A Day in the Life of a Duckling
Name: Blackletter
Age (no one under 13, House rules): Twenty-eight. For now. In nineteen days I will be twenty-nine, and then I can officially call myself nearly thirty.
Location: The Midwest
Occupation: PhD student and Latin instructor
Likes: Latin, Greek, and other intellectual challenges that make my brain hurt (but it’s a *good* hurt). Books, reading, research, peace and quiet, black, music, writing, anything with sugar in it
Dislikes: stupid people, loud people especially in large quantities, brown recluse spiders in my closet, the pile of clothing on my couch that I need to put away and still haven’t
-Please List No More Than 10 of Each-
Favorite Movies: Back to the Future (all three), Lord of the Rings (all three), Indiana Jones (first three, not sure about the fourth one yet... Aliens? Really, George? Aliens?) Ghostbusters One and Two. Any movie by Monty Python.
Favorite Musicians and/or Musical Groups: Ralph Vaughan Williams, Rachmaninoff, Loreena McKennitt, VNV Nation
Favorite Books: Harry Potter, anything by Terry Pratchett, Thucydides’ History of the Peloponnesian War, Lucian’s Satires, Petronius’ Satyricon, Aeschylus’ Agamemnon, Euripides’ Bacchae
Favorite Foods: Ethiopian, Thai, Indian...anything with lots of spice. I like food that makes my lips turn red and steam pour from my ears.
Favorite Television Shows: House (of course). Doctor Who. Er...I don’t actually get any TV reception and I don’t have cable. So not much in the way of Television Shows.
Strengths: Smart. Calm in the midst of chaos. Independent. Organized. Determined.
Weaknesses: Lazy. Very very lazy. Except when I’m obsessed, in which case I can think about only the thing I’m obsessed with and nothing else. (My friends really liked those six months of undergrad during which I could talk about nothing but the Athenian Expedition to Sicily.) Both of these extremes can be a problem. I'm also socially inept. Small talk is the bane of my existence and I’m terrible at networking.
Fears: That after over a decade of college, I still won’t be employable when I get out. (Stupid useless and yet incredibly challenging classics degree). Death of loved ones.
Hobbies: Read, write, draw, play piano, sing, archery, dance, school (yes, it’s a hobby. It’s a hobby and a job and a lifestyle and my entire life.)
The One Thing You Want To Do More Than Anything: Graduate. And then get a job as a professor so I never have to leave academia *ever*. And then get tenure as soon as possible so I can sit back and relax and cruise lazily through life with my tenured job and occasional bursts of article writing via the obsession du jour.
House Related Questions
Who is your favorite character and why? I don’t have just one favorite. I like House because he’s quirky and fascinating to watch (and reminds me of my dad...). Plus he’s brilliant and intelligence is a real attraction for me. I like Foreman and Taub because they both have that calm and competent vibe going for them and I like calm and competent. I like Cuddy for being both comfortably authoritative and yet flexible. And I like Wilson for being kind (but not so kind it’s cloying) and clever and observant.
Do you have a favorite episode? Care to Share? Probably “Three Stories”. It’s very nicely constructed. The three past events plus the present interweave and overlap nicely, the visuals are clever (presenting the stories first as a visual imagination, not reality-i.e. the generic middle-aged man as the volleyball player), it’s just so tight. Plus it’s one of the first major revelations into House’s past.
Do you have a favorite quote and/or snark? Wanna tell us? There’s so many, I hardly know where to begin. But my favorite exchange has got to be: “House: As long as you’re trying to be good, you can do whatever you want. Wilson: And as long as you’re not trying, you can say whatever you want. House: So between us, we can do anything. We can rule the world!”
Do you have a favorite House accessory? Cane. I think canes are awesome. In high school, I used to snag my dad’s walking stick whenever he wasn’t using it. And I’m told that back when I was a wee thing, I used to steal my grandcha’s cane, so apparently I’ve had this fetish for a while.
If you were sick, would you want House as a doctor? Yes. I value competency, especially in my doctor. House gets results. And I’m socially inept enough that bedside manner is mostly lost on me anyway. I appreciate people who speak their mind; I don’t like to guess what someone is thinking.
Which character do you identify with most? This can include a patient. Probably House (eccentric intellectual who lives alone and has few close relationships) with perhaps a side order of Foreman (trying to appear collected and less callous than I feel) and Chase (never feeling good enough and desperately wanting someone to tell me that I am).
Most importantly, what is your non-House favorite quote? Pathei Mathos. Greek, from Aeschylus’ Agamemnon. (see icon) It translates to “learning by suffering”.
**extra** please include a pic of yourself, it would be really nice. :)
This was taken about two weeks ago. Those are my massive dictionaries. (The Oxford Latin Dictionary, the Liddell and Scott Greek-English Lexicon, and the Oxford Classical Dictionary)
