Known to Internet types as Red Monster or simply Red and to the Real-Life set as Alyson, I'm a 27-year-old American single woman living in Albania until the end of June this year due to a Peace Corps assignment. I spend my mornings darting between the Internet café, the grocery store and home while I pointedly ignore all the children who vie for my attention on the street. I spend my afternoons tutoring local women in English, and my nights listening to music and cursing at my home computer.
My hobbies, if the main page is any indication, include my obsession with the Marvel Comics character Siryn of X-Factor Investigations and a little bit of graphics design. If you're wondering what happened to the other links from the main page, the fact of the matter is that I killed off the Prosh Awards and gave up the X-Force Ring years ago, and Red's Realm was really just a vanity altar that was accomplishing nothing but collecting a lot of dust and harkening back to the design skills of my late teens, so there's no point in hanging onto any of that anymore. All the activity on the site is currently found on Siryn's page, as that's the only hobby of mine which was already established on-site when I left the States and still gives me new material. Most of my graphics software is isolated on my desktop computer back in America, and I probably won't create any more web graphics once I get back, but I'll keep The Monster's Kaleidoscope up for those who like what I've done already.
I'm also a tremendous Harry Potter enthusiast, and I have a motley collection of creative offerings in that fandom including fan fiction, shipping essays and many, many icons. Other crafty stuff I like to do with my hands includes knitting, crochet, spinning and making soap, lip balm, lotion and other toiletries. The fiber arts have helped keep me sane in the last 24 months, but the toiletries have been put on hiatus until I get back to civilization and have access to the proper supplies again.
The site looks a little spare right now, but expect more things to come once I finish up here and go back to having Internet access at home. I have major plans for expansion, from displaying my Harry Potter offerings to posting designs and ideas from my craft hobbies. The major development planned for the site, however, will be my essays on various topics, from etiquette to gender issues to life in Albania, in which I have unimpressive qualifications but an abundance of opinions. Then you will see what I mean by "Jane of All Trades."
I'm not at liberty right now to display my email address, but I can be found on Live Journal.
--Alyson Miers, April 2008