application woot
1. Name:
Lauryl
2. Age:
16
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Saltcoats, Scotland. The buildings are quaint and lovely and the beach is flat and clear and I'd spend all day outside. I'm a great fan of British weather, and not to mention the accents. Secondary answer: San Jose, California, in my grandma's old house and the generous garden and collection of gigantic trees. That city can do no wrong in my opinion and I miss California and civilisation in general.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like?
Lucius Malfoy tied to a huge bed! *cough* I mean.... It would look like the biggest craft store in the world, with rows and rows of awesome things, especially beads. It'd have a well-lit desk smack in the middle with a comfy chair and a "cozy-up warmer" for my coffee or a candle and then a shiny laptop in the corner so I could write and chat with my friends as I did things like paint stuff or make jewelry or yummy things like that.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character?
I don't think that's a very good question as authors and casting directors and screenwriters weave the characters to encourage us to like or dislike them as appropriate. I bet every other person answers with "Umbridge". But were I to know these people in real life I would detest Peter Pettigrew, the arse. I love stories with treachery and blood and mind games, but Wormtail does it so gracelessly. Simpering villians are not even respected much less feared. No one's going to look at him and say "he's evil, but so awesome!"
6. Is the glass half empty or half full?
I love this question. If your glass is full and then half of it is spilled out, it's half empty. If it's empty and you fill it half-way, it's half full. Optimism and pessimism are a kind of presupposition; I'd rather walk into a situation with a clear mind and leave with a sense of either loss or gratefulness.
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.
Gah! I like to think of myself as multi-facted to the point of schizophrenic, but here's something I really love. Bono said this and he happens to be one of my favourite celebrities ever. "If you can't be fanciful about your art, then you're really betraying the people who have given you your freedom in the first place. Be true to who you are and what you do and run with it, and run amuck with it, and I think we've always done that. As annoying as we can be. At least we're not dull."
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends?
I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't have any siblings, but I take my parents' orders, my friends' opinions, and my own advice. I like to have long conversations with both my friends and my parents. If I had two candy bars I'd give the other to either my parents or my friend depending on who's around, but given a choice I'd rather give it to my friend. Now, if I had one candy bar, I'd hand it over to the nearest of those people simply because I truly don't like eating tons of sugar. So there! And yes, three bites of a candy bar equals tons of sugar.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory?
This isn't going to help much; my childhood was uneventful as it was blissfully content. I loved going to the Cabana Pools at Arrowhead in California. I remember the smell of chlorine, the sound of crows, the feel of the sun and the grass and the cool water, the way the bathrooms were painted a turquoise green... I got so excited when we'd go there.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw?
Procrastination. Education is great, getting things done is great, getting things clean is great, but I can think of more fun things to be doing. Right now I'm supposed to be rewriting an essay of Francis Bacon's; it's one of the coolest assignments I've had but someone IMed me, we had a discussion about Harry Potter RPGs, she encouraged me to post in hp_personals, and was eventually led here and went "ooo!" Yes, I do have ADD, so badly that I usually forget to take my ritalin.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.?
Hmm. If a friend asked me to. I'm not one for "armies" but it could be cool and if a friend were excited about it I'd join in.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations.
If it won't make matters worse, I unconsciously shy away and pretend it's not there for a while- part of the procrastination thing. Difficult situations are fun if I think I can do it, and stressful situations are fun only if I don't have a deadline looming over me. I love having a straightforward list of things to do or to have someone say "go do this", but if I have a good grasp of what's going on, I also love taking control and saying "you do this, you over there do this, and you do this" saving the job most fitted to me for myself (not the easiest job, just the one I could do the most efficiently). If I have a stressful situation, I'm pretty sure I act calmly and think "well, this is not good. How can I untangle it?"
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice?
Compassion. Don't count this as part of your vote but: I'm religious; one of those extremely nutty Christians who are always parading around giving each other a bad name. The basic idea, though, is that on our own we all deserve to go to hell, because even though we're nice people, we've done bad stuff and for the most part put God away in the closet and forgotten about him. God had mercy on us anyway and sent his son to die for our sins; yadda, yadda, you don't need to be preached at... my point in saying that is showing you where I'm coming from. God is an amazing dude who's so much smarter than we are and he showed us tremendous grace, and so I thought about it and decided it would be a good idea to take after him. There's little wrong with being a sheep if you make the conscious decision: "I think he has a great idea. I'll trust him and become a sheep!"
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul?
I'd say MOSTLY the latter. I love acting silly if it makes people laugh or I have an ulterior motive, and practical jokes are the best, but I'm 16 and I feel so old sometimes. I miss being a child and I know kids that are way cooler than a lot of adults I know. If it's any contribution, my two best friends are a year or two younger than I am and the rest are all years older (from 19 to maybe 27). I'm a bit of a "girl anachronism" in the sense that I have no idea of the passage of time, whether it's "I told you to wash the dishes two hours ago!" or "That would look great if it hadn't gone out of style a COUPLE YEARS BEFORE YOU WERE BORN!" Some people would call me reserved and slow with "that far away look" and others would say I was friendly if a bit socially awkward, curious about people to the extent of being nosy, and prone to random outbursts that may or may not be as hilarious as I expect.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in?
It'd have a bit of a hard time. I'm told I'm intelligent but I don't love learning (read: work) as much as your average Ravenclaw; I can be sneaky and sardonic without being at all power-hungry, as far as I know; I'm loyal, and brave to the point of obnoxiousness, but I have little in common with Gryffindors; and, well, I doubt the hat would find much to sway it towards Hufflepuff. If my best friend were at Hogwarts too I'd ask the hat to be put in her house; if not, I'd either want to be in Gryffindor because I love McGonagall and I love burgundy (being really deep here) or I'd want to be in Slytherin because Slytherin is just cool (even deeper). Also, being in Gryffindor, I'd think I wouldn't have such high expectations to live up to- I'd be nervous about whether I was working hard enough at homework as a Ravenclaw, for instance.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
Wee! The hair is in a bun here, but it's the spitting image of Hermoine's hair and down to my arse when it's wet. Grown-ups tell me it's beautiful and teenagers look at me like I have pizza sauce all over my mouth, but as I see no real need to scour the world on a quest for jenniferanistonomatic shampoo, I'll live with it.
Lauryl
2. Age:
16
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
Saltcoats, Scotland. The buildings are quaint and lovely and the beach is flat and clear and I'd spend all day outside. I'm a great fan of British weather, and not to mention the accents. Secondary answer: San Jose, California, in my grandma's old house and the generous garden and collection of gigantic trees. That city can do no wrong in my opinion and I miss California and civilisation in general.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like?
Lucius Malfoy tied to a huge bed! *cough* I mean.... It would look like the biggest craft store in the world, with rows and rows of awesome things, especially beads. It'd have a well-lit desk smack in the middle with a comfy chair and a "cozy-up warmer" for my coffee or a candle and then a shiny laptop in the corner so I could write and chat with my friends as I did things like paint stuff or make jewelry or yummy things like that.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character?
I don't think that's a very good question as authors and casting directors and screenwriters weave the characters to encourage us to like or dislike them as appropriate. I bet every other person answers with "Umbridge". But were I to know these people in real life I would detest Peter Pettigrew, the arse. I love stories with treachery and blood and mind games, but Wormtail does it so gracelessly. Simpering villians are not even respected much less feared. No one's going to look at him and say "he's evil, but so awesome!"
6. Is the glass half empty or half full?
I love this question. If your glass is full and then half of it is spilled out, it's half empty. If it's empty and you fill it half-way, it's half full. Optimism and pessimism are a kind of presupposition; I'd rather walk into a situation with a clear mind and leave with a sense of either loss or gratefulness.
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.
Gah! I like to think of myself as multi-facted to the point of schizophrenic, but here's something I really love. Bono said this and he happens to be one of my favourite celebrities ever. "If you can't be fanciful about your art, then you're really betraying the people who have given you your freedom in the first place. Be true to who you are and what you do and run with it, and run amuck with it, and I think we've always done that. As annoying as we can be. At least we're not dull."
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends?
I'm not sure how to answer that. I don't have any siblings, but I take my parents' orders, my friends' opinions, and my own advice. I like to have long conversations with both my friends and my parents. If I had two candy bars I'd give the other to either my parents or my friend depending on who's around, but given a choice I'd rather give it to my friend. Now, if I had one candy bar, I'd hand it over to the nearest of those people simply because I truly don't like eating tons of sugar. So there! And yes, three bites of a candy bar equals tons of sugar.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory?
This isn't going to help much; my childhood was uneventful as it was blissfully content. I loved going to the Cabana Pools at Arrowhead in California. I remember the smell of chlorine, the sound of crows, the feel of the sun and the grass and the cool water, the way the bathrooms were painted a turquoise green... I got so excited when we'd go there.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw?
Procrastination. Education is great, getting things done is great, getting things clean is great, but I can think of more fun things to be doing. Right now I'm supposed to be rewriting an essay of Francis Bacon's; it's one of the coolest assignments I've had but someone IMed me, we had a discussion about Harry Potter RPGs, she encouraged me to post in hp_personals, and was eventually led here and went "ooo!" Yes, I do have ADD, so badly that I usually forget to take my ritalin.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.?
Hmm. If a friend asked me to. I'm not one for "armies" but it could be cool and if a friend were excited about it I'd join in.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations.
If it won't make matters worse, I unconsciously shy away and pretend it's not there for a while- part of the procrastination thing. Difficult situations are fun if I think I can do it, and stressful situations are fun only if I don't have a deadline looming over me. I love having a straightforward list of things to do or to have someone say "go do this", but if I have a good grasp of what's going on, I also love taking control and saying "you do this, you over there do this, and you do this" saving the job most fitted to me for myself (not the easiest job, just the one I could do the most efficiently). If I have a stressful situation, I'm pretty sure I act calmly and think "well, this is not good. How can I untangle it?"
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice?
Compassion. Don't count this as part of your vote but: I'm religious; one of those extremely nutty Christians who are always parading around giving each other a bad name. The basic idea, though, is that on our own we all deserve to go to hell, because even though we're nice people, we've done bad stuff and for the most part put God away in the closet and forgotten about him. God had mercy on us anyway and sent his son to die for our sins; yadda, yadda, you don't need to be preached at... my point in saying that is showing you where I'm coming from. God is an amazing dude who's so much smarter than we are and he showed us tremendous grace, and so I thought about it and decided it would be a good idea to take after him. There's little wrong with being a sheep if you make the conscious decision: "I think he has a great idea. I'll trust him and become a sheep!"
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul?
I'd say MOSTLY the latter. I love acting silly if it makes people laugh or I have an ulterior motive, and practical jokes are the best, but I'm 16 and I feel so old sometimes. I miss being a child and I know kids that are way cooler than a lot of adults I know. If it's any contribution, my two best friends are a year or two younger than I am and the rest are all years older (from 19 to maybe 27). I'm a bit of a "girl anachronism" in the sense that I have no idea of the passage of time, whether it's "I told you to wash the dishes two hours ago!" or "That would look great if it hadn't gone out of style a COUPLE YEARS BEFORE YOU WERE BORN!" Some people would call me reserved and slow with "that far away look" and others would say I was friendly if a bit socially awkward, curious about people to the extent of being nosy, and prone to random outbursts that may or may not be as hilarious as I expect.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in?
It'd have a bit of a hard time. I'm told I'm intelligent but I don't love learning (read: work) as much as your average Ravenclaw; I can be sneaky and sardonic without being at all power-hungry, as far as I know; I'm loyal, and brave to the point of obnoxiousness, but I have little in common with Gryffindors; and, well, I doubt the hat would find much to sway it towards Hufflepuff. If my best friend were at Hogwarts too I'd ask the hat to be put in her house; if not, I'd either want to be in Gryffindor because I love McGonagall and I love burgundy (being really deep here) or I'd want to be in Slytherin because Slytherin is just cool (even deeper). Also, being in Gryffindor, I'd think I wouldn't have such high expectations to live up to- I'd be nervous about whether I was working hard enough at homework as a Ravenclaw, for instance.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
Wee! The hair is in a bun here, but it's the spitting image of Hermoine's hair and down to my arse when it's wet. Grown-ups tell me it's beautiful and teenagers look at me like I have pizza sauce all over my mouth, but as I see no real need to scour the world on a quest for jenniferanistonomatic shampoo, I'll live with it.