has a tube of toothpaste to thank for introducing her to another world apart from the verbal. A notebook came with the toothpaste pack and, having nothing better to do with the blank sheets, left her writing a five-liner "story" about her grandparents who went to the market to buy, of all things, an ostrich egg.

She does not mind sharing her name with an opera, 1/3 of an old pop song and a character Kate Winslet played in a movie. She loves her Bible, her two dogs, her guitar, Disney cartoons, her Ninoy Aquino T-shirt, a morning drizzle and the sea. She enjoys writing in the middle of the night, driving alone with a Carpenters CD on the player, taking long walks, watching old movies, smelling old books in a bookstore and faking a British accent. At some point in her life, she wants to live in a country where very minimal English is spoken. At the point in their lives when their contemporaries are raising families, she and her best friend are still both highschoolishly "inlove" with Fitzwilliam Darcy and every actor who plays him in a movie.

She believes there is so much more to art than self-expression and so much more to science than logic. She relishes a hearty laugh, a good cry, a thick blanket, a tall mug of chocolate milk, a really good book and a pair of high heels that don't hurt. There are days when she feels like 40 and other days when she feels like 8 although she is not quite sure exactly how she should feel like at her age. She is both excited and frightened by the thought of where the next decade would see her. She misses being called by a nickname which sounds very much like a bell. She is starting to see her grandmother's face everytime she looks into the mirror and ends up fervently wishing the similarity does not end with the physical. She enjoys singing in the shower and wants to write a children's book before she dies.

For the time being, Amberle Brin is enjoying the relative anonymity of her chosen online name, just up until Shannara becomes part of the reel world. She has still to graduate from instant noodles and desserts to really learning how to cook. On the days when she's not out getting diced in the classroom, she goes home and relishes living just a few floors above a 24-hour convenience store.