shradwold: Well, lets try this out.

Who I Am
I am a 34 year old guy who looks nowhere near his real age and is recently single (again - needless to say my year-and-a-half foray into online dating has been a pretty loopy trip but less said about that the better) and who has recently relocated to Stafford for business purposes (though I've been working down here a while). I am hoping to find a local girl who appreciates someone who is a "nice guy" at heart (but by no means a wimp) and a little old-fashioned (you know, one of those crazy people who actually enjoys treating his significant others with respect?). Apparently I'm filed under POF's "hopeless romantic" category and that says it all really.

I am an ambitious person and have a strong work ethic. I presently run my own business (which is in the process of a messy expansion) and I also work part-time at Asda for a bit of stability. I also recently became involved in a small time property let venture and I'm an active small time investment trader (in other words my work life is all over the place).

Busy or what right? Well yes, but one of the perks of how I live is that I do get a lot of freedom with how I use my time. This is important to me because I do like to spend plenty of time with the woman who commands my affections. Don't let it come across that I'm money-mad either because although I'm a conservative person by nature I'm also very down-to-earth and generous. It's rather that security, peace-of-mind and freedom are important to me and I would like to meet someone who appreciates this and has similar needs and a sense of purpose to their life. I am not the kind of person who is happy lazing around 24/7 and I'd like to find someone who has a life I can get interested and involved in and who would take an interest in mine at the same time. I'll say it now, if you're the type of person who is content just lying around the house all day and not communicating, then we really aren't going to get on.

I've often been told that I am patient and overall I'm very understanding and open-minded. I'm a good listener and don't get offended or embarrassed very easily so it's pretty easy to be honest with me and I'm also very honest myself (this is probably because I don't have much of a sense of shame but lets not get into that). I do my best to find the silver lining in every cloud and make the best of tough situations and I'm a bit of a stoic in that I have a bottom-line set of principles which I don't back down on and try not to allow my emotions to cloud my judgement. On another level I'm really a big kid at heart and don't take myself too seriously. I've also got a very daft and sarcastic sense of humour which can be annoying or fun in equal measure I suppose.

I attempt to be a gent as far as I can and, other than my general old-fashionedness, this stems from me attempting to treat people I care about in a manner which reflects how I expect to be treated and I aspire to the kind of relationship where myself and my partner could both feel we're doing our best for each other. I can be very touchy-feely with the right woman and though I'm guarded with people I don't know very well, I'm usually an open book once the defences have been disarmed.

What I Like To Do
Music forms a big part of my life. I sing, play the guitar and I spend a lot of time listening to and making music. I probably come across as a bit of a rocker but I actually have eclectic tastes (a necessity in my line of work) and will listen to practically anything. I enjoy clubs and gigs (as long as the music and company is good!) though am not a huge party animal. Be warned though... one of my embarrassing habits is picking up cheesy pop songs from my customers and then ending up humming or whistling them without noticing I'm doing it.

I enjoy a variety of foods and am an adventurous eater so I'm the kind of person to randomly go somewhere weird for dinner without much planning and that sums up my spontaneous side as well. Leading on from this I'm totally open to trying anything once no matter how unlike me something might be and will happily go dancing or rollerblading or whatever even if I'm likely to make a fool of myself in the process. Frankly I'm happy doing lots of things as long as I'm kept engaged and the company is good.

I do tend to find certain sorts of women attractive and I think the most attractive thing for me is a good personality and the ability to inspire me. I'm open-minded when it comes to looks and honestly don't care if my matches are big or small or full-figured or thin or whatever as long as I can still look at them and go "wow" internally. At the end of the day, a nice smile and good personality will always win me over.

It is important that you're able to appreciate and show affection and that you are ready for something serious. In ideal terms I want someone I can get excited about who is excited about me in return and, more importantly, isn't going to let the excitement fade in a few months purely because we get comfortable or reality hits home or whatever. To sum up, I'd like to meet a woman who appreciates and reciprocates the "hopeless romantic" in me and has some interests and maybe even some ambitions which we can share as well as passions we can mutually appreciate.

I definitely appreciate women who are genuine rather than those who are pretentious or put on an act. I'm not really impressed by inches of makeup and duck lips. I'm a very "real" person and the type of women I find attractive reflect this too. Therefore I'm not very judgemental and I like to see people (and maybe even fall in love with them) for who they are rather than for the characters they might want to put across (because surely that's what matters right?).

I like intelligent women (not necessarily defined by books-read or degrees-held) and I'm generally polite and well-mannered so appreciate this from my matches as well.

It's definitely important that you aspire to something serious and I'm the type of person who will attempt to move things to the next level if I like a woman enough. Similarly, it's important that you appreciate the concept of being team players and a relationship being essentially a partnership assuming you'd also aspire to moving things forward if things worked out.

On a final note if you like the sound of me then please also think about how we would actually work in practice assuming the best case scenarios. Although I'm without my own transport (long story...) I am not opposed to travel for the sake of a great match but I do want a real relationship and not just a pen friend (or "casual stuff"). So please be nice, and please be local.