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

[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.