Win or Die
Name: Bridget
How did you find out about the community? If it's through an LJ user, please tell us who it is (individual user if possible, not just a community name!): I just went looking for this place after deciding something like it must exist somewhere.
Age: 31
Location: Chicago
Occupation: Import/Export (I like phrasing it that way because it makes me sound shady.) I was stupidly happy when Salladhor Saan mentioned a "bill of lading" in ASoS because I know what that is and why its important to have accurate information on it! I work for a forwarding company (like UPS) sending freight overseas via ocean. The freight is usually car and machinery parts to Asia and Europe but sometimes other stuff like sex toys to France, marshmallows to Bahrain, treadmills to Iran, or paperback editions of The Hunger Games to New Zealand get mixed in there. Most of what I do involves involves securing freight and documents, creating documents, and haggling over prices. Though I do less of the latter as now I just mark everything up by 40% and tell my overseas contacts they can refuse it within so many days or else they're eating the charges.
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!.I don't really care much about the actual house or even if it is a house versus a boat or a condo or one of these. As long as it's well-built and clean, I'm happy. I'd prefer lots of windows but even that I can compromise on.
What I can't compromise on is the where. I do want it to be somewhere temperate-to-warm, close to water, with a major city nearby but the house itself is closer to nature. And being someone who is into politics, I'd want to live somewhere where the political atmosphere is close to my own values. If I had to pick somewhere in the US, I tend to opt for San Fransisco or Hawaii. Where I live now, Chicago, has a lot of what I mentioned above. It's a major city with a river and lake and some world-class beaches and outside the city limits there's farms and prairies and national parks. What I do not like is the weather. Now this winter has been mild if a bit unwilling to leave but the previous winters with the several feet of snow and sub-zero temperatures just worked my last damn nerve. It's not that I can't deal it's just that I'm tired of it. The changing of seasons is great but honestly, I'm ready for winter to be done by the second week of January and that's when winter is really just getting started.
It's just so much work. I actually found myself getting annoyed with a co-worker who loves winter and kept wishing for snow and for winter to go on forever so he could go skiing every weekend. Winter is not fun! Winter is weather-proofing your home and spending a day just taping up the windows so your heating bill isn't exorbitant Winter is having to pay attention to the weather reports every day and plan your day around them. Winter is snow tires and anti-freeze. Winter is keeping your cellphone charged and a shovel and roadside safety kit in your car because even driving out in the far suburbs can be dangerous if it snows too much. Winter is too much damn work and it's for five months every year. I'd rather take my chances with the volcanoes and earthquakes.
2. Imagine you’re given the classic opportunity: a genie granting you three wishes. What would you wish for? Please be as elaborate as you can. Wishing for more wishes is not permitted!
One Million Dollars - It's not that I'm greedy it's just that it's very useful. I started out life in middle-class family, things happened and I spent my early twenties being destitute and not in the romantic bohemian poor college-student way either but in the I'm-poor-and-so-is-everyone-else-I-know-and it-sucks-and-one-wrong-move-and-it-will-just-suck-more way. Now I'm back to middle-class again. Having that kind of money would allow me to take care of my family, pay off some bills, travel, and keep myself comfortable but I'd still have to work so I wouldn't get lazy. Plus everyone knows it's easier to make money if you have some money to begin with.
Super-Intelligence - I would love to have a sort of super-intelligence where I pick up things quickly. Being able to play a song after hearing it a few times, learning a new programming language with ease, understanding complicated mathematical equations and scientific theories after some study. It would be so useful and just thinking about it makes me wonder how much of life I'm missing out on by only having average intelligence.
Heath - Kind of obvious but what good is anything else if you have poor health? I don't want to live forever and eternal youth would probably get suspicious after a while. I would just like to never get sick or have arthritis or worry about developing some terminal disease. I would stay healthy and in good shape until dying in my sleep at 100.
3. In your life so far, what accomplishment are you the most proud of? Why? You can list more than one if you have trouble deciding. ;) I thought long and hard about this and I can safely say... nothing. There is no one or two accomplishments that stick out in my memory. My home life growing up was of the dysfunctional/abusive variety but a lot of people survive those and some do it with more accomplishments along the way. It is what it is.
4. Which of the following is most important to you: Love, Money, Knowledge, Family, Friendship, Adventure, or Pleasure? Which is the least important to you? Please explain why for each choice. Friendship is the most important as it is the basis of love and family, in my opinion, and one of the things that makes life truly worth living for.
Pleasure would be least important. Sure, it would be nice to live on some island in the South Pacific with tons of cabana boys at my beck and call, feeding me grapes and massaging my feet but honestly, even that would get dull. Pleasure without any build-up or work just feels hollow.
5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain. This above all: to thine own self be true, And it must follow, as the night the day, Thou canst not then be false to any man. I heard this quote from my Dad as a child and years before I would read Hamlet so it was before I realized the person saying it was something of a pompous tool who used the Shakespearean equivalent of fortune cookie advice to deal with serious issues. So untainted by such facts, it's taken a hold in my heart as a sound bit of wisdom and that's how I've used it. People who make a habit of lying to others often lie to themselves quite a bit as well and once you do that, you're screwed. It's rarely pleasant but being honest with yourself, especially about the ugly or disappointing stuff, is the only way to reach your goals and become a better person.
6. How do you manage your money? On that note, how important is money/financial security to you? Go into as much detail as you can. Not that bad I suppose. But not that great either. Due to family issues of the sick, dead, and dysfunctional variety, I wound up in charge of my family finances at 15. Being y'know, a teenager and all, I didn't make the best choices but there were no spending sprees, no outrageous purchases. We tended to live frugally, all things considered. Looking back though, I can't help but feel I could have done better - saved more here and invested more there. Never, ever, ever get a credit card. But, it was a learning experience.
As financial security is extremely important to me, I've made it a goal to be better at managing my finances. I'm budgeting more, saving more, paying down bad debt, putting in extra hours, looking for ways to make more money, putting the max into my 401k. I hope once I have a nice little savings account I can start investing some money. Learning how to spend money is probably one of the biggest challenges. You can't just hoard it and hope for it to breed on its own, unfortunately.
7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office? Right now it's working on my writing - both original and fanfic, training for the half-marathon I'll be doing in September, volunteering more, and learning new things. I love trying to learn new things and right now I'm trying to learn how to program, play the guitar, and speak Spanish. The latter, hopefully, will come in handy should my planned trip to Spain for 2014 pan out. I also enjoy travelling. I won't be going anywhere this year as I want to save money and am going to school (so my trip money is going there) and also want to do some small renovations around my house. Next year though it will likely be Europe, Ireland if not Spain.
8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
1.) Bugs: They can stay outside where they belong and I will be fine with most of them. They encroach on my house and it is war. And whether inside or out, wasps, hornest, and yellowjackets all need to die in a fire.
2.) Not doing anything with my life: I just want my life to be interesting - preferably not in a way that will have me being posthumously featured on the nightly news. I just feel so restless when I think of all the things I want to do - places I want to see, things I want to learn - and balancing that with everyday life.
3.) Being confined: It's not so much small spaces, it's being stuck anywhere and not being able to leave. Long drives, plane rides, sometimes even movies I'm going to see with other people and I'm not sure if I'll like the movie. I just need to move when I feel like it.
9. Name (and elaborate on) your top three BEST and top three WORST qualities (personality-related, not physical). Please answer as fully as you can, as this is an important question.
01. Smart. Even though they’re synonyms, I feel like “intelligence” implies more brains than I have. But I’m smart, it’s one of the first things others notice about me and something that gets commented on frequently. I did well in school, I learn things quickly, I do great on tests, I enjoy learning up to a point, every so often I come up with good solutions or provide insight when needed, and I’m fairly educated and cultured.
02. Resilient. It’s not always easy and it does sometimes mean tweaking my plans a bit, or going to back-up plan #682, but I don’t give up easily and I don’t stay down for long. I have the ability to adapt to new changes as they arise and am even learning how to use them to get to what I really want.
03. Helpful. I genuinely like helping people and it’s usually one of the driving forces behind my actions. I like to be useful and to make things easier for people and do nice things to make them happy. Also, since I fail at emotions and expressing things verbally, doing stuff is how I take care of people.
03. Procrastination. I have gotten much better at not procrastinating but it really is an uphill battle for me. I can realize why I do it, whether it’s fear of failure or needing to schedule in time to relax. I’ve figured out ways to combat it, by realizing the aforementioned and through many schedules and to-do-lists but it’s still a problem.
02. Stubborn I have gotten better at picking my battles as I gotten older but I still have trouble knowing when to just drop it. Or, to be completely honest, I know when I just ignore it because I have a point to prove, dammit.
01. Judgemental I have made some improvements here. There was a time when knowing someone had different political beliefs was a deal-breaker because, “omg, this is a matter of life and death and you are just heartless/ignorant/full of cooties for disagreeing with me and my righteousness!!111” But I’ve become somewhat better. I’m still judgemental but I can block it out and make myself focus on the good and not the things I disagree with. I can even type “things I disagree with” instead of just saying bad. See? Progress!
A Song of Ice and Fire Related
1.How many books from the series have you completed? I am almost done with ADWD and have read tons of spoilers and the chapters for TWoW that GRRM has posted.
2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why? Why can't this be a top twenty? Because seriously three characters is so not enough here. Not at all. Not even a little bit.
Catelyn Stark I love her and may the Others take her haters. As I started watching the show first I didn't have much of an opinion on her but I hung around the fandom, taking in the spoilers, and I was intrigued enough to pick up the books. Her relationship with Jon is, imo, totally overblown. Sure, I'd love it if they'd had a nice relationship partly because I love the Stark family and like any and all happy Stark moments I can get but it gives Catelyn depth and nuance that she wouldn't turn the cheek to the slight that Jon represented. Beyond that, when I read the books I realized what a great character she was - a few times over. First in AGOT when she fights off Bran's attacker. Then later when she leads Robb through his battle plans, testing him and teaching him to think strategically. Again in ACOK when she tries to broker peace between the Baratheons and even suggests the rather democratic solution of having a council decide whom should rule once they had eliminated the Lannister threat. Lastly, there was the Red Wedding which just absolutely broke my heart but I was still impressed how Catelyn fought at the end, trying to use everything she had available to her - her courage and her wits - to save her son.
Asha Greyjoy I thought she was cool from the start, schooling her baby bro on life and siege tactics 101, but I didn't take much notice of her until AFFC/ADWD. I just fell in love with her during the Queensmoot - so honest, so pragmatic, and as the audience knows, so right about what awaits the Ironborn should they invade. It would be ridiculous to call her a benevolent captor but it was interesting how she handled her taking of Deepwood Motte - fierce and brutal but not sadistic. We don't hear of tortures (aside from the enhanced interrogation techniques she uses on the Flint men) or rapes. It was similar to what Theon tried to do at Winterfell but y'know, successful. And while I enjoy all three characters, I find Asha's cool-headed realism more engaging than Brienne's high-minded idealism or Arya's angry nihilism.
Daenerys Targaryen: MOON OF MY LIFE &heart; Like 90% of fandom I thought her arc in AGOT/the first season was perfect and like 90% of fandom I was really into what happened with her backwards Moses-tale of wandering through the desert then freeing the slaves. However, unlike a lot of fandom (or a very vocal part of fandom) I still enjoyed her journey during AFFC and ADWD. Yes, Daario is a tool and - like many love interests who exist to be love interests - dull. Yes, she found out a little too late that playing the world's Nicest White Lady and going around liberating the shit out of everyone she meets may be a bit more complicated than she was prepared for. And yes, she makes bad calls. Repeatedly. And that's what I like. I don't want to read a story about heroes that get everything right and everything turns out swell for them. I love that she still has these ideals but she knows its not enough, she knows conquering isn't enough, that she won't be hailed as a liberator, that she needs to learn how to rule. She's growing and I really can't wait to see how the rest of her story unfolds.
Would have been #4 and 5: right now it's Cersei and Jaime.
3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why? I'm boring so a lot of my choices will be really obvious ones.
The Mountain He literally has no purpose but to exist to be hated and feared. And it works well! He doesn't really have a personality beyond being hateful. It's t like he's a plot device with a name. He would almost be boring if I he didn't do things like kill awesome people who were avenging their sister and making me wish for his death. Sadly, I don't think the first one took.
Ramsay Snow Similar to the above but he does have a personality, it's just completely unappealing. I do appreciate that rather than making him a super-genius Hannibal Lecter smooth criminal, GRRM made it clear through Ramsay's letters to Jon that he's just a deranged douchebag. There's no sophisticated veneer here, he's just a raw nerve of anger and sadism. I actually found myself thinking his father seemed almost reasonable in comparison - which I suppose he is given the very low bar that Ramsay has set.
Lysa Tully She is a much more interesting character than the previous two, imo. In some ways, she's a foil to Cersei as well as Catelyn (both of whom are foils to each other). She was pushed into a marriage by her ambitious father like Cersei. Hers was also a loveless marriage and she never gotten over the lover she'd had before the marriage and she plotted to kill her husband to escape said marriage. But while Catelyn and Cersei are some of my favorite characters, Lysa is not just because she comes off as so weak and needy. She never, at any point, seems like she's in control of her own life. And I can see how that makes her more sympathetic to some but I prefer Cersei's fire and madness to pitiable Lysa and her delusions.
Would have been #4 and 5: Craster and Walder Frey
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
I can't choose. There are so many amazing scenes that end with a beloved character dying that I wouldn't know where to begin.
However, one scene that's been playing in my mind is this one between Littlefinger and Sansa:
"And was I a piece?" She dreaded the answer.
"Yes, but don't let that trouble you. You're still half a child. Every man's a piece to start with, and every maid as well. Even some who think they are players." He ate another seed. "Cersei, for one. She thinks herself sly, but in truth she is utterly predictable Her strength rests on her beauty, birth, and riches. Only the first of those is truly her own, and will soon desert her. I pity her then. She wants power, but has no notion what to do with it when she gets it. Everyone wants something, Alayne. And when you know what a man wants you know who he is, and how to move him."
First, I like the interaction between Sansa and Littlefinger here. "Safely" away from King's Landing, Sansa can start moving out of survival mode. She can think back to what has happened and how, and more importantly, start planning for the future again. Littlefinger clearly wants to take her on as a protege (among other things) and I'm curious to see where her she is when we see her again in TWOW.
And I like this scene because it more elegantly explains something I've always believed - everyone has an agenda. I remember being 15 or so and trying to explain this to my best friend who was horrified by my cynicism. But to me, it's not a cynical view (though how Littlefinger uses it certainly is). For me it's a statement of fact - everyone has their own agenda and it may work with yours or it may clash horribly. Accepting that fact and figuring out what that agenda is will tell you how much you can trust someone.
5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Daenerys, Tyrion, Jon, Sansa, and Stannis have a talk after dealing with the Others and winter and all that and decide the best thing to do is to set up some sort of republic and call it a day. It's hard work at first but eventually things settle down and everything is going great until Dany decides she wants to liberate Essos again.