Overview

I regard myself as having three homes: Sydney, Amsterdam and San Francisco. So far this century, I've had an address in all three at one time or another, and I expect to live in each many times again.

For now, though, the place that I lay my hat is in San Francisco, not far from the Glen Park BART station. It's not my favourite neighbourhood (I prefer livelier areas with more cafés and nightlife) but I do like the ethnic diversity—a lot of the neighbours only speak Spanish or Chinese. My bedroom is far from ideal too—it's small and gets way too little sunlight for me—but the house itself is beautiful, and best of all, it's a poly household. I live in House Dreamland with my girlfriend, Hope, her husband, Sinboy and their other girlfriend, Rose.

My relationship with Hope finally helped me understand what love is, and even the term "soulmate" started feeling meaningful rather than new-agey once we got together. My life wouldn't be complete, though, without my other lovers: karenbynight, dragon_spirit, kineticphoenix and sarahh. I could write glowing paragraphs about all of them, and I probably should one day to keep my Who Is page up-to-date, but I suggest you read their journals and bios if you want to find out more. (Hint: if you click the LiveJournal icon (), you'll go right to their LiveJournal user info, unlike when you just click their LiveJournal user names. Not very intuitive, but it's how it works on LiveJournal.)

LiveJournal! Yes, I suppose I should mention that, just in case you didn't come here from there. It's the place where I write my day-to-day ramblings, and where I keep in touch with many friends and lovers both here and abroad. My username, not surprisingly, is mikz. I'm trying to keep in touch with people better than I did in 2003, but without reaching the LJ junkie status that I did on 2002. So far this seems to be vaguely working. But for a less zoomed-in view of my life, go to Mik's Months, which I update in dribs and drabs.

More about me: I'm a traveller who thrives on experiencing beautiful landscapes (especially deserts), living in exciting cities, and meeting wonderful people all over the world. And to help keep in touch with many of those wonderful people, I always make sure there's space available at my place for when they visit me.

Wherever I am, I enjoy film and theatre, long walks through the bush and through cities, and hanging out with people. I go through politically active phases, the cause usually having something to do with human rights, the environment, relationships or sexuality. This can be anything from facilitating a community group to publishing a newsletter, but lately I've mostly just been attending rallies and writing letters to politicians and publications.

I like to write, and I'm picky about clarity and grammar. My spelling isn't great but I try to stick to spelling standards used in most English-speaking countries, i.e. not "U.S. English".

I'm usually a computer programmer by trade, but programming contracts have been scarce lately, so right now I'm making ends meet by doing courier work. My dream job would be to write software for people with disabilities and other "special needs", but right now I'd be happy with any garden-variety programming work in a favourable environment, especially if it involves a lot of client contact and user interface design. In other words, I like helping people by writing software that does what they want in a way they understand.

Some silly trivial things: I prefer hot weather over cold, and I'm a morning person, but dressing against the cold is fun, and I like to be up 'till very late at night. I operate on photosynthesis, though, so I tend to hibernate in winter. I prefer older cars over new, but only if they're economic and not when they're automatic. I seriously want to own a zero-emission vehicle one day, but in the meantime I'm happy just being an alternative energy buff. I like carpeted homes, with character and views. I love people, but am frustrated by the ignorance of some, and need a certain amount of time by myself every week. I mainly dress in black because I like how it looks, and it goes with everything. And I really love ice cream—many people seem to think I'm an ice cream fanatic.