I am Steven Sumpter, known online as Latentexistence.

A short summary would be:

Computer engineer - ME sufferer - Technology obsessive - Amateur gamer - Musician - Sci-fi fan - Small business owner - Socialist - Agitator - Ex LibDem

Some detail:

I am married with one cat, live in the cotswolds, have a degree in computer science, and suffer from four serious diseases. I ride a Yamaha Diversion 900 motorbike and I don’t want a car. I don’t like my illnesses dictating what I can do so I have told them all to get stuffed and I try my best to carry on with life. I’m not always particularly successful in that.

My father and I run an IT company, Refresh Technology, which I set up because the unpredictable nature of my various serious diseases make me virtually unemployable by anyone else and life on government benefits is not a pleasant experience.

I also run a gaming clan, Don’t Kill Me! [DKM!] which plays Half Life 2: Deathmatch and some other games like Left 4 Dead 2 and Team Fortress 2.

Where does the name Latentexistence come from?

Back in 2005 I was persuaded to set up a Livejournal account and I needed to choose a name before I could set it up. At the time I was housebound because of my ME/CFS and I felt like my whole life was on hold. Delayed, if you will. In computing and communications the term ‘latency’ refers to the delay in sending information and so I felt that me life was experiencing high latency. The word latent also means ‘present but not visible, apparent, or actualized; existing as potential’ and so Latentexistence works in both senses.

The name has been completely unique to me until 2010. There seems to be someone on facebook using it too now! If you google latentexistence, (no space) the first few pages are me. If you google my real name, be aware that I am not an American footballer, no matter what Google tells you!