Welcome to my weblog!

First things are first - my name is Jennifer, but my username of choice right now is Galatea. Galatea is the main villian from an anime series called Bubblegum Crisis Tokyo 2040. My other two currently used nicknames are Summfox (probably the most widespread of them all, although its use is declining) and Sephirothe.

Next in line is an explanation of 'Cyber Materia.' The word materia comes from Final Fantasy VII and basically, it is a small sphere of materialized earth energy that gives the user access to magic. The cyber part comes from my deep fascination with cyberpsychology, online roleplaying, and the wired world in general. Although it might sound like it, cyber-materia isn't another one of those catchy webnames that doesn't really mean anything. The more I think about it, the more I realize that almost all of my interests can be tied to it one way or another... and thats kinda nifty. One day I might try to piece together that web. (For instance, did you know that kitsune, or fox spirits, are said to keep a toy ball that contains their magickal power? Sounds like a piece of materia to me...

But who am I really? Well... I'm a strange strange person! Really. I'm not kidding. But that sort of thing is hard to appreciate when its just a quick note in someone's 'about me' page. It comes out more in the weblog entries itself. Along with being a terribly selfish and materialistic individual, I'm also an artist... supposedly. I've got a BFA in Fine Arts and my major was Illustration. My best area is fantasy concept art or pre-visualization art as its sometime called. (For video games, movies, etc.) Overall, college was not a good time for me and although I got very high marks, I consider myself a failure because it was just not the experience it should have been. As of Autumn 2004, its been over a year since I graduated and I'm only now starting to draw again...

Autumn 2004 also marks my first year living in the UK and my first year of being a married person. (Resource Type: Undomesticated House-wife.) I can't say its been easy, especially as I do suffer from a certain level of chronic depression. But its been getting better. My biggest problem is I can't decide what to do with myself. I have a lot of talents and there are so many things I would really like to do. For instance, I would like to be a novelist because I love to write and its something I'm genuinely good at doing. But I'd also be happy designing alternative clothing for some small independant company. The idea of being a museum archivist also has a certain appeal to me, but then again, so does being an art buyer. To make matters worse, I also have interests in interior design, especially when it comes to the application of traditional architectural elements in a contemporary fashion. And then I guess there's always the Art... 'thing'... Which for me, ranges from stained glass to photography, with fine art, 3D/CGI art, and concept art all falling somewhere inbetween.

Aside from that and my habit of wearing all black clothing that falls under that 'dark anime' style of mine, I do stuff like collect really really cute things! Like hair ties that feature bright pink plushy bat faces that squeek when you press them. And backpacks in the shape of a Japanese rice balls. And NyanNyanNyanko (plushy cats hiding in different foods), which is something that really must be seen to be appreciated. And there's also the fox beanie hat made out of fleece that makes me look like a particularly cute anime character. I guess even my Slythern House keychain and scarf are cute in their own dark, sinister way. Same thing with my Shinra Electric Power Company Stuff. And just for the record, I DO collect on a more serious level too. I've got an anime cel and sketch collection that I am quite proud of, as well as a slowly growing traditional/authentic Japanese kimono collection. I also have a HUGE mountain of fox plushies! Because the fox is my favourite animal. (Doh! Sorry, I guess that last thing is actually cute, rather than serious.)

Well, I could go on and on about my interests and hobbies, but then I think it would all start to dribble down into a boring 'favourites' list after a while and thats no fun. Besides, I think if I completely summed up everything about myself here, there'd be even less reason to visit my weblog than there already is. So yeah.