This looks like fun!
1. Name: Aibhinn. Melissa, if you want to talk about RL, though most of my family/friends call me Lissa.
2. Age: 32
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? Either England (something about it just appeals) or right here in the Pacific Northwest, preferably in a house with a view of water or mountains. Or both. Wherever it is, it would have to have a climate that is not particularly hot or humid in the summer. Cold I can deal with; hot, humid weather I can't.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like? Lots of books and comfy chairs. Views of beautiful nature out the windows. A well-stocked fridge and a port-a-puter, so I can work on my writing. Oh, and a treadmill and stuff, because otherwise I'd get all stiff and uncomfortable from sitting too long. Good music, of course, is a must for de-stressing.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character? Umbridge. I know this is the world's most common answer, but honestly, she is. I'm a teacher myself, and she literally angers me so badly with her mis-handling of class (and of students!) that I skip whole sections when trying to re-read OotP. In fact, I still haven't re-read OotP cover-to-cover. I've re-read HBP several times, but not OotP. She irritates me that much.
6. Is the glass half empty or half full? Oh, half-full. I do have my half-empty days, but thankfully, they're few and far between. I have far too much to be grateful for to think the glass is half-empty.
7. Give us a quotation (Can be from a famous person, a song, or even a poem-whatever you want) you feel represents your life or personality. I have several!
"Fear leads to anger. Anger leads to hate. Hate leads to suffering." --Yoda
"Your focus determines your reality." --Qui-Gon Jinn. (I used to have this up in my classroom)
"If you think you can or can't, you're right." --Henry Ford
"If you cannot do great things, do little things with great love." --Mother Theresa
"In the book of life, the answers aren't in the back." --Charlie Brown
Ok, that's more than enough!
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends? Family--but then, my closest friends are family, at least in my estimation. Once you've passed a certain level of intimacy in my life (no, not necessarily that way), you're family.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory? Campfire circle at Camp Don Bosco. A fire in the center; the whole population of the camp in makeshift wooden bleachers surrounding it; singing silly or funny or quiet or heartfelt songs together, as a group, before going back to our cabins and to sleep. I can still sing most of the songs--and it was always a place where I felt accepted, and content, and just generally happy with my life. Not to say that there weren't happy times with my family as well--just that the campfire circle stands out, probably because it was so different. I had a generally happy childhood, at least at home, and so trying to pick one memory out of that is nearly impossible.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw? Avoidance behavior. I'm VERY good at it, unfortunately; when I don't want to deal with something, I find 9,000 other things to do that avoid the problem rather than facing it. Stupid, as it makes things worse in the end, but it's what I do. For example, working on this entry for stamped_hp instead of writing the fic I'm on deadline for.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.? Almost certainly. It took quite some time for me to come to that answer, though; I was trying to consider, back when I was 15, would I have done it? It's not easy to go back 17 years (Good gods, has it been that long??), but I do think so. I was never popular, and never particularly brave, but I think in those circumstances, I would probably have done it. I've always enjoyed putting one in the eye of someone who's being unfair, especially if I could do it while learning something at the same time.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations. Hm. Personal or otherwise? I ask, because when it's a personal thing, I tend to panic first, then talk myself down out of my panic and deal with it. If it's outside of me (family, friends, work, etc.) I go into a sort of "emergency mode," where I'm very calm and very rational, and everything seems to slow WAAAY down, and my thinking is very clear. I deal with the emergency, then after it's all over and everything's fine, sit down and shake in reaction. The last big earthquake we had here, I didn't really react until after the kids had been dismissed back home. Once I was no longer 'in charge' of anyone, I spent ten minutes sitting at my desk, just shaking.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice? Oh, wow. Hm. I couldn't survive in my job if I didn't value compassion, but honestly, I've seen enough of the world now to know that justice, hard as it is, is sometimes the only thing that people can hold onto. Also, sometimes when people are on the wrong track in life, justice can knock them back before they go too far. "Tough love," I guess, is my motto, and sometimes you just have to give people enough rope to hang themselves.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul? I've been told I have an old soul, but I feel more like a child at heart. I don't feel 32 at all; when did I end up becoming a Responsible Grown-UpTM?
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in? I think it would be a toss-up between Ravenclaw and Gryffindor, but probably more likely Ravenclaw.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun! I had to reformat my hard drive not long ago, and all my pics are gone. I'll try to re-load them when I can find all the right disks.