win or die... (gulp)
Name: Sarah
How did you find out about the community? If it's through an LJ user, please tell us who it is: misstopia sent me a message and it sounded neat ♥
Age: 21
Location: Southeastern US
Occupation: Undergrad Student in Comparative Literature, minor in Japanese
All About You
1. Describe your ideal house/home. Please go into as much detail as possible, and be sure to include your ideal geographical location in the description!.
Oh wow! This isn't something I think about much. My ideal home is very small and cozy, but with enough room to hold all my books/records/movies etc. It needs to have lots of comfy places to sit and good lighting. I don't use the kitchen much, so I'm not too particular about that. I would love a BIG TUB for the bathroom, as I love soaking. I really don't care about interior decorations or having anything "look hip". Comfort is definitely the biggest priority for me. As for geographical locations, I would love to live by the sea, preferably the Atlantic. I love the ocean, especially at night. It has a particularly calming effect for me.
2. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
1) Death. I'm terrified of it. I don't believe in an afterlife (or a god for that matter), so for me death would mean nothingness. The state of nothingness is incomprehensible to me... what would it be like to not exist? Death is the only truly incomprehensible thing in this world, and therefore it is the most terrifying.
...2) Not being loved. I crave affection from other people, and one of my worst feelings is that of being ignored. I can't stand it--it makes me incredibly angry, and incredibly sad. I don't need many friends, but I need for the ones I have to really care for me. And I care deeply for them in return.
...3) Not being respected. This goes along with my fear of not being loved. I need to be taken seriously, and I feel like I deserve to be. My biggest pet peeve is being patronized or talked-down, so it makes sense that it is also one of my biggest fears. I am terrified that when I become a professor I will not be respected by my colleagues.
3. What is your favorite aspect of your physical appearance and why? I love my eyes. They are the most mutable thing about my appearance. They often appear to be different shades of green, blue, and grey, and my pupils randomly change dilation. I think my eyes are very expressive, even though they are small, and very beautiful.
4. If you could change one thing about your physical appearance, what would you change and why?
I guess if I could change it, I would make my waste thinner... but I'm sure I'd just gain back the weight anyway. Generally, I really don't care how I look. It's not really that I have a lot of confidence, it's just that I don't give a shit. I feel like the human body is naturally attractive, and that sex and attraction has a lot more to do with things like pheromones than commercials and advertisements would like you to think. I personally hate the Beauty Myth, and I feel like women are pressured into accepting an idealized version of female beauty that is constructed and ultimately false.
5. Imagine you’re given the classic opportunity: a genie granting you three wishes. What would you wish for? Wishing for more wishes is not permitted!
1) Money. I would wish that myself and my family would be well-provided. I hope to be a college professor some day, so I will need lots of money to attain the degrees that I want. I also hope to be able to provide for my parents once I have a career; they have provided for me thus far in my life, and I hope to return the favor.
2) World Tolerance. I have no idea what this would entail, and would probably backfire on me in a bad way like so many genie wishes do. But this is my idea of world peace: no one has to particularly like anyone else, but they have to respect them for whatever they choose to be.
3) Gills. I want to be able to breathe underwater. The ocean has always exerted a powerful force over me--if I wasn't a literature student, (and if I were probably a little better at math) I would have gone into marine biology. My favorite animal is the octopus, and I love marine life. I just wish I could get down there and swim with the best of them!
6. In your life so far, what accomplishment are you the most proud of? You can list more than one if you have trouble deciding. ;)
This would have to be my GPA. I have a 3.9, and I will graduate in spring from the Honors College near the top of my class. Academia is the one area where I feel I really excel. I'm really good at writing papers and analyzing works of literature. Other than that, it's tough to admit but I really haven't done much in the way of huge accomplishments. Hopefully this will be something I can tackle later on in my career!
7. Which of the following is most important to you: Love, Money, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, Adventure, or Pleasure? Which is the least important to you?
This is a really tough question, but I would have to go with Love. Love can easily encompass Family and Friendship (and Pleasure, in a way), but it also stands for what I think is the most important of all, which is loving yourself.
The least important to me is probably Adventure. I am a typically anxious person, and while I love adventure I am also a huge fan of comfort, and normally I choose comfort over anything else. Also I am really out of shape so any sort of adventure right now would see me dying pretty fast, or at least wheezing.
8. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values?
Still and all, why bother? Here's my answer. Many people need desperately to receive this message: I feel and think much as you do, care about many of the things you care about, although most people do not care about them. You are not alone.
-Kurt Vonnegut, Timequake
9. How do you manage your money? On that note, how important is money/financial security to you?
Money isn't something that I really tend to think about. I am lucky enough to have parents who have provided for me while I'm in school, so I've never had to depend on myself for my finances (although this will be changing very, very soon D: ). I'm not a spendthrift, but I still spend too much money on things like food and books. I never know how much money I have in my bank account... I tend to close my eyes and swipe my card regardless of whether or not the money is there or not. I know that someday this will come back to bite me in the ass, but it hasn't happened yet...
10. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
Music: I love music! I frequent many sites for downloading music online. I love music from many different genres, including but not limited to experimental, progressive, lo-fi, twee, underground hip-hop, glam, folk, and anti-folk. My top three favorite bands are Radiohead, Animal Collective and Neutral Milk Hotel. One of my only requirements for music is that I need it to be "genuine"--that is, produced from a real emotion or need rather than just for money. Of course, this isn't something I can for sure tell with most artists, but it means that I stay away from most top 40 stuff (although there are some exceptions).
Books: I love books! Like music, I like for books to have a certain authenticity. I normally stay away from "pulp" novels--romance, mystery, sci-fi, etc. That isn't to say I don't like novels in those genres (good science fiction is invaluable to me!), just that I stay away from authors who have written like, thirty novels in ten years. I love postmodern fiction, as well as lots of modern fiction, and I typically detest anything written in the nineteenth century (this means you, Flaubert). I like gritty, vulgar novels, but I also love flighty and whimsical novels. My favorite genre is probably magical realism or fabulism, and my least favorite is definitely realism and anything remotely moralistic.
Korean Movies: I have a thing for movies from South Korea. There are some amazing directors working right now. Park Chan-wook's Revenge Trilogy are three of my favorite movies, ever. I want to learn Korean language so that I can go over there and watch movies as they come out on the big screen!
Video Games: Ah, video games. I am not that great at video games, but I sure do love them. My favorite type is adventure, and I love most anything made by Nintendo. This is definitely my most expensive hobby, so I don't play as many games as I'd like to. (I'm playing Phoenix Wright right now: great game or greatest game? :D)
11. Name (and elaborate on) your top three BEST and top three WORST qualities (personality-related, not physical).
BEST
1) People Skills: I am great with people. In person, I am very bright and cheerful, and I love to make people laugh. I am a very good salesperson because I tend to be immediately likeable. I'm good at making friends, but I rarely ever really open myself up to people until they've gotten very close to me. I'm trying to work on that, though.
2) Intelligence: I like to think that I'm a very smart person. I get great grades, and I've been told that I'm a very thorough reader and that I'm able to dissect a text very articulately. However, I've also been called "the dumbest smart person" by my friends and family, because I tend to be scattered and forgetful.
3) Generosity: I love giving people things. I am lucky in that my parents have always provided for me, so I love to repay the karma to my friends and give things to them too. I love buying lunch for people, and I never expect the favor to be returned because I gain pleasure from the act itself.
WORST
1) Anxiety: I am a very anxious person--in fact, I take medication for my anxiety/depression. If I apply myself to something, I feel that I need to be the best. This is something I have been working on personally for a long time. I was even held back in school as a young girl because I finished my tests faster than everyone else, and then I got nervous and went back and changed all my answers to wrong ones because I second-guessed myself. My anxiety can hold me back in academia and society, and even translated to mild agoraphobia when I was in highschool.
2) Moodiness: This is tied in with my anxiety, because when I am worried about something I can really shut down. This is a huge problem in my relationships with other people, because it causes me to pull away. I can either snap at someone who doesn't deserve it, or I can draw further and further inward until I don't communicate at all.
3) Laziness: Haha, this is a less serious problem but it's definitely something I should change. Often I don't go out and have fun just because I'd rather stay home on the couch. I've missed social and academic opportunities just because I would rather take a nap, or watch something on television. I wish I had had more drive in high school and earlier in college, because I feel I would have benefitted greatly.
A Song of Ice and Fire Related
1.Which is your favorite book of the series so far? What about your least favorite?
My favorite has to be ASOS, because... damn. Just damn. That book is one of the most intense books I've ever read in my life! I screamed more in that book than in any other book. I also feel like GRRM was his most daring in that book. I actually couldn't believe it when Jaime's sword hand was cut off. I thought, "Who would do such a thing to a character whose whole identity is built upon his sword?" It killed me.
2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series?
HARD. I would have to say Tyrion, Sandor and Jaime. Tyrion should be everyone's favorite character. I mean, he's a fucking dwarf, and he is the most badass motherfucker in all the books. He completely dispels the fantasy stereotype that the main characters have to be fuckable. Tyrion's chapters are the ones I look forward to the most, because I feel that he is the most developed and interesting of all the characters. Sandor is less developed, but I have a hard-on for mean assholes with secret hearts 'o gold. Sandor and Sansa is one relationship I really want to have realized in the end, although knowing GRRM he will never let me have happiness. And last but certainly not least, Jaime. I love Jaime. He is a little asshole, but I just love how GRRM defied all expectations when he was introduced in the ASOS. I feel like he would be so much less interesting if he still had his sword hand. Also, Jaime x Brienne times 100000.
(I feel bad because there aren't any female characters in this list--I really love his female characters though! Well, most of them)
3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series?
Jon Snow, Catelyn and Melisandre. Jon Snow is the most disappointing character in the books for me, because he is the only real Mary Sue. I mean, come on... Captain of the Night's Watch? And he's like, 17? He has a white wolf, people. Mary Sue all over the place. Catelyn... I started out liking her, but as soon as she went apeshit on Tyrion she was on my shit list. Catelyn consistently made horrible decisions for her children, and that's why she was killed. And now she's a zombie. Go figure. And last, Melisandre, who I don't like simply because she is evil and creepy. And she needs to back up off Baratheon.
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far?
Littlefinger pushing Lisa off that cliff was the most amazing thing I've ever read. I shrieked.
5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end?
I want it to end grittily, because I know that's what will happen. However, I mandate that Dany has to win. She is an amazing character and she has come so far. I'm just terrified that GRRM is going to randomly kill her after he has built her up this far. Also I want Sandor and Sansa to get together. JUST GIVE ME THAT, OKAY?
Links to at least 3 applications you voted on:
All of the applications so far have been stamped! So just... trust me that I'll vote, okay? :D