Lacyte• Show stories

I am an adult, divorced woman from Pretoria, Gauteng Province of beautiful South Africa. I have dark brown hair by nature - this changes often, mostly to some shade of red. My eyes are blue - or so I'm told. I'm reasonably tall and when I visit clothing stores, I tend to frequent the sections "For the Bigger Woman". I am driven by hope, laughter, tears, nicotine and caffeine.

I was called a recycled teenager a while ago (I suspect it was actually meant as an insult, but I can't be too sure of that) and my kids tend to agree. I strongly subscribe to the words of the song: 18 'Till I Die, sung by the man with the sexiest voice on this planet, Bryan Adams.

My kids are my pride and joy: Merrigan, my son of 21, and W1ldCh1ld, my daughter of 17. You can find both of them right here on AP as well. And I cannot do this page without mentioning another: Page - my best friend, confidant, part-time muse, critic, cheerleader, personal pc technician and Linux tutor, seldom adversary, soon-to-be co-author, sometimes drinking buddy and the love of W1ldCh1ld's life.(And of course he is also to be found lurking here on AP from time to time.)

I've always been a compulsive reader - those little leaflets in the medicine containers: even they are regular reading matter. If there were ads on toilet paper, I'd read them too. And it seems that I am fast becoming a compulsive writer too. That must be the reason that I find myself semi-permanently carrying around a pen and notebook whenever I move more than a few steps away from my purple pc. (Scout's honour: It really is purple!). I have been writing short stories - actually more like essays - and what I like to call poetry, although many would rather call them the ramblings of a madwoman, for about a year now. I write about anything and everything, whatever comes to mind. The short stories I post are mostly fantasy/fiction - although there have been one or two pieces that are very true and personal. My poetry is mostly personal - what I am feeling at the time of writing them. I have a great (and sometimes weird) sense of humor and tend to see the funny side of even the most serious situations. I believe that if we can laugh, even, or especially, at ourselves, we have won half the battle called life. Sometimes a good laugh is the only exercise I get in a whole day. I am strongly influenced, and subsequently so is my writing, by music. Often music is my Ivory Tower - where I go to escape reality.

Some of my favourites

Music: Medwyn Goodall; Cusco; Bryan Adams; Blackmore's Night; Vangelis; Savage Garden; Bruce Springsteen; Phil Collins - to name but a few.

Authors: Almost anyone - although I am very partial to Stephen King, Dean Koontz, Robin Cook and Danielle Steel

Books: Insomnia - Stephen King; Good Omens - Terry Pratchett and Neil Gaiman; By The Light of The Moon - Dean Koontz (probably because I can identify with having a pet-potplant called Fred)

Movies: I've only recently been educated in the art of movie watching. But if a movie can scare me all the way to the hair colouring products at the supermarket in order to cover the new gray hairs, then it has to be a favourite. Currently I'd have to mention Wes Craven's They as a definite winner, as well as all movies based on the works of Stephen King.

Colours: Purple (go figure) and Red

Some things I'd like to do before I grow up:
(in no particular order)

* Learn a foreign language
* Become a Silver (or better yet, Gold) AP member
* See the whole of South Africa and then the rest of the world - especially Scotland and Ireland
* Take a trip in a helicopter and/or hot-air balloon
* Cry less easily
* Learn to play a musical instrument
* Go to a honest to goodness Rave
* Become financially independant, pay my dues and be able to say "No" without feeling guilty
* Spend a year at a weather station in Antarctica
* Get my 26 year old car fixed (This has been achieved - with thanks to the good friend who helped)
* Get a degree in psychology
* Have a 24/7 Internet connection
* Overcome my fear of heights by bungy jumping and/or sky-diving or parachuting
* Stop talking to myself
* Go on a boat trip around the world - a yacht would be fine too, as long as it has a decent crew that will defer to my every wish and command
* Get a new pc (purple of course)(Got the new pc, now I need the purple spray paint.)
* Have a studio where I can do decoupage and other crafts when I'm not writing
* Find a dentist who doesn't terrify me
* Attend a Bryan Adams and a Blackmore's Night concert
* Go on an extended wild-life TV shoot somewhere in Africa
* Understand a teenager (especially mine)
* Find jobs for all unemployed South Africans who really want to work

Two things I need to do before I can do all the things I'd like to do before I grow up:

* Win the National Lottery
* Get decent Life Insurance