Atlantic Roleplay Community Boards

[zeyla]

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Hm. This is where I talk about the one who thinks for Zeyla.

I suppose to an extent that we all carry some of ourselves to one degree or another in our characters. For myself, this is very true in regard to Zeyla.

Like Zeyla, I am an avid lover of animals and can not remember a time that has not been the case. The first time I was put upon the back of a horse I was less than three years of age, and I remember it vividly, right down to the owner of the horse and the animal's color (which incidentally was dapple grey). I've spent many years of my life training and riding horses, including but not limited to, a specialty in retraining ex-race horses and turning them into calm and happy pleasure horses. One of my favorite horses would allow me to gallop through the woods, bareback, while shooting my bow at pre-placed targets. What a fine horse that was.

Also like Zeyla--and doubtless countless others here and elsewhere--my youth had its ups and downs. In my 17th year things were not so very happy in my family world, and on more than one occasion I left home without my parents' blessings. Likewise I was usually returned without my own blessings, not that it mattered in the eyes of the law. Those times are well behind me now. Though they seemed terrible at the time, they did help create the person that I am today. That person is a compassionate person who tends to care for others more than herself, a person who will go out of their way to assist a person (or animal) in need. I have managed to maintain how very real youth based problems are, and am not one to turn away someone needing guidance.

I work in social services. Specifically, at this time, I work in the nursing department of a large provider of mental health and mental retardation services; my personal caseload includes seventeen individuals. As a non profit, our pay often does not equate our efforts. When I whine to myself about the money I *could* make, I try to remind myself that we have a noble cause. Here, we can make a positive difference in people's lives, oftentimes people whose families have abandoned the for one reason or another. That is a long cry from the one-time computer programmer and budding advertising executive. When I changed careers I took a 2/3 paycut.

I am a strong believer in Karma, or if you wish, you may insert any other phrase or word that sums up the idea that if you do good, it comes back to you. Likewise evil. I am deeply spiritual in my own way, though I often identify myself as a 'recovering Catholic'. My beliefs simply do not have room in the Doctrine. I've had much proof in my own life that some form of Comes Around Goes Around really exists. I often find myself pitying 'bad' people who don't get their Karmic paybacks; I do so because it seems to me that when the payback happens it will be with interest accrued at an exponential rate. So strong is my belief in this cosmic system, that I see it to include the online community. Being a cruel person behind a monitor does not exclude you from this law.

As for RP---I guess I could be classified as a crumbling ancient. I started D&D in the year 1979 and got bored with it by 1982, well before many current players discovered it, or for that matter, were born. I've played online RP (prior to the muds!) dating back to the oldest computer-to-computer and messageboard settings, tabletop, and live-action. V:TM and M:TA were personal favorites for years. I adore live action but my purse often does not have the money for the clothing I would choose for such times. When I was introduced to UO about four years ago it was almost like a RP dream come true. I could see more than the words, I could see the world I was in.

I have few regrets regarding the way I live, or have lived, my life. It has been a rich existence that spans the Globe. I've run on an ambulance crew, sailed the waters on Navy ships, shot missiles from tanks. I have climbed mountains, crossed deserts, and cried at the inexplicable beauty of a Moroccan sunrise over the Strait of Gibraltar. I have learned that beauty can be found in tragedy, and that tragedy can be found in beauty. I see the glass as half full.

My fondnesses include history, space, the paranormal, fetishwear, and art. The rest of my fondnesses, I will keep to myself for my own private thoughts.

There is so much out there left to do, and until then...

I remain,
Zeyla

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Riding--The art of keeping a horse between yourself and the ground.