User:Elena Thomas

Why am I here
Aside from the obvious reason of - "I love writing!", I do genuinely believe that I can contribute to making our Wikipedia a better place. I have discovered Wikipedia a very long time ago and it is absolutely amazing to see what it has become today. Any time I had a question, I would turn to Wikipedia. Need clarification? Wikipedia. Want to know more about that band? Wikipedia. What year did "that" happen? Wikipedia. Having the opportunity to be a part of something so great - count me in! This is an unbelievable source of knowledge and information and I am so happy to be here.

Some more or less interesting (random) facts about myself

 * Even though Serbian is my native language, I speak English most of the time. I even think and dream in English. Why? Well, my husband is English and we currently live in Ireland.
 * I had parrot, tortoise (two or three actually), a few dogs, a few cats, three hamsters, bunny, guinea pig(s), chinchilla, and fish (one of which had 12 babies while in my aquarium). I hope I haven’t forgotten any of them. And of course, I didn’t have them at the same time!
 * I finished elementary school and Musical school simultaneously. Elementary school I finished with High Honours and am a recipient of a “Vuks’ diploma” given only to students who achieved perfect score by never getting a grade lower than 5, with 5 being the highest grade. In Musical school I played violin.
 * I start things and I rarely finish them. This is really difficult for me to admit.
 * You could say that I am not really a fan of social networking, although I can feel myself being dragged into it more and more every day.
 * I met my husband in an online RPG and after a year of video chatting on Skype, he finally came to Serbia to visit and meet in person.
 * Volunteering is something I enjoy greatly. I used to translate newspaper articles for an online news website, from Serbian to English for a non-native auditorium. I currently volunteer as a tutor for a non-profit organisation called Fighting Words where I am involved with children coming to us on a field trip to write their own original story.

My interests
Nothing gives me greater satisfaction than using my free time to play video games. My favourite genre is definitely RPG although I do play other types of games too. I have a enormous interest in mental health, specifically: anxiety, depression, panic disorder, agoraphobia, and other related conditions. And on that note, I am currently trying to finish a course in CBT (Cognitive Behavioural Therapy) practitioners level. I grew up listening to the rock music and I come from a very musical family with my father being solo guitarist, his brother (my uncle) being a drummer, and my late grandfather (their father) being a bass guitar player. Most of the time I will choose to play something from the British rock repertoire. I have gotten myself involved in the art of meditation and mindfulness lately. I also have a great appreciation for yoga. I have developed a habit of reading a book before sleep for at least an hour. It makes me sleep so much better.

Languages
My native language is Serbian. So needless to say, I am more than fluent in it. I am borderline obsessed with grammar and it bothers me greatly when I see grammar mistakes when speaking/typing in your own language. Serbian, Croatian, and Bosnian are very similar. You might say it's just a question of different dialects. So technically, I do speak Croatian, Bosnian, and Montenegrin as well. I am extremely proud of my English language knowledge, mostly because I learnt majority of it myself, by reading books, watching films without subtitles, listening to the music and then trying to figure out the lyrics... I have acquired ESOL and IELTS certificates. I do love the idea of speaking more languages, and I would very much like to learn German, Spanish, Russian, and maybe Italian. Spanish I can sort of make out from the excessive viewing of Latin-American soap operas that I have been exposed to (thanks grandma!).

My Wiki goals
Since I am completely new to this whole experience, it is difficult for me to say right now what will I focus on the most.

For now, I will probably focus on anything Serbia related.