My favorite games when I was younger were stratego and something called Uncle Wigglies (something or other) I can’t remember the title. Now, my favorite board games are Scatagories, Cranium, Trivial Pursuit, and taboo. I love playing games that make everyone laugh.

I haven't been to that many concerts; it's really not my thing. Especially the really loud kind. I have been to see Amy Grant, which was nice. And I heard Dave Matthews Band play at my school.

My name comes from something very ordinary that I happened to be looking at when I made up the name (you guess what it was). Audiaa is the feminine of audio, which means to listen or hear in Latin. Martin comes from Mars, the Roman god of war (and fertility and spring growth and the protector of ca...

Hi, I’m Audiaa Martin first year Ravenclaw. I’m excited to learn new things and meet new people here at HOL. I enjoy reading and writing. I’ve been writing Harry Potter fan fiction ever since I finished book four shortly after it came out. I miss Sirius /sad.gif" style="vertica...

My favorite books are: Sci. Fi/Fantasy Lord of the Rings Contact by Carl Segan Imzadi by Peter David The Science Fiction Hall of Fame Volume One (this is an anthology, and it includes lots of great old school science fiction short stories my favorite is Mimsy where the Borogroves by Lewis Padgett, ...

I had recently taken all my belongings and packed them into my car. There was little more than a me-sized area left vacant in the front seat when I was done packing and began driving across the country (US) to begin my first ‘real’ job as a lab technician. When I arrived, my apartment had barely more than an air mattress and a TV, and no cable. I got two stations. One was PBS, and the other was playing the news.

I watched a live report from a local Barnes and Nobel. A bunch of children dressed in robes and fake glasses were getting measured for wands (measured between their nostrils none the less). If that weren’t strange enough, they were spending the night at the bookstore so they could get their copies of “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fireâ€Â￾ the moment it went on sale. I thought this was quite absurd, waiting up all night for a book. By the time they got it, they’d be too tired to read it. (yeah right)

The next day, I went about running errands. I got my driver’s license, registered my car, got a bank account, and my library card. I went to browse the stacks for a novel to read that night and was automatically pulled to the Star Trek section. There was a separate spinny rack just for Trek paperbacks, and there haphazardly placed right on top of “The Entropy Effect,â€Â￾ was “Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone.â€Â￾ Of course I couldn’t resist finding out what all this nose-measuring nonsense was about, so I checked it out.

I read the entire book that night. I loved all the magical details that enriched what was already a great story. I was drawn in to poor Harry’s story and had to find out what the next thing he would be expected to do would be. I love angst! Of course, when I went back to the library they didn’t have any other Harry Potter books unless they were hiding in the classical music section or some such place. I didn’t search the entire branch (though I came close). Defeated, I went home and immediately ordered all the books available at the time from Amazon and waited anxiously for them to arrive.

Shortly after ordering, the third book arrived, and I couldn’t wait to read it even though the second one had yet to arrive. So, I read about Sirius and Azkaban before the Chamber of Secrets. I specifically remember references to Hagrid being sent to Azkaban (that happened in the second book) that I didn’t understand completely because I hadn’t read it yet. A day later, I received the second book, and then about a week went by, and the fourth book didn’t show up. I usually get messages in my mail box that inform me if I have a package. I didn’t get any messages. I went to the office, and they said that I did have a package, and the manager went to get it. The box was just the right size to hold my Goblet of Fire, but when the manager ‘tossed’ it to me, I realized that it wasn’t a thick Potter book. No, it was a pencil. Seriously, I got *one* drawing pencil (that I ordered to make my order over a certain amount so that I could get a discount) in a Goblet of Fire-sized box. I was pretty devastated (in that amused this isn’t really important sort of way).

I had called Amazon and done everything I could do aside from going to a book store and buying another copy, when the office called me and said there was a package that had been sitting there for a week that I should come pick up. AGG! Well, it was there all along, but the manager hadn’t been able to find it. So, I did get my Goblet of Fire, and I read it very quickly. I remember re-reading the Voldemort in the graveyard scene because I wasn’t sure if it were real or a dream.

Thus far, I had gotten all of my Potter in concentrated form. I hadn’t had to wait (more than a few days) and had become somewhat spoiled. I wanted more, but the prospects of the next book coming soon were not good (turned out to be three years or so, so I’m glad I didn’t just sit back and wait for it.) At this time, I started writing fan fiction. I had previously written some Star Trek stories and had fun with it, and I decided to try writing Harry Potter. I found many forums on the Internet to read and share fan fiction, and I was excited to communicate with people all over the world. Writing fan fiction became a sort of outlet for me after frustrating days at work. Grr there were a lot of those, but thankfully I could come home and take it out on poor Harry. I wouldn’t say that Harry Potter inspired me to go to move on from that tech. job, but it did keep me sane during my first job, which was required to get me where I am today.

Audiaa Martin (Ravenclaw, au503, USA)