Hi everyone! I'm Leigh, which is short for my real name Louisa, which I finally decided I like only to discover that in a professional setting, people will be calling me Louise a lot. Because three is one syllable too many?

I've been a pretty dedicated Buffista lurker. I de-lurked here some time ago (my memory keeps insisting this was when I was sixteen, so 8 years ago, but that seems...wrong. Very wrong. 8 years, really? 16 year old me was pretty obnoxious so, uh..sorry about that). I posted for a while, but shifted to livejournal and ran out of time for both. Sometimes I've drifted away, but now I keep up with Literary, most of the TV threads and Natter when Kanye does something stupid and the rest of the internet is slow on the details.

I live in Canberra, Australia, and the time difference has kept me from re-de-lurking. Well, that and shyness? Habit? Laziness? Possibly some kind of unholy union of the three... but mostly laziness.

I've been won round to liking olives in small doses, I call cilantro coriander and I had to look up the definition of the serial comma on wikipedia (oh, English Degree. How often I shame you) and being thus informed, I feel that a blithe disinterest in my own potential inconsistencies has served me well so far.

Buffy and Angel were my first true fannish obsessions and I've never really fallen that hard for anything since, but I love knowing that if there's something worth reading or watching then odds are there'll be someone here getting all witty & insightful about it.

Is it ironic that I've realised I'm really just lurking in this thread?

Hi, un-lurky lurker types.

I'm totally lurking the delurk thread Seska. It is made of win.

Hi, Leigh!

Yeah, this thread is happy-making.

Oh, and for the record - cilantro boo, olives yay, serial comma yay, and fernet unknown.

Yes! Leigh is wise! Cilantro is coriander!

(For a long time I had no idea what cilantro was, that you were getting worked up about.)

Cilantro- If I am cooking, I'll use parsley instead, but I don't mind eating it at a restaurant.

Serial comma-a must!

Fernet-I'm afraid to find out, but I am sad that I missed the attempts to light it on fire at the F2F.

I must amend my entry to say that I also lurk in this thread now.

Hello to fellow lurkers!

I haven't weighed in on any important matters of taste. I love cilantro (mmmmm), do not like either olives or muffulettas, have never tried fernet, but am fully committed to the serial comma.

Cilantro is good and necessary. At least, if you cook Cuban food. Parsley is no substitute.

Dunno about fernet or absinthe. I suspect my move to the PNW will take care of both of those deficiencies.

Captain Morgan Private Stock on the other hand is the One True Rum.

I am still fuzzy on the nature of the muffuletta. I have looked it up on Wikpedia, and established that it was something sandwichy, but then promptly forgot all the details. (In my head, it's the name of part of a car. A pink car that Barbie drives.)

A muffuletta is New Orleans' contribution to the hero-grinder-sub sandwich genre. It is cold cuts including ham and salami; cheese; and the signature olive salad on a round Italian-style loaf of bread. Olive salad is a sort of relish made of olives; various vegetables such as cauliflower, carrots and celery; spices; vinegar; and olive oil. It is best experienced by buying it at Central Grocery, where it may or may not have originated, and eating it on a New Orleans street with the olive oil dripping off your hands. As may be obvious, I am pro-muffuletta.

This thread was an inspired idea, ita. It's so great to not only meet lurkers but also to be reintroduced to everyone else.