Dear the beautiful people of deviantART,

This is a bit of an odd journal to write, and I'm a little uncomfortable about describing myself - but it seems a few people would like to know the 'real', offline me. My online persona is actually very close to my offline persona. If anything is different, I may be more polite online. For instance, if someone insults me online, I'm likely to respond (if at all), "Thank you. I appreciate your compelling insults. Unfortunately for you, it does not affect me and my degree of self-respect remains the same." In the non-virtual world, I'm more likely to say "I'm not interested in this conversation, nor do I give any f***s about your views, so do yourself a favour and find a hobby that doesn't entail hacking, hating and humiliating. Your behaviour does not impress anyone with reasonable standards."

Anyway, here are some things you may not know about me:

* My name is actually Tas; it is short for Tasnuva, which means 'a piece of gold'.

* I am addicted to crosswords.

* I don't drink alcohol very often (maybe once every 3 months at most and even that is too often for me) and when I drink I don't drink much - this is not because of religious views, nor is it because I'm Miss Goody-Two-Shoes. It is because I generally don't like the taste, the burning sensation, nor the psychological effects of alcohol. To be honest, I always think to myself, 'this chardonnay would be significantly tastier if there was no alcohol in it.'

* I do not use any social networking sites. (I have avoided the plague of the digital age!)

* My most outstanding talent is procrastinating. I will use any excuse to avoid doing the work that I need to do - this will often lead me into a panic spiral in the last minute. And for some reason, I do manage to get things done in the last minute. So, rather than worrying about an assignment for, say, 2 weeks prior to its due date, I may as well just worry the night before. Bad strategy, but works for me.

* If I had my way, I would win the lottery and do charity work for the rest of my life. I would also be a performer, as well as a theatre and film writer and director.

* I have a bizarre fear of balloons popping - in other words, I suffer from globophobia. (Yes, you may laugh).

* Discussions on politics and celebrity gossip have a profound impact on my insomnia - that is, it temporarily cures it.

* I get plenty of hate mail on deviantART for the subject matters of my poems; they have no effect on me other than making me chuckle every now and then.

* I am passionate about animal rights and welfare. I feel very connected to animals, and I have enormous empathy for them.

* I am extremely impatient. Waiting in line makes me want to strangle the person who's slow and making me wait. (I think impatience is one of the worst qualities someone can have).

* I love the rain, including being drenched in it. I love it when nature bawls its heart out. (After all, we all need a cry every now and then don't we?) This also means that I strongly dislike the sun. A hot and sunny day annoys me and makes me want to stay at home. Then again, I live in Australia (aka Skin Cancer Central), so it's not too unreasonable.

* I over-analyse everything but I don't do it consciously. I see too much. I interpret too much. And this process reveals too much.

* I am comfortable about my sexuality as a woman. I don't feel any need to hide what is natural. Most of us want to be desired and touched. (That's probably obvious given I write erotic poetry as well).

* I don't believe that love conquers all. I believe that love is a good motivation to conquer all the obstacles that come your way.

* I can eat 10 jars of olives at once. In fact, the thought of olives stuffed with ricotta cheese is making me hungry.

* I can officially cook and prepare good food, even if it involves setting the kitchen on fire and stabbing myself in the foot by accidentally dropping a knife on the floor. This may seem 'whatever', but the truth is I failed Food Tech in high school multiple times - once because I didn't know onions were supposed to be peeled first. In fact, the teacher said I should be permanently banned from the kitchen.

* I love pentacles, and other symbols that represent the elements of nature.

* Public bathrooms terrify me, usually because there's something there that I wish I didn't see.

* I have little tolerance for bad table manners. If someone chews loudly, slurps and burps incessantly, I cannot guarantee that a fork and butter knife will not be used as homicide weapons.

* My favourite crystal is rose quartz because it represents love.

* My favourite flowers are yellow roses.

* I only like sweet foods once a month for reasons that 'once a month' indicates. At other times, I find sweet foods extremely unpleasant.

* Mainstream media bores me to death. It is no wonder I hate my degree.

AND

* I love you all for being so beautiful and supportive.


Hugs and kisses,

Tas