~Who is Who?
-

Me
My name is Janette. If I say I was born in '81 then you can figure out my age without me having to update it every birthday. I live in a western suburb of Melbourne, Australia. I've completed a Bachelor of Arts/Bachelor of Teaching and 2004 marks my second year teaching. My interests include music, writing and role playing (which is where I met my online friends).

The following is a list of names that appear regularly in my diary without explanation - in no particular order

Family
Mum
A former primary school teacher and currently working as an emergency kinder and child-care teacher, Mum is the kind parent. She can be very cute and say funny or silly things, she talks to herself, but is also very smart and likes to read a lot. She grew up in Fremantle and most of her family still live in Western Australia. She is very interested in our family history.
Dad
Dad is the strict parent. His brain just does not work in the same way the rest of ours does. We think slightly obsessive-compulsive about things being neat and clean. He's impossible to disagree with because he cannot understand how anyone can think differently to his, resents even the slightest of petulant tones and always has an answer to support his view. He can, however, be very generous, helping me with car expenses and the like. Both he and Mum are paying for my university course. He grew up in Wales and came over to Australia when he was sixteen. What I love about Dad is how he is interested in art, music, history and sport - a properly well-rounded man.
Dianne
My only sibling, Dianne is older by two and a half years. She is generally self-assured, a little ego-centric and sometimes more highly strung than I. She also looks after me a lot and is the one person with whom I can be unreservedly silly at any time. She moved out at the start of this year 2004) with her boyfriend.
Tim
Tim, Dianne's boyfriend, is a fun, easy-going guy who used to share a house with Maree's boyfriend. He works for an internet company and is one of my first sources when I have technical/electronic difficulties!

Derryck & Margaret, Stewart & Matthew
Derryck is the second oldest in Dad's family. Dad is the oldest and he has four younger siblings living. Derryck and his wife Margaret run a motel not far from the coast. Their sons Stewart and Matthew are both grown up. Matthew has a daughter, Alanna, with his partner Karen.
Martin
Martin is Dad's only single brother. He's lived most of his adult life as a Church of Christ minister in New Zealand but came over to Australia a few years ago to be nearer the rest of the family when the work got too stressful. He's currently dating Jen, who has two young children called Nick and Emma.
Kathryn, Ross & Michelle
Kathryn is my Dad's only sister. Ross is her husband and Michelle is their only daughter. Ross is an accountant but also has his own small computer company and he's always the one we call if we have computer troubles. Michelle is ten years younger than me and until she came along I was the youngest of all my cousins on both sides.
David & Birgit, Rebecca & Sebastian
David is the youngest of Dad's siblings and the only one who doesn't live in Victoria - in fact, he doesn't even live in Australia. He met Birgit when she came to Australia as an exchange student at the College of the Bible and, after subsequent study visits by the pair to and from Germany (where Birgit comes from) and Australia, they got married and settled down in Germany. They now both work as ministers at a Uniting Church in England and have two young children, Rebecca and Sebastian.

Joy & Errol, Karen & Wendy
Joy is Mum's older sister and, despite living on opposite sides of the country, the two are very close. Joy lives with her husband Errol, who is a very blokey bloke with a heart of gold. Her two daughters Karen and Wendy are grown up and Wendy has a young son called Casey.
Bernie & Barbara, Sarah & Megan
Bernie is the older of Mum's two younger brothers. He was named after my Pop, who was also Bernie/Bernard. He lives with his wife Barbra in Western Australia. His younger daughter Megan is closest in age to me of all my cousins, being only a year and a half older. Sarah is currently living in Sydney and Megan is living in Melbourne with her boyfriend Dario.
Steve, Michelle & Craig
Steve is the youngest of Mum's siblings and, of course, lives in WA. Steve's oldest child, Michelle, lives in Queensland. Craig is closest to Dianne in age.

Friends
Emma
Emma has been my best friend since Grade Prep. We share many interests, such as our love of UK comedy (Monty Python, The Goodies, Absolutely Fabulous), but we're also quite different. Emma, while being a very creative person, has a much more logical and organised mind than I do and sometimes I find her too inflexible. She's quieter than I am and has only in recent times properly overcome years of extreme shyness. She has completed the same Uni course as I did and is now teaching a Prep/1 class.
Maree
Maree was the first new friend I made at uni. She's tall and her red-hair and pale, freckled skin tells of her Dutch heritage. Maree plays netball and is one of those very friendly, self-assured types who knows almost everyone at uni. She is, however, very kind and considerate (if less sensitive than I am) and shares much of my humour (including a love of Terry Pratchett's Discworld novels). Her boyfriend is Brendan.
Alysha
Alysha is the kind of friend everyone loves to have. She's also one of my uni friends and is very warm and friendly. Alysha is not at all shy, so, like Maree, I'm very lucky that she's a part of my friendship group at uni. She and I swap mothering roles with each other at times, because we're both more mature than each other in different ways. She's funny, too, because she's full of quirks and funny sayings. She is married to Nick.
EmmaH
Also known as "the other Emma", EmmaH is the worrier of our group and the butt of most of the jokes (I used to call her MiniEmma because of her height compared to Emma's and their superifically similar colouring). EmmaH's always doing work that's due in four weeks away and drives the rest of us (although I, luckily, get the least of her concerns) with questions about assignments we haven't even started. Her fiance is Lacchie.
Alana
Alana is Alysha's uni friend who has been drawn into our group. She's fun, kind and get's along well with everyone. Like Alysha, she's one of those popular types, although neither seek to be so, and I always feel good if my taste in something coincides with Alana's.
Leonie
Leonie is a friend I met in year 11 when I joined the Victorian State Singers. Because it was for secondary college students, we had to leave when I finished school, but we've kept in contact because we both became members of the Carols by Candlelight choir (Carols by Candlelight/CBC is a huge outdoor Christmas concert with top Australian celebrities that is broadcast nationally live on Christmas Eve).
Sally
Sally is Emma's older sister and one of Dianne's best friends. She's a radiographer at a local hospital but also takes singing lessons. She likes very feminine things such as sewing, knitting, bags, diamons and shoes. We've had a lot of fun performing in plays in school together and later in Carols by Candlelight.
Nicholle
Nicholle is Dianne's other close friend from school. While Nicholle and I don't have a lot in common, we've become friends from spending time together with Dianne, Sally and Emma.
Desiree
Desiree is an old secondary college friend who I have become less close with in recent times. She's strong, passionate and artistic. Desiree loves writing, like me, and also talented at art, particularly drawing. She loves fantasy and we have strong similarities as well as differences. Desiree has always had lots of friends and, since she moved away from home, Emma and I hardly ever see her.
Danielle
Danielle is another good high school friend who I see around occasionally. Danielle is quiet and unassuming, but not shy and is a great friend to have around.
Jillian
Jillian was my piano student. We were good friends and had lots of fun during lessons. Our lessons ended near the end of 2002 and I haven't heard much from her since.
Eva
While I've never met her in real life, Eva and I have been friends through letters for many years now. David and Birgit hooked us up when they were living in Bonn and Eva wanted an English-speaking pen pal and I was eager to have a German one. Coincidentally, only one month separates us and we share many interests, including fantasy and writing. We don't write often, but we're still good friends.

Miscellaneous
Jenny & Kirk, Iain
Jenny and Kirk (aka Alastair) are Emma and Sally's parents. Iain is their younger brother.
Dianne`
Dianne is Jillian's mum and was also my driving instructor.

Online Friends
Amber
Also called Berry, Amber is one of my closest friends online and offline. She's very sensitive herself but has also often amazed me with how sensistive she can be to my moods, just from what I type during an instant message chat. She's also a lovely sense of the silly, which always draws me to people. Amber lives in Pennsylvania, USA.
Viv
Viv could technically go in the offline friends category as well. I first met her online but, after becoming good friends and discovering we both lived in Melbourne, we then became friends in real life. We don't meet up often, but try to do so at least a few times a year. Viv is a very calm and assured person, but she has a great sense of humour and I love chatting with her.
Laura
Laura is probably the friend I chat to the most. We have a lot of interests in common, but I think I find our differences the most interesting. Laura is a firm-minded person who likes things organised and neat. She's a commited Jehova's Witness and periodically I'll interrogate her about her faith out of curiosity. Laura lives in Arizona, USA.
Anna-Maria
Anna-Maria, Anna-Mia or simply Anna, is one of my famous Swedish friends. I don't see her online often anymore because she has moved away from home to go to college, but we're still very close and write each other occasional letters. Anna's amazing because she always seems to understand exactly where I'm coming from and we can easily and naturally talk about anything without awkwardness, embarassment or misunderstanding. I respect her immensely and sometimes even feel a little inferior, but she normally boosts my ego by telling me how much she respects and admires me, so we become lovely ego-flatterers for each other.
Emmasis
Emma (yes, another one!) is my other close Swedish friend. We've drifted apart a little due to never being online at the same time and no longer visiting the same online communities, but when we occasionally do catch up we're still deeply fond of each other. Emma's a bright and sunny bundle of love and joy. She's enthusiastic and takes an intense interest in her friends.
Kristie
Kris is like an older sister. She looks out for me, likes to know I'm alright and sends me lovely presents. I love talking to her and find her reassuring. I respect her intelligence and often feel lucky that she sees something in me to like.
Heather
Heather is one of the people I respect and admire the most. Her intelligence and talent shine through even when she's reserved. I love the warmth and passion behind her reserve as well as her honesty. She's a great friend and, again is someone I feel lucky sees something in me to like!
Joshi
Joshi (or Joshua) is an old online friend who I hardly see anymore. We email occasionally and I find that we can be very open and honest with each other. He has a strong but fun mischievous side when roused.
Niqaue
This isn't her real name, but she doesn't like her real name, so I still call her Niquae, or Niq, which is one of the first nicks I knew her as. Niquae is full of fun and loves to create interesting and cheeky characters. She was the first person to urge me to read Harry Potter.
Jennie (Jenji) and Katie (Kakie)
Jennie and Katie are sisters who live in California. I met them both separately through WoT rolepaying and became good friends with them. They're both extremely fun, quirky and understanding.
Casey
Casey is a real life friend if Jennie and Katie who I also met through WoT roleplaying. She's extremely sweet, fun and enthusiastic about everything and everyone.
Len
AKA Helen, she's a fun Hogwarts friend who lives in Sydney and has come down to visit. She's much more fun in real life, but online she has strong opinions on the quality of role playing which are amusing and sometimes intimidating. She's a good friend and is always totally sweet to me.
Emily
AKA Emilily of the Valley, she's an online friend of Laura's who joined Hogwarts, much to everyone's delight. She's a fun and humourous and very good natured.

Work (School - these are all psuedonyms now)
APS, my current school:
Lien
Lien is the other grade 2/3 teacher. We share a large double room together and we usually have fun wandering over from our own classes to share jokes or disasters. Lien moved to Australia from Vietnam when she was 11. We're quickly becoming very good friends.
Peggy
Peggy is our unit (the same as "team" at DPW) leader. She doesn't teach a class, but is the student welfare co-ordinator and has many smaller roles in the school. She's very open and caring and I usually find her very supportive.
Elizabeth & Marcie
These two make up the rest of our unit and both teach 3/4 grades across the corridor from Lien and I. Marcie is nice, but rather serious in manner and very organised. Elizabeth has a gentler manner and therefore feels more approachable.

DPW, 2003's school:
Jane
Jane is the other grade Prep teacher, with whom I worked very closely. She always called herself the "strict" one, while I was the "creative" one, but I found her very supportive and easy to get along with.
Samantha/Sam
Samantha/Sam, a former Prep teacher, was the leader of the prep team and my mentor teacher. She was very helpful, but I often found her giving so much advice that I felt I'd never done anything well enough.
Jen
Jen was one of the Leading Teachers and the Librarian at DPW, as well as my reviewer. She helped me out the most when I was doing volunteer work there in 2002. She is funny and friendly and very considerate and I always found her a good person for some more sensitive and tactful support.

Have I missed anyone? If want me to add anyone to my list, just let me know my leaving a note or sending me an email.


(Ignore this, it's my easy search word so I can find this for editing again: whoswho)