Name: Laurie Ellis
Contact: sezmra@gmail.com
Haunt: EFnet
I’ll keep this brief. I’m a woman in her late-twenties. I’m usually level-headed, kind of smart, kind of quiet, and a not-so-typical American girl. I’m 40% tomboy, 40% hippy, and 20% yuppy. I’ve been married for seven years to a great guy with an intriguing soul. I like honesty and detest social superficiality. I think that people should be sincere about the way they feel. I enjoy the natural things in life. My animal friends make me smile and my daughter makes me giggle. Music moves me and art feeds me. The outdoors remind me that I’m alive.
My favorite flower is the Calla Lily.
I adore sweet red grapes.
Musky smells make me happy.
Art
I’m an artist. When I was a child, my mother encouraged creativity, especially by letting me help out in any ceramics projects she did. I have a lot of fond memories painting figurines before they were sent off to get fired, and such. One day when I was ten or eleven, I was bored. I sat down and I drew something freehand to occupy myself. I’m not sure why, but something clicked, and I’ve been doing that ever since. Fantasy art always appealed to me, from comic books to yes, computer game box art. I’ve dabbled in so many mediums. I suggest you visit the Gallery for more information on that. Art will always be a part of me, as it is how I express myself and my ideas.
For years I avoided being an art-appreciator, I have never been one to visit many galleries. I felt that for years, I would “taint” my styles with other styles. It was an unnecessary, awkward fear. I’ve begun to learn that appreciating other people’s work is a good way to be inspired. But, hey, we all grow eventually right?
Music
I love music! I can’t express that enough. Music was always a big part of my life. Some of my favorites, as a kid, were Bon Jovi, Michael Jackson, Oldies, and some 80’s Dance records. Those tastes matured as I did, and the only genre of music I didn’t enjoy was modern country. Not only did I enjoy listening to music, I always played with instruments. I still do! Keyboards, guitars, and clarinets. Hey, I’m not saying I was ever any good at it, but I enjoy it! Music also goes hand in hand with performing. At an early age, I was enrolled in ballet and tap classes. Picture a chubby six-seven year old in a bumble-bee outfit. Okay, don’t. I had fun doing, I admit, and am still a bit of a performer at heart. I love dancing around or expressing myself in similar ways. Especially in conjunction with music. It’s impossible not to be intoxicated by it!
I had the great opportunity to join a group of Internet DJs, called GridStream Productions to further express my love of music, as DJ Lauri of The Meltdown. My show lasted for over 3 years and I found that it was very rewarding to share my musical admiration with others.These days, some of my favorite music is metal. Yeah, I call myself a metalhead. Iron Maiden, W.A.S.P., Type O Negative, Children of Bodom, Iced Earth, Megadeth, [old]Metallica, even King Diamond are among some of my choice metal bands. And even though I am a metalhead, I love other kinds of music too. Good rock, old fashioned rock, techno, electronica, even some pop. I can even dig jazz!
Computers & Gaming
I grew up with an interest in computers, fostered by my father. Early on, at the age of about six or seven, there were computers and game consoles in the house. My first gaming console was an Atari 2600 and my first computer was a keyboard/tape deck combo with a large book of programming code. I have no idea what that computer was, but one day I’ll figure it out. Throughout the years, we upgraded to bigger and better computers and gaming consoles. My console gaming tendencies, even then, lean towards that of story-driven games, or “RPGs”. Some of the first that I played were Legend of Zelda, Final Fantasy, Chrono Trigger, etcetera.
I got interested in computer gaming quite a bit, as well. Some of my first computer games were Sierra series games such as Quest for Glory, King’s Quest, and Origin’s Ultima games. When it came to games, if it looked interesting, was full of story, and had pretty pictures - I was all over it. I also loved collecting the boxes to these games, for art purposes.
These days, I don’t game as much as I used to, probably because I’m older. My tastes have mutated here and there. Sometime in 1997, I discovered MMORPGs. The Realm got me hooked on online gaming. Since then, I get my grubby gamer hands on most MMORPGs that are released. I’ve played The Realm, Ultima Online, Everquest, Asheron’s Call, Asheron’s Call 2, Earth and Beyond, Anarchy Online, Dark Age of Camelot, The Sims Online, EVE, Final Fantasy XI, Horizons, City of Heroes, City of Villains, and World of Warcraft. Even though I’m a big fan of Role-Playing Games, I do still enjoy other game genres such as FPS, Action, and Simulation.
Computers are more than just game machines though, and I enjoy more than just games. From reading to writing to music to website authoring.. you name it. The internet is a virtual reality in which users live, and I’ve been a virtual citizen for many years now. There’s a lot to do, to see, and to educate one’s self with.