I'm a Leaf on the Wind...
Obligatory Questions:
01. Name: Aldiarde
02. Age: 21 (22 in September)
03. Gender: Female
04. Location: Midwestern U.S.A.
05. Likes:
Thunderstorms (complete with lightning, rain and wind), travelling, reading, coffee, tea, and drawing. Oh, and dictionaries. I love reference books: grammar texts, symbolic dictionaries and foreign language dictionaries; it's weird, I know, but it's true.
06. Dislikes:
Incompetence, noise, crowds, slapstick and stupid humour and interpersonal drama.
07. Hobbies and/or Talents:
I've been labelled a renaissance woman and really think that it's the only title that I've ever really like at all. I do all things art but dance and act; I draw, paint and sculpt (on occasion), sing, write and work in technical theatre doing lighting, sound, set and costume design. Outside of the arts, and, yes, I'm aware of how weird this may sound, I like to visit museums and art galleries and attend lectures. Also, while I don't cook simply for the fun of it, I am a bit of an amateur confectioner. Now, I don't know if this should count as a hobby or not, but I'm studying herbal, natural and homeopathic health and remedies. Lastly, my roommate, the one coming into the house this autumn, is a martial arts instructor (the kind that is required by law to warn you of her capabilities before she defends herself) and so, the rest of us in the house are going to train under her for at least a year.
08. Strengths:
My most obvious strength is intelligence, but the one that I value the most is restraint, self-control. I'm not prone to outbursts, and am stoic enough to control myself with near to complete disregard for my mood. I think it the most valuable since it is this strength that allows me to make the wisest decisions in interpersonal relationships and wandering the planet. I've nomadic streak and have plans to live abroad in a number of countries, as well as within a few particular sets of circumstances within the U.S.; things like living on a farm for a year for little more than room and board in order to learn patience and contentment. The decisions necessary to wander the planet as a single person without needless complications, and the various troubles that can come with living in a nation not my own and moving frequently would require at least as much self-restraint as intelligence.
09. Weaknesses:
I'm emotionally reserved, nearly to a fault. I often seem devoid of emotion, and seem indifferent to others. I'm not, but I have difficulty with emotional expression outside of those that I know well. Seriously, think Pride & Prejudice's Mr. Darcy and then add one more layer of discomfort to being in public. It's not something that's wrong with me per se but it does make life difficult.
I'm judgemental. Incompetence annoys me and I find it difficult to forgive in anyone or anything (and my study of languages makes me a grammarian easily annoyed by anything poorly written or spoken).
Favourites:
I'm going to assume that y'all wanna know why in addition to my answer for each of these, but since you didn't ask for it explicitly, I'll do what I can to keep it brief.
01. Colour: I can choose just one colour - I think it has to do with being an artist - but, I have a favourite family of colours: the earthy/gemstone colours (sapphire, ruby, emerald &c.).
02. Movies: Generally, I prefer mind-twisters, things like "The Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind" and M. Night Shyamalan's films, films along the lines of Tim Burton's films and "Moulin Rouge" and "bio-pic's" such as "Elizabeth", "Pollock" and "Frida". However, my favourite film is a Korean film, Spring, Summer, Fall, Winter...Spring. It isn't often that a film can tell a story about discipline, obedience, patience and learning wisdom, let alone do it in relative silence. If y'all haven't seen it you should rent it the next time you're in the mood for something a little "mystic wisdom".
03. Books:
I'm not picky really. I'll read everything but young adult stuff with steam but without plot. I love histories, biographies, and all things non-fiction covering everything from science to mathematics to dead languages and on into coffee to computer science to music to economics. When it comes to fiction, I read classic literature in English, and lots of the translations from other nations' best works. I've also got a working knowledge of ancient Greek, a little French, and am working on Latin so that I can read without having to locate good translations. My favourite literary works are as varied as my musical tastes though: Ender's Game, Wicked, The Orchid Thief, Anne of Green Gables and The Fountainhead.
04. Music:
I like almost everything; no rap and even less hip-hop, but other than that I can find something I like in almost every genre. My favourites are varied but include Ani DiFranco, Chopin, Led Zeppelin, Opeth, and a few little local/independent musicians that I would be very much surprised to find well-known enough to mention.
This or That:
01. Leader or follower? Depends on the situation really. I'll make decisions if no one else will &/or if I'm the one best qualified to make them but generally I'm content to deal with life as it comes.
02. Brains or brawn? Brains first, but anyone intelligent knows that neglecting the brawn isn't healthy. I prefer to think my way in, through and out of everything, but physical health enhances mental acuity and so, maximising each of them is helpful rather than detrimental to the other.
03. Fight or run? Generally fight. I handle confrontation with a fight but I run from personal entanglements that get messy or too emotionally conflicted.
04. Psychological warfare, or a good ol' fashioned ass-kickin'? A good mixture of the two is certainly best. I'd start with psychological warfare, but want to be able to kick ass if it's necessary.
05. Dreamer or realist? I dream only at home. I function as a realist. Any dreaming I do is entirely my own. I do plenty of it, but it's not visible or public knowledge.
06. Win at all costs, or honour until the end?
I play to win, but I play by the rules which I suppose makes me an honour to the end girl.
07. Paper or plastic? Neither! We're a green household. We use canvas bags, and have made several large over-the-shoulder burlap sacks for trips to the farmers' market and the local farm we have a share in and get weekly supplies of vegetables from.
Random:
01. How to do react to stressful situations?
Depends on the stress. Serious emotional stress makes me a little sick to my stomach, but I'm tough. I vomit and then go back to work. Everyday stress has very little effect on me except to occasionally force me into making "rapid-fire decisions" rather than thinking about things for days at a time.
02. Who is your least favourite person in the universe, fictional or not?
This loses me points every time I admit to it out loud, but I really can't stand Stephen Colbert. He's crude and loud and over the top. I'm a quiet, academic girl - I don't do well with loud and in-your-face kind of people to begin with so a whole television show dedicated to such a person just doesn't sit well with me.
03. The eternal question. You find a wallet full of money, credit cards, etc. What do you do with it?
I know this answer is no fun at all, but I really would just turn it in to the police station - unless I'm on my campus, in which case, I work for the campus equivalent of the police and would look through it for ID and use my office's resources to return it to its owner.
04. How well do you take an insult?
You can insult anything but my church without getting too much of a reaction from me. However, if you do insult my church, we part ways permanently whether or not you like it.
05. Pick a weapon.
Sharp. I want something with a blade. Don't care if it's staff, dagger, knife or axe. Well, actually, I don't really want an axe, but any blade that can be wielded (what a weird word) with precision.
06. You're sending a capsule into space, to educate any alien races who might find it on human culture. Remember, you have to impress them, or else they'll think we're stupid and blow us up. What do you put in the capsule?
1. A blood sample and
2. a multi-layered and fully detailed anatomical drawing of an adult male and female human (separate transparent sheets would detail the nervous system, digestive system &c and then layer to show a person completely) to explain who and what we are biologically;
3. instrumental music, Bach, probably, including a score and several sets of mathematical expressions communicating the set of scientific axiom we currently operate and extrapolate from;
4. a periodic table with pictorial representations of the elements as well as our standard symbol and notations;
5. a globe, and a flat topographical map to explain the planet's geology;
6. prayer beads - I know we're a largely evidentialist society, but there remain portions of humanity who either blindly follow whatever they were brought up to believe without question and to the extreme, and those who believe that there are merits to prayer and meditation and that religion and science do not have to be mutually exclusive.
7. A warning of some kind is that last thing I think necessary; something that says we are a little a stupid, but not worth blowing up. So, I think something along the lines of a looped digital archive that shows things like the Olympics and things like starvation in Africa; all the good and bad of major world events, in hopes of communicating that we're not united as a planet, nor prepared to deal with an off-world culture united as a species. In order to insure that comunicating with one nation may be risky or at least nothing like communicating with another, this digital loop would include an audio loop in several of the most basic languages (Indo-European, and the Slavic, Asian and African bases of language as well as a binary "transcription" on-screen) all saying that we're a planet divided.