application
1. Name:Esther esso
2. Age: 23
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose?
I love living in Melbourne because it is such an easy going place. There are funky places to shop, fantastic places to drink coffee, brilliant bookshops and lots of cultural activity.
Melbourne is so multicultural. You really feel part of a diverse global community here, and you get all the benefits of that - fantastic restaurants with food from every nation, and all kinds of festivals (you should be in the city on Chinese New Year!!).
Melbourne is also one of the few Australian cities that really has discernable seasons. Further north you don't really get a cold winter, but here we have cold winters and hot summers, so you never get tired of the climate because it always changes soon enough. I particularly love spring, because the florist on my corner has enormous buckets of jonquils and daffodils, and when you drive out to the hills there are fields and fields full of beautiful flowers.
Part of me would love to live in New York for a while - I love the bustle of that city and the bright and diverse personalities of the people who live there, but to me, Melbourne will always be home.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like?
What I need is a good place to study. I am a teacher so I spend a lot of time reading, researching, planning lessons, and going over work that my students have done.
I would like to do this in a room that was warm and cosy, had several comfortable chairs (I hate sitting in one place for too long), a fireplace, a huge floor to ceiling window to gaze out of (I like natural light, and I'm easily distracted), some kind of music-playing device (I don't really like silence when I'm on my own) and if I was really lucky and lived the magical world, an AutoMark pen that would grade essays and assignments for me (I hate having to rank my students - I just want to tell them all what they did well and a few things they could improve and leave it at that).
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character?
Oh, I don't know! I love the ones I love, and I love to hate the ones I hate! :D
I guess the one I'd least like to know in real life is Umbridge, but that's a pretty obvious answer. She's just horrid, and everyone hates her.
I found Cho really annoying in the books because she was such an under developed character, and all she seemed to do was giggle or cry and look pretty, and I tend to like characteers with a bit more depth than that. But I likd her in the film (she was so cute! :p)
6. Is the glass half empty or half full?
That depends - consider:
"Hey! My jar is half empty, who ate all my cookies?"
or
"Oh dear, my shoes seem to be half full of bird seed.."
There are too many interpretations of your question.
If you're asking if I'm an optimist or a pessimist I'd have to say that I'm generally an optimist. I see my life as pretty blessed and myself as pretty full of potential. I'm just embarking on a career that I love and that I'm good at, I am in a relationship with someone amazing, and we have just bought our first house.
I am, however, a worrier. I can be pessimistic about some things because I have a lively imagination and don't find it hard to conjure up some pretty drastic worst-case-scenarios when I'm feeling vulnerable or insecure.
But on the whole, I'd say my outlook on life is positive.
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 just think if we keep our hearts together,
I just think if we build on this trust that we have for one another,
Maybe we can make this last a lifetime..."
- Ray LaMontagne
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends?
Family. Familyfamilyfamily.
I love my family with all my heart and there is nothing I wouldn't do for them. We have been through a lot together and that has meant that we have had to rely on each other, and we are all very close.
Having said that, I have about 3 friends that I consider family, and my devotion to them is as steadfast and long lasting as my devotion to my family is.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory?
It's funny, I wouldn't call this a favourite memory, but the one thatt I can't get past is this very vivid one I have - it's probably my first memory ever - sitting on my dad's shoulders and holding on to his hair on a walk. I have this really clear picture of my little fingers gripping his bushy, dark brown hair as we wander along in the evening, down the dirt road near our house.
Another favourite is my Aunty counting all the freckles on my nose. She would do it every time I went to visit her. The counting was a very serious thing, and it had to happen as soon as we saw each other. It took me til I was about 10 to realise that she wasn't actually counting them all, but just tapping my nose and counting to 85 or 103.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw?
Hrm.
That's really hard. I think in a lot of ways you'd have to ask the people who know me. I think a lot of the time we don't know our own biggest flaws. At least not at the age of 23.
I can definitely be too hard on myself. I put a lot of pressure on myself to achieve, to be a good person, to do whatever, and when I don't live up to my own high expectations I give myself a really hard time. I'm not saying I fall into a pit of depression, or harm myself or anything like that, I just feel very negative about myself and stress out a lot. It's not very good, because it often stops me from looking at things from a different perspective and trying again.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.?
Absolutely! All that action going on? I would definitely have wanted to be a part of it. I believe in preparig yourself for whatever eventuality may occur. I do it with teaching (planning lessons and backup activities), I do it with life (I think that's part of my worst-case-scenario thing).
I am also very good at keeping secrets as well, so I would have been a good member :)
I am also a believer in DOING something about injustice and evil. It's all very well to complain about your government, for exapmle, but if you don't turn up to rally against their decisions, or to vote, you're just another gasbag.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations.
That depends.
If the situation is stressful to the point of being ridiculous i can just completely lose it in a fit of giggles. That used to really piss my mum off - she's be stressing out about me having completely ruined dinner, or gotten us totally lost while navigating in the car, and while she flipped out I would laugh. It wasn't a mean thing, it just seemed like the only thing left to do other than cry and it seemed like the better option.
If the situation is fixable, I usually take a logical, planning approach. What is wrong? What can I do to make it better? I'm a fixer. I always have been.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice?
Compassion. That is not to say that I don't have a very strong sense of justice, because I really do, but I think at the end of the day, compassion is what keeps us human. Compassion is what allows us to rise above our situation, our hurt, or anger, or frustration, and rising above those things is the only thing that can make us feel better about them anyway.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul?
Both!
I have a lot of sadness, and a fair bit of wisdom. I was forced to grow up at a very young age, and I have learned a lot in my life so far about truth, life, and humanity (that sounds really wanky, but I don't know how else to say it), but I am also a lively, interested person who is always ready to learn, and to discover, and who loves passionately and fearlessly.
I wouldn't presume to compare myself to Dumbledore, but he is an example of what I am talking about. He is wise and knows a lot about may things. He has lived a long and full life, but he also has a silly sense of humor and is very childlike in many ways.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in?
Hufflepuff. I have been sorted into Hufflepuff in every community I have ever applied at and in every meme I have ever done.
Fundamentally I am a deeply loyal person. I am a hard worker, and do my best to be kind to people.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
.. or 4?
