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Somewhat to my surprise, I have not yet ended up on a Welsh hillside growing herbs and surrounded by chickens, cats, and a goat. I do not even have a cat, though I have a lapsed doctoral thesis on Latin literature, which is less furry, more guilt-inducing, but easier on the shopping bills. I am currently trying to get into archive management; one day I will also write that novel, honest. In my journal I spend a lot of time talking about things I want to write (fanfic, original stuff) and occasionally even produce them.

Publius Cornelius Dolabella, a Roman politician from the last days of the Republic, follower of Caesar and son-in-law of Cicero (not the Dolabella in Antony and Cleopatra - he was a relative) was one of the 'live fast, die young' types from history and fiction of whom I was far too fond as a teenager. When casting about for an online alias, I liked the gender ambiguity offered by the feminine sound of the name. On joining LJ, I found someone had already claimed it as a username (and never seem to have used it, grrr!) so chose the possessive, Dolabellae: nugae means trifles, trivia, light sayings or jests, and Catullus used the word to refer to his poetry.

I didn't know then that Dolabella is also a genus of sea-slugs. Never mind. Dolabella auricularia is in fact the scientific name of the sea hare, and I like hares very much, so I just pretend that their marine equivalent is as similiar to them as the sea horse is to the horse instead of being a flattish, greyish crawling thing...

I put interests down in a completely scattergun, off-the-top-of-my-head way, and anyone is welcome to turn up and talk to me about any of them, anytime, and indeed to friend me - I will certainly friend you back when I know you're there. I friends-lock a lot these days, though cannot promise that you will find unimaginable scandal and excitement beyond the lock.