So, I suppose I should start this blog by introducing myself. My name is Sam. I'm 23 years old, female and I currently live in Adelaide, Australia. I'm a high school English / ESL teacher. I have lived in Adelaide all of my life but I want to travel the world someday in the future to see friends in the US and also Great Britain and France.

I live at home with my parents and younger sister. We have two dogs (both border collies) who are part of the family - their names are Jess and Jemma. Jess is a superb soccer player... there's nothing she likes more than to be playing with her soccer ball. Jemma is mischievous and her favourite game is when she steals something (anything) and parades around with it. She's also the baby of the family. Both of our dogs are spoiled rotten and they know what the words biscuit, drive, bath and outside mean (amongst others). Jess's favourite party trick is jumping up to take her squeaky ball out of your pocket, whereas Jem will carry almost anything if you ask her to hold it. The trouble is, she doesn't always give whatever it is back! Her favourite item to carry is a sock.

Outside of work I have a few different hobbies that I sometimes struggle to find time for. I love computers and am reasonably computer-savvy... I have just recently bought a new computer with Windows Vista and am really enjoying the new features. I also love the Microsoft Office 2007 suite. The best thing about the computer is the ability to play games my old computer couldn't handle very well, such as Zoo Tycoon 2. Other favourite PC games include The Sims 2 series, Age of Mythology, Age of Empires series and a multitude of horse-related games. I also play PS2 and Nintendo DS games. I love Final Fantasy VII, VIII, X, X2 and XII and sing along very badly in the Singstar games. On the DS I'd have to say that my favourite game is Pokemon Diamond.

I also write stories and spend a lot of time working on developing those. I mainly write fantasy but also have some suspense ones too. I started writing back in high school when I was in Year 10... I got so far ahead of my English class (I read the class novel overnight) that my teacher gave me a lot of free time and I began two stories (Sinister Reasons and Jewel) that I'm still working on nearly 10 years later.  I would love to publish one day but I am still working on my writing style. That said, my friend K is reading Sinister Reasons at the moment. I have to do some more for her soon. Most of my stories are in bits and pieces but I have about 10 that are approaching novel length.

I love taking photos and have a great camera (a Fujifilm Finepix S5600) that I try to take whenever I think I'm going somewhere interesting. I got some nice shots when I was in Sydney in October that I will try to post soon and I also take lots of photos of Jess and Jemma. I design logos for friends in the US and make webpages. Another hobby that I try to make time for is making beaded jewellery... I guess you could say that I have a lot of fun being creative!

I love to read and am usually able to read a book in a couple of hours. As a 12 year old I was reading my mum's books and now I'll read almost anything given the chance. That said, I generally read young adult fiction and the fantasy and crime genres. My best new find after the Harry Potter series was finding the Twilight saga by Stephenie Meyer, which I found thanks to another author I read, Shannon Hale in her Squeetus blog. I also love Tamora Pierce's books (can't wait for Bloodhound!), Jodi Picoult's novels and books by Australian authors Matthew Reilly and Garth Nix. I will write a favorite authors (and a favourite books) post another time. I have a lot of books at home which I catalogue on LibraryThing. I've just bought a barcode scanner from them, which will mean I will have far less to type in manually and far more time to do other stuff.

My favourite animal is the horse. I worked at a riding school for almost a year when I was in high school but the owner closed and moved interstate and I haven't really had the chance to start lessons again since. That said, once I have a permanant teaching position I intend to start lessons again and buy my own horse. My favourite breed is the Appaloosa (just love their colours). I discovered them when I started visiting Saddlebrook Appaloosas in 2001 and have seen 6 foals (Tux, Romeo, Phoebe, Sport, Chief and Moxy) born live on their webcams.