Name: othellia, Roxie
How did you find out about the community? If it's through an LJ user, please tell us who it is (individual user if possible, not just a community name!): I was talking to ikel89 about Season 2 of GoT and she mentioned it.
Age: 20
Location: Seattle, WA
Occupation: Oh god. I just graduated and can't put "student" anymore. Guess it's "unemployed web developer" for now



All About You

1. Describe your ideal house/home. Please go into as much detail as possible, and be sure to include your ideal geographical location in the description!.
It would be a Tudor style housed, located in a somewhat wooded suburbs with a lot of hills. It wouldn't be in a housing development where everything looks the same, unless - of course - they're were all super cool, haunted-looking tudor houses. That would be the best halloween block party ever.

The house itself would be on the smaller side, but would have a large yard with room for a garden, lots of trees, a swing on one of the trees, stone benches, a glass gazebo, and small pond. The pond wouldn't be too large though, since they can be a really hassle to maintain.

Inside the house would be three requirements:
--- a glass conservatory for yarn crafting, book reading and house plant habitation
--- a two story library with a ladder you can push around
--- a replica of my grandma's family room, the best room in existence. It had walls with built-in bookshelves and a chandelier my grandpa made from a random wagon wheel over 50 years ago.

2. Imagine you’re given the classic opportunity: a genie granting you three wishes. What would you wish for? Please be as elaborate as you can. Wishing for more wishes is not permitted!
The first would be for no unexpected harm to come to my family. With all the recent tragedies that have happened both here and abroad, I feel incredibly blessed. I don't want to imagine the pain that my older relatives would go through if they lost one of us.

The second would be for perfect memorization and storage of new vocabulary. I love learning languages and am pretty good with grammar, but I always have to study vocab over and over.

And the third would be the ability to go anywhere instantly just by wishing. I love love travel and love seeing new places. Also my family is very separated, living all over the United States from Hawaii, to Washington, to Florida, to Ohio. I'd love to be able to visit my grandparents and other distant relationships about once a week or so. As it is, I only get to see them about twice a year. That's not as bad for my mother's parents who are still in close proximity to a number of their children, but my father's mother lives mostly by herself. This one could be a bit double-sided because then I could end up with a bunch of family members wondering why or pressuring me to visit them all the time. That'd be annoying.

3. In your life so far, what accomplishment are you the most proud of? Why? You can list more than one if you have trouble deciding. ;)
I have several proud accomplishments, but they're all related to music and playing with professionals. In high school, a small group from the Honolulu Symphony played in the pit orchestra for our school's production of Cabaret. I - and two other band students - got to play with them. I... really should've practiced more. But even so it was amazing. The other trumpet I played with had been playing for fifty years. His instrument didn't even have a brand; it was custom made in the 70's by this trumpet making specialist. I can pretty much say, just breathing the air around him was humbling.

In college I was more into choir than band. Each year we got to sing one concert with the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. The Verdi/Puccini selections and Beethoven 9th Symphony concerts we did were the most fun and thrilling, partly because we only sang for about six minutes each in the other two.

And then just this past year, we got to sing Beethoven again with our university's orchestra. They weren't as talented as the POP, but it meant more. Because the concert was held in a church and admission was free, older people who'd probably never heard it played live before got to hear it. I saw them crying and it tore at me, like "Yes. I've definitely done something right in my life so far. This is my gift." A lot of my fellow choir members said they felt the same. Plus my dad was able to fly down and freely record it. (Recordings aren't allowed at the OPO concert, not even official CDs or anything because of union contracts.)

4. Which of the following is most important to you: Love, Money, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, Adventure, or Pleasure? Which is the least important to you? Please explain why for each choice.
I would have to go with love as most important and pleasure as least important. Love, family, and friendship are all in the front running for importance. Friends are great, but I've never lived in one area for more than five years, so I've never felt that strong everlasting connection as other people have. My family is very important. We protect our own to the last tooth and nail, but then... we also eat our own. You do not cross my grandmother on my mother's side of the family. She is the matriarch and she can excommunicate you. I haven't seen several of my relatives for the past decade. Ultimately, I choose love over the other two because it is love that creates those bonds in the first place.

As for the others, I'm always seeking new ideas, new knowledge, new adventures, so those are all tied together. Without them there'd be something missing in my heart. As for money, I've been on the other side of college now, and have seen friends get massively tangled into debt that I know how important money truly is. I don't need a lucrative amount, but life sure is a hell of lot less stressful if you've got a safety cushion always squirreled away.

And so all of that leaves pleasure as least important. And to be honest, if I had the other six all satisfied, I think I'd have all the happiness and pleasure I'd need.

5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
"Life is like this dark tunnel. You may not always see the light at the end of the tunnel, but if you keep moving, you will come to a better place." - Iroh, Avatar the Last Airbender

I love to look on the bright side of life and I love having hope and dreams for the continuous tomorrow. I also tend to pile way too many things on my plate at once and then get nothing done while I'm busy trying to deal with everything at once. Iroh's quote sort of embodies all of that. It's a reminder for me to just put one foot in front the other (just keep swimming), and - if I do that - things generally tend to fall into place.

6. How do you manage your money? On that note, how important is money/financial security to you? Go into as much detail as you can.
I am a penny pincher. I get it from... well, more of my grandparents than my parents. I was raised in my earliest years by my grandparents, and they all lived through the height of the Great Depression, so a bit of that rubbed off onto me. Failure to finish my food wasn't met with stories of "starving children in Africa" but of their own personal struggles. My mom's a bit strange; she will agonize over a couple of cents between two different brands of green beans, and then turn around and go on several hundred dollar shopping sprees.
So yes, as mentioned earlier, financial security is very important to me. I love to write and vow to be published one day, but I got a college degree in computer programming/web development because I know that Creative Writing degrees sadly do not guarantee book contracts. With a decent paying, not-to-stressful job, there will always be at least one hour in the evening that I can dedicate to writing my stories. (Finances first, pleasure second.)

7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
Oh gosh. Anything I can get my hands on. Music is a biggie. I've been playing the trumpet for 11 years now and hope to find a community band so that I can continue playing and the same goes for choir. I recently moved in with my sister and she has a piano, so I'm relearning how to play that as well. (I can do right-hand/treble clef, but left-hand/bass clef remains a steady challenge.)

I love making things with my hands including knitting, crochet, needlepoint, and cross stitch. Those are especially fun since I love to marathon TV shows and crafting something while watching makes me feel productive, even with all of those hours going down the drain. I used to play video games a lot more, but increasingly I've been choosing the TV/craft combo because, yeah, ~productive~.

I love to write. I've been writing for longer than I've been playing my trumpet. I like to mix and match genres. I love combining magic with historical AUs and a bit sci-fi with urban fantasy. I don't do the werewolf/vampire/urban fantasy mix though, so you don't have to worry about that.

8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
Being Forgotten - We live on this earth for less than a century and then that's it. We're gone. I love reading about history, love reading stories of authors long past, and I love remembering them for everything that they've done, that we've achieved as a society. I want my life to mean something, for it to matter to someone, not just now, but hundreds of years from now. That somewhere far in the future, they'll be at least a little shimmering dot of something that came directly from me. And inside I'll always have the fear that I'll never be good enough for that. I try to squash it. And on the less serious side...

Wasps - A colony of them used to live in the wood of the back porch of my grandparents' house. They still do. My grandpa used to tell me stories about how he got stung once, had an allergic reaction, and had to be rushed off to the hospital. He told me this story multiple times when I was four. With said wasps still living outside. Oh yeah.

Puppets - My sister loved to make me watch The Night of the Living Dummy III with her on VHS when we were little. That movie terrified the shit out of me. I had nightmares about puppets coming to life and stealing my soul up until middle school. There's a reason that I own no dolls and all stuffed animals growing up and that was it. Later my sister admitted that she didn't even like the movie, she just loved terrifying me. I somehow still love her.


9. Name (and elaborate on) your top three BEST and top three WORST qualities (personality-related, not physical). Please answer as fully as you can, as this is an important question.
Strengths
Intelligence - I pick up things faster than most people. Programming, math, logic, history, grammar, science. Usually I can hear it once and it will be etched into my head. Theories, concepts, and patterns will all click. That's why I mentioned vocab as part of my language wish and not grammar. Grammar is easy. It's all overlaying patterns with some exceptions thrown in here and there. Also, I really need to throw this in here, but if you can read a crochet/knitting pattern, you can program. And vice versa.

Adaptability - As a product of a Type A mother, when things get stressful, my upper thought processes will shut down and I will go with the flow. I've very cool with changing plans and following orders when need be. If tensions start to raise and tempers flare, I will be sidling off into the corner and making myself invisible. (One thing I'm not very good at is the actual defusing part.) When in new places and situations, I'm all for exploring and trying things out.

Trust - I like to trust other people and in the general goodness of humanity. My dad says I'm too soft-hearted, but sometimes I don't think I'm soft-hearted enough. Obviously, I'm not about to go handing off my purse to random strangers, but I do like to think of other people as if they're in similar situations to me, dealing with similar days, and trudging through similar problems. Usually I've found my faith is rewarded.

Weaknesses
Pride/False Sense of Humility - This ties in with the intelligence aspect. Part of that and having my Type A mother is also having the kind of mother who pushes you in everything you do. For a large part of my early life, perfect was the only thing that seemed good enough, and it has stuck. I hone my talents to their highest degree and bask in any praise that gets aimed my way, even when seemingly shrugging the compliments off. In a similar vein, perform better than me and I tend to be all sunshine and daisies on the surface, but secretly fuming underneath. I know it's bad, but it's become so ingrained that a lot of my knee jerk reactions are subconscious.

Sloth - Once again, this ties into the intelligence angle. It doesn't take my as long to finish certain things as it does others, so my mind calculates the difference and I put it off until the very last minute possible. The worst thing is I hardly ever pay consequences, so I rarely learn my lesson. I've finished programming assignments in a matter of hours that classmates working for weeks never got fully completed. However, what does tend to get done is usually the bare minimum, and I'm never satisfied with the result because I know I can do better. I vow to begin my next project earlier, and inevitably end up in the same last minute rush. I do not foresee things changing even past graduation.

Antisocial/Annoyed Easily - I am social in very small dosages. After that I just want to walk into my room, shut the door, and not look upon another human face for the rest of the day. One of my apprehensions about finding a job is the 40 hours a week, not because of the workload but of the constant interaction with the same coworkers every day. I've had a 20 hours one for the past year and a half and it was near torture towards the end. I could barely stand 20 hours, and yet here they were spending twice that amount, plus lunches, plus dinners, plus weekend excursions. If I had to spend that amount of time with the same people, I would go insane. Quite literally. I've had minor mental breakdowns in the past.



A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.How many books from the series have you completed?
I finished the first four back in high school. I ended up waiting several years for the fifth book to come out and - by the time it did - wasn't as motivated. Since I didn't hear anything spectacular about it, I figured I'll wait until the sixth book comes out and then reread the whole series again then.

2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Sansa - She is the perfect reminder that "strong female characters" doesn't mean they have to physically kick ass. She gets a lot of haters for not being a warrior woman, especially from male fans, so that's made me a bit extra protective. I love her transformation as it is perhaps the most drastic in the series, turning her from a naive sheltered princess-lite, into her colder, more informed self. And yet she still has that hope, as that scene of her building a snow model of Winterfell was one of the most soul-crushingly "come here, I want to hug you" scenes I read.

Arya - Okay, part of my Sansa and Arya love does come from their sister bonds. I have one sibling - my older sister - so I love media portrayals of sisters, especially when they're done well. Sisters means hating each others guts as kids while still loving each other really deep down. I love how the two parallel each other. I love Arya's time with both Syrio and Jaqen. I just love her. Perhaps my favorite change that the HBO series made was her added conversations with Tywin Lannister.

Tyrion - Do I even have to explain? He is a snarky imp of awesome.

3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Theon Greyjoy - Misogynistic backstabber. Done. (I know he's got a lot of depth and I've heard the arguments for him, but I still hate him. Perhaps my opinion would improve on a reread, and perhaps not.)

Gregor Clegane - Okay, I know this is a bit of a potshot since he's written to be disliked, but he still makes it up here because he is just that bad. Also he killed Oberyn Martell, so that immediately puts him in my hate list.

Ygritte - I like her a lot better in the HBO series. In the books she just came across as so annoying, like GRRM was trying to write a mysterious fire-touched female who's sole purpose was to exude mystery and talking in quirky mysterious ways. I didn't even laughed when she died. I think I was just like, "THANK GOD. SHE IS GONE," or maybe her death was so ham-fisted I wasn't even thankful because even in death she annoyed me. I can't remember. It was five years ago.

4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
Petyr pushing Lysa out of the Eyrie. It always stands out in my head, just the timing and scene of it all. I think it's one of the only scenes where I was like "damn" and "that was awesome" at the same time. The others - Ned's death, the Red Wedding - are definitely of the "damn" category, but also lend themselves to more of "oh god no" reactions.

I also do like the part where Mirri Maz Duur calls out the hypocrisy of Dany because up until then it really was presented as Dany making this great, progressive change. And Mirri is still painted a bit as a villain because of what she does to Drogo and it all being told from Dany's viewpoint, but she has extremely valid points and - coming at it objectively - I believe she had every right to do what she ultimately did.

5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Anything where Sansa and Arya get as happy an ending as they can manage. The more I try to pinpoint a series' ending, the more I'm disappointed, so I prefer not to think about it and let the story come as it comes.