When You're Not A Mer....

[Artisankatie]

What are you when you're human? Are you a student? Have a totally cool/boring job?

I suppose I should go first :P

My name is Katie (as you could probably tell), and I'm primarily a uni student. I've discovered I'm not made for the general workforce (having tried both sit down jobs and more active jobs, my back just hates work! And my brain gets too hungry.), so I'm devoting my life to academia. My highest qualification at the moment is the Honours degree of Bachelor of Arts. If you hear jokes about Arts degrees not being useful, they're totally true (unless you're REALLY lucky). But if you need advice on historical costume (especially 14th century), ask away! To go with that, I put my research into practice and so I have more costumes than real people clothes. I have sort of a small following with costuming that makes me a little pocket money

My main academic passion though, is science. I just love learning how things work! At the moment I'm in the first year of a Bachelor of Science, and I hope to go on to a Doctorate in good time. I'm studying Geoscience and Biology at the moment, I expect to do a double major in Geoscience and hopefully work with the CSIRO (Commonwealth Scientific and Industrial Research Organisation) when I'm done, making synthetic rocks, or working at a mine (big money in mining in Australia!), or as a paleontologist! Though most likely I'll end up tutoring at university :P

So I hope that wasn't too boring, and I'm curious about what all you other merpeople get up to minus the mer!

[Princess Kae-Leah]

I'm a writer and doll collector

[Mermaasai]

oOoOoO neat Katie! We are made of similar stuff you and I.

Well here I am, My name is Ndola, I have an associates degree in applied sciences.
I do some freelance commission art work from time to time (mostly watercolors or acrylics)
I was a full time fine dining chef until fairly recently when my restaurant had cut backs.
So now I am living at home with my hubby, sharing a house with his brother and two other people.
I cook and clean and am the general house mom (no kids though)

Really I've held every job imaginable from cleaning and cooking, sales and computers, to horse training, to life gaurd etc etc...
I'm WAY too ADD.
Lately I've been encouraged to start a small business with my art since its what I'm best at
and while I hate the idea of being a starving artist, the reality is that this would be the time
to try, since I'm able to stay home so much and have some extra income to work with.

I'm hoping to open an etsy shop shortly with mainly tshirts and the like with fun quotes, memes, and of course commissioned art pieces available.

So thats where I am at the moment!

I have lots of free time and mermaiding is just a HUGE bucket of funsauce that I am immersing myself into!

[New York Mermaid]

I wish you all well on all your future goals its nice to know many merfolks on here have high goals in their life

My Human NickName is Rose,

I have a degree in Sociology and (minor in photography). I do part time in animal rescue & part time as a personal assistant/ Office Leader.. In my off time I like to Sculpt, Draw, Paint, Read, do Photography & Videography, I also run a Cetacean forum and Play Electric Guitar, I also Love to Decorate for birthday parties, christmas and other events which always need some sparkle.

I'm also a "mom" 3 birds and am an avid Aquarist, I also have one VERY understanding husband who knows I love animals and will turn the other cheek and hold his tongue if i come home with a rescued parrot or other bird (he even helps out with feeding times and night watch if need be). And I collect Stuffed marine animals ( i have superpods of orcas and dolphins of many species) I also take time out to swim with i can. (i know i take time somewhere in there to breathe)

*As of recently: Im working on creating plans for a future marine mammal rehab center, I also would love to start my own decorating/ party hosting business. But I figure whatever i do will be a step towards a goal i want in the future. I figure being a mermaid and working with children, and educating them about animals would be a great way to start myself in knowing what i want to do.

Hey I can be an Marine Animal Rehabilitating/ Party Planning / Mermaid! ( I am so sorry if i bored you all..I love to share everything- and Im high on chocolate..lol)

[happyguava]

Great idea, Katie

My name's Shelley. Music is the main thing in my life - I'm currently in my fourth year of a Bachelor of Music, and I want to go on to do Masters in Music Therapy so I can be a music therapist.

I work as an instrumental teacher privately as well as in schools, teaching piano, flute, clarinet, singing and saxophone as well as directing choirs. I also play guitar, and I perform in a 5 piece a cappella group.

I'm also an amateur belly dancer in a little troupe that do charity gigs and the like around Melbourne.

What else? I have a beautiful baby turtle who is currently swimming around like a crazy thing. I love chocolate (but who doesn't right?!)… Oh and sometimes I'm a mermaid!

[Gem Stone]

My name is Alexandrea. I love writing and would love for that to be my job. I am trying to get my first book published, both a young adults book and a children's book. I also play saxophone, keyboard, sketch, paint, and babysit. My actual job is data entry at an accounting place. Most boring job EVER! I do, however, enjoy working for family. Sometimes. I am working my way through homeschooling and I'm thinking about starting a college class soon. Up until recently, I was also a private tutor in Algebra.

[ShyMer]

Oh hey, I homeschooled too! I ended up taking college courses early because of it- sixteen- and it really helped me. There's only so much I could learn on my own about some things, and it gave me a nice boost for later on. Btw, If you can get an Associates degree at a community college, four year schools will sometimes give you reduced tuition

[Gem Stone]

Shymer- thanks for the advice. Which homeschooling program did you do?

[Demi]

wow all of you have so mutch to tell.. My name is Astrid, an old danish name. Im still in high school, but this summer i'll be done Im planing on taking a year where im just working different places, get some experience, and after that go to college. It would be nice if I was done with all the school things but there is still some years to go :P
Apart from that i draw and design costumes which is one of my biggest passions.. i dont know what else there is to tell.. x)

[Mermaid Lorelei]

Outside, my name is Laura. Yeah, you can kind of guess where my mermaid name came from. :P

I'm finishing my Sophomore year in college right now. I'm working on a Biology major, and hopefully I'll be working for a Marine Biology emphasis in the next year or two.
In my free time I swim, play soccer, play volleyball, dabble in photography and makeup, and I make jewelry and accessories. :>
My nickname is Ninja, though I have about 26 other names. I cosplay from time to time, my costumes make up a large portion of my closet, and I plan on expanding. I enjoy collecting antique kimono and obi, I'm interested in taking Trapeze lessons (I loved it the one time I was on one), and hopefully I'll be gaining my SCUBA license this summer.

I have one fish, four dogs, and I'm hoping to get a lizard or a snake soon.

There's more to me than this, but honestly, I can't think of anything right now. XD

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

I am Martin. I've lived near West Chester PA my whole life, except when I went away to Penn State's Main Campus for college. I am from an Italian-American Catholic family, though we're unusually tall for Italian-descended people (I'm 6'2" tall, myself), and I've flirted with neopaganism despite going to Church every week and continue to be fairly devoutly Catholic. I still have family in La Marche, Calabria, and a few in Milan and the Neopolitan region, and I've visited them on several occasions, as well as seen other spots in Italy (and several other places, including London and the surrounding countryside, Paris, Normandy, Amsterdam, and a trip through Belgium, Luxembourg, Germany, Austria and Lichtenstein, Jamaica, Bermuda, the Canadian side of Niagara Falls, the Canadian Lake Region, Montreal, Quebec, and the Riviera Maya in Mexico). I've also traveled up and down the East Coast, and been to a few other places in the U.S. (pre-Katrina New Orleans, Los Angeles and Santa Monica and Nashville and Cincinnati, though there's so much more I want to see).

I was the shy, artistic kid in grade school who ran around the playground pretending he had wings; in middle and high school I went to an all-boys catholic prep school (which might've been a bad idea). During High school I took part in a lot of the plays and musicals, though I never found a sport that I enjoyed. I figured out I was gay after playing Everquest, and was grounded from the Internet as a result. I went to Penn State as an Environmental Resource Management student, only to find out that the required chemistry and agrobusiness management classes were killing me, so I went for English instead, and took some really impressive classes (scuba, skiing, fencing, near eastern mythology, non-western mythology, art history, drawing, early british literature, the victorians, fantasy literature, sci-fi literature, shakespeare, the art of the picture book, James Joyce, Paleontology, Oceanography, Geoscience, Creative Writing, Poetry studies, Fiction Writing, and Entomology. I also started coming out to friends and family, and now I'm almost entirely out of the closet (my grandparents don't know yet, but I'm probably ok with that). I graduated in 2007 and went on almost immediately to grad school, taking classes in Curriculum and Instruction: Children's Literature... only to be wiped out by mono and end up scrapping that idea. I've worked as a lifeguard and swim instructor, a writing tutor, a library assistant, a legal assistant, and a book store clerk, and I'm trying to figure out what to do with myself now. I'm currently working on a library and information systems graduate degree at Drexel (taking online classes, which has its upsides and downsides) and I'm trying to decide what my next step is.

[AniaR]

Im an elementary school teacher, I teach guitar, and I work 1 day a week at an art gallery. Occasionally I book music gigs.

[Artisankatie]

Wow, everybody is pretty interesting as a human as well as a mer! I'm half surprised and half not surprised that a lot of people have tertiary education, and we all seem to be a little on the quirky side :P
It's nice to see we have a lot in common besides wanting to be merpeople - we all seem to have an artistic streak, be it music or writing or visual art!

Princess Kae-Leah, what kind of things do you write? I know you collect vintage dolls (Barbie fascinates me, I'm a nut for fashion evolution and Barbie is an awesome case study!), what made you want to collect them?

Mermaasai, we ARE quite similar :P I'm also horsy, and something of an artist

Hehe Gem Stone, I used to work in the same call centre as Aela, doing data entry and tellering in the main office before we both quit with people problems (and back problems for me, lol) - I feel your pain! I used to go into a sort of trance and run on autopilot :P

Joy&RapturesUnrestrained, I am a jellyfish. I've never been outside of Australia, I'm dying to go to Italy (as part of my Arts degree I studied Latin and Roman history), and all the places my family migrated from 150 years ago! I often wonder what it would be like meeting my distant family and seeing if they're anything like me! By the way, do you play WoW? I'm an 85 human lock on Blackrock :3

[Alveric]

I'm a full time law librarian, part-time writer and politician (I'm giving up politics because the viciousness makes it no longer fun). I've done Medieval combat simulations (I wrote a book on 15th century Arms and armor for my master's thesis). I've done Civil War and Old West reenacting. I'm a husband and father of two; a boy age fifteen and girl age 23. The daughter is marrying a nice young man from Brisbane, Ozzyland in June. (You're all invited).

I have a Mer-novel finished and awaiting publication.

Alveric

[Princess Kae-Leah]

The link to my writing is in my sig line. I collect mostly vintage Barbie-type vinyl dolls, and I guess like you I find them fascinating as well as beautiful and fun to collect.

[LordsofSalem]

My name is Loreena, I'm almost 17, and I'm Canadian!

My boyfriend is 21 (shhh he looks my age) and I'm bisexual.
I'm in grade 11 and an aspiring ballet dancer. My best subjects are English, Writing, Drama and Music Appreciation (we seriously study music. It rocks). I'm not actually a very good student (I sleep during class), but I may go to college.

I love learning about freak shows and oddities (especially human oddities). I love learning different sideshow acts -- if you read my introduction, I mention that I do contortion, fire eating and human blockhead (if you don't know what blockhead is, google it! c: ). I also want to build a bed of nails and learn tightrope, aerial silks, and fire breathing, and sword swallowing. I have my hair dyed pink and my ears are stretched to 8g. I can't wait to get tattoos and more piercings!

I worked at Claire's (accessory store) for 3 months. I was only a temp because 1) I was a co-op student there and, 2) I was under 18. I miss working.

I'm veggie! Animals have always been my friends (:

I've beaten self-harm twice and bulimia. I actually feel good about my body now and like my curves. I've quit smoking and pot.

I really, really want to move the States, preferably to Salem, Massachusetts. I've always been obsessed with the Salem Witch Trials (I love the paranormal) and I'd love to encounter some of the residual ghosts.

I really don't know what else to put!

[SweeteSiren]

This is intimidating - everyone else is so much more interesting than I am!
My human name is Rachel. I am a marketing communications secretary and I spend most of my time at a desk working on trademark renewals. Working on my education to get a better job - just got my Associates Science in December, and will be starting work on my Bachelors in the fall, planning on a bioengineering major. In my spare time (HA, ha, ha, ha!), I play the mountain dulcimer, am trying to teach myself piano, and collect 17th century folk music. I have 3 kids, and am working on a mermaid tail for one of them. I am also in the middle of planning my wedding.

[babsannee]

Hey! My real name is Barbara. Most people actually call me Babs in real life though. My middle name is Anne, so as you can imagine I get a lot of Beach Boys jokes. I'm almost 18, and I really love theatre. I do all the theatre I can at school. I like indie music, folk music, folk rock, etc. I really love the idea of studying cultural anthropology, because I like to think about what makes people and cultures tick. I've loved mermaids since I was little, and I think that I would love to be an actress for the rest of my life. I don't know why, I just love it!!!!!!

[Joy&RaptorsUnrestrained!]

Wow, everybody is pretty interesting as a human as well as a mer! I'm half surprised and half not surprised that a lot of people have tertiary education, and we all seem to be a little on the quirky side :P
It's nice to see we have a lot in common besides wanting to be merpeople - we all seem to have an artistic streak, be it music or writing or visual art!

Princess Kae-Leah, what kind of things do you write? I know you collect vintage dolls (Barbie fascinates me, I'm a nut for fashion evolution and Barbie is an awesome case study!), what made you want to collect them?

Mermaasai, we ARE quite similar :P I'm also horsy, and something of an artist

Hehe Gem Stone, I used to work in the same call centre as Aela, doing data entry and tellering in the main office before we both quit with people problems (and back problems for me, lol) - I feel your pain! I used to go into a sort of trance and run on autopilot :P

Joy&RapturesUnrestrained, I am a jellyfish. I've never been outside of Australia, I'm dying to go to Italy (as part of my Arts degree I studied Latin and Roman history), and all the places my family migrated from 150 years ago! I often wonder what it would be like meeting my distant family and seeing if they're anything like me! By the way, do you play WoW? I'm an 85 human lock on Blackrock :3

Artisankatie, I have a human priest and a mage (arcane), night elf druid (balance) and a hunter (beast), dwarf shaman (enhancement), gnome rogue, worgen rogue (subtlety) and a druid (beast), draenei paladin and a mage (ice), orc warrior and a warlock, goblin hunter, tauren shaman (elemental), troll priest, undead warlock (demonology) and a priest (shadow), blood elf mage (fire) and a paladin. I'm also planning a night elf mage (arcane/ice) and warrior, a draenei shaman (healing), a gnome mage (ice/fire), tauren druid and paladin, troll druid, and several others, but I'm waiting to make those until after I get a character high enough to unlock death knights (I have at least three planned). At the moment, I've gotten all of my characters to level 20, but am trying to get each of them to level 40... and then I'll move on to level 60, etc. I have characters on steamwheedle cartel, nesignwary, arygos, kalecgos, illidan, dalaran, proudmoore, korialstrasz, and Area 52, though if you don't mind coaching a relative newbie, I could make one on Blackrock, too. I still wish harpies and naga were playable races, though.

I'm also on City of Heroes (occasionally on DC Universe Online) and I am rueing the day I got a Mac because I can't play Everquest II's Fae/Arasai or AION (or even play my old dragon and dryad characters from Istaria), not to mention all of my windows-required non-MMO games.

[Odette]

this is fun!
i am a veterinary assistant and going back to school for a vet tech.i have worked with animal control for awhile and yes, alot of animals have to be out down.i got to work with dogs,cats,rabbits,iguanas,pythons,chinchillas,turt les,parrots,doves,and a colorado rover toad.

i currently volunteer at the wildlife center. i clean and feed(i have to gut and pull heads off of quail and mice.i hate it but it must be done) i medicate and restrain only when we need an x-ray or give meds subcutaneously. i have been attacked by two turkey vultures and Kiki(the resident kestral) i also get to do physical therapy to some of the animals. the owl was the worst. we also get bobcats,coyotes,javalina,and an occasional mountain lion. the cats have a very loud hissing noise that will make most people jump.its so amazzing.

i work at Valley of the Moon.a historical fantasy park.i give historical tours and im the veteran mermaid.we do not need anymore mermaids right now(i get asked so much) i am also the spring show's director. we are going to do "Peter Pan"
i will be posting a thread about this later next month because i specifically made a mermaid scene that i want to share with you all.

i also study sometimes at the medical library to conduct research on zoo animal medicine as i plan to go to the teaching zoo as i get older(late 30's).
right now ill be doing research for cetacean stress realted hormones and envorinmental and disease problems in marine aquariums. i have 11 pages so far.

another thing that im doing is learning about water conservation and meeting with alot of people.(thanks to the water festival)that are good connections. we got people from the government and the water company and tribe mebers. i hope i can get some good connections there and im learning just about everything water related.i love it.

i have been a vlounteer STEM program(girl scouts science program) teaching assistant and plan on doing it again this year if i have time. i helped teach the girls about marine biology and entomology.

also i work for conventions all over the United States though im currently limited to Arizona.by next year ill be working chicago and florida hopefully.