Introducing... me
Hey everybody
Would you believe that I actually registered this account back in 2008, and never used it so far? What a shame... This needs to be changed right now!
I've heard a lot of positive things about the LJ community from friends, and I can't wait to find out if this is true.
So first of all, let me introduce myself:
Me in a nutshell...
My name is Stella and I live in Switzerland (Winterthur, near Zurich). Currently, I'm working as a teacher at a vocational school, teaching English, German and General Education.
I have three huge passions that shape and influence my life more than anything else:
LITERATURE
I can remember loving books from childhood on. Reading is and has always been one of my favourite free-time-activities. Although I have a preference for crime, thriller and horror stories, I read pretty much everything that has a good, creative plot and convincing characterization. This passion also made me choose my study subjects (English and German, both Language and Literature), and last year, I passed my final exam which allows me to call myself MA (Master of Arts). My special field of interest has always been Gothic Literature.
However, just reading was never enough for me. I've been inventing stories and characters ever since I was a child, and with 10, I wrote down my first longer story (in a note book). And the rest is history, so to say...
Writing is my passion, my life and therapy; and my declared aim in life is to see one of my original stories published one day (I'm working on it ;) My prefered type of story is drama/tragedy, balanced with lots of bright spots. I love to describe the subtle play of psychological mechanisms that shape and influence the human mind, which can be seen best in somewhat 'darker' modes.
Currently, I'm also practicing my skills with fan fiction ('Final Fantasy 7'/'Crisis Core'-based ones, to be precise); and for the last three years, I've been writing book reviews for an online magazine.
CATS
Cats and me, a match made in heaven ;) Truth be told, I often feel like I have some feline genes myself. I love their independence, their character, their playfulness, their grace and their subtle ways of showing affection.
No surprise that I also share my flat and my life with three of those lovely creatures named Cookie, Tiger and Oli.
MUSIC
I'm a music addict. For me, music is pure emotion. It is a very important inspiration to write, as well.
For listening, I prefer a wide variety of styles and genres. If forced at gunpoint, I would name Within Temptation, Evanescence, Skillet and various movie soundtracks as my favourites; but it really depends on my mood.
I also play the piano and the harp, not as good though...
That's me in a nutshell... Would you like to know more? You can either read through the following section, or just skip it...
---
So you want to know more about me? Well, as a writer, I'm used to make sketches for my major and minor characters. If I was supposed to do one about myself, it would look like this...
CHARACTER SKETCH
Basic Statistics
Name: Stella
Meaning and/or reason of name: Means “star” in Latin and Italian; isn’t the proper name stated in my birth certificate, but the name I chose to go by since I was 12 years old... Long story.
Nickname: Give me one! :) Some friends call me Cookie... or Kitty
Reason: Obvious (like cats, feels like a cat myself)
Age: Mental age can vary between 16 and 120... Actual age is slowly approaching 30 (damn, I'm old...)
Date of Birth: 27th of September
Zodiac: Libra
Gender: Female
Nationality: German, but living in Switzerland for such a long time that I'm actually feeling Swiss
Species: human (werecat - lol)
Hometown: Winterthur (a large city in Switzerland, close to Zurich)
Current Residence: Apartment number 13 in a block of flats right at the outskirts of Winterthur, next to a forest
Occupation: professional sweetheart ;) Just kidding. As long as my books don’t sell and due to the fact that I couldn’t find a more ‘creative’ job, I'm currently working as a teacher (English, German, General Education) at a vocational school. Previous job experiences include barkeeper, waitress and working at a large cinema, as well as teaching German for Foreigners. Next to my paid job, I write books reviews for an online magazine and voluntarily support several international animal shelters/prganizations (I visit people who want to adopt an animal - usually a cat or dog - to have a little chat and confirm the situation they are living in).
For how long?: Started teaching in August 2009
Do you love you job?: I loves working with people, especially young adults, but not so much the teaching profession as such
Physical Characteristics
Height: 1.69 metres, which equals 5.5 ft
Weight: “Hell no! I’m not answering that.” Most of the time, it’s somewhere around 57 kg (125 lb; or 9 stone)
Eye Colour: Arranged in rings, from the inside to the outside: hazel, olive green, steel blue. My eyes appear either gold-brown or olive green depending on circumstances like light, colour of clothes, etc.
Hair Colour: Naturally, it’s a very dark brown. Often dyed in any shade of brown, often with reddish, copper or blond highlights.
Type of hair: over-shoulder-length, straight
Hairstyle: Usually open, or put up in a pig tail or bun. At special occasions, open and wavy/curly.
Glasses or contact lenses?: Supposed to wear glasses while driving (short sighted)
Complexion and skin tone: Very pale (and not happy about it)
Distinguishing features: I have a few small scars on myhands and one right under the left eyebrow (childhood accident, but it's hardly visible)
Health: OK, I guess. I suffers from chronic anaemia and have a liability to depressions.
Hobbies: Reading, writing, my cats, meeting friends, making new friends, music, and random pages on the internet like this one...
Extremely unskilled at: Technical/electronic devices, tax declarations (typical woman ;)
Very skilled at: Giving deeper meanings to literary texts
Greatest flaw: Low self esteem, perfectionism
Best quality: empathy, tolerance
Favorites
Favourite foods: Italian and Chinese cuisine; sweet stuff (like chocolate and cookies)
Favourite colours: blue, violet
Music: Whatever suits my mood. I prefer a wide variety of styles and genres. If forced at gunpoint, I would name Within Temptation, Evanescence, Skillet and various movie soundtracks as myfavourites.
Literature: Once again: variety is a must. When reading, I have a soft spot for crime, thriller and horror; when writing, my preferred type of story is drama/tragedy, balanced with lots of bright spots.
Favourite clothing: Either just jeans and top, or very feminine skirts and dresses
Jewelry: Anything silver (can’t stand gold)
Fruit: Melon, strawberries
Season: Autumn
Pets: Cats (have three)
What vehicle do you drive?: Bike, bus, car (Volkswagen Golf)
Favorite sport(s): Riding, swimming
Favorite Sayings: Lots, since I collects quotes. Current top three (no specific order): “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”; “God created the cat so mankind had a tiger to cuddle.”; “Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you.”
Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitude//Emotional Characteristic
Educational Background: A-level, MA in English and German Literature and Language
Languages: German (native language), English, Latin, French (and I understand bits of Italian and Spanish)
Myshort-term goal in life: Make a difference in the lives of people I meet
My long-term goal in life: Get a book published
What does most embarrass you?: Getting compliments (can’t handle them very well)
How do you feel about love?: The greatest gift and the greatest curse of life
How do you show affection/love?: Will do absolutely everything for people that mean a lot to me
How do you show/handle grief? Can you cry?: Oh yes. But I prefer not to cry in front of others. And I can hide grief pretty well.
How do you handle pain?: Physical pain pretty well; psychological pain rather badly
Are you a leader or a follower?: Depends on the other people around. I can play both roles.
Describe your sense of humour: Very sarcastic/ironic
Nervous Tics?: Playing with my hair, destroying things like paperclips or paper coasters
Introvert or Extrovert?: Introvert. But hiding that very well (if I'm nervous, I can appear more extrovert than I actually am)
How do you deal with anger?: I tend to swallow it down
With sadness?:I hide it, as long as possible
With conflict?: Generally, I try to avoid a violent confrontation, but I will stick up to my believes and not tolerate prejudiced/radical people
With loss?: pretty bad
What would you like to change in your life?: Sometimes just about everything, but most of the time nothing at all
What motivates you?: Positive feedback, my friends
What frightens this you?: loss
Afraid of the Dark?: Not at all, I like it
Death?:Only of the death of beloved ones
What makes you happy?: Friends, positive feedback, writing, music, my cats
What saddens you?: Cruelty, especially cruelty against animals; not being able to change the ignorant points of view of certain people
What angers you?: Intolerance, radical and hateful people
What makes you feel guilty?: Not being able to help others
Optimistic or Pessimistic?: Pessimistic
Logical or Emotional?: both, actually
Spiritual Characteristics
What are your spiritual beliefs?: I call myself a Pagan (mostly of the Celtic variety)
Theme Song: “What If” by Emilie Autumn
---
My plans...
Well, on this account, I'd like to tell you a bit more about my passions. More precisely, to introduce you to my kitty-crew, to show you some bits of my writing and to explain how and why I write the way I do. Occasionally, I will also rant about random things in my life and topics I consider important (ranting is my hidden fourth passion, I swear!).
And in addition, I really hope to meet some nice people here I can rant with!
If you are looking for someone to talk to, to discuss life and its many facets or simply have some feedback to anything I posted, please don't hesitate to post a message or to contact me.
Thanks for reading my first post.
Have a purrrrr-fect day! =^..^=
Would you believe that I actually registered this account back in 2008, and never used it so far? What a shame... This needs to be changed right now!
I've heard a lot of positive things about the LJ community from friends, and I can't wait to find out if this is true.
So first of all, let me introduce myself:
Me in a nutshell...
My name is Stella and I live in Switzerland (Winterthur, near Zurich). Currently, I'm working as a teacher at a vocational school, teaching English, German and General Education.
I have three huge passions that shape and influence my life more than anything else:
LITERATURE
I can remember loving books from childhood on. Reading is and has always been one of my favourite free-time-activities. Although I have a preference for crime, thriller and horror stories, I read pretty much everything that has a good, creative plot and convincing characterization. This passion also made me choose my study subjects (English and German, both Language and Literature), and last year, I passed my final exam which allows me to call myself MA (Master of Arts). My special field of interest has always been Gothic Literature.
However, just reading was never enough for me. I've been inventing stories and characters ever since I was a child, and with 10, I wrote down my first longer story (in a note book). And the rest is history, so to say...
Writing is my passion, my life and therapy; and my declared aim in life is to see one of my original stories published one day (I'm working on it ;) My prefered type of story is drama/tragedy, balanced with lots of bright spots. I love to describe the subtle play of psychological mechanisms that shape and influence the human mind, which can be seen best in somewhat 'darker' modes.
Currently, I'm also practicing my skills with fan fiction ('Final Fantasy 7'/'Crisis Core'-based ones, to be precise); and for the last three years, I've been writing book reviews for an online magazine.
CATS
Cats and me, a match made in heaven ;) Truth be told, I often feel like I have some feline genes myself. I love their independence, their character, their playfulness, their grace and their subtle ways of showing affection.
No surprise that I also share my flat and my life with three of those lovely creatures named Cookie, Tiger and Oli.
MUSIC
I'm a music addict. For me, music is pure emotion. It is a very important inspiration to write, as well.
For listening, I prefer a wide variety of styles and genres. If forced at gunpoint, I would name Within Temptation, Evanescence, Skillet and various movie soundtracks as my favourites; but it really depends on my mood.
I also play the piano and the harp, not as good though...
That's me in a nutshell... Would you like to know more? You can either read through the following section, or just skip it...
---
So you want to know more about me? Well, as a writer, I'm used to make sketches for my major and minor characters. If I was supposed to do one about myself, it would look like this...
CHARACTER SKETCH
Basic Statistics
Name: Stella
Meaning and/or reason of name: Means “star” in Latin and Italian; isn’t the proper name stated in my birth certificate, but the name I chose to go by since I was 12 years old... Long story.
Nickname: Give me one! :) Some friends call me Cookie... or Kitty
Reason: Obvious (like cats, feels like a cat myself)
Age: Mental age can vary between 16 and 120... Actual age is slowly approaching 30 (damn, I'm old...)
Date of Birth: 27th of September
Zodiac: Libra
Gender: Female
Nationality: German, but living in Switzerland for such a long time that I'm actually feeling Swiss
Species: human (werecat - lol)
Hometown: Winterthur (a large city in Switzerland, close to Zurich)
Current Residence: Apartment number 13 in a block of flats right at the outskirts of Winterthur, next to a forest
Occupation: professional sweetheart ;) Just kidding. As long as my books don’t sell and due to the fact that I couldn’t find a more ‘creative’ job, I'm currently working as a teacher (English, German, General Education) at a vocational school. Previous job experiences include barkeeper, waitress and working at a large cinema, as well as teaching German for Foreigners. Next to my paid job, I write books reviews for an online magazine and voluntarily support several international animal shelters/prganizations (I visit people who want to adopt an animal - usually a cat or dog - to have a little chat and confirm the situation they are living in).
For how long?: Started teaching in August 2009
Do you love you job?: I loves working with people, especially young adults, but not so much the teaching profession as such
Physical Characteristics
Height: 1.69 metres, which equals 5.5 ft
Weight: “Hell no! I’m not answering that.” Most of the time, it’s somewhere around 57 kg (125 lb; or 9 stone)
Eye Colour: Arranged in rings, from the inside to the outside: hazel, olive green, steel blue. My eyes appear either gold-brown or olive green depending on circumstances like light, colour of clothes, etc.
Hair Colour: Naturally, it’s a very dark brown. Often dyed in any shade of brown, often with reddish, copper or blond highlights.
Type of hair: over-shoulder-length, straight
Hairstyle: Usually open, or put up in a pig tail or bun. At special occasions, open and wavy/curly.
Glasses or contact lenses?: Supposed to wear glasses while driving (short sighted)
Complexion and skin tone: Very pale (and not happy about it)
Distinguishing features: I have a few small scars on myhands and one right under the left eyebrow (childhood accident, but it's hardly visible)
Health: OK, I guess. I suffers from chronic anaemia and have a liability to depressions.
Hobbies: Reading, writing, my cats, meeting friends, making new friends, music, and random pages on the internet like this one...
Extremely unskilled at: Technical/electronic devices, tax declarations (typical woman ;)
Very skilled at: Giving deeper meanings to literary texts
Greatest flaw: Low self esteem, perfectionism
Best quality: empathy, tolerance
Favorites
Favourite foods: Italian and Chinese cuisine; sweet stuff (like chocolate and cookies)
Favourite colours: blue, violet
Music: Whatever suits my mood. I prefer a wide variety of styles and genres. If forced at gunpoint, I would name Within Temptation, Evanescence, Skillet and various movie soundtracks as myfavourites.
Literature: Once again: variety is a must. When reading, I have a soft spot for crime, thriller and horror; when writing, my preferred type of story is drama/tragedy, balanced with lots of bright spots.
Favourite clothing: Either just jeans and top, or very feminine skirts and dresses
Jewelry: Anything silver (can’t stand gold)
Fruit: Melon, strawberries
Season: Autumn
Pets: Cats (have three)
What vehicle do you drive?: Bike, bus, car (Volkswagen Golf)
Favorite sport(s): Riding, swimming
Favorite Sayings: Lots, since I collects quotes. Current top three (no specific order): “There’s nothing either good or bad, but thinking makes it so.”; “God created the cat so mankind had a tiger to cuddle.”; “Never above you. Never below you. Always beside you.”
Intellectual/Mental/Personality Attributes and Attitude//Emotional Characteristic
Educational Background: A-level, MA in English and German Literature and Language
Languages: German (native language), English, Latin, French (and I understand bits of Italian and Spanish)
Myshort-term goal in life: Make a difference in the lives of people I meet
My long-term goal in life: Get a book published
What does most embarrass you?: Getting compliments (can’t handle them very well)
How do you feel about love?: The greatest gift and the greatest curse of life
How do you show affection/love?: Will do absolutely everything for people that mean a lot to me
How do you show/handle grief? Can you cry?: Oh yes. But I prefer not to cry in front of others. And I can hide grief pretty well.
How do you handle pain?: Physical pain pretty well; psychological pain rather badly
Are you a leader or a follower?: Depends on the other people around. I can play both roles.
Describe your sense of humour: Very sarcastic/ironic
Nervous Tics?: Playing with my hair, destroying things like paperclips or paper coasters
Introvert or Extrovert?: Introvert. But hiding that very well (if I'm nervous, I can appear more extrovert than I actually am)
How do you deal with anger?: I tend to swallow it down
With sadness?:I hide it, as long as possible
With conflict?: Generally, I try to avoid a violent confrontation, but I will stick up to my believes and not tolerate prejudiced/radical people
With loss?: pretty bad
What would you like to change in your life?: Sometimes just about everything, but most of the time nothing at all
What motivates you?: Positive feedback, my friends
What frightens this you?: loss
Afraid of the Dark?: Not at all, I like it
Death?:Only of the death of beloved ones
What makes you happy?: Friends, positive feedback, writing, music, my cats
What saddens you?: Cruelty, especially cruelty against animals; not being able to change the ignorant points of view of certain people
What angers you?: Intolerance, radical and hateful people
What makes you feel guilty?: Not being able to help others
Optimistic or Pessimistic?: Pessimistic
Logical or Emotional?: both, actually
Spiritual Characteristics
What are your spiritual beliefs?: I call myself a Pagan (mostly of the Celtic variety)
Theme Song: “What If” by Emilie Autumn
---
My plans...
Well, on this account, I'd like to tell you a bit more about my passions. More precisely, to introduce you to my kitty-crew, to show you some bits of my writing and to explain how and why I write the way I do. Occasionally, I will also rant about random things in my life and topics I consider important (ranting is my hidden fourth passion, I swear!).
And in addition, I really hope to meet some nice people here I can rant with!
If you are looking for someone to talk to, to discuss life and its many facets or simply have some feedback to anything I posted, please don't hesitate to post a message or to contact me.
Thanks for reading my first post.
Have a purrrrr-fect day! =^..^=