than I do.
I struggle to get through podcasts or audiobooks. I tend to tune the sound out when I get distracted, and when I tune back in, I have no idea what’s happening.
I could eat nigiri at any time of day.
I used to play Quidditch (now Quadball) on Saturdays. I was terrible (as I am at all team sports), but it was fun.
I would love to see a NASA space launch one day.
I know basic HTML and CSS thanks to a lifetime of building silly things for the internet.
My dad was born in Finland. He migrated to Australia at the age of eighteen with his family and became a ski instructor at Mt Buller. It’s on my bucket list to visit (Finland, not Mt Buller!) one day!
IMHO (in my humble opinion) the tastiest cake of all time is a whip-creamed topped pavlova.
I have a bolt in my right hand that holds my 5th metacarpal together. It was broken in 2025 after an accidental dog bite.
My favourite animal is the echidna. It’s so spiky!
I sometimes speak phonetically, that is, speaking words as they are written. I.e. ‘Grand Pr-ix’ instead of ‘Grand Pre’. I don’t even realise I’m doing it.
Apricot is my favourite fruit. Silverbeet is my favourite vegetable.
When I’m stressed or sad, I shop for stationery.
I get hay-fever every spring. It is deeply annoying.
I live with severe anxiety. I take anti-depressants to manage it.
I collect vinyl records, cassette tapes and CDs, but rarely buy the same album in more than one format. One exception is Snakadaktal.
I once was member of a circus troupe, where I performed with devil / juggling sticks. I tried to juggle them while riding a unicycle, but I couldn’t keep my balance.
I have a strange talent for arcade games. I often won mid-level prizes playing Stacker, and once won the major prize - a brand new iPod Touch soon after release.
I was once tweeted by R.L. Stine, and I’m still starstruck.
In 2001 (aged 12), I brought a Gameboy Advance for $199.99 from a department store with bags of 20c coins I had saved from doing chores. It took several hours for the staff to count it. To this day, I’m not sure why we didn’t stop at the bank first.
My wonderful wife is a breast cancer survivor.
I have long fingers and flexible joints - I can bend my leg back so far, my foot sits alongside my hip. It’s a great party trick!
The first CD I ever brought with my own money was Invincible by 5ive.
I first heard pi (the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter) when I was just a kid, but weirdly, I can still remember it! 3.14159!
Brussels was the first place I saw snow outside a mountain resort. It was magical!
I can be an excessive tea drinker. I have to limit my intake as I could easily drink 10+ cups in a day.
I take photos on film (Pentax 645n and Canon EF) and my digital camera (Fuji XH-2). It’s a lot to carry around.
I spent far too much time writing this list.