The one thing that the internet has taught me is that anyone can be who they want.

In every place I have been online (be it a personal web page or an IRC channel) I have so far found nowhere comparable to this community, where everyone is who they want to be. This is certainly no bad thing - everyone accepts each other for what they are or who they want to be. We are all in the same boat, so to speak. We have no prejudices, there are no bigots and everyone I have met has been inherently nice.

It was about a two years ago that I first encountered some transformation media. I can't speak for the rest of you, but I personally found the sight of a female tigermorph in a bikini top intriguing, if not quite 'stimulating', if you get my meaning. That's all it was. To put it bluntly: I was a horny teenager. And so it carried on for about a year and a half.

Elsewhere on the internet I discovered IRC, and I got talking to some people. Over a few months I found that I was not an average 16 year old. I, for one, could hold a decent conversation with older people. Not once did I say "hi evry1 asl" - I actually used punctuation (something profoundly lacking in today's youth). I was an individual. But there was more to follow...

One day whilst looking through a webring I came across a semi-abandoned site of the #TSA_List channel on Undernet. I was once again intrigued, so I loaded mIRC and took a look in. What I found was a whole bunch of like-minded beings*, each one an individual but all really quite friendly. This was about 3 months ago.

Then I found love. Not the sort of besotted love, not the type that makes you weak at the knees. I found the sort of love that would make the world a better place to live in. Everyone is nice to each other, everyone gives a bit of their time to help other people and nobody hated anyone without a reason. For once I knew that I could relate to these people* in a way I couldn't do with anyone previously.

I'm just biding my time until I move out of my parents house, out of my college and away from people that would taunt me for holding these views.

I must say that my mind has been freed. I have learned to accept people for what they are. I have no prejudices and I have no reason to hate anyone unless they hate me. I am what I want to be, and life is great.

* People and/or beings. I try not to be too species specific when refering to them.

- Bjorn/Jonbor