I had someone sign my guestbook the other day telling me that she didn't find any information about me on the site and I thought "hm interesting I never thought of that!" but I mean it's like, who wants to read about ME? I am sooooooo boring! Aren't the Ramblings enough to drive you crazy? Well, maybe I'll fill you in a bit on me, for those of you who don't already know ;)

My 'Net name is Ciara and for all intents and purposes, you can just keep on calling me that! :) For all you people who are curious as to my TRUE identity, my name is Jess! (short for that ever-popular name JESSICA!) I am 18 years-old and currently a freshman at the College of Charleston (South Carolina). I was in Scotland for the month of July, 2001 and it was the best trip of my entire life! I lived in Cincinnati my entire life and, I may have been in the middle of anything I could possibly want - its highly over-developed - I am dead SICK of it! I hate the snow and the cold weather and the unpredictable weather! Not to mention the boring atmosphere (actually the LACK of it) and no character whatsoever. Don't move to Cincinnati.

I'm happy to be in Charleston. Yes the summers are hot and very sticky, but the trees are so big and beautiful (especially with all the Spanish moss!!) The worst part are the cockroaches! (aka Palmetto Bugs) I've only seen two in my dorm (one was dead in my room and the other was prowling the back steps as I walked past) so I am not too uneasy, but I still hate them!

I love chocolate and developed quite a taste for chocolate mousse on a recent trip to Brussels, Belgium. Yum yum! I also have a soft spot for Peeps. You know, those adorable marshmallow, sugar covered bunnies and chickens that come out at Easter? I just like the yellow and white chickens, pink and purple are gross! I know people think they all taste the same, but the colors play tricks on your tastebuds. They're so cute too! So squishy. That should explain the Peep at the top of this page! I got it from an animated GIF at the peeps website: www.marshmallowpeeps.com GO THERE! It's a great site, kinda boring as far as content is concerned, but the pictures are adorable and they have a fan club! I want to join so I can wear a Peeps T-shirt around campus and frighten people with my juvenile mindset. Maybe I'll start sucking my thumb and carrying a security blanket. Or maybe not.

My favorite book (that is excluding those found on the outer planets of the Solar System and any other inhabited planets in the Galaxy, etc.) is Enchantress from the Stars by Sylvia Louise Engdahl. There are numerous other books that I obsess over to the point of madness because I like them so much (DUNE is one) but I always come back to my childhood favorite in the end. I read it for the first time when I was twelve and was looking for a book to read on the bookshelf my teacher kept in our classroom at our disposal. It was love from the start!! The book's style is so sweet, simple, touching, and forward-thinking that even I, six years later and supposedly too old for Young Adult Fiction, am awed from the very first word. What if there is another People that are more advanced than us? What if we have met them and didn't realize it, as they tried to blend in with us to save our future? So many questions are posed in this book, aside from principles that are relevant in our own society, though we may not communicate with telepathy or travel from planet to planet...yet. Engdahl broaches the topics of dedication, fortitude, impossible love, duty, beauty, right and wrong, you name it it's probably in this book somewhere! I love this book to death and would cry if I ever lost my copy because it's out of print! :*(

What else? I like to dye my hair various shades of red (it's originally light brown, as you can see in the picture on this page. Right now it is a brilliantly bright color that I got it done whilst in Scotland by my friend's hairdresser Elizabeth. It looks sooooooooo good! If you ever find yourself in Dunfermline, stop by Trendz and you won't regret it! I love T-shirts (preferably size L!), especially ones with funny sayings on them. I'm wearing one now that says "I used to be schizophrenic...but we're okay now." HA!

Ooooh I thought of something else to write about! All my friends know that I obsess about writing. I mean fiction and poetry. I have wanted to be a writer since I was about seven or eight, and have striven to improve myself ever since. I think maybe I wanted to do it before then, but I had to pretend not to because it was stupid compared to being a firefighter!! Ya know? Everyone wants to be something like that in kindergarten. I wrote a 10,000 word short story for my creative writing class this year which I, and everyone who read it, thought was pretty good. Thus encouraged, I sent it off to a Sci-Fi magazine only to have my expectations dashed with a rejection letter. Why didn't they love my story as much as everyone else had? I think everyone else saw me in person reading it or talking about it and could see how I felt about it...they also knew me so were kinda biased as to how good it was. I'm trying to keep my head up but I can't help but feel extremely dejected and put-off writing, you know? I'm really sad about it but I will convince myself to get over it!

If there is anything else you could POSSIBLY want to know about me, please email me! SOYLINDO1@HOTMAIL.COM I check my mail several times a day because I have no life to speak of, so write me! :)

This is a much more updated picture of me from Prom in April 2001. My hair is a darker, more bright red now (it isn't natural-looking anymore!)