(no subject)
1. Name: Antonia East
2. Age: 20.
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? For some reason, this question makes 'Jerusalem' start playing in my head (you know - And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England's mountains green...). I love to travel and next year I hope to spend time in France and the year after that I may go to America to do an MA as well. But I think that England will always be the place I feel safe and most connected to.
As to specifics, where I'd like to live is in a house which is big enough to house serveral dogs, a couple of cats and a hedgehog. And hopefully a few children and a husband, if I ever manage to get one. Ideally I'd also have a paddock and stabling for a goat and some horses. So it'd be in the country. While the idea of living in the city is attractive - it'd be lovely to be able to go to big theatre productions and exhibitions and to be a part of something thriving, I really don't think I could hack it for the long term. I don't want to bring up children somewhere where they think it's unusual to see a cow.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like? At the moment it would look completely bare apart from a pad of paper, a pen, and books about Richard II so that I could finish off my essay without distractions.
Generally it would have an open fire and a few dogs and cats curled up in front of it. It would have a very comfortable chair that you could lounge in (I can't sit normally in chairs - I always have to sit sideways or something). There would be mounds upon mounds of books - story books, novels and old childhood favourites. There might also be some cross stitch to do as well - and a tv which showed films you've already watched twenty times to listen to while you work.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character? Lucius Malfoy. I know we barely see him, but to me he is dislikable without being interesting or original. He prides himself on his blood lines and status in the wizarding world, and yet he displays what my mother would call 'bad breeding' by making fun of the Weasleys' poverty. He is prejudiced, sneering and malicious. He enjoys belittling people. He gave Ginny Weasley Lord Voldemort's diary for no more reason than to cause disruption at Hogwarts (even at the expense of the quality of his own son's education) and to discredit Arthur Weasley. Knowing what the diary would lead her to do and giving it to her anyway really highlights what I dislike most about his character - he's prepared to cause something vile to happen, but distances himself from it. He does none of the dirty work himself.
6. Is the glass half empty or half full? It's half full. Even when there's only the dregs remaining, there's still something left. I understand how people get down - I do pretty often myself - but even when you're at your lowest, you don't have to look far to see beautiful things in life.
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 belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to life itself! It was going to be It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am but I decided against it. It didn't quite apply! The actual quote comes from Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' which is a play which hits me every time I read it. I love this quote - I had to use it in the end because it appeals to me so much. I'm a rower (as in boats rather than bickering) and in races and in quiet early morning training sessions I've felt a bit like that. I've felt snatches of it when I see a particular view near where I live. If I ever have children, I'd like to think I'll feel it with them as well.
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends? Probably family, although my friends are my family and it's not always the case that my family are my friends. Living away from home during term time, my friends are who I have the most contact with, but having moved away from home, I know that you can very easily lose contact with many friends you were close to before you left. Your family can't leave you and you can't leave them - and I suppose the friends that that applies to as well (the best kind) become a sort of family as well.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory? It's not a specific memory, but I can remember my father telling me bedtime stories. I'd ask him to tell me a story about, say, a dog called Boris and a Princess called Jessica, and he's say, 'Once upon a time there was a Princess and her name was Jessica. She had a dog called Boris, and they all lived happily ever after, the end.' Then I would tell him off for not doing it properly, and he would settle down and invent a long made-up story which would have me utterly enthralled.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw? Biscuits I put things off. If I'm given a task and am told to do it there and then then I'm fine. I can do exams. If I have to do it sometime in the next week then I'm up all night the night before. If no one will make me do it, then I often put it off and worry about it more and more and leave it longer and longer until it becomes a big block in my mind and the ruination of my life. Then I either do it or it goes away and I wonder why I made such a fuss.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.? Yes. I would have gone because it would be the right thing to do. Umbridge was completely out of order denying defence instruction, especially considering the circumstances those students are likely to find themselves in in the war. I think you can only follow rules as far as your common-sense tells you to. The D.A. was important, useful and fun, and I would have joined if I could.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations. Well, sometimes not very well, as the answer to no.10 shows. However, in other situations I cope reasonably well. Apart from the feeling that I should have tried harder or done something better than I did, I actually don't get all that stressed about the big things. If there's nothing you can do then you'd better face it with a clear head. My usual reaction is to have a quick cry and then feel much calmer. There's the initial wobble (when my head screams, 'panic!', and then I'm steady. An exception to this was learning to drive, where I was in a state of prolongued fear until I passed my test. It's one of my proudest achievements, though - I like managing to do things that don't come naturally.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice? Tough. Compssion at a pinch, because I think (and I'm sure I've read somewhere terribly famous) that humanity is the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, and therefore we should always be prepared and willing to show compassion for those around us. I think if we lose sight of compassion then justice may not always be done - it's easy to become blinded by the need for justice.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul? I'm a child. I never never want to grow up. I want to find my children just as funny as they find themselves (well ... with some exceptions). I still find banter like calling people 'stinky head' and 'poopy brain' pretty darn hilarious. Things that made me laugh when I was younger still crack me up (Blackadder's still my favourite commedy). I think children have a delight in things which is sad to lose as an adult - remember the first Christmas when you didn't believe in Father Christmas? I may like staying at home and doing needlework, but I never want to feel old at heart.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in? I've been sorted twice before and both places said Hufflepuff. I should imagine that's right, although perhaps I don't have quite the right work ethic. I sort of see Hufflepuff and Gryffindor as 'heart' houses and Slytherin and Ravenclaw as 'head' houses (very big generalisation/simplification, i.e. don't sit on me for saying that), and I've always felt more sympathy for the heart houses. I'm not particularly brave. I will stand up for what I believe but I can agree to disagree. I will stand up for people I love and am less likely to agree to disagree.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
Please note: I am the girl and not the dog. This is what happens when you try to take a photo of yourself and your dog and try to get the dog to stay still on your lap at the same time.
At a ball and slightly squiffy. The scarf was not my dress and was only worn for that photo.
2. Age: 20.
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? For some reason, this question makes 'Jerusalem' start playing in my head (you know - And did those feet in ancient time walk upon England's mountains green...). I love to travel and next year I hope to spend time in France and the year after that I may go to America to do an MA as well. But I think that England will always be the place I feel safe and most connected to.
As to specifics, where I'd like to live is in a house which is big enough to house serveral dogs, a couple of cats and a hedgehog. And hopefully a few children and a husband, if I ever manage to get one. Ideally I'd also have a paddock and stabling for a goat and some horses. So it'd be in the country. While the idea of living in the city is attractive - it'd be lovely to be able to go to big theatre productions and exhibitions and to be a part of something thriving, I really don't think I could hack it for the long term. I don't want to bring up children somewhere where they think it's unusual to see a cow.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like? At the moment it would look completely bare apart from a pad of paper, a pen, and books about Richard II so that I could finish off my essay without distractions.
Generally it would have an open fire and a few dogs and cats curled up in front of it. It would have a very comfortable chair that you could lounge in (I can't sit normally in chairs - I always have to sit sideways or something). There would be mounds upon mounds of books - story books, novels and old childhood favourites. There might also be some cross stitch to do as well - and a tv which showed films you've already watched twenty times to listen to while you work.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character? Lucius Malfoy. I know we barely see him, but to me he is dislikable without being interesting or original. He prides himself on his blood lines and status in the wizarding world, and yet he displays what my mother would call 'bad breeding' by making fun of the Weasleys' poverty. He is prejudiced, sneering and malicious. He enjoys belittling people. He gave Ginny Weasley Lord Voldemort's diary for no more reason than to cause disruption at Hogwarts (even at the expense of the quality of his own son's education) and to discredit Arthur Weasley. Knowing what the diary would lead her to do and giving it to her anyway really highlights what I dislike most about his character - he's prepared to cause something vile to happen, but distances himself from it. He does none of the dirty work himself.
6. Is the glass half empty or half full? It's half full. Even when there's only the dregs remaining, there's still something left. I understand how people get down - I do pretty often myself - but even when you're at your lowest, you don't have to look far to see beautiful things in life.
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 belonged, without past or future, within peace and unity and a wild joy, within something greater than my own life, or the life of Man, to life itself! It was going to be It's hard to be humble, when you're as great as I am but I decided against it. It didn't quite apply! The actual quote comes from Eugene O'Neill's 'Long Day's Journey Into Night' which is a play which hits me every time I read it. I love this quote - I had to use it in the end because it appeals to me so much. I'm a rower (as in boats rather than bickering) and in races and in quiet early morning training sessions I've felt a bit like that. I've felt snatches of it when I see a particular view near where I live. If I ever have children, I'd like to think I'll feel it with them as well.
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends? Probably family, although my friends are my family and it's not always the case that my family are my friends. Living away from home during term time, my friends are who I have the most contact with, but having moved away from home, I know that you can very easily lose contact with many friends you were close to before you left. Your family can't leave you and you can't leave them - and I suppose the friends that that applies to as well (the best kind) become a sort of family as well.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory? It's not a specific memory, but I can remember my father telling me bedtime stories. I'd ask him to tell me a story about, say, a dog called Boris and a Princess called Jessica, and he's say, 'Once upon a time there was a Princess and her name was Jessica. She had a dog called Boris, and they all lived happily ever after, the end.' Then I would tell him off for not doing it properly, and he would settle down and invent a long made-up story which would have me utterly enthralled.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw? Biscuits I put things off. If I'm given a task and am told to do it there and then then I'm fine. I can do exams. If I have to do it sometime in the next week then I'm up all night the night before. If no one will make me do it, then I often put it off and worry about it more and more and leave it longer and longer until it becomes a big block in my mind and the ruination of my life. Then I either do it or it goes away and I wonder why I made such a fuss.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.? Yes. I would have gone because it would be the right thing to do. Umbridge was completely out of order denying defence instruction, especially considering the circumstances those students are likely to find themselves in in the war. I think you can only follow rules as far as your common-sense tells you to. The D.A. was important, useful and fun, and I would have joined if I could.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations. Well, sometimes not very well, as the answer to no.10 shows. However, in other situations I cope reasonably well. Apart from the feeling that I should have tried harder or done something better than I did, I actually don't get all that stressed about the big things. If there's nothing you can do then you'd better face it with a clear head. My usual reaction is to have a quick cry and then feel much calmer. There's the initial wobble (when my head screams, 'panic!', and then I'm steady. An exception to this was learning to drive, where I was in a state of prolongued fear until I passed my test. It's one of my proudest achievements, though - I like managing to do things that don't come naturally.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice? Tough. Compssion at a pinch, because I think (and I'm sure I've read somewhere terribly famous) that humanity is the ability to put ourselves in someone else's shoes, and therefore we should always be prepared and willing to show compassion for those around us. I think if we lose sight of compassion then justice may not always be done - it's easy to become blinded by the need for justice.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul? I'm a child. I never never want to grow up. I want to find my children just as funny as they find themselves (well ... with some exceptions). I still find banter like calling people 'stinky head' and 'poopy brain' pretty darn hilarious. Things that made me laugh when I was younger still crack me up (Blackadder's still my favourite commedy). I think children have a delight in things which is sad to lose as an adult - remember the first Christmas when you didn't believe in Father Christmas? I may like staying at home and doing needlework, but I never want to feel old at heart.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in? I've been sorted twice before and both places said Hufflepuff. I should imagine that's right, although perhaps I don't have quite the right work ethic. I sort of see Hufflepuff and Gryffindor as 'heart' houses and Slytherin and Ravenclaw as 'head' houses (very big generalisation/simplification, i.e. don't sit on me for saying that), and I've always felt more sympathy for the heart houses. I'm not particularly brave. I will stand up for what I believe but I can agree to disagree. I will stand up for people I love and am less likely to agree to disagree.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
Please note: I am the girl and not the dog. This is what happens when you try to take a photo of yourself and your dog and try to get the dog to stay still on your lap at the same time.
At a ball and slightly squiffy. The scarf was not my dress and was only worn for that photo.