My name is Preston A. Elder, and I was born September 8th, 1978 in Sydney, Australia. I have both Australian and United States citizenship and I am a UNIX C/C++ Programmer and Systems Administrator by trade. I follow Wicca (aka. Witchcraft) as a religion, and I am part of the Gothic subculture. I am musically eclectic (ie. I like all different kinds of music) and I have a girlfriend.

For more information about what I am into, please visit my pages on the following subjects:
    - Wicca
    - Goth
    - Music

Personal History

Of my life before I entered High School (Year 7, or Junior High for Americans) is mostly just in flashes. I had a very happy childhood, and was constantly in trouble (well, that hasn't changed!). I had a good upbringing, and though my parents divorced when I was 11, my parents left me a good set of morals and one overriding principal to live my life by -- Treat everyone as you would want to be treated yourself. This I have tried to do.

At age 12, I suffered some personal trauma (sexual abuse if you must know) that sent me into a very recluse state for 6 years. During this time I consistently punished myself, dwelling on whatever made me hurt most. My philosophy on life was 'If I hurt myself enough on my terms then nothing could catch me by surprise and hurt me when I wasn't expecting it'. A note for anyone who employs a similar tactic - its fruitless and really only leads to self-isolation from society, and a lot of pain you don't need to put yourself through. Consequently through my High School years I was a loaner and kept pretty much to myself, drifting into and out of social groups but never staying anywhere long. However I did gain one thing from all those years of pain -- I learned how to sit back and listen to people, a silent watcher if you will. This is an invaluable skill and one I would not trade for anything, as it gives me amazing insight onto human behaviour and reactions. You should try it some time, just shut your mouth, sit back, and see what happens around you when you are a passenger in life.

This pretty much brings me to when I was 18. At this age, I met up with a long time friend of mine that I had not seen in about 5 years. And we clicked again just as always. This friend of mine was Striker, and he was a goth. Now Striker is 5 years older than me, but rather than telling me to go away because I was a kid, he started taking me out. Unlike most teenagers who start clubbing before they're legally allowed to drink, I didn't start going out clubbing until I was 18, fully legal in Australia. Striker started taking me to the clubs he went to, goth clubs, and thus I was inducted into the Goth scene. I started making my own friends in the scene, and actually fit in somewhere.

It was about a year after I was in the goth scene that I got introduced to Wicca. Ever since I'd gone into my recluse state, I had become somewhat of an atheist (before which I'd been baptised Catholic and raised Baptist). However one night, two goth friends of mine, Michael and Crystal, were performing some magick a short distance away from a famous Sydney goth club, Shrine. They were with a few new wiccans, and I was curious, so I watched. Fool that I was, I thought I could take on the world, and tried to join in. This apparently was a very power-charged night, and I was bringing on repercussions I couldn't even imagine, or detect. It was at this point that Michael and Crystal decided to take me aside and tell me about wicca, and began me on my wiccan path. For this I am eternally greatful, and I will always remember that night vividly.

Some 25 days later, my beloved sister, Stacey Louise Elder killed herself. My sister was very dear to me, however I rallied my strength to be able to support my family in their need, and kept life going as normal. A short time after, I went to the US with my father to see our family over there, and it was only a good month after my sisters death that I cried. My sister used to sing, and I still have an audio CD of her songs which I intend to rip to MP3's and put on this site when I have time. I stayed in the US a total of 2 months, before coming home for some unfinished business.

Exactly 1 year and 1 day after being introduced to Wicca, I initiated myself into it by writing my own initiation ceremony, grabbing some candles, incense and other small things, going to a local park at night, stripping naked, and performing my simple initiation ceremony. 25 days later, I performed my first wiccan magick ceremony -- a Requiem for my sister, finally bidding her a merry parting, dissolving all emotional baggage I carried over her death, and assured her I would meet her again in the next life.

A few months after this, I was 19 at the time, I got a job at MasterCard International -- my first job with a large corporation. This ended my goth clubbing days for over 2 years, and my life consisted of just work. Although I did not have much of a social life, I was still content because I wasn't broke. A little over a year later, I got promoted to Software Engineer, and met my girlfriend on the Internet in the same month, my life got a whole lot happier. That new years (2000) she came and visited me and we met for the first time, for three short weeks. And then started a five and a half month wait till we would see each other again. This was agonising.

So it was in July of 2000 I went to Europe, and toured a little with my girlfriend, and at the end of that month she came back to Australia with me and we live together to this day. It is her fault that I am now back in the clubbing scene, and have a social life again (you would not believe the sheer amount of people who remember me from 2 years earlier -- many of whom I cannot put names to the faces unfortunately!).

This essentially is my life story to the current day ... stay tuned for more installments, as I'm sure you're so fascinated :)