Introduction: What you need to know about me :)
♫ Who am I?
Super-short heads-up basics-only info: My name is Taryn; I'm 24; I'm Californian by birth but I live in London with my boyfriend :) I have a BSc in Information Management for Business, not that I do much with it, and I keep a small zoo's worth of pets on the ground floor of our otherwise book-infested house.
I smoke a little, run a lot, read heaps, and almost never have time to breathe. I'm 24 but I look younger (still get carded quite a bit), and definitely don't act it. Oh, and I love the 'net. I mean, I seriously consider curling up with a laptop to be down-time. :) I guess because a lot of my friends are still out in Cali, and emails/ LJ/ Twitter/ etc are the only real ways we have to keep in touch... Maddie despairs, but Maddie despairs about me a lot. Ah well. I love him anyway :P
The two most important things in my life are my relationships (Madoc first, then friends) and my pets (and animals in general, come to think of it). Hell, my friends are half the reason I have this journal. See, I've got another one[*] (no, I'm not linking you) which is completely mundane: this is what I did today, this is where Maddie and I are thinking of going for vacation, shout-outs to my friends in Cali -- you know the kind of thing. Pretty boring everyday stuff. And... there's a lot that most of my Cali friends (and quite a few of my English ones) don't know.
So this is my 'other stuff' journal. The one where I can talk about how my best friend's a werewolf and my boyfriend's slightly precognitive, and my boyfriend's best friend -- who, just by the way, is an earth elemental, only the rarest type of freaking dichotic magicker there is -- is into this creepy black magic stuff that freaks me the hell out. And my 'affinity' with animals isn't a natural affinity at all, it's magic. Natural magic, but still.
Anyway, Madoc is absolutely the number one most important person in my life. We've been together since I was technically too young just a couple of months after I moved to England with my Dad, and he's my rock. Bit older than me (okay, eight years older), waay smarter, whole heap richer than me and too awesomely generous for his own good. xP He runs a bookshop in London, but mostly he's a book-finder; if you want something rare and/or expensive (preferably very expensive), I can flat-out guarantee you Maddie can and will find it. For a reasonable fee, of course.
He is the reason I got straight As in my A-levels, he's the reason I did a degree, he's the reason I might soon be doing a PhD (or at least a Masters); in short, I owe him pretty much everything for taking this messed-up kid that I was and trusting me and loving me and making me what I am, and I love him heart and soul.
Denver is my werewolfy best friend. He's 20, doing his degree in something insanely scientific that involves the word 'Chemical' and possibly the words 'Bio' and/or 'Engineering', and dating the vet who fixed him up after he went furry and ran under a car. Which leads me to Harlan, the vet, who's kind of an awesome guy in his own right. Not a werewolf, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if he made the change eventually. Denver's kind of invaded his apartment as of late, not that he seems to mind. Tends to be if I see Denver, Harlan's not far behind. I don't mind. He's cool, and loves animals almost as much as I do.
Oscar is Maddie's best friend, and has been since about forever -- he way pre-dates me, put it that way, and I've been in the picture for the last eight years plus. He works for the British Library Collection Care department, which is admittedly awesome, but... he kind of freaks me out, honestly. I mean, the guy is 32, same as Maddie, and looks my age. (Magic. Probably not the good kind, either.) And he and his partner, Ash... they do some pretty freaky shit involving a demon-god-spirit who requires animal fucking sacrifices to grant wishes prayers. Oscar's a nice guy, very respect-the-earth (god, he's so damn nice that-- well, when some earth-types get pissed off, they create minor earthquakes, right? Oscar gets pissed off and out-of-season plants bloom from the force of it. Hardly a destructive mind), and I honestly think he's decent, but you never get Oscar without Ash, and Ash is scary as hell.
Okay. I guess I should try and be reasonable, if only because Maddie would want me to. Ashcroft is... I don't even know where to start. I don't know him that well, and from what I do know, I don't wanna get any more involved, thanks. Ash looks about Maddie's age (keep up: Oscar and Maddie are the same age; Oscar looks about my age -- early 20s -- and Ash looks about Maddie's age, which is sort of mid-thirties-ish but shh don't tell Maddie I just added on three years <3), but I have a vague suspicion he's a lot older. Same dark-ish magic as keeps Oscar looking twenty-some, I guess. And although I wasn't really in the picture much at this point -- Oscar was getting into it right around the time Maddie and I were getting serious -- I'm pretty sure Ash led him down the dark-grey magic path they're both on now.
Oscar and Ash have two kids, William and Ashcroft the... sixth? I think? who are seven and five and the cutest kids ever. Seriously. I don't want kids (definitely not now; maybe not ever. I'm not sure yet. I'm 24, look 20, and act about 18 half the time -- would you really trust me to bring up a kid?) but they are adorkable. Their daddy is a librarian. William has little seven-year-old specs. (Designer. Ash is actually better off than Maddie. I can't actually picture that many zeroes in the bank.) They're sweet.
There are a few others who might come up now and then: Trilby and Ben, who are wolfy friends of Denver's, I can think of off the top of my head, and I'll probably add on to this bit as new people wander into my life. That's about the main players for now, though. And now we return to our scheduled programming, before you seriously wander away thinking 'what the frig...?'
♫ Where I came from
I was born in California, but I moved to England when I was fifteen after my folks split up. My Mom stayed in America trying to be an actress; at the time, I'd have nearly killed anyone who said she was anything less than a model and aspiring actress but let's be honest: my mommy was a wannabe pornstar. Which is pretty much why they split up. Courts ruled in my dad's favor; dad got a job offer in England, and away we went. I did GCSEs here, A levels, learnt to drive... I'm English in every way except the accent (which I keep 'cos I like it, and occasionally knock up to all-out California valley girl boi, with the 'i', to annoy Maddie) and the citizenship. (Ten years coming up, which means indefinite leave to remain, hurrah!)
♫ Where I am now
I live in London, with Maddie, splitting my time between the house (which is kind of huge, and whose first ground (I still slip and call it first, American style) floor I've taken over with a miniature menagerie of pets) and the bookshop and occasionally various other bits of the city, usually with a small gathering of friends. See above for important people in my life. And the menagerie's pretty important, too. I think at the last count I had twenty-two individual pet animals, and I love them all. :D
♫ Where I'm going
God knows! I'm looking into doing a Masters or maybe a PhD, partly to amuse myself, partly to keep Maddie happy (he thinks I get bored. Maybe he should try feeding, walking and cleaning out the ground floor menagerie for a day? And running 8-10k every morning, and still finding four or five hours to keep him company in the bookshop? Oh, and meeting up with various friends for dinners/ drinks/ nights out/ trips to the movies/ etc? Some days I don't have time to breathe, never mind get bored!).
Eventually I'd like to run an animal shelter, maybe, or some kind of whacked-out education centre thing -- I don't have the business plan all worked out yet, but my basic idea is ... well, you know how many pets get abandoned? I've looked it up. The numbers are scary. So I'm thinking, what if there was somewhere parents could go before they get their kid that tarantula or gecko or cayman or whatever that little Jimmy wants, where little Jimmy can meet the weird-ass pet of his choosing, find out about care and what-not... kind of like a really weird petting zoo, sort of thing. And maybe a coffee shop for the parents, and info cards, and all of that. I don't know if it would work, but I like the idea. I'm going to try and put this out sensibly and pitch it to Maddie, since I'd need his go-ahead (and funding).
In the meantime, I'm happy living with Maddie, hanging out with my friends and buggering about on the intertubes. :)
♫ Any questions?
Ask me! I love meeting new people and I'll pretty much never mind if you want to query something, or get it clear in your head, or just talk to me for the sheer hell. Go for it. I don't bite. :)
* * *
[*] OOC: No, he doesn't; I have more than enough on my plate keeping up with my various character journals. xP Which is why he's not going to link you. Besides, this one's far more interesting!
Super-short heads-up basics-only info: My name is Taryn; I'm 24; I'm Californian by birth but I live in London with my boyfriend :) I have a BSc in Information Management for Business, not that I do much with it, and I keep a small zoo's worth of pets on the ground floor of our otherwise book-infested house.
I smoke a little, run a lot, read heaps, and almost never have time to breathe. I'm 24 but I look younger (still get carded quite a bit), and definitely don't act it. Oh, and I love the 'net. I mean, I seriously consider curling up with a laptop to be down-time. :) I guess because a lot of my friends are still out in Cali, and emails/ LJ/ Twitter/ etc are the only real ways we have to keep in touch... Maddie despairs, but Maddie despairs about me a lot. Ah well. I love him anyway :P
The two most important things in my life are my relationships (Madoc first, then friends) and my pets (and animals in general, come to think of it). Hell, my friends are half the reason I have this journal. See, I've got another one[*] (no, I'm not linking you) which is completely mundane: this is what I did today, this is where Maddie and I are thinking of going for vacation, shout-outs to my friends in Cali -- you know the kind of thing. Pretty boring everyday stuff. And... there's a lot that most of my Cali friends (and quite a few of my English ones) don't know.
So this is my 'other stuff' journal. The one where I can talk about how my best friend's a werewolf and my boyfriend's slightly precognitive, and my boyfriend's best friend -- who, just by the way, is an earth elemental, only the rarest type of freaking dichotic magicker there is -- is into this creepy black magic stuff that freaks me the hell out. And my 'affinity' with animals isn't a natural affinity at all, it's magic. Natural magic, but still.
Anyway, Madoc is absolutely the number one most important person in my life. We've been together since I was technically too young just a couple of months after I moved to England with my Dad, and he's my rock. Bit older than me (okay, eight years older), waay smarter, whole heap richer than me and too awesomely generous for his own good. xP He runs a bookshop in London, but mostly he's a book-finder; if you want something rare and/or expensive (preferably very expensive), I can flat-out guarantee you Maddie can and will find it. For a reasonable fee, of course.
He is the reason I got straight As in my A-levels, he's the reason I did a degree, he's the reason I might soon be doing a PhD (or at least a Masters); in short, I owe him pretty much everything for taking this messed-up kid that I was and trusting me and loving me and making me what I am, and I love him heart and soul.
Denver is my werewolfy best friend. He's 20, doing his degree in something insanely scientific that involves the word 'Chemical' and possibly the words 'Bio' and/or 'Engineering', and dating the vet who fixed him up after he went furry and ran under a car. Which leads me to Harlan, the vet, who's kind of an awesome guy in his own right. Not a werewolf, but I wouldn't be all that surprised if he made the change eventually. Denver's kind of invaded his apartment as of late, not that he seems to mind. Tends to be if I see Denver, Harlan's not far behind. I don't mind. He's cool, and loves animals almost as much as I do.
Oscar is Maddie's best friend, and has been since about forever -- he way pre-dates me, put it that way, and I've been in the picture for the last eight years plus. He works for the British Library Collection Care department, which is admittedly awesome, but... he kind of freaks me out, honestly. I mean, the guy is 32, same as Maddie, and looks my age. (Magic. Probably not the good kind, either.) And he and his partner, Ash... they do some pretty freaky shit involving a demon-god-spirit who requires animal fucking sacrifices to grant wishes prayers. Oscar's a nice guy, very respect-the-earth (god, he's so damn nice that-- well, when some earth-types get pissed off, they create minor earthquakes, right? Oscar gets pissed off and out-of-season plants bloom from the force of it. Hardly a destructive mind), and I honestly think he's decent, but you never get Oscar without Ash, and Ash is scary as hell.
Okay. I guess I should try and be reasonable, if only because Maddie would want me to. Ashcroft is... I don't even know where to start. I don't know him that well, and from what I do know, I don't wanna get any more involved, thanks. Ash looks about Maddie's age (keep up: Oscar and Maddie are the same age; Oscar looks about my age -- early 20s -- and Ash looks about Maddie's age, which is sort of mid-thirties-ish but shh don't tell Maddie I just added on three years <3), but I have a vague suspicion he's a lot older. Same dark-ish magic as keeps Oscar looking twenty-some, I guess. And although I wasn't really in the picture much at this point -- Oscar was getting into it right around the time Maddie and I were getting serious -- I'm pretty sure Ash led him down the dark-grey magic path they're both on now.
Oscar and Ash have two kids, William and Ashcroft the... sixth? I think? who are seven and five and the cutest kids ever. Seriously. I don't want kids (definitely not now; maybe not ever. I'm not sure yet. I'm 24, look 20, and act about 18 half the time -- would you really trust me to bring up a kid?) but they are adorkable. Their daddy is a librarian. William has little seven-year-old specs. (Designer. Ash is actually better off than Maddie. I can't actually picture that many zeroes in the bank.) They're sweet.
There are a few others who might come up now and then: Trilby and Ben, who are wolfy friends of Denver's, I can think of off the top of my head, and I'll probably add on to this bit as new people wander into my life. That's about the main players for now, though. And now we return to our scheduled programming, before you seriously wander away thinking 'what the frig...?'
♫ Where I came from
I was born in California, but I moved to England when I was fifteen after my folks split up. My Mom stayed in America trying to be an actress; at the time, I'd have nearly killed anyone who said she was anything less than a model and aspiring actress but let's be honest: my mommy was a wannabe pornstar. Which is pretty much why they split up. Courts ruled in my dad's favor; dad got a job offer in England, and away we went. I did GCSEs here, A levels, learnt to drive... I'm English in every way except the accent (which I keep 'cos I like it, and occasionally knock up to all-out California valley girl boi, with the 'i', to annoy Maddie) and the citizenship. (Ten years coming up, which means indefinite leave to remain, hurrah!)
♫ Where I am now
I live in London, with Maddie, splitting my time between the house (which is kind of huge, and whose first ground (I still slip and call it first, American style) floor I've taken over with a miniature menagerie of pets) and the bookshop and occasionally various other bits of the city, usually with a small gathering of friends. See above for important people in my life. And the menagerie's pretty important, too. I think at the last count I had twenty-two individual pet animals, and I love them all. :D
♫ Where I'm going
God knows! I'm looking into doing a Masters or maybe a PhD, partly to amuse myself, partly to keep Maddie happy (he thinks I get bored. Maybe he should try feeding, walking and cleaning out the ground floor menagerie for a day? And running 8-10k every morning, and still finding four or five hours to keep him company in the bookshop? Oh, and meeting up with various friends for dinners/ drinks/ nights out/ trips to the movies/ etc? Some days I don't have time to breathe, never mind get bored!).
Eventually I'd like to run an animal shelter, maybe, or some kind of whacked-out education centre thing -- I don't have the business plan all worked out yet, but my basic idea is ... well, you know how many pets get abandoned? I've looked it up. The numbers are scary. So I'm thinking, what if there was somewhere parents could go before they get their kid that tarantula or gecko or cayman or whatever that little Jimmy wants, where little Jimmy can meet the weird-ass pet of his choosing, find out about care and what-not... kind of like a really weird petting zoo, sort of thing. And maybe a coffee shop for the parents, and info cards, and all of that. I don't know if it would work, but I like the idea. I'm going to try and put this out sensibly and pitch it to Maddie, since I'd need his go-ahead (and funding).
In the meantime, I'm happy living with Maddie, hanging out with my friends and buggering about on the intertubes. :)
♫ Any questions?
Ask me! I love meeting new people and I'll pretty much never mind if you want to query something, or get it clear in your head, or just talk to me for the sheer hell. Go for it. I don't bite. :)
* * *
[*] OOC: No, he doesn't; I have more than enough on my plate keeping up with my various character journals. xP Which is why he's not going to link you. Besides, this one's far more interesting!