Six questions meme.

[valis2]

Stolen from karasu_hime: Ask me six questions, anything you like. I'll answer as honestly as possible, though I might not reveal every detail.

I think I've done this before, but it's still fun.

Comments

[karasu-hime.livejournal.com]

*hem* *hem*

What drew you to HP fandom?

Why Snape?

Why the lion for your Avatar?

Whats the most exotic place you have been?

What draws you to Snape/Lupin?

What's your favorite book?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

What drew you to HP fandom? Why Snape? I worked in a bookstore, and everyone was babbling about the books, which made me never want to read them, but then after my mom tried them, I finally broke down. I wasn't really that impressed, but after reading PS/SS & CoS bookwench2096 started really babbling about Snape, and I thought, hmm, that's true, he was rather interesting, and I wrote some smutty ficlets for her. And that's when I started drooling, because I thought he was perfect for an in-control, dominating, dark figure, though I think that's a rather simplistic version of Snape now. Anyway, I got a computer, and went hog-wild over the Mummy fandom, reading all the Mummy stuff I could. I'd seen the first two HP movies, and read the four books, and one night I thought, I'll just see what Snape is doing on ffnet.

And that was it. Less and less time reading Mummy stuff, and more and more time reading Snape. Rawr.

I think I like Snape so much because he's dark, mysterious, and hurting somewhere. No one who isn't wounded inside deeply would react like that when Sirius Black escapes. I love that he has this tremendous armor built, and I love fics where he's suddenly vulnerable, or has to display certain emotions.

Why the lion for your Avatar? From an email I sent to someone who asked:

The lion has to do with a trip I took to Italy several years ago. I
ended up photographing several lion statues, and I wrote a poem about photographing lion statues, and it just sort of stuck. I don't care about *real* lions at all, honestly, but a lion statue...they intrigue
me. After I wrote that poem I just kept seeing lion statues. People
make symbols out of lions.

I'm not making much sense, but I guess it has to do with all sorts of
feelings I experienced in Italy, thoughts of being a stranger in my
own 'culture' and then being a stranger in an entirely different
culture. There I was, not wanting to do 'tourist'-like things, yet I
couldn't stop myself from taking these pictures of lions (the lion is
the unofficial symbol of Venice & St. Mark's).

I just wanted to use pictures that I had taken myself. I'm rather
stubborn that way. I didn't want to have to mess around with figuring
out how to credit and such. I just wanted a nice set of icons with a
common theme. I started with the lion and with some grave marker
icons, and then I phased out the grave marker icons when I took more
pics of lion statues and scanned in pics.

I also am intrigued by lions in art, and what emotions the artists infuse them with. We do so much projection with art, and I always like to see what artists show with art of lions.

Whats the most exotic place you have been? I'd have to say Italy for the people and Australia for the wildlife/plant life.

What draws you to Snape/Lupin? I really love that they have such different temperments, too. And I love that Lupin has the strength of character and the resolve to just hammer away slowly at Snape's walls if that's the way it has to happen. I like Lupin's sly humor and Snape's quick insults and the way those two would mesh. It would be little battles all the time for them instead of a big battle that wins the war. Snape's prickly nature and doubt that anyone would be attracted to him, Lupin's quiet confidence and occasional self-doubt...

What's your favorite book? Aaaah! That's impossible to answer. I can never narrow things down. Literature: probably Babbitt, by Sinclair Lewis. Comfort: the Hobbit. Mind-bending: Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy.

[avus.livejournal.com]

So long since I've commented on your journal. I'm caught up in lots of RL work problems now, and probably will be for several months. I just wanted to assure you of my continued dwelling in the land of the living and my continued affection.

Hmmm. Six questions.....

1. What do you want to be when/if/as/instead of you grow up?

2. What's something that's happened to you that's really made a difference in your life? A major discovery?

3. What's something you'd like to share about yourself.

4. Tell me a funny story that happened to you that you haven't posted on LJ?

5. What's a story your parents have told you about yourself when young that, you believe, really shows something of who you are?

6. What's a question you wished I'd asked, and that you'd like to answer?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

I just wanted to assure you of my continued dwelling in the land of the living and my continued affection.

Aww! You're so sweet. *hugs*

And, whew, these are major questions.

1. What do you want to be when/if/as/instead of you grow up? I always wanted to own a store. For many years. I have a real fascination with business. Now I realize that it's probably not such a great idea, and that it is a life vacuum of sorts. I don't think I will. So I want to be a writer, which I wanted to be when I was in second grade, I think.

When I was five, however, I wanted to be a fire truck. Yes, you read that correctly.

2. What's something that's happened to you that's really made a difference in your life? A major discovery? One day I realized that all of the blather you read or see in books or movies about friends and friendships...it isn't true, necessarily. We have many portraits of friends and friendship that are misleading. The thing is, I'm kind of a gullible person/literal person in some ways. For years I thought I had to be friends with anyone who asked, that it was a sacred responsibility, and that you have to be friends forever, and that to betray a friend was the worst thing that you can do.

Now I realize that you not only can but should pick and choose your friends. Some of the "friends" I made while I was young and foolish were very poor friends, and one or two had near life-threatening or at least damaging incidents with me. I also realized that it is better to leave a friendship that is damaging or stagnating than it is to stay in it. It was a very difficult lesson, because it involved a "betrayal" of sorts, and it was a horrible time for me and the friends involved. But now I have a better idea of friendships and I understand that some friends I just keep at arm's length and others I embrace fully.

3. What's something you'd like to share about yourself. Hmm...I think we can just assume that I've answered that with #2 as well.

4. Tell me a funny story that happened to you that you haven't posted on LJ? I was with my WI friends in Portland, Oregon, having a great time shopping. Their baby was still in diapers. He needed to be changed, so we went behind a set of buildings to change him. He turned out to be very...uh...messy, so I ended up holding the baby, who was stripped from the waist down, while they cleaned and prepared a diaper, because there was no clean flat surface to change him on. The baby is crowing with delight.

Suddenly we hear laughter, and we turn and look to see a group of about twenty adult tourists pointing and laughing at us. Here we thought we had chosen a "private" location...ha!

5. What's a story your parents have told you about yourself when young that, you believe, really shows something of who you are? That I hit a kid who was bothering me over the head with a fire truck at a daycare. I do have this awful streak of temper that I try very, very hard to restrain, and I'm mostly successful.

6. What's a question you wished I'd asked, and that you'd like to answer? Oh dear...I can't think of any! :( These were quite introspective enough.

[avus.livejournal.com]

1. At times, I've wanted to be a wolf. For me, though, so long as I work w/ children, I think I'll be content. Though maybe content isn't quite the right word.

2. Yes, indeed, friendship is a continuum, not a mere commitment. Friendship is a highly curious mix of caring & balance. Except, of course, those (at least in my experience) very few, very special friends.

4. Babies are productive of funny experiences --this I know.

5. Maybe that's why you wanted to be a firetruck. And I know a great deal about a familial temper.

6. Yes, I suspected that I was pushing the envelop. But then I do that. *gins*

3.

[pen-and-umbra.livejournal.com]

Ooee! :D

1. What is your favourite pair of shoes?

2. Name one thing that you could physically live without, yet it makes life worth living.

3. What is the matrix?

4. How do you feel about pop culture? What is its value, its goods and bads?

5. What's your kitchen like?

6. Tell me a travel story -- funny, poignant, odd, anything. (I think I asked this the previous time, too. ;)

[valis2.livejournal.com]

1. What is your favourite pair of shoes? Y'know, I've never had many pairs of shoes, until recently. I've been buying more now.

Still, if you mean "favourite" as in sentimental favourite, I'd have to say this horrible brown pair of leather steel-toed boots that I wore for years. I'm about to throw them out because they are so gruesome inside, and I feel terribly guilty about it. They were such a help when I worked at the bookstore and I use them at show setups because I can drop things on them and not hurt me toes.

2. Name one thing that you could physically live without, yet it makes life worth living. The computer. I love my computer unnaturally. I could so live without it, and did for many, many years, but now it's such a source of happiness in so many ways...sharing my writing, chatting with friends, selling things (I have this love of business).

3. What is the matrix? Hmmm...I did really love those movies, except part III. I think that it's the simplest explanation: a computer program used to trap minds so their bodies can be harvested.

4. How do you feel about pop culture? What is its value, its goods and bads? I like pop culture more than I dislike it. Its value? It keeps people entertained. It helps the economy, because if we didn't have fads and trends we'd buy fewer items, honestly. The dark part of it is its shallow nature, I think. It encourages a short attention span, because there is always something new to look at.

5. What's your kitchen like? Heh...boring! Typical apartment kitchen, with a utility room next to it. I have hung some eclectic tiles that I've bought from art fairs, but other than that, I haven't done anything. If I ever get a house, I really, really, really want to do some sort of sunset color kitchen, with a giant painting of a tangerine half (juicy side) somewhere. And with more of the vibrant colors of the sunset, not the muted seventies colors.

6. Tell me a travel story -- funny, poignant, odd, anything. (I think I asked this the previous time, too. ;) Heh...let me think...in Venice I was sitting on a rooftop with a friend, and looking out over the night, and we could hear music and echoes over the water, and it was just so mystical and fabulous to realize how far away from home we were, and yet life here was so similar (though different) to ours. It was one of those moments.

[eloisasnape.livejournal.com]

Bugger. Some of the questions I was going to ask have been taken. Umm..ok.

1. What is your star sign and are you typical of it?

2. Can you swim?

3. What is your favourite Snape fic?

4. What would your Patronus be and why?

5. Have you any nasty habits?

6. What genre of film do you prefer?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

1. What is your star sign and are you typical of it? I'm a Virgo, and even though I subscribe little to astrology, I do have some of the traits. I'm very detail-obssessed.

2. Can you swim? Yes, though not well, honestly.

3. What is your favourite Snape fic? Argh! That's impossible!

I think one of my favorites, one of the fics that I keep returning to in my head is Conduits of Sorcery (http://www.livejournal.com/users/pen_and_umbra/13304.html), by pen_and_umbra (warning: SS/HP, NC-17). I don't know why, but that Snape is quite interesting to me, and I think about the story at least once a week.

4. What would your Patronus be and why? Hmm...Probably a crow. I love crows so very much, and I'm very crow-like. I like shiny things, I like secreting them in my nest, and I'm loud and raucous sometimes, though I'm also a bit odd. I like to eat, too.

5. Have you any nasty habits? Hmm...I don't bite my nails (toenails included), and I don't smoke, and I very rarely drink...I do tend to put my fingers in my hair way too much. Nervous habit.

6. What genre of film do you prefer? Hmm. It depends upon what mood I'm in. But I'd have to say...drama, I suppose, though I have a sweet tooth for action/adventure and sci-fi and martial arts. I'm a melodrama queen, that's what I like best, as long as it's done well.

[bell-witch.livejournal.com]

1. Do you have a pet?

2. What is your favorite song?

3. What do you like on your pizza? (If you like pizza.)

4. The best vacation/trip you ever took...?

5. White or wheat?

6. Are you sorry you're doing this meme?


I know that several of these are yes/no or short answer. You can explain if you want, or answer only what was asked.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

1. Do you have a pet? Nope. But I love cats. I had a lovely black cat who lived to be nearly twenty-two, and he was wonderful, and I still miss him tremendously.

2. What is your favorite song? That is impossible! argh. I guess I'd have to say the live version of Bells for Her by Tori Amos from the "To Venus and Back" set.

3. What do you like on your pizza? (If you like pizza.) I don't eat pizza very often...maybe twice a year. But I'd have to say: either just cheese, or cheese and mushroom (if they're good mushrooms), or sometimes special pizzas like duck/wonton strips/hoisin sauce types.

4. The best vacation/trip you ever took...? Venice. An incredible trip because it was quite formative.

5. White or wheat? White, usually. Wheat only once in a while, like for a sprout/provolone/avocado sandwich. And not a heavy wheat...

6. Are you sorry you're doing this meme? Not yet! :)

[sylvadin.livejournal.com]

Okay, I'll take a turn at being curious...

Questions from one arts-n-crafts business person to another -

1) How many years have you been in business?
2) How many shows do you do each year?
3) What do you like about doing shows?
4) What do you hate about doing shows?
5) What's the worst show you've ever done?
6) What's your favorite (or worst) story about a customer?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

1) How many years have you been in business? Next year will be my tenth year of owning a business (in June).

2) How many shows do you do each year? Hmm...When I started out I was very aggressive and did twenty or so shows. Now I'm done to four or five. I need to add a few more in again. I've been rejected from a few, too, that I would have liked to have done.

3) What do you like about doing shows? That I can work two days with the public and, if it's a good show, I'm set for a few weeks or more, instead of working hour after hour at a set rate. I really like when you're rewarded, and in those ten to twenty hours of the show you do well enough to remind yourself why you do it in the first place.

4) What do you hate about doing shows? I hate bad weather (for outdoor shows). I really hate it. It's far too nerve-wracking. I only have an EZUp (nine years old), and I shudder every time the wind rises.

5) What's the worst show you've ever done? Oh, I did a new age show once. I thought I'd do great business there. But I was sandwiched in between a new age musician who was playing his music and some scary Elizabeth Claire Prophet people who were playing her videotaped meditation tape, which consisted of her saying, "Michael before me, Michael behind me, Michael to the right side of me" in this bizarre munchkin-like voice. They would turn her up, and then the guy would turn his up, and eventually I had to shout to customers, which is when I made them turn it down. ugh.

And I only did $23, and I had to crack skulls to get that much out of it, and I paid $70 for the show. And my sister generously came to sit with me, so she wasted her day too.

6) What's your favorite (or worst) story about a customer?

Wow. After working for nearly seventeen years in retail, I have several...but here is the very worst. Ever.

I worked as a manager of a Waldenbooks. My assistant manager was this really sweet guy. I'll call him Julian. Julian's mother had a condition that caused Julian to be born with most of his fingers missing. It was because the walls of her womb were too tight. Julian was working with another girl one night on the closing shift, and I had stayed late. A customer came up to me as I was walking towards the back room, and my "crazy" radar went off wildly. He asked me in a very strange manner if I had any books on Nostradamus. Ugh. Anyway, I pointed out the section and went into the back room.

I get a call ten minutes later to come back up, and I find Julian nearly beside himself and the girl absolutely incensed. The customer apparently came up to the register and asked a couple weird/mean questions. The girl answered a bit abruptly, and Julian, who was ringing the customer up, and the customer felt he was a bit slow in his typing (he wasn't normally, he was just flustered because the customer was so weird).

The customer said, "Maybe God would give you your fingers back if you would messing things up."

It was absolutely horrible.

The girl had already called security and had him removed from the mall.

[vanityfair00.livejournal.com]

Here are some completely random and unrelated questions...

1. What would be your dream vacation?

2. Are you afraid of the dark?

3. What do you think of Alan Rickman playing Snape?

4. Do you have a favorite word(s)? Or is this just me?

5. Do you hang up on telemarketers or are you polite? (One just called here which is why you get this question.)

6. Do you write original fiction in addition to your fanfic?

[valis2.livejournal.com]

1. What would be your dream vacation? Venice, Italy. I've already been, but it's perfect. Or maybe England. I'm not much for swimming or enjoying the out-of-doors on beaches or in forests. I like looking at things and thinking about things. Venice is sublime.

2. Are you afraid of the dark? Hmm...I was when I was young, but am not really now, except once in a while when you get that weird primordial flash of unease.

3. What do you think of Alan Rickman playing Snape? Voice, perfect. Mannerisms, perfect. Glare, perfect. Age? Well...I looove AR, but he's older than Snape is at that point by twenty years, and it kind of shows, and he's a bit...pudgier than I've pictured Snape, but honestly, I'm happy he has the part and I hope he carries it through movie 7.

4. Do you have a favorite word(s)? Or is this just me? Oh, I love certain words. Let's see...undulate...ambulate...toothy grin...silkily...smoothly...I could go on and on.

5. Do you hang up on telemarketers or are you polite? (One just called here which is why you get this question.) I generally wait for the first pause to make certain it's something that I don't want, and then I say, "I'm sorry, but I'm not interested. Thank you very much, and have a nice day." I say it in a very friendly tone. And then I hang up.

6. Do you write original fiction in addition to your fanfic? Oh yes, and as soon as the Monster Fic that Ate my Life is finished I'll be working on a fantasy trilogy that I hope to shop around to publishers.

[vanityfair00.livejournal.com]

I loved Venice--all the narrow little streets crowded with shops full of Venetian glass jewelry or Carnival masks, the canals, and those signs that if you try to follow only lead you in circles. I bought the most gorgeous handmade music box while I was there. And I think I might have seen Mandy Pantankin, (of Princess Bride fame) but I couldn't be sure it was him, and I was too embarrassed to ask. I was only there a day and a half but I loved it.

[valis2.livejournal.com]

Technically it's Muranese glass jewelry, because most of the glass blowers/lampworkers live and work on the island of Murano. Though Murano is supposed to be part of Venice, they're still a bit stubborn and independent in their way. I love the Carnivale masks; I have a pair that are very cool.

Mandy Patinkin! I would have DIED! I had such a crush on him after Princess Bride.

[vanityfair00.livejournal.com]

I couldn't be sure it was him, but they were filming this movie and he was in costume--all in black with a sword, a big hat, and a mustache. Actors look different in real life though, so its hard to know. I wanted to go up and say "hello my name is Ingio Montoya..." but I was afraid if it wasn't him I would be embarrassed or if it was, he probably gets really tired of hearing that line over and over.