(Note: This profile has only marginally been updated from its original form, which appeared on The Heart of the Flames about two years ago. I tried to make it as current as possible, but if something seems to completely make no sense, then that's probably why. Blame the fact that I have to leave for work in about half an hour and was in a rush to get it up.)
To those of you reading my profile for the first time, I bid you welcome and query your taste. If you are a return reader, then I think you're freaking insane and should be locked away in a tiny room with no windows and nothing more to read than a collection of pithy sayings by Martha Stewart. Then the true healing can begin.
As with so many things on these pages, I'd like to say that you'll find something fascinating and life-affirming here, some small nugget of wisdom which will envelop your world in the warm glow of knowledge, in the gentle embrace of comfort and eternal, unassuming understanding. But you know, I don't have a picture of me in a devil costume up there for nothing, so you can pretty much count that out. Instead, what you'll probably leave here with is a great gaping void in your very soul and a terrible sense of wasted time.
Let's face it, isn't that the reason people make profile pages? Of course it is. Anyone who tells you differently has just finished Martha Stewart's 32nd volume and is blinking a lot from unaccustomed sunlight.
I digress. I do that a lot. Onto the laugh-a-minute kooky antics of
yours truly.
It was a scorching day in Key West, Florida on Tuesday, 9 September 1975. This in and of itself is not unusual, we ARE talking about Key West, Florida here. I just found the thought of the earth freezing and it being probably 208 degrees outside quietly amusing. Dammit, digressing once more, and so soon after the last one. Let's start that again.
It was a scorching day in Key West, Florida on Tuesday, 9 September 1975. At 10:06am EST, my mother was thanking every god of every religion that this horrendous experience was over and vowing never to touch my father again. My father, for his part, was probably saying to himself "I left the TV for this??" Yes, it was at this moment that I was born. As we see, my coming was a great day in the lives of my parents. The first thing I did was to refuse to cry, and then I howled angrily when they kept slapping me around. Might as well develop that personality young, I say.
Of my parents, only one continues to talk to me, the other being off somewhere doing whatever it is that he does. Well, he's a Texan, you know, we probably would prefer to not dwell on that ... no offense to any Texans reading this, of course. Particularly if you are armed. My mother, on the other hand, is British, and she left London, England many many years ago to settle in the south. I've found it difficult to not question her judgement ever since. You may be wondering how a Texan and a Londoner ever got together long enough to attempt a conversation, let alone get married and bless this world with my presense. The answer is simple: They met in a bar in Spain. Personally, I think that says
all you need to know right there.
I'd like to say that I had a happy childhood. I'd also like to say that I'm a gorgeous supermodel with a gazillion dollars and a degree in quantum physics from MIT.
As with all things, it had its moments, but for the most part, I believe I'll gloss over my years growing up, and instead bore repeat readers with the same list of places I've chronologically lived, all occuring within the first five years of life. I wave hello to military brats everywhere.
That would pretty much describe the rest of my life. Despite how it seems, I really don't talk about myself well, so we shall pick up from here in a charming form-style, partly because it's easy and partly because I'm lazy.
If you have a question you'd like to see answered, feel free to send. I've reworked
material unchanged from the previous Profile to reflect the most common inquiries I get, but a straight-up question might give me something more to do with this generally boring Profile. Or provide me with some material to mock all readers, that's just a risk you'll have to take. Ask yourself ... Do you feel lucky?
What I would like to do for a living vs. What I ACTUALLY do for a living: I have pipe-dream aspirations about working in the movie industry someday, perferably writing screen plays. Of course, this is next to impossible without actually writing something, which is continually hindered by the vast network of complexes and low self-esteem that I've managed to build up over years of practice. Unfortunately, these skills do not really get one the high-paying jobs, so I'm currently trying to work through them. Success has yet to be determined. Luckily, the monotony of this cycle is broken up by my job, which doubtless all HoF fans are now familiar with thanks to the wonders of that most theraputic of sections, OSB. Unfortunately, my job daily leaves me feeling even more angry and frustrated, with an ever-perpetuating feeling of hoplessness and disgust at the lack of intelligence inherantly found in humans. Issues? Moi? Perish the thought.
What I do in my spare time: I'm a Wolf of many interests. Not all of them get the attention that I might otherwise like to give them, but that in no way stops me from doing any of the following when I get a moment:
My favouritest things in the whole wide world: I'm a gal who, for some obscure reason, loves lists with a passion which is almost psychotic and always disturbing. Here, unwarrented, I give you a brief list, in no particular order, of the things which I love the most. Why I feel the need to share is beyond me.
Speaking of good stories, the last good book I read: Wizards and Glass, the fourth installment of Stephen King's The Dark Tower series. You know, it took me upwards of five years to finally make it through the first one. Then once I had, I read all there is thus far in about two weeks. Slow to pick up, but engrossing as hell if you can make it through.
The last movie I saw (MST3K discounted): "The Sixth Sense". I was a good year behind everyone else in seeing it, but I finally did, and was horribly impressed. It's not often a movie can competely throw me for a loop. I have nothing but respect for it once it does.
The characters most like me: I'm fairly stereotypical. Look for the one that gets angry a lot and likes to yell.
My most annoying habit: Probably either cracking my knuckles or my extremely bad temper and tendency to hit hard things when angry enough.
My favourite snack when I do anything: Diet Coke. Who needs food?
Few people know: That sometimes I get so upset and so worked up over any one of a number of things, and the only way I can bring myself down to a tolerable level is by listening to Ravel's "Bolero" again and again. Got me as to why.
Anime
First anime I ever saw: The Dirty Pair: Affair on Nolandia ... That I knew was anime, anyway. I mean, who didn't watch stuff like Voltron when they were kids?
Favourites (Note this is an old list taken from my original profile. I haven't been able to watch any new anime in ages): Sailor Moon, Fushigi Yuugi, Tenchi Muyo, Bubblegum Crisis, Ranma ½, Dirty Pair, Mahou Tsukai Tai, Magic Knights Rayearth, Project A-Ko, Dragon Half
Favourite and non-favourite characters:
Last show I saw: Notre Dame de Paris. It was ... hm. Very indicative of today's theater, I think. Very over-the-top, not an ounce of subtlety to be found, but enjoyable spectacular at the same time. The bells, the bells ...
Favourite musicals: Les Miserables wins without even trying ... five viewings and counting. Other favourites include A Chorus Line, Jesus Christ Superstar, Cats, Grease!, Sweeny Todd, and Chicago. Honorable mention to Kiss of the Spider-Woman, which has the misfortune to suffer from an awful ending, and Rent, which was enjoyable and had a great soundtrack, but was hypocritical enough to charge upwards of $70 for tickets when it first came out on Broadway and completely botched a perfectly good ending.
LEAST favourite shows: Miss Saigon. While I'm still glad that I saw it (if for no reason other than so I don't have to waste brain energy on pondering if I should buy tickets or not), I have never not enjoyed myself at a show more. I saw it on Broadway when it had just come out. If Jonathan Price couldn't make me like a show, I think it's pretty much just a lost cause. I was also incredibly unimpressed with
Grand Hotel and the production we saw of West Side Story (hated the Riff...ugh.) Relatively new to the list is Smokey Joe's Cafe. The HELL is this crap?! How a musical revue made it to Broadway (and then had the nerve to go on tour), I'll never know. Most irritating about this show was the fact that I went into it utterly blind and spent the first 30 minutes trying to figure out what the hell the plot was.
At the time that I first did this profile, I was horribly jaded with the comic book industry. Marvel had become nothing but a money machine (I mean, even moreso than usual), and I was quite embittered about the trend that my old favourites had taken. That having been said, recent times have seen something of a revival in my interest, due in no small part to the return of Chris Claremont to the Marvel fold. Of course, with the recent changes in the company, it's hard to say how my opinions will turn out in the end, but it's a time of potential interest, which is more than I could say back when I first wrote this profile.
What used to be my favourites: The Books
of X ... When there was, oh, ONE of the bloody things. But I was still doing okay until I took a step back and realized that I was buying about 20 different X-Men titles a month, only reading three or so of them, and not even enjoying those three. I've since dropped down to exactly zero. I was briefly excited when I saw Claremont came back for, like, an issue, but ... ugh. I dunno who the hell those characters are, but they're not the ones that I loved.
But anyway, until the time of the Pod X-People, I was rather fond of Uncanny X-Men, Adjectiveless X-Men, Generation X, and the Peter David X-Factor (hey, I even got a letter printed in there!) I was also a big fan of the Fabien Nicieza New Warriors, Spider-Man before that Clone Crap, the early days of Guardians of the Galaxy (that means the '60s or so and the first 30 issues of the new series ... I have a letter printed in those, too. If you get bored one day, try to find me) and anything by John Byrne (She-Hulk, Fantastic Four, Next Men ... I'm a Byrne Victim).
My Current Favourites: I was fortunate
enough to discover that while Marvel continued to spiral downwards in their quality, there were a few books that remembered what a good story was like. These days, my loyalties lie with the Legion of Super-Heroes and Strangers in Paradise. Recent Claremontish trends have even enticed me back to the X-Books of yore. Before their series ended, I was also loyally devoted to Preacher and Sandman, and am considering picking up the other Vertigo title Transmetropolitan based upon suggestions, but have yet to get around to doing so.
Favourite characters:
Music
Favourite artists: Pink Floyd, The Beatles, Tori Amos, David Bowie, Aqua and I really love soundtracks for some reason. Also, I still carry a soft spot for old favourites, Def Leppard, and most '80s music. I like most stuff that falls under the "classic rock" catagory, but ultimately, I can listen to almost anything but Rap and Country.
Favourite albums: Little Earthquakes, which is pretty much the perfect album for me and my poor put-upon Support Squad. Dark Side of the Moon and The Wall are other great mood albums. I also adore Shakespear's Sister's Hormonally Yours.
Best concert: Far and away, Pink Floyd from when Division Bell came out, even if it was without Roger
Walters. Although, admittedly, I'm still not sure if my vast
enjoyment of this concert was due more to the fact that it was so
good, or because of a rather amusing story involving me and the new
things I learned about second-hand smoke ... Whoo boy.
Favourite Movies: Off the top of my head, I'd have to list off: 12 Monkeys and Brazil (<worship Terry Gilliam>), The Rocky Horror Picture Show, Beaches, Arthur, Monty Python & The Holy Grail, Contact, Outrageous Fortune, How I Spent My Summer Vacation, The Great Escape, (almost) anything James Bond, Wrath of Kahn, Young Frankenstein, Terminator 2, Airplane!, A Clockwork Orange, Star Wars, Clue, The Goonies, Excalibur ... Hell, I could list movies all day and still never finish.
Favourite TV Shows: The only show I watch weekly without fail is, of course, Xena: Warrior Princess, although I never missed Mystery Science Theater 3000 when it was on. I have little time for TV, and answering for one too many cable companies has, I think, ruined me for television for the rest of my life. However, past and present favourites include: South Park, Kids in the Hall, the first few seasons of Friends (pre-Rachel & Ross) and ER (before Dr. Lewis left), all Star Trek series (except for Deep Space Nine), Absolutely Fabulous, Cybil, Cagney and Lacey, Monty Python's Flying Circus, The British Comic Strip, Facts of Life, Tiny Toon Adventures, Animaniacs, a virtual plethora of cartoon shows from the '80s, Just Say Julie, The Young Ones, Blackadder, old (good) Saturday Night Live ... Okay, I could probably do THIS all day too. Ahh, how I used to love television, as well.
Favourite Books: As with TV, I don't have as much time to read as I'd like, but I have managed to work up a fairly decent stockpile of books, and I used to rip through them in the good ol' days. Have a peek at my favourite literary choices: (almost) anything by Stephen King, the MYTH series by Robert Asprin (preferably with Phil Foglio artwork), the Elric series by Michael Moorcock, absolutely anything penned by the genius that is Neil Gaiman, the Discworld series by Terry Pratchett, Good Omens by Gaiman and Pratchett (<bliss>), The Doomsday Book and To Say Nothing of the Dog by Connie Willis, Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison, the Ender series by Orsen Scott Card (though Children of the Mind sucked big hairy goat eggs), The Dragonlance Chronicles by Margaret Weiss and Tracy Hickman, the Anita Blake series by Laurell K. Hamilton, Watership Down by Richard Adams, and I'll stop now because I just realized that I really like more books than I thought I did.
Other things I like but don't have a catagory for: Classical mythology, Greek and Roman history, astrology and astronomy, the Tudor period of Britain, Olympic history, sociology, zoology, psychology ... on reflection, I'm really glad I changed my life's goal from being a veterinarian. I usually hate the sciences.
What to do if you found this to be a complete waste of time: Send an e-mail describing in great detail what you hated about this page, why you hated it, and how you suggest it be improved to igiveacrap@noreally.com.
The Day The Earth Froze
Ahh, Those Delicate, Developmental Years
Key West, Florida
I can't say that I'm particulary pleased with the end result. It feels sort of like winning a life-time supply of Turtle Wax and not having a car.
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
San Diego, California
London, England
San Diego, Califonia
Norfolk, Virginia
London, England
Newport News, Virginia
Baton Rouge, Louisiana
Ahh, Those Irritating, Depressive Years
Real name: We'll just say "Nikki" and leave it at that.
Height: 5'6"
Weight: <unintelligible mumble>
Hair: Auburn. In a pony tail. Always.
Eyes: Two. Of the blue variety.
Contemplating answering my E-Mail
I lead a simple, but occasionally fulfilling life.
Actually answering my E-Mail
Doing any one of a number of video projects
Reading stories and essays
Writing stories and essays
Watching movies, Xena or anime. (An anime movie about Xena? Mmm.)
Playing video games
Playing with my dogs
Mudding
Devising new and devious plans for world conquest
Absolutely Nothing At All
My family (Dysfunctional as I am, this is defined as Mike and Amy, my mother, my granddad, and my menagerie.)
My friends (You know who you are.)
Anime (Nothing like some big-eyed violence (</sterotypical>.)
Xena and Mystery Science Theater 3000 (We all must have our obsessions.)
Diet Coke (Can't make it through the day without it!)
Kiyone and Katchoo (My car and computer respectively. Better than regretting them and the debt they put me in.)
London, England (I grew up there, the first happy memories I have are from there ... I'm a sentimental wuss.)
Travel (I think I could spend the rest of my life just going from one place to another and be happy forever. Ironic that I never get to go anywhere and never will have the money to. Gotta love Wanderlust.)
Conversation (Really good conversation. The kind of talks that can last for hours and hours, usually ending due to utter physical exhaustion, and are about everything or nothing at all. Sometimes both.)
Movies (Escapism? You decide.)
Books and literature (I love a good story, bottom line.)
Other Fun and Exciting
Things That I Find InterestingFavs:
Subs or dubs?: I'll take both, thank you. I prefer to judge by merit, not by classification.
Non-Favs:
The Theater
Comic Books -- A slowly reviving past time
X-Men The old characters, that is -
The ones that acted like they're supposed to.
Legion of Super-Heroes
Sandman
Strangers in Paradise
Francine or Katchoo, Francine or Katchoo ... ARG! Can't decide!!
Other Stuff
