I haven't had a lot to do with Vanessa. I did know of her existence for some time, thanks to Bryan Dove. At this point, my memory is totally failing me, and if I say the word "scarf" I will be yelled at for getting it wrong. However, it's entirely possible (but I could be totally wrong) that she once had a habit of stealing his scarf while at the Church Army Adventure Ministries Camp. However, I could be wrong, and confusing my Wintles, which is indeed very confusing. Bryan used to have a habit of sending letters.

Fast forwarding on to when I have concrete memories, my first memory about Vanessa that I am sure is about Vanessa was at a party at the (in)famous Flat 680. "Are you Shannon McCracken?" she asks. "Yes. Who are you?" I reply. That I recall was the complete limit of my conversation with her at that occasion. I forget what the party was about.

Next, I think she was at Chelsea's 21^st, as was I, but I don't recall talking to her much then.

About this time, I started scribbling in Live Journal-which you can find a link to from the front page of this site. At one point in that journal, I mentioned the non-famous Shannon Normalisation Project, which she noticed for some reason. This becomes relevant in the next paragraph.

Then it was Elanor's 21^st. We had a conversation. Actually, it was odd. You have to understand Chelsea was there. Perhaps I should quote her journal to explain it.

Vanessa had said to me, "Hey, there's Shannon! I recognise him from his LJ picture!" and I said, "Shannon will only talk to you if you greet him by putting your head on his stomach," and Alison started laughing, and Vanessa (needless) knew I was full of shit, but I demonstrated anyway. It almost didn't work, because Shann was so taken aback he didn't utter a word for several minutes... not to me, anyway.

-- Chelsea's Journal, 19 March 2001

Sensible conversation with Vanessa occurred after that. I tried to find out about her and find out who she was (as a person-even I managed to figure out her name for the face.). Copying my journal and editing it to correct the worst of the mistakes, and remove irrelevant context:

Vanessa: Tries, unlike Chelsea, not to make a fool of herself. She's doing seventh form this year. I remember that year. Yes, I can understand what Chelsea was saying about her. Certainly seems quite bright. And she reads this, and comments... good grief. :-)

(At this point, Shannon hurriedly does a mental re-wind to remember what Chelsea had been saying about Vanessa. She said something about us being quite similar, as I recall.) Yes, Vanessa had been commenting my journal.

Next up would have been The Royal Easter Show. Poor Vanessa was staying with another one of her sisters-Alison. She went and saw the Easter Show with Alison & Kahn, but was bored enough to try to drag me along. I went. (Shannon's always a sucker.) We ended up walking and talking quite a bit.

Nickname: Vanessa has the nickname "noo." This is not obvious, but Nick once explained it to me. Vanessa shrinks to "nessa," which is understandable. Apparently, there is a type of milking machinery called or pronounced a "nessa noo" or something. Therefore, Vanessa gets this name. This then shrinks to "noo." Be warned this could be totally wrong, and the truth could be much stranger.

Ambition: To fly the coop it seems. Vanessa's lived in Wellsford for quite some time, I believe her entire life. It seems that recently she's been getting itchy feet to move out. Looks like she wants to go to the big smoke and the varsity thing next year. (Of course, I think that The University Of Auckland is the best. But I'm graduating from there on Monday, so I could be slightly biased.)

Looks: Appearances can be decieving. She may look all sweet and nice, but underneath that good-looking exterior lies are heart of.. um.. well, she's not all sweet. When she doesn't want to be.

But she does look good. Known to wear leather jackets. Her hair deserves a special mention, as whenever I have seen Vanessa she was wearing her hair in a bun. Curious, I ask why this is. She says that people tend to get un-nerved. Apparently it goes down to her waist; but I have never seen it.

Family:Vanessa has two sisters, Chelsea and Alison. She lives on an orchard up north in Wellsford. She's younmore youthful than either of her sisters. She has a Mother and a Father, of which I know rather little. (Mum's from Aussie--that's about it.)

Personality: She's quite apt at using understatement. Using the language to its fullest potential will use such weapons as understatement and irony. J She also has a teriffic memory for context of information. Very good memory-Occasionally you'll find yourself on the receiving end of some comment that based on something you'd said a week or two ago.

Excellent, Dr Jekhll A new prospective couple to perform experiments on we could sit here and debate all day what could happen.. or we could chuck them together and see what happens. That's good science. I don't think they'll form a white crusty powder.

-- Vanessa; Private Communication

The white crusty powder was a reference to something I wrote once-my answer to all "What happens when…" chemistry questions was "Turns white and crumbles." (It was the correct answer to one question I got wrong once. So, whenever I didn't know I kept guessing with that one.)

She's a great fan of Wit. This is something Shannon likes. It's a decaying art, and too many people are unsubtle with their words. They don't take enough care. She can dish it out, all right, but she can take it too.

She likes Dilbert. (The comic strip?) "Loved the Dilbert quote bout the heater and the warm glow of love. Very good."

She's insightful; certainly a lot more that I am. She can notice things that I wouldn't. (Mind you, I'm a "mere male" so what would I know?) Notices things about me that I didn't think were that noticeable. She's capable; mature; and intelligent.

She's also (and here I hope I don't get hit or something, as it's a bit of a cliché) really a very sweet person. Except when you've crossed the line and you get this evil look.

However, I think she has a mischief streak. She sneaks McDonalds cheeseburgers into work. (I do that too-but then I'm not working at a Chinese Restaurant.) She takes delight in setting her best friend up. Yet, she has the tolerance to cope with her best friend's excesses. (The good, cool, kind of mischief, as opposed to wonton destruction.) (See Dr Jekhll quote above.)

(I'm sure there's a story behind "noo learns the school rules are not negotiable" text message I received once.)

Speaking of her friends, I think she is very loyal to those she is close to. Her friends, and her family. She clearly is concerned deeply about certain people; just recently a situation has arisen when recently her heart is worried but logic and her mind says there is nothing to fear. It's understandable, and shows a depth of caring.

She can laugh at herself too, which is always very cool. (Readers of her journal might recall the demonstrating that the detergent spray bottle doesn't work incident. It appears with perfect comic timing that the spray bottle, at that point, decided to work giving the diners that night some really clean food.)

I am thinking that she would probably make a good leader. The kind of person who is caring enough to catch people, but strong enough to drive them. Not afraid to go where she wants to go, and intelligent enough to know when to do what.

She is a very cool and very interesting person. And I'm sure she'll do well in her chosen field-once she chooses it.