Introducing the longwinded Vala :)
Somehow I missed the "Getting to Know You Meme" when it first appeared, and since this place has been fairly quiet for a while, I figured I'd reintroduce myself. (Most of you probably never saw my application anyway, since it was, I think, only the second or third one to be sorted...)
So, why not? On to the meme!
Getting to Know You Meme, Take 3
1. What name do you prefer to be called online?
Grayswandir. Though I also answer to Dostoevsky's Mouse.
2. What is the origin of your username?
"Grayswandir" is the name of a sword in Roger Zelazny's fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber. "Dostoevsky's Mouse" is a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky's short novel Notes From Underground: "And the main thing is that it's he, he himself who considers himself a mouse; nobody else asks him to, and that is the important point."
3. What is your least favorite thing to do?
Assuming that I have to choose from among those things which I actually do, in spite of disliking them, I guess I'll say housework. Cooking, sweeping, laundry, washing dishes... These things are definitely not on my list of enjoyable activities.
4. What is your favorite thing to do?
Reading and writing are my two favorite things to do. I'd hate to have to choose between them.
5. Assuming you had the skills for it, what is your dream job?
Freelance novelist, of course. ;)
6. Which is better; to work at a job you dislike that pays really well or to work at a job you love that barely pays enough to make ends meet?
Heh. I think the fact that I'm studying to be an English teacher probably answers that question. I don't need money; what I need is to feel like I'm not throwing away forty hours of every week on something totally inane.
7. What are your favorite types of clothes?
Black ones. Specifically, plain black shirts, pants, and boots, without any patterns or ornaments or frilly things on them.
8. What is your dream vacation?
Realistically: a few weeks at home to read, write, draw, listen to music, and socialize as little as possible. Less realistically: a few weeks to study in Germany or Russia. Or both.
9. Name your 5 all time favorites:
books: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche (assuming nonfiction counts), The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and... man, it's hard to narrow it down to five... for the moment, I'll say One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
movies: American Beauty, Fight Club, Fiddler on the Roof, Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail, and pretty much anything with Charlie Chaplin in it.
tv shows: "M*A*S*H," "House M.D.," "Queer as Folk" (US), "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and "Scrubs."
music (songs, performers or genres): The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Pink Floyd, Tool, and... hm. There are a bunch more, but I guess I'll give the last spot to David Bowie.
10. What are your favorite guilty pleasures? (or most embarrassing ones, if you don’t actually feel guilty about them?)
books: Fanfiction is my only guilty literary pleasure, I think. I mean, I'm fairly embarrassed to have read an entire Dean Koontz novel, but it certainly wasn't a pleasure.
movies: I sort of consider the Lord of the Rings movies a guilty pleasure, because I love them, but they mutilate canon so appallingly sometimes. I also still love the Rankin-Bass animated Hobbit and Return of the King cartoons.
tv shows: "Gundam Wing." I started watching it when I was about fifteen, and, distressingly, I still rather like it.
music (songs, performers or genres): I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed telling people I like Marilyn Manson these days (even though I suppose I shouldn't, since I still like his old music and haven't actually heard any of his new music...)
11. What books do you love enough to have read them more than once?
I'd happily read almost any book a second time, if I enjoyed it the first time. But as for books I actually have read multiple times, those are as follows:
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Miserables, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Slaughterhouse Five, Notes from Underground, the Sandman comics, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Chronicles of Amber, and, of course, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
12. What movies do you love enough to watch again and again?
All the ones listed in my top five, plus Pirates of the Caribbean, the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, several of Tim Burton's movies, any Monty Python or Marx Brothers film, and... pretty much anything with David Bowie in it.
13. Favorite food?
Vegetable lasagna. Or blackberry pie.
14. Favorite drink?
Orange spice black tea.
15. Favorite vacation spot?
My room. ;) Okay, okay. I live in the desert, so... someplace with snow.
16. What vehicle would you drive if money was not an object?
I love my truck (it's an '86 Chevy Blazer, K5), and would probably hang on to it even if I had all the money in the world. If money weren't an object, I'd get a stereo and some speakers installed again, and if possible I'd convert it to run on some more environment-friendly sort of fuel. I might just leave all the rust on it, though. It's got more personality that way. ;)
To anyone who hasn't filled this out yet -- join in! This is the place to mingle!
So, why not? On to the meme!
Getting to Know You Meme, Take 3
1. What name do you prefer to be called online?
Grayswandir. Though I also answer to Dostoevsky's Mouse.
2. What is the origin of your username?
"Grayswandir" is the name of a sword in Roger Zelazny's fantasy series The Chronicles of Amber. "Dostoevsky's Mouse" is a reference to Fyodor Dostoevsky's short novel Notes From Underground: "And the main thing is that it's he, he himself who considers himself a mouse; nobody else asks him to, and that is the important point."
3. What is your least favorite thing to do?
Assuming that I have to choose from among those things which I actually do, in spite of disliking them, I guess I'll say housework. Cooking, sweeping, laundry, washing dishes... These things are definitely not on my list of enjoyable activities.
4. What is your favorite thing to do?
Reading and writing are my two favorite things to do. I'd hate to have to choose between them.
5. Assuming you had the skills for it, what is your dream job?
Freelance novelist, of course. ;)
6. Which is better; to work at a job you dislike that pays really well or to work at a job you love that barely pays enough to make ends meet?
Heh. I think the fact that I'm studying to be an English teacher probably answers that question. I don't need money; what I need is to feel like I'm not throwing away forty hours of every week on something totally inane.
7. What are your favorite types of clothes?
Black ones. Specifically, plain black shirts, pants, and boots, without any patterns or ornaments or frilly things on them.
8. What is your dream vacation?
Realistically: a few weeks at home to read, write, draw, listen to music, and socialize as little as possible. Less realistically: a few weeks to study in Germany or Russia. Or both.
9. Name your 5 all time favorites:
books: The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo, The Idiot by Fyodor Dostoevsky, Beyond Good and Evil by Friedrich Nietzsche (assuming nonfiction counts), The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde, and... man, it's hard to narrow it down to five... for the moment, I'll say One Hundred Years of Solitude by Gabriel Garcia Marquez.
movies: American Beauty, Fight Club, Fiddler on the Roof, Monty Python's Search for the Holy Grail, and pretty much anything with Charlie Chaplin in it.
tv shows: "M*A*S*H," "House M.D.," "Queer as Folk" (US), "Mystery Science Theater 3000," and "Scrubs."
music (songs, performers or genres): The Smashing Pumpkins, The Cure, Pink Floyd, Tool, and... hm. There are a bunch more, but I guess I'll give the last spot to David Bowie.
10. What are your favorite guilty pleasures? (or most embarrassing ones, if you don’t actually feel guilty about them?)
books: Fanfiction is my only guilty literary pleasure, I think. I mean, I'm fairly embarrassed to have read an entire Dean Koontz novel, but it certainly wasn't a pleasure.
movies: I sort of consider the Lord of the Rings movies a guilty pleasure, because I love them, but they mutilate canon so appallingly sometimes. I also still love the Rankin-Bass animated Hobbit and Return of the King cartoons.
tv shows: "Gundam Wing." I started watching it when I was about fifteen, and, distressingly, I still rather like it.
music (songs, performers or genres): I sometimes feel a bit embarrassed telling people I like Marilyn Manson these days (even though I suppose I shouldn't, since I still like his old music and haven't actually heard any of his new music...)
11. What books do you love enough to have read them more than once?
I'd happily read almost any book a second time, if I enjoyed it the first time. But as for books I actually have read multiple times, those are as follows:
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame, Les Miserables, The Picture of Dorian Gray, Slaughterhouse Five, Notes from Underground, the Sandman comics, The Hound of the Baskervilles, The Chronicles of Amber, and, of course, The Hobbit and The Lord of the Rings.
12. What movies do you love enough to watch again and again?
All the ones listed in my top five, plus Pirates of the Caribbean, the original Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, several of Tim Burton's movies, any Monty Python or Marx Brothers film, and... pretty much anything with David Bowie in it.
13. Favorite food?
Vegetable lasagna. Or blackberry pie.
14. Favorite drink?
Orange spice black tea.
15. Favorite vacation spot?
My room. ;) Okay, okay. I live in the desert, so... someplace with snow.
16. What vehicle would you drive if money was not an object?
I love my truck (it's an '86 Chevy Blazer, K5), and would probably hang on to it even if I had all the money in the world. If money weren't an object, I'd get a stereo and some speakers installed again, and if possible I'd convert it to run on some more environment-friendly sort of fuel. I might just leave all the rust on it, though. It's got more personality that way. ;)
To anyone who hasn't filled this out yet -- join in! This is the place to mingle!