Hey everyone! I hope you're all doing well. I have a couple of other posts on my profile that go into quite a lot of detail about who I am as a person, so I'll keep this one a bit lighter than normal.

I'm a 28 year old guy from SE London, and I'm looking to make some new friends and have some chats. I had a bad breakup last year, and while I no longer feel particularly affected by it, I am still reluctant to get involved with someone in a romantic way - but if a true connection develops, never say never I guess (hence the title tag). As for who should message, I'm open to talking with anybody! In real life I seem to get on better with women than men (not sure why) but I'm more than happy to talk to anybody regardless of gender. Please do note if you reply that the last couple of times I've done this, I've been quite overwhelmed by the number of responses, and at least initially my response rate may be pretty slow - rest assured, I will get to you when I can. I'm actually quite busy the day this post is going up, so don't be concerned if the first response in particular takes a while.

Anyway, who am I? I'm into the normal Reddit stuff (TV, movies, music, video games etc - previous posts have specifics but I'm happy to discuss), as well as technology, theatre, hiking and gymming (been away from it for a little while, need to get disciplined again!) I also love animals, and may end out sending you some photos of my dog if I think he's being particularly cute. I'm not much of a clubber, but am sometimes open to a festival. I haven't travelled a huge amount yet, but this is something I'm looking forward to doing more. Politically, I identify as both left-wing and libertarian (as in the reverse of authoritarian, not the US-style libertarian), but am happy to talk with people regardless of their political ideology. More academically-speaking, I am quite science-y, having studied biomedical sciences at university, and having a strong interest in space and psychology (I've been down many a late-night Wikipedia rabbit hole with those).

I'm aware that the majority of conversations from boards like these tend to fizzle out, be that due to lack of effort from either party or just a lack of connection - and that's ok! While my goal is to form friendships and deep connections that last forever, sometimes it can be just as meaningful to impact someone's day or week, have a great chat, and then go your separate ways. While that's not what I'm aiming for, their temporary nature doesn't make them any less meaningful. With that said, in keeping with my aim of forming deep connections, I won't be guilty of not putting effort in (perhaps the length of this post helps show I have a tendency to talk at length), so don't be concerned about that. I've actually met up with two people I met on this board already, and have been chatting to another for over 6 months now so will probably end out meeting them before too long too.

Finally, if you're going through a rough time and need someone to talk to, I'm more than happy to listen and, if asked, provide my take and thoughts. I like helping people where I can, so don't consider it a burden on me for you to reach out if you'd like to. I'm happy to discuss whatever you'd like, be that about something in this post or anything else, so don't hesitate to get in touch - I look forward to hearing from you!

Chat is preferred over messages please :)