(no subject)
Name: teshara
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Age: 37
Location: New York
Occupation: Writer
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!.
:: cough cough ::
Seriously, that's the house I've wanted my whole life.
You walk in the carved front door to a cozy little parlor with a table for eating, a potbellied stove, and bookshelves. A winding staircase goes up and down. If you go down you realize the roots of the tree have created a dome underground and now form the walls of the underground kitchen/cellar with a wood burning stove and an ice box. If you go up the stairs, you reach a landing with a large, comfy bed and wardrobe. There's a desk with a computer, and a door leading to an all-inclusive bathroom. (You walk in naked and press a button and it cleans both you and the bathroom, so no shower or tub.) The windows are stained glass and lights dance over everything. If you continue going up the stairs it leads to a storage area that could be used for an artists studio.
I'd want it to be in a forest because the trees are nice there. I want the forest outside to have wild animals prowling around and thunderstorms happen often. I would like to make friends with some sort of scary animal, like a bear. Maybe he would humor me and let me ride him.
I grew up near the redwoods and I like the Riverrun Godswood.
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!
The ability to speak to the dead. Either the power to speak to spirits or the ability to make corpses talk. I'd really like to have my grandfather's advice from time to time.
The ability to fly, the ability to harness electricity and project it through my fingertips and toes. I want to fly above battles and zap people.
Forget riding a dragon, I want to BE a dragon. I know, I'll have to wear a princess for a fascinator. I'm OK with that.
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. ;)
Getting published. It was a short steampunk story, and it wasn't my greatest, but they liked it!
Holding it together when my partner died.
Pushing myself onstage and ending up playing with Henry Mancini.
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.
The most important is Knowledge, because I am lost without it; the least important is Family because family drama is a pain in the butt.
5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
I'm in love with illusions, so saw me in half; I'm in love with your tricks, so pull another rabbit out of your hat.
I value cleverness and illusion.
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.
Manage? HAHAHAHAHAHAHA! As long as the bills are paid, I'm OK.
7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office? writing, knitting, cooking (but I'm not very good at it), baking (which I am pretty good at), doing random research on any given subject
8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
losing my balance - it's not heights. I rather like heights, I just need to have a railing. (Stairs and escalators also fall under this) I don't even have to use the railing, it just has to be there.
feral dogs - was chased as a kid (a lot)
dying unnoticed - someone has to feed the cats!
EDIT:
My Fears are More Complicated
It's a long story but here it is:
My partner died unexpectedly in October. And it turns out he was a harmless, yet completely thorough, compulsive liar. In the past few months I've faced down every fear I've had since I was a kid, except for being home invaded and held hostage, which got crossed off the list of fears when I was 27 and it happened.
How compulsive?
People at the funeral were asking about children we do not have. There were people there that had known him for 30 years, 20 years, 10 years... and each of these groups of friends had different stories with different details that he kept straight for decades. I knew him for 7 years. I lived with him for 4 1/2. Not a damn clue. I wrote on the computer, he watched car shows on the couch. We lived together, we worked together, we were apart for 2 hours a day.
Machiavelli wished he could think up machinations this grand.
What a spectacular fictional life we led! Vacations and trips, fun family holidays with the non-existent children! My parents visited us! (They're elderly and live across the country. We go to them.) We owned our house! (The landlord was standing behind me and was rather amused.) We were moving to California! He had bought me a car!(One group had it as a Malibu and another, an Impala.)
I heard anecdotes and stories and grand claims.
Little stories about my fictional son, Will. About mowing the lawn and weekend trips and troubles a normal 12 year old has.
The same for his fictional daughter, Ash, who was in actuality, his old roommates daughter. He was a close friend to their family. I'm listening to these stories about us and I hear gasping from behind me. From Ash's grandmother, my next door neighbor. Because Ash has a father, and it was not my partner.
It's also why I'm scatterbrained. I will be for a bit longer, so it should probably be a factor in my choosing.
So, I have been bewildered for so long the hard grieving is starting to end. I said his name Saturday and for the first time, I wasn't reduced to a weeping mess.
I realize that if we had led a normal life I would have been destroyed completely, but he gave me plenty of material to keep me occupied for months. (And not one thing I found out was bad. It was all meaningless.)
So, thinking how smart he must have been keeping all of this straight for decades, I can only conclude that he gave me just enough real info to go off of, so when he died I'd have something to do to keep me occupied.
And it is amazing and enchanting and wondrous and I am completely floored.
I am also pissed since I am a struggling writer and he could have at least helped me out! I mean, seriously!
And why would he tell me the car had a different size engine than it does? What on earth was the point of that?
I'm pretty sure that says a lot about my boundaries and temperament.
It also means that I've been shaken up so much my personality isn't so cut and dry anymore.
After this latest kerfuffle the fears I have left are pretty primal. Eaten by wild animals, falling to my death, the inability to provide for loved ones. These will probably turn into things less petty over time, but that's where it stands now.
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.
Best: Curious, articulate, bold
Worst: Suspicious, jealous, lazy
A Song of Ice and Fire Related
1.How many books from the series have you completed? I've finished all 5 books.
2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Tyrion: because his mouth gets him into nearly as much trouble as mine does with me.
Bronn : Because I love Jerome Flynn and I've projected it onto Bronn and now I can't undo it. I'm doomed.
Littlefinger: He made an entire continent a giant Rube-Goldberg Machine. Just in the hopes that it would get him laid. WOW, dude. Just... wow...
3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Catelyn: because she's mean to Jon. (We bastards stick together, screw that chick.)
The Mountain: for obvious reasons. (Does he even count? I think he might just be a given. Hmmm...) Mostly the rapey bits. And the horse. Poor horse...
Balon Greyjoy: Because he abandoned Theon. Twice! (Seriously, in all those years not a freaking emissary to pop in from time? No letters? No birthday card?!)
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
I know it's really stupid, but it's in the scene where they're releasing the pair of dragons from the pit and one of them shoots off a crossbow like a doofus and it hits the dragon. The dragons blood, glowing gold and red. It's Valyrian steel. That's why no ones been able to make it: because it can't be made.
I also have a side daydream where the dragons died out because they were all being bled out, and it all ties into R'hllor and the Fire and Blood theme. They're a dragon cult.
Honorable mention for Roose Bolton talking about how fond he's become of his fat little wife and her 'enthusiasm' because it makes me think of this.
Every. Damn. Time.
5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
I want to see Bran on a Weirwood throne.
I want to see Arya as a Faceless Assassin, or even the reincarnation of their God to counterbalance the Red God.
I want to see dragons, but not all in one area. One for the north, one for King's Landing, and one for Dorne.
I want to see Harrenhall rebuilt by, and for, the giants after the war. Just one title for Won-Won. Just a little one? No giant love? Phooey.
Giant on a dragon? No? Humph.
I want Jon Snow to get the black dragon.
I want them to find an occupied underwater city. Water dragons?
I want something mean to happen to Walder Frey. I don't know what yet. And Ramsay Bolton. I've given Roose a pardon because of the squirrel thing.
I want to see Sansa on the Iron Throne. And Arya has to kill her. Boom.