Stolen from pandora_nervosa, snapesforte,

[valis2]

This is the problem with LJ, we all think we are so close, and we know nothing about each other. I'm going to rectify it. I want you to ask me something you think you should know about me. Something that should be obvious, but you have no idea about.

Then post this in your LJ and find out what people don't know about you.

Harry Potter/LJ Crossover by Osaku
Username
Age
Eccentric Headmaster	barda
Best Friend	snapesues
Brainy Friend	adamasoda
School Enemy	iibnf
Enemy Cronie #1	gina_r_snape
Enemy Cronie #2	deepforestowl
Runaway Godfather	c0nsumer
Greasy Potions Master	agatha_s
Annoying House Elf	junediamanti
Dark Lord	slow_mo_panda
Quiz created with MemeGen!

It is interesting that the "Godfather" role actually ended up with a male name, considering that there are only three on my flist.

Comments

[gypsyjolie.livejournal.com]

hmmm, as I actually have met you in RL, I already know what you look like. Everyone knows what shoe size you wear :). I'd normally ask about pets or significant others or RL job, but I already know about those. Ok,...

what were you like in high school and what did you dream of becoming when you were a graduating senior heading off toward college?

I have some guesses but maybe you'll surprise me.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Get ready for a long, rambling reply.

I went to a private Catholic high school. Before that I went to a public school and hated it utterly. That's another story, though.

So the high school was all-girls, with an all-boys school next door. I had a wonderful time there, and almost didn't want to graduate. I made some good friends.

What was I like? Fairly cheerful and wacky, always trying to clown around. Some classes I loved, and I did very well in. Some classes I hated, and I did C work in (religion classes). So as a result, some of my classmates thought I was a brainiac, and others thought I was an irreverant wacko. Heh.

I was also insecure and egotistical. Strange combo, but I think it happens sometimes with passive-aggressive people.

As for what did I want to do?

Well, I wrote my first story when I was in first grade. It was about a ghost. I loved writing and always wrote. In high school it was rekindled. I started to write bad poetry and Mary Sue epic fics. However, my parents, though not discouraging, were worried about financial stability. So at one point I was thinking about becoming a vet, and once I realized that there was no way I could do it (I could not be around hurting animals all day), I decided to become a horticulturist. However, being that my memory is rather erratic, I just didn't have confidence in the horticulture option, which is all about memory. Then I thought computers...

And then, I thought, after a few years of college...screw it. I like to write more than anything. My mind likes to write all the time.

So, I'll try to be a writer.

And now, years later...I'm still trying, though much more actively now that the degree if finished and I've got a computer to help. Whew!

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

When did you first realise your love for graveyards, and why?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I always used to look at them out the window of the car as a kid.

One night we were driving somewhere, it was dark and early fall, and our local graveyard had a blue flame burning at each headstone, and it was eerie and beautiful and amazing. I really was transfixed. No one else in the car seemed to care, but I couldn't look away.

Years later I found myself in a local cemetery, a historical cemetery, and I was interested in the grave markers.

It all came together in Italy, when I visited San Michele, which is the cemetery island just North of St Mark's. It was rather utilitarian...you pay to be buried there, and you are only allowed to stay interred there as long as you pay. When you stop paying they transfer you to the mainland. So there are very few historical markers.

Until you come to the Foreign Quarter.

I spent half a day in the Foreign Quarter, even though it is fairly small. There was a grave in English, about a beloved daughter; there were graves in German, and French. Ezra Pound was buried there. Many of the grave markers were settling poorly and skewed to one side or broken.

It was absolutely beautiful.

I took about thirty pictures, including a picture that I think is one of the best I've ever taken. It was an incredible experience.

Why do I love graveyards?

There is a sense of the past, a sense of connection. All of these markers represent people who were once here, and left their marker so that they could continue to interact with the living even after they were gone. Even in death our personality sometimes prevails. I have seen markers for loggers that were crafted to look like logs. I have seen markers that remind us of our mortality with rhymes..."As I am now, so shall you be. Look upon death and follow me." I have seen markers that include photos of the deceased. I have seen beautiful, heartfelt verses, and spare words, and I have seen grave markers that have felt the ravages of time and are now too worn to make out. I have seen the tragedy of an early death, the odd bit of macabre humor, the simplest wooden cross and mausoleums that are minature castles. How we leave our remains is the last vestige of our lives. Mrs. Mary Reed left this mortal coil in 1767, but her marker still boldly reminds us that she once walked on the same Earth.

There is a quiet, and a sense of wonder, in older cemeteries that exists nowhere else.

Ironically enough, I would prefer to be cremated.

[snapesforte.livejournal.com]

I like reading the old epitaphs... Though, I don't like the idea of being buried either. It's the whole decomposing, worms, etc issue that really bothers me.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I am not interested in taking up space permanently. And the new markers are usually...uninspiring.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I've only been on LJ for a little while, so I don't know much about anyone, really. So, OK, let's see...

What do you do for a living?

And...

How did you get into the HP fandom?

Boring, to be sure, but I'm a bit braindead at the moment. Just had a rather horrific Microbiology exam. *Shudders*

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I have three jobs...I work at a medical bill review company, I am self-employed selling my crafts at art shows and galleries, and I also work for dear friends as a part-time sales rep, which takes me to several different states every year.

I got into HP because I worked in a bookstore, and I heard nothing but Harry Potter!! the last year I was there. I picked up the first book, and honestly wasn't really into it. Then I picked up the second, and though, well, this was a little better. Then the third and fourth. And finally OotP.

But still, I wasn't totally over the edge about them. The simplicity of the writing style was not inspiring to me.

Then my friend, the lovely bookwench2096, who was at the time smitten with Severus Snape, showed me his...er...possibilities. After I burned myself out on Mummy fanfiction and writing Mummy fanfiction, I purchased a computer, and a little over a year ago began to burn my eyes out on HP fanfiction, especially after thinking more closely about Severus Snape. Then I reread all five books, and it was like night and day. I noticed all sorts of little things I hadn't seen before, and the more I read about Snape the more I was convinced that he was one of the most conflicted, interesting characters I have ever read.

I was bit by a cruel bunny in November, and posted my first chapter of the Last Sanguimagus on March 8th of this year.

So now I am fully obsessed, and working on chapter 54.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

Wow, that's pretty interesting... It always amuses me when someone doesn't like a book on the first read-through, and falls in love with it on the second. That's how I got into LOTR - couldn't get through it the first time. The second time, like you said, was night and day.

I'm also pretty impressed with your writing progress - I also posted the first chapter of my fic sometime in early March - but I am still on chapters 18-19...

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Y'know, it took three readings for LotR to really, really gel for me. I just re-read it (while in Australia, funny that) and it was so amazing and sublime that I hated to finish it.

80,000 words in less than a year is making me very happy, especially since I am gone so often.

54 chapters sounds impressive, but it is only really impressive if you're junediamanti. I am only mortal, you see, and my chapters are only 1-2,000 words each. Very short. (June's are 8-9,000. Yes, really.)

Have I not seen your fic? Is it SS-centric?

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I've read June's fic, I'm loving it. I hope she finishes - I'll be very disappointed if she doesn't.

You haven't seen my fic. I think you're confusing me with someone else. Mine is OC-centric. That tends to put most people off. :)

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

I think, though I'm not sure, you might've read one of my one-shots - the Remus fic I recently posted on Wolfsbane.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

My comment was unclear...what I was thinking was, I haven't read her fic, have I? And then the next line was, is her fic SS-based? Because if it's not, that's probably why I haven't read it.

It was your cue to direct me to it. Hee hee! I'd love to see the Remus fic as well, because I really am starting to get into Remus fics.

[privatemaladict.livejournal.com]

It was your cue to direct me to it.

Well, if you insist... ;)
The Remus ficlet is quite short. I was never entirely happy with it, but this version is probably as good as it's going to get.

The OC-centric WIP is considerably longer. It gets better as it goes along, but I can tell you now, Snape doesn't really do much in this fic. He makes a couple of appearances. Most of the time he's just his unpleasant Potions master self.

And the OC is quite possibly a Gary Stu. Well, I insist that he isn't, but even I have to admit he has some Stu traits.

I'll probably check out your fic once I'm on holidays. June's fics have got me interested in SS, so it'll be nice to see what else is out there. I've been meaning to look at the fics of everyone on my flist - what better way to get to know people than to see what they write?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Liked the Remus ficlet...will try reading the Greatest when I have a little time.

tLS is a sixth year fic, so it splits its time between the OC, SS, and Harry. If I had it all to do over again, I'd probably eliminate the Harry POV, but I am happy that it's forced me to write things I normally don't. Anyway, you're right...it is fun to see the flistfic...