Well okay, so it's not all that you can know about me, but it's all I'm willing to share out in the open to everyone (I'm sharing more than you think with my poetry and stories). If you really want to know specific things then you should e-mail me, and if it's appropriate I will share with you. All About Kat I'm known over the internet as Katiara, Kat, or Saetyl. I am 20 years old and I'm a senior architecture major at Louisiana Tech University. I really like the program other than it means five years of slavery. Ahh! I love to read, write, play the violin, build stuff, and listen to just about any kind of music. Writing is the hobby I love the most. It helps me in many ways and I have gotten others to start writing too. It helps us get through life's hard times. Most of the things that are written by them are angst because it helps them vent their feelings much better than other (mostly more harmful) ways people tend to try (such as drugs or sex). I, too, wrote angst for a long time, and I still do a little bit, but right now I am writing more poetry that is less angst and more... well.. . real poetry. I believe strongly that anyone can write if they so choose and that it will probably help them in some way in their life. I encourage all of you to write, no matter how bad it may seem to you, even if it is as little as a small journal entry every month. Typical of a kat. Run around and sleep all their lives. An activity that I've gotten involved very much recently is roleplaying. I not only roleplay over a game called a MUD (Multi-User Dungeon), but I also go to a couple different LARPs (Live Action Role-Playing games). One, called Phoenix, takes place once a month. Unfortunately I cannot get to the park that it takes place in every time because of my schooling. It is a fantasy-based game and I normally play an elf weaponsmaster. The other LARP I play is part of the Mind's Eye Theater game Vampire: the Masquerade. Strangely enough I do not play a vampire. I am a human girl who is waiting to come "of age" to be embraced. That character has gotten involved not only with vampires, but with wraiths and is somewhat known on the streets among the gangs. Keep in mind that all that roleplaying is is taking on a persona during a game and doing adventures within that persona. You can be as like yourself or as different from yourself as you wish. It can, technically, be played like other games where you just go around trying to level, but personally, I think that takes away all the fun of playing. Something I also enjoy doing is reading. The types of books I read include fantasy, science fiction, and crime fiction books. My all time favorite authors (yes, plural, because I could never choose just one, unless forced to do so by knife point) are R.A. Salvatore, John Grisham, Patricia Cornwell, and Larry Niven. I also enjoy Mercedes Lackey and Anne McCaffrey (as well as other random books lying on my shelves). Books are good to have around. They don't mark you as a dork, no matter what some people think. And not only can they be wonderful dust collectors, but they can give you a chance to escape the horrors of everyday life (whether the horror is boredom or something really wrong doesn't matter). In books there is almost always someone to connect with. To my other self, my dearest Lucas Of course there is someone else I must mention, but he deserves a paragraph to himself. My boyfriend Lucas, who is the sweetest man I've ever met. He keeps me laughing and happy even when I'm having a horrible day, and that in itself is a wonderful thing. I love you, Lucas. May all your dreams come true and may you never stop doing the things that make you who you are. I should probably bring up now my friends. I moved to New Orleans from a small town in Illinois about four years ago and after living there for a year I went to a residential gifted school in Northern Louisiana. After the last two years of high school there I finally moved to Ruston to go to this lovely university. My friends are mainly either from the internet or from the school I go to. If I don't list your name, chill out, it doesn't mean I'm not friends with you just that I probably forgot your name for the moment (sorry! but you should know me better. I never remember anyone's name hehe). Among those online I name Christy, Tony, Stefan, Jamie, Gad, John, and Keith. You'll always be in my thoughts. Among those around here at school, I name Steve, Will (even if you do get on my nerves from time to time), Alan, George (even if you aren't around this quarter!), Phil, Chris, Ed, Amy, and all the people at the Red Tables. You guys are great. Disclaimer: I did not steal the name Katiara from the character in Dragonlance books (need I mention that character's name is Kitiara as I later found out?). I did not even know about the Dragonlance books until after I started using this name not only in my story but on the Internet. I am sorry if I am sounding harsh to those of you who did not claim I stole this name, but those who so harshly blamed me because of something they themselves assumed about me, I feel I have to be somewhat stern and harsh back to get my point across to them. Either way, thank you for your time and concern.