Who Am I?
You're probably wondering who I am, and what I've done to the internet. I'll start by introducing myself: My name is Dianne Owens. The picture shows me at my 28th birthday in 2006. That was the same year I received my first laptop computer. Before that I was using a clunky old desktop that was about 5 years old. It was liberating, to say the least.
I am an Australian, born and bred, warts and all. My father's side of the family is Dutch-German, whilst my mother's side is a mix of English, Irish, Welsh, Scottish and French. I never really saw myself as European though, because of a lack of an attachment to my ancestry. I am the youngest of five, with two brothers and two sisters. I love and admire them all, for who and what they are. Each one has overcome adversity with the tenacity that entails. I have to say that I have learned a lot from each and every one of my siblings, and could not have got this far without their example to guide me.
I am a female, a.k.a. chick, though I don't really see myself as being on either side of the feminist debate. This would be a waste of my time and effort, given that men and women have managed to build limitations into their own existences, which makes any such debate flawed. I am happily married with no kids. I enjoy the freedom that this offers, and understand the sacrifices that a lot of couples make when they start a family. I admire anybody with the intelligence to make an educated decision to start a family.
I am a Gemini born in late May and given the time of the morning that I was born, I'm sure that my birth greeted the Dawn. I am a morning person, which used to infuriate some of the people that I have lived with in the past. I have been accused of being too chirpy in the morning, but this is becoming less prevalent since I got married. I now love to sleep in and find that I sometimes wake up with a less-than-chirpy demeanor.
I don't link myself to any given religious denomination, though I accept that faith is something natural to all of mankind, no matter where we are born or how we are raised. I believe in a higher power but do not dare to place said intelligence in any category because that seems innately flawed. I enjoy meditation, have a set of tarot cards in my underwear drawer, and am fascinated by mystery traditions. The practitioners of esoteric teachings seem to have more of an understanding of a lot of concepts, such as visualization and self control, and I find myself benefiting from reading books on the subject.
I appreciate nature but am afraid of most spider and snake species. I find lizards exceptionally cute, and have been known to terrorize the local gecko population by my incessant need to pick up these tiny companions. I feed bread and cheese slices to several magpies that live near our house as well. I am neither a dog or a cat person, though I have owned several cats over the past decade. I can see adopting another cat in future, but more likely than not, my hubby and I will sign up to care for a police pup in preparation for training and placement. Though I like guinea pigs, I can't shake the feeling that it would make a poor pet. Funny thing is, that I am beginning to warm to the idea of keeping geese. I don't know why, but I can't shake the feeling that they would make a good companion.
I consider myself an animal lover, but I find it hard to let go when an animal companion dies or disappears, which means that I'm a little reluctant to throw myself into the deep end yet. I still cry over pets that disappeared more than five years ago, because of the attachment that I forged with them. Your pet becomes a member of the family, even a close friend. Recently, the family dog, a fourteen year-old Lass by the name of Meg, was savaged by Dingoes in the middle of the night. She passed on due to the wounds. Even though she was not my companion, I miss her tail wagging and affectionate nudges, her floppy ears and the way that she would look at me just before flopping on the floor in anticipation of a belly rub. Like I said, I get quite attached to animal companions, and in spite of this I would like to befriend another critter sometime down the line.
As a child I remember hearing my dad's racism, geared towards aborigines and Jews. It never seemed right, but I understood where it came from: his own abusive upbringing. It is often hard to break the cycle of bitterness, hatred and ignorance, but I had the advantage of a much older and much wiser sister teaching me. Vicky is eight years older than me, and I met her for the first time when she came home from a special home, when I was barely five years older. "This is your big sister, Vicky," my mum told me. Standing before me was a strange girl with horn-rimmed glasses.
When she was old enough to be tested, my big sister was diagnosed as being mentally disabled. She was shipped off to a government facility called a Bush Children's Home, a place where disadvantaged children were given specialized care - whatever that means. Out of all of my family, I am the only one that never went to one of the places. Thank heavens for small mercies.
Vicky was soon enrolled into a Special School as soon as she got back. By the time she got to ninth grade Vicky was given the opportunity to go to a regular school, and she jumped at the chance. Unfortunately a few of the girls from the high school that went home on the same school bus began to follow her home so that they could beat her up. She was tough and she showed a strength of character so lacking in those bullies. In next to no time she began to show a gift for poetry and art. I only wished that she'd continued after she got married.
Ever since I was a young child I have been fascinated by books. Unfortunately, I had poor reading skills up until the age of seven, so I missed out on a lot of junior fiction. It was at this point in time when it suddenly began to make sense, and I was able to write a science fiction story that featured some of the kids in my class that had spent many a lunch hour bullying me. I remember that it was written on a piece of feed paper for a Dot Matrix printer and was messy due to smeared graphite pencil. I only wished that I'd kept that piece of paper as a memento.
Soon enough I began to write several stories that saw fighting Mecha do battle against each other (inspired by Robotech Veritechs), whilst the others featured my own team of superheroes (inspired by numerous DC Comics, including Thor and Batman). It was not long after that, that I read The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander, and this made me fall in love with fantasy, so head over heels that I couldn't help but daydream about myself doing battle with giants and going on grand adventures to find treasure.
In eighth grade I participated in the R.I.B.I.T. program and discovered Douglas Hill through his series The Colsec Trilogy. The saga featured telepathic trees, governmental conspiracies, and a revolution that spanned galaxies. Hill's writing returned my love of Science Fiction. Horror was something that I avoided as a general rule, but I would soon read the novel The Green Piper by Australasian author Victor Kelleher. It was the story of alien invasion in a small town, as seen through the eyes of three schoolkids.
During my adolescence I became a bit of a bum. Of a lunch time I usually hid in the library, but strangely enough, one of the lads that used to play on the Apple Macs of a lunchtime is now a close friend. This is somewhat amazing given that I barely spoke a word to him during high school! In tenth grade I dated a twelfth grader but subsequently broke it off because I was a unable to handle a relationship. Weeks after I graduated twelfth grade (1995) I met my second boyfriend, and after a whirlwind romance he proposed the following April. Late June of 1996 we got married by a Registrar at the courthouse.
Over a decade has passed since becoming a housewife and a lot has happened. Where before I barely knew how to use a computer, I spend hours in front of my laptop each day. Where before I scrawled my stories in notebooks, I now type it up in Word. Online storage makes it is much easier to store my documents as well, enabling me to back up my files and reducing the risk of data loss. I know a bit of html 2.0 and BB code as well, which makes it easier for me to converse with like-minded individuals on forums, but I wouldn't say that I am an expect in any regard. Where before my writing interests were limited by my locale, the internet has opened up numerous communities where I can meet other writers, hone my skills and discuss any problems that I have. It is a great resource and covers the great divide that living away from civilization has created.
A Few of My Favorite Things
Favorite Sports: Cricket, Tennis, Handball, Street Soccer, Rugby Union
Favorite Motor Sports: Superbikes, V8 Supercars, F1 Racing , Flag Competition, Rally Racing
Favorite TV Shows: Reaper; Lucky, Brimstone, Star Trek: Deep Space Nine; Stargate: Atlantis; Dr. Who; The Mighty Boosh; The Big Bang Theory; How I Met Your Mother; David Attenborough documentaries
Favorite Movies: Spirited Away (Hiyao Miyazaki film); Con Air; Iron Man; Ghost in the Shell; American Beauty; Juno; Fearless; Neverending Story; Big Fish; Duelist (Korean: Hyeongsa)
Favorite Books: The Chronicles of Narnia by CS Lewis; The Chronicles of Prydain by Lloyd Alexander; The Green Rider by Kirsten Britain; Brave Men Run by MW Selznick; South Coast by Nathan Lowell; and numerous others...
Favorite Music Groups: Sky; Van Halen; Foreigner; The West Exit; Fleetwood Mac; Def Lepard; The Beatles; Metallica; Roxette
Favorite Music Artist/Composer: Mike Oldfield; Adam Fielding; Brad Sucks; Adam Certamen-Bownik; Jean Michael Jarre; Vangelis