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Diana
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Name: Diana
Diehl
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Hobbies: Lara, card and figure collecting,
computer adventure gaming, reading mostly sci-fi, cycling, hiking.
Despite recent setbacks, I SHALL enter this contest. Not radioactive
mutant Dobermans or attacking statues, nor cement floors will stop me.
Just the night before writing this, I had my first photo shoot. Being adventuresome,
I tried some "action shots." That meant running--without glasses. Unfortunately, I am nearly blind and almost ran over my poor photographer, who ducked out of the way last minute, whereupon I tripped and hit the cement floor on my knee. I ended up in the doctor's office that evening knowing I'd "Gone a Bit Lara."
(See the Lucozade site for their Gone a Bit Lara movie
In looking back upon my life so far (I am a bit older than your average Lara), I realize that I have had for most of
my life an adventuresome spirit.
Although it seems that I've always been a little prone to mishap and somewhat reckless when it comes to adventuring--much like Lara as I play her in the game. My visit to the pyramids of Teotihuacan when I was younger resulted in being sick in bed for a while. I water skied for my first time in Acapulco Bay when I didn't know how to swim. They told me about the great whites that frequent the bay after I finished. But the only shark I encountered was the guide with the busy hands.
Later, I longed to see Macchu Picchu. I managed to get strep throat in
Cartagena, Colombia, broke my toe in Lima, Peru, and nearly died of dysentery in
Cuzco. But I made it!! On crutches and weak as a kitten, but
I made it. And it was all worth it. I was in ecstasy hobbling through the
ruins and imagining the last survivors maintaining
their final vigil against the European invaders and gradually disappearing
to let the jungle swallow the ruins. Gazing down the sheer walls to the River
Urubamba boiling over boulders below is a thrill I can still feel. How
exciting it must have been to be there when the city was rediscovered.
Professionally, I migrated from goal to goal; my first love was Physics which I
studied on scholarship for a little longer than a blink of an eye. After
dropping from academia, other interests pulled me willy-nilly. I was
a hitchhiking hippie and played at jobs here and there. (I wouldn't
recommend the hitchhiking bit unless you are a charmed, Crystal-Blue-Persuader,
goddess child and not even then.) Somewhere in there I was obsessed with
tropical fish, frogs and snakes and had 200 aquaria in my home. You might
say I floundered around for a bit. <snicker> Eventually, I returned to
academe to complete a Doctor of Veterinary Medicine. I practiced medicine
for 13 years, during which time computers called me, and I learned on my own
while still in practice full-time and raising two sons. (Forget all that
stuff about super Mom. Damn near killed me!) Now I have a nice,
sedate technical job in university administration.
With computers comes computer gaming. With gaming comes Tomb Raider.
I obsessed over all the Tomb Raider games, and played as many others with strong female
protagonists as I could find.
I started collecting super heroine cards when I piffled at my young sons to the effect that were no compelling female characters. They corrected me by introducing me to
X-Men's Rogue. Multiple albums-full later, I am very glad they proved me
wrong. Lara has, of course, entered that collection en force. I
don't have ALL the Tomb Raider action figures, but I'm trying hard. Why stop at
figures? I can savor Lara chocolate bars and brush my teeth with my Lara
Croft electric toothbrush when I've finished.
When the movie came out, I bought my tickets in advance and took the day off from work for the opening. I attended the big screen 7 times in the first
couple of weeks (Three times the first day.)
Most recently, I have made many big changes in my life. An interesting side effect of my life spent as bookworm, computer geek and Latin nerd resulted in lots of padding. LOTS of padding. The change to a desk job completed the
ballooning process.
So last year at the tender age of 49, when by boys moved out, I turned one of
their rooms into a workout room AKA Lara Croft/Super heroine shrine. Finally, a
place for all my cards, pictures, and figures. And guess who's
there every morning at 5:30 to inspire me as I sweat through my aerobic
workout and weightlifting? Lara! I've lost about 45 lbs. so far, and I offer my before-and-after photos for amusement and philosophical contemplation.
This look-alike contest has been a great motivation to lose the last several pounds. My new goal is to hike Kilamanjaro and Fuji, to revisit Macchu Picchu and to see Chichen Itza in Yucatan. And to walk all the steps to the top!
My partner, Shannon, has been most understanding and encouraging of my obsession; she keeps reminding me to suck in
my gut for photos and tells me how wonderful my costume is each time I make a
miniscule addition. As my official photographer, she is boning up her
photography skills to help me make this last minute dash for the deadline.
Ooh, I shouldn't have phrased it that way. The last minute dash tonight
has resulted in a case of reality imitating art. I have, indeed, gone a
bit Lara...
