Scholarship? Yeah -

The scholarship that Gaia is offering was my original reason for coming here and registering, but this site is one that really grabs your attention.

I'm a really kind person at heart, and despite my constant grumblings and complainings, I sometimes have a soft spot for kids. So even though my thoughts tend to lean towards the grim and macabre most of the time, that's okay because I acknowledge the darkness within myself and embrace it; I don't repress it and deny it like so many others do. I believe in balance, and this is my way of being balanced and being me.

I haven't really explored much of the site yet, but I'll being hanging around a lot in the coming days, no doubt. I have a good feeling that I'll be finding a lot of friends among the members of this community because we're all people with a similar goal. (See, I do want to help people. ^.-)

In the meanwhile, I'll try this blogging thing and see if I'm any good at it. If you leave me comments, you'll make me happy. And I promise to return the favor if you do.

Now, onto the main topic of this entry: the Gaia scholarship.

It was suggested that I post my answers to the scholarship questions in my blog, and I think it's a really good idea to do so because I'd like to write more than 250 words.

1) What is your purpose? If you had to describe your calling in life, what would you say? What are you here to do? What gift is yours to give to the world?

1) The whole point of my being here on this world is to write. I live, breathe, think, eat, AM words incarnate. Nothing could ever be more important to me than my work. I will never, ever, EVER, want to stop writing. I think I might die if that ever happened.

2) What do you love, and how do (or will) your actions demonstrate this? We at Gaia believe that following your heart is the best way to help the whole planet. What do you care about, and what do you most enjoy doing?

2) As I said before, writing is what I do; it's who I am. I can't change that and I would never want to. Now, what I tell you is not to earn sympathy or pity or horror; I want no part in emotions such as those from people. What I am going to tell you is simply truth. It is a truth that I am eternally grateful to, a truth that I know and believe with all my being.

If it weren't for the books that I've read in my lifetime, I would be dead and you would not be reading this. TC would not exist and the lives of people all around me would be entirely different.

Reading saved my life. Countless times over, the things that bound me to this world when depression had hold of me were books that allowed me to escape the pain of living. And the day that I read Twilight for the first time was the day that I was born.

It was because of that book that I began to write again. It was because of that book that I have become human again.

Stephenie Meyer saved my life and gave me a purpose.

Because of her books, I realized that I was meant to be a writer, and I was meant to change the world.

It may not be a profoud change, but if I can introduce more tolerance to the human race, or if my work is enough to save the life of one person, then I will have accomplished the greatest of all deeds.

I don't seek to be a hero or someone's savior. I just want to change the world. And writing is the way that I am going to do it.

3) Write your ideal job description. Forget about job titles like 'doctor' or 'artist' or 'lawyer.' If you could get paid just to live, how would you spend your time? What would you devote your life to? What would your days be like?

3) Obviously, my days will be spent reading and writing and researching the past. I'd fill my time with learning foreign languages and dead languages like ancient Greek and Latin and Gaelic.

I'd love to travel the world and see Italy and France and Spain; I want to visit Tokyo and Ireland and England and Wales. There's a wealth of world out there and it's calling my name.

I want to travel the world and write. Nothing more than that.