Hey everyone, I’m Laura, Red Laura to my friends. In a nutshell, I suppose you could call me a huge nerd/science geek/biggest tomboy dork. When I was little, I lived on a street with only my brother and four boys to play with, so my options for activities were limited. Most of my fun time was spent playing Mario Kart and Super Street Fighter with my brother. Throughout my life, I’ve usually been the girl among guys, and that hasn’t changed much. I lack a decent fashion sense, and I think I’ve worn heels a total of three times in my life. I live in a house with three guys, all of us gamer/comic book/sci-fi nerds. I am a full-time student at Eckerd College in St. Petersburg, Florida majoring in marine biology. Not really in line with being a video game dork, I know, but I like it, so whatever. I recently worked in a lab doing microarray analysis of pacific corals. In English, that means I did mean things to coral, like pouring sand on them, and seeing how they react at a genetic level. Along with the marine biology, I am an avid scuba diver and underwater photographer.
Underwater photography is a fun challenge, since you have to not only balance in the water, but also keep track of what you are trying to photograph, since most fish don’t like divers too close.
When not attending to my scholarly pursuits, my three main loves are video games, comic books and anime/manga. My anime tastes lean more towards action stuff like Bleach and Gundam stuff. I love mecha. Seriously, what could be more fun that a huge, humaniod robot weapon? I read the Bleach, Naruto, Claymore, Full Metal Alchemist and D.Gray-Man mangas religiously. Trinity Blood, Code Geass, Full Metal Panic, Gundam Wing, Gundam Seed and Gundam 00 are some of my favorite animes.
I was introduced to comic books by my brother when I was little. I LOVE Batman, as well as X-Men, Iron Man, The Ultimate Avengers, Watchmen, Hellblazer, and many others. My largest nerdy love is definitely video games. I started with Super Mario Brothers and Mario Kart on SNES and moved through, Sega Genesis, Nintendo 64, Dreamcast, and so on. Currently, I love my Xbox 360 and PS2. I’m as yet too poor to buy a PS3. I love action/adventure games, shooters and RPGs (as long as they’re not turn-based). Some of my favs are MDK, Prince of Persia, Half-LIfe, Jak & Daxter trilogy, Ratchet and Clank, Super Smash Bros, Legend of Zelda, Halo 1-3, Fallout 3, Gears of War 1 & 2, Fable and Fable II, Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, Viva Pinata (don’t laugh), Mass Effect, Call of Duty 4 and Bioshock. There’s many more that I can’t think of right now, as so often happens. I can usually be found on Xbox Live playing Call of Duty 4 or Halo 3. I’m always looking for gaming buddies.
