Tina. Twenty-one years old. Introspective, sensitive, and eccentric to boot. Short, slight, dark-haired, and elfin. The daydreamer who reads historical fiction and fantasy novels voraciously, hoping that somewhere between the pages might actually lurk a tangible portal to another time. The hopeless romantic who has been with the same wonderful man for four years and counting, and cries over sentimental movies and even songs. The writer who endeavours to create art from mere words, and dresses like a character in a period drama. The nature soul who finds unspeakable sadness and beauty within something so simple as the changing of the leaves in autumn. The all-too-dedicated English major and utter linguistics nerd who studies Old English and Russian, and takes pride in reading Chaucer with a perfect Middle English accent. Loves cute fuzzy animals, music, Vikings, graphic design, history, history, and more history, moody poetry, Seinfeld, all things Tolkien, black raspberry ice cream, Celtic and Nordic myths, Gothic and Victorian architecture, British spelling, snuggling, and sarcasm. Hates annoying sounds that irritate her OCD, people who do nothing save whine hither and yon, liars and fakers of all types, spelling and grammatical errors, cauliflower, body odour, and emo.


My profile page hosts a more comprehensive list, but here are several of those I love most:

Iron Maiden
Judas Priest
Bruce Dickinson
Rob Halford
Manowar
Dio
Grave Digger
Running Wild
Therion
Catharsis
Sentenced
Blind Guardian
Iced Earth
Wuthering Heights
Tierra Santa
Mägo de Oz
Korpiklaani
Finntroll
Skyclad
The Clan Destined
Metsatöll
In Extremo
Cruachan
Mael Mórdha
Forefather
Otyg
Ensiferum
Slough Feg
Tuatha De Danann
Trans-Siberian Orchestra


A few of my favourites:

"The Silmarillion"
-J.R.R. Tolkien
"Lord of the Rings Trilogy"
-J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Lays of Beleriand"
-J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Hobbit"
-J.R.R. Tolkien
"The Icewind Dale Trilogy"
-R.A. Salvatore
"Lord of Snow and Shadows"
-Sarah Ash
"Prisoner of the Iron Tower"
-Sarah Ash
"Children of the Serpent Gate"
-Sarah Ash
"Wuthering Heights"
-Emily Brontë
"Jane Eyre"
-Charlotte Brontë
"Pride and Prejudice"
-Jane Austen
"Northanger Abbey"
-Jane Austen
"Daughter of the Forest"
-Juliet Marillier
"Son of the Shadows"
-Juliet Marillier
"Child of the Prophecy"
-Juliet Marillier
"The Phantom of the Opera"
-Gaston Leroux
"The Canterbury Tales"
-Geoffrey Chaucer
"Beowulf"
- Seamus Heaney translation
"The Merchant of Venice"
-William Shakespeare
"Gone With The Wind"
-Margaret Mitchell
"The Lion, The Witch, and the Wardrobe"
-C.S. Lewis
"Blood and Chocolate"
-Annette Curtis Klause
"The Princess Bride"
-William Goldman
"Beauty"
-Robin McKinley
"East"
-Edith Pattou
"Crown Duel"
-Sherwood Smith
"The Secret Garden"
-Frances Burnett


"We Are But Falling Leaves"
- Sentenced -

Think of your lifetime as one day... it's fading away, the shadows are growing long. Think of existence as a flame, and death as rain.
Storm clouds there right along...

At life's eve our flames will cease -- eternally, unavoidably, eventually... all paths will lead to the cemetery.

We are but falling leaves in the air, hovering down.
Unaware we are spinning around. Scattered fragments of time, like blinks of an eye.
We are... that's all we are.

Think of your lifetime as one year... look, autumn is here. Getting colder, the winter's impending...
Your conclusion's drawing near... certain, austere.
Yes, only the circle's unending.

At life's eve our flames will cease -- eternally, unavoidably, eventually... all paths will lead to the cemetery... to the prior deceased.

We are but falling leaves in the air, hovering down.
Unaware we are spinning around. Scattered fragments of time, like blinks of an eye.
We are...

Just when we realise that we are alive...
We die.


Best viewed in IE or Firefox with a 1024 x 768 screen resolution.
Image to the right in my layout and icon base are from the painting "Nelicquele", by the fabulously talented digital artist Linda Bergkvist.



© Linda Bergkvist; all rights reserved.
Lyrics at the top of the main table are from:
Sentenced's "We Are But Falling Leaves"
Album: "The Funeral Album" (2005).
Text on icon and in comment links taken from Lord Byron's classic poem "She Walks In Beauty" (1815).
Brushes by illustrator Annika von Holdt.



Layout design and coding by the one and only Tina; graphics created using Photoshop 7.
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