MithraPride

Zdravstvuyte!

Or as we say in English, hello!

I'm Sarah -- I hail from the Siren server, where I play a Mithra named Mozyr. Surprised that I don't see any Siren people on here! Forgive me if there are -- I just didn't see the server mentioned anywhere.

A little bit about me. Bah. Mostly everything is on my live journal.

I've been playing FF XI since March 24, 2004 (I remember the exact date since it was my brother's birthday), though I experienced a bit of downtime on the game during the summer since I was out of the country. I lived in Russia for about two months, traveling between St. Petersburg and Moscow through an exchange student program offered by my university. Incidentally, I'm in my senior year at the University of Arizona in sunny (sometimes rainy) Tucson, Arizona, where I'm majoring in history and trying to pull off another major in Russian (which doesn't look like it'll work out, but oh well).

What are my interests. Hmm. FF XI for one. I also adore politics, anything having to do with Russia, Harry Potter, arachnids, snakes, other types of roleplaying games. I like listening to bands like Against Me!, The Dismemberment Plan, Blackmore's Night (they are an awesome group. You should buy their CDs if you like Renaissance-sounding rock music. Superb!), Elbow, Youth of Britain, Evanescence, Nightwish, and Bauhaus.

I love politics. I've been involved with politics since I was very young. These past few weeks have been crazy for me! Next week will probably be even worse due to the election, and due to the fact that I have an interview up at the Arizona State Legislature to see if I qualify for an internship there next semester. If I get it, I'll be doing stuff like researching and writing bills, presenting them to whatever committee I'll be working for, and then nurturing them as they move from being bills to being laws. It is TEH CRAZIE. (I am so psyched about this, you have no idea). I also love history and writing, because if I didn't love to write, I'd probably hate studying to be an historian. Term papers are fun. I have four of them due in the next month. Hooray. \o/ *gags* I should probably be working on one of them right now, but I'm a procrastinator. And Halloween is coming up, so writing papers is not the first thing on my mind.

My interests are kind of all over the place: Russia, roleplaying -- which is something I've been doing for quite a while now, too. I cut my teeth on roleplaying doing LARPs as a youth (okay, so I was 13 at the time), moved on to play-by-email type games and IRC games once I had access to a computer, and just got involved in MMORPGs ... well, when I signed up for FF XI. I'm actually trying to get a roleplaying linkshell started up on the Siren server, and it's going well even for being in its beginning stages. I first started out roleplaying catgirls, and Mozyr is actually a character I originally started out in a tabletop Star Wars campaign (she was either a Trianii or a Cathari. Trianiis are more human-cat and Catharis look more like biped cats).

I heard about this place through Oxy (another Mithra on the Siren server) who told me to check it out, so I am.

Yeah, so...I'm kind of all over the place, and I have a really short attention spa--*gets distracted by a shiny object*

-- Sarah

In Soviet Bastok Chocobo rides YOU!

So true. Honestly, Russia is awesome. From an historical point of view. It's not someplace I'd want to live full-time, though. They have their own time zone, I swear. It's Russian Standard Time -- which usually means that if you need to get someplace, everything will be late, the bus drivers will decide to go on strike, and you'll be SOL.

Had a blast while I was there, though. I got to drive past the Winter Palace (http://www.hermitage.ru) everyday on my way to class at the Smolny Institute. Fascinating trip.

What I want to do once I get out of college (probably in Dec. of '05, credits willing) is graduate with my BA in history, then go to culinary school. I plan on going to Scottsdale Culinary Institute and getting through their Le Cordon Bleu program (it's one of the top culinary schools in the US) and spending about 18 months there. So I'd like to get my certification in cooking, and then go on to study how spices were traded throughout history from one culture to another. I got really interested in that sort of thing when I was in St. Petersburg, because they have all these spices in Russia that are totally not native to Russia. Just got me to thinking, "How did all this stuff get here?"

Yeah, so. Going through four years of college, a politics internship, only to go back to school to become a chef. God, I'm weird.

I really need to stop rambling in the morning.

And now off to check my mule characters to see if anything's actually sold at the AH...

-- Sarah

Hi there! I can't say I'm the most politically inclined system due to the fact that I see it fail repeatedly on many levels. From local to national the gov't is in a bad way. As for my foreign policy: don't bomb us and I'll be happy. I also don't like my planes being flown into buildings.

Hm, what else? I like foods that aren't very sweet. I kinda wore out my ability to handle sweets as a child. I love sushi.

Nice seeing you here!

I was going to ask you a political question, but after reading a bit off your sig links I can pretty much guess your political affililations...so Ill stay out of it and keep it in game.

Anyhow welcome to the boards, yes I agree russia is awsome, as are alot of countries, tis a shame more americans dont get out more often..there is so much to see in the world its truly amazing..and no sitting on your couch watching it on Tv does not count.

I agree the government does fail, but we're here, so we may as well deal with it and at least try to make it better while we can. I'm sort of of the mind that, okay, this is bad -- but change comes from within first, even if it does take a really long time. What we do today affects what happens tomorrow, even if we don't "see" it. Anyhoo.

Yes, Russia was an awesome trip. I made many russkii druzyei (Russian friends) while I was over there. I still keep in contact with some of them over email.

Totally agree with you, Tivia. We need to get out more. I paid for my trip out there to Russia (my plane fare and my tuition, which ran about $4K -- but it was more than worth it!) since I figured it would make me appreciate it more. I'm still trying to figure out if I was really there or not. Heh. I remember just waking up one morning after hearing about the Russian Abroad program offered through the Univ. of Arizona and saying, "I think I'm going to do that." So...an application, an international student ID card, and a student visa later... I found myself being thrown into a totally different culture. Russia is NOT Europe. Russia is Russia. It is totally unlike anything we have in the US.

It was cold there, even in the middle of June! In Petersburg, I think the hottest it got was about 28 C (about 80-85 F). The coldest it got during the day was 10 C (about 40 F or so). It was always hot and muggy in Moscow, but I wasn't going to complain. I live in AZ -- we're lucky if it gets down to 50 F during the winter out here. We do, however, have really erratic weather in Tucson. That and it stayed pretty bright until 2 AM when the sun would set since we were so far north (in Russia, this period of the summer is referred to as the belii nochi which means White Nights. They have lots of celebrations, concerts, and parades during this time of the year in the major cities). I have pictures taken at 11 PM that look like they could have been taken at 5 PM. No pictures of dead Lenin, though. Meh.

And how it can go from being completely clear to completely cloudy in Tucson in ten minutes, I'll never know.

-- Sarah

Another american ringing in his two cents. (Me that is. Love the country, hate the government.. thats why we have tabloids and free speech, to complain about the officials we elected >.<)

Anyway
Hello and welcome. Sounds like you had fun over there... wish i could leave the country for a vacation some time...other than making a run to canada that is.

I have lots of friends in Canada. One of them is a physics professor at one of the universities in Quebec. I've got a few friends that live in London, Ontario and some friends who live in Toronto. Never been there, though. I have issues with cold weather (I've lived in AZ for going on 15 years now).

-- Sarah