this subject line contains the word 'oracle!'
01. Name Amanda
02. LJ Username xinvisiblewings (I used to be amandavega, which is my fanfic nom de plume, but I honestly do not even remember how to get into that account anymore...
03. How did you find out about the Percy Jackson series? Like I can remember! I think I randomly checked the first out of the library a good five years ago; read it and loved it, but couldn't find the others! Then just a few months back I decided 'Hey, I want to go read the rest now...' and the rest was history. I've always been a huge Greek mythology buff to the point that my Latin teachers constantly call me out on using the wrong names (and I call the English teachers out for telling the stories incorrectly), so the demigod thing was an instant attraction.
the oracle
04. What do you wish to accomplish in life? Honestly? I just want to ride horses.
Of course, it would be nice to get a job, and things like that, too, and to get published, and be on the NYT Bestseller List, and other things of that nature, but when it comes down to it? I want to ride horses. Full stop. Well, that, and have kids. I really think that I was born to be a mother.
05. What type of magical object would you like to have? Well, as an avid writer, and fencing enthusiast, I can't deny something like Riptide. But as an archer, I'd prefer a magic bow (and the obligatory arrows which never ever ever get lost in the woods!). Of course, in my opinion, the best of magic items are the ones that reveal something about the user.
06. What makes you like or dislike a person? I can honestly say that there's really no one I dislike. I like some people less than others, to be sure, but to dislike someone just isn't in me. My best friends? It's a trust thing. I have a hard time trusting, which is perhaps why I tell everyone my secrets, but never all of them to the same person.
07. Are you a leader or a follower? Depends on the situation. I'm naturally inclined to be a leader, but I'm also socially nervous. I'm more likely to take charge when it's something I'm interested. I'm an editor of my school's literary magazine and I've been basically running it in congruence with a few others for three years now. But you'd never see me commanding a group for a science project.
08. What would you consider your fatal flaw? I have a hard time trusting people. Even the ones I consider to be my closest friends I constantly fear might stab me in the back. It's happened, though, so it's a justified fear.
Now if that's what the sirens would sing to me, I don't know. That's an entirely different matter.
09. What do you think are your top five best qualities? 01. Being the shoulder. I'm the person who always ends up being the one that people come to the sort things out. I'm a person to cry on, and the mediator in arguments. And I like this. I'm naturally inclined towards mothering people. I rather think that I have some weird overdose of 'mommy hormones,' or whatever! ;) But really, I find an intense joy in caring for others.
02. Insightful. I'm kind of the resident philosopher, wherever I am. Perhaps it can be a little annoying, and I'm sure it is, sometimes, but to me it's one of my most important traits.
03. My ability to use words. Maybe it takes a little while to get there, but emotions, I feel, are incredibly important, and eloquence in their expression is the highest form of artistic merit. Artistic merit, though, is of course subjective, and I hate to judge.
04. Speaking of, I hate to judge. I am one of those people who simply cannot participate in politics because I can always see both sides of the argument, and sympathize with both. It's hard for me to make strong opinions. I don't think there should ever be only one right and wrong - and if there is, there are certainly infinitely many ways of interpreting it. I don't want to take on the responsibility
05. I pride myself on being self-aware. It takes one to know one, I feel, and in the same manner I believe that knowing and understanding ones own mind is the best way to take control of it (in a totally healthy way, of course!).
10. What do you think are your top five worst qualities? 01. Being the shoulder. It means I never have someone to go to when I need help. I'll abandon myself because I'm so worried about caring for others.
02. I'm a talker, but in the worst of ways. I feel the need to share everything. Part of this is because of the fear that I'll lose the thought forever if I don't share it right this moment, but sometimes I just crave to be listened to.
03. Doubt. I said this earlier, but I have a very hard time trusting people. I've been betrayed before. I was very young and in retrospect it wasn't a big deal... but when you're young, of course, everything is a big deal.
04. Equine obsession. Okay, this is weird, but when it gets to the point where I skip out on everything else just to go sit at the barn with my horse, there's something up.
05. LOL I totally forgot to put an answer here before posting... forgetfulness, coupled with procrastination. I'm terrible about getting things done. I tell myself I will... and I tell myself I will tomorrow... and I totally and completely forget.
the series
11. Who is your favorite character in the Percy Jackson series? As if I could pick! I would have to say Rachel, barely. I know a lot of people dislike Rachel, but hold on! I sympathize with her a lot. I know what it feels like to be hanging on the edge of a world that you can't really entirely participate in. I also know what it feels like to see things that you can't explain - I have prophetic dreams; have since I was little - and the pairing of fear and awe and sheer confusion that comes from that. She is going through something incredibly confusing and turbulent, and I think that she handles it with grace. I don't think she's given enough credit by this fandom. Now, I'm glad she didn't end up with Percy - I'm a total Percy/Annabeth shipper! - but I commend her on the way she handled the whole situation. She is brave and resourceful. She's brazen and speaks her mind, something that is often extremely hard to do. The psychologist part of me is in love with her mind, and I just want to analyse it endlessly - but the emotional part of me reveres her as someone to be admired.
All that, and the whole oracle thing is effing awesome. I mean, come on, people! SHE'S THE ORACLE OF DELPHI. She lives in a cave! And the Oracle is traditionally a sad old lady who gets high off of sulphuric fumes and hallucinates all day long.
12. Who is your least favorite character in the Percy Jackson series? I mentioned above that I don't really dislike people. The same holds true for characters. Well, except the male protagonist, in a large variety of cases. But I do adore Percy himself. His narration is so distinct; it's wonderful. But we're talking about disliking here. I already said that I find Rachel fascinating, and the same holds true for Bianca, who also doesn't get a lot of fanfic love. I think villains are fantastic too, again for the psych standpoint. Um... perhaps... rawr, why don't I dislike anyone!? RR, this is your fault.
13. If you could spend a day with one of the Percy Jackson characters, who would you choose and why? Hestia. No hesitation. Minor character (and goddess) she may be, she really is the part of the story that has always been there. She always holds true. I identify with her as the mother, as well, and as the little girl who no one notices when they walk by. I think that maybe we could be friends. And I have immense respect for her for taking on Pandora's jar. Such cahones. I think we forget about her too much, and she doesn't deserve that. She really doesn't.
14. What is something you would change about the series? MOAR PERCY/ANNABETH PLEASE. Okay, cop-out answer. I which they were longer? I wish we got to learn about some of those instances that Percy says he'll tell us about later and then NEVER MENTIONS AGAIN. I do want to hear about the very, very lost pizza delivery guy, even if it is a long story!
15. What is something you would never change about the series? The dynamic between Percy and his readers. The Clarisse/Annabeth/Silena friendship that comes out of nowhere but somehow just seems to fit. I can go on.
One thing that I very specifically love, though, is Riordan's portrayal of ADHD throughout the series. I'm afflicted with a pretty serious case myself, and he gets all the nuances down (from, what I understand, personal experience with his sons). Writers don't always portray it properly. It's not all about OOH SHINY. In fact, that's the easy part. Riordan tackles the hyperfocus part, too, and that's what I, and I'm sure many others afflicted, would tell you is the most debilitating part of having ADHD.
etc
16. Pick a fictional character from any book/movie/tv show/etc. Which cabin would you place them in and more importantly why? See, this is a tough question, because while I can sort people into their ATLA elements or Harry Potter houses (I'm no element as yet and a Ravenclaw forever) with the gods there's so much overlap. I think that Dorian Grey from the titular novel could easily be a member of the Hesperides wait for the explanation! I know that's not technically a cabin, but think about it. They guard the golden apples which provide eternal youth/life. Dorian doesn't really do it on purpose but that's what he's got. As far as actual gods go, though... he's a Dionysus. A partier. Although a sullen one at that who eventually commits suicide - and insanity is part of Dionysus' realm, too.
16.Sort these words in order of appeal to you: beauty - glory - security - power - wealth - self-fulfillment - freedom. Explain your answer. I'm going to start off with a warning. I'm about to place wealth first, and that turns most people off. Just wait.
1. Wealth. THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING RICH. This is about my horses and my photography, although mostly the horses. They are expensive, but they are also necessary for my sanity. I mean that in the most primal of ways. If they weren't part of the factor, though, I honestly couldn't care less about money.
2. Freedom. Choice is the most powerful thing a person can have, whether or not they decide to use it.
3. Self-fulfilment. I believe in knowing who you are, even if it takes you a while to get there.
4. Power. I don't mean power in the sense of ruling over people, which I suspect is what the application writers did. For me, power is more about having control over yourself and your mind. It's connected to freedom and self-fulfilment as mentioned above. It's part of what makes humanity so intriguing, and dangerous. But, I find, power is integral to knowing oneself and taking control of your life. Most of all, I believe that we are not all born with power, but we can all learn to create and use it. And again, this isn't about control of others. It's about control of self and your situations. After all, "He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." Lao Tzu. I collect quotes the way some people collect coins, or mothers collect good report cards, or serial killers collect victims.
5. Beauty. I'm just going to say it, there's a confidence that comes from being comfortable in your appearance. This doesn't mean beauty in the attractive sense either, necessarily. If I was applying this only to inner beauty, it'd go up much further. Beauty is something that irradiates from a person whether or not they're pretty to look at.
6. Security. This one should perhaps be higher up on the list, but I believe that with all those other things security comes hand in hand.
7. Glory. Glory is something achieved only after a slew of other traits crop up. Important? Of course. But it is never obtained by itself.
17. Which god do you feel the least likeness towards? This is another question I find very difficult. I find ways to connect to even the strangest of deities, and the disliked ones. Hera, Hades, Persephone, Morpheus, the Muses who aren't technically even gods. Perhaps the one I feel least kin to is Apollo... and that's really just because I think he's hot and it'd be weird otherwise. ;) Unfortunately, I am a huge music person and I love archery, so maybe that's not the best choice. Although in classical mythology, if someone was raped, as my Latin class which just read The Metamorphoses loves to remark, APOLLO DID IT. Thus making him a bit of an... well, you get the idea.
half blood hill
18. Age: 17
19. Location: Generally, southern USA.
02. LJ Username xinvisiblewings (I used to be amandavega, which is my fanfic nom de plume, but I honestly do not even remember how to get into that account anymore...
03. How did you find out about the Percy Jackson series? Like I can remember! I think I randomly checked the first out of the library a good five years ago; read it and loved it, but couldn't find the others! Then just a few months back I decided 'Hey, I want to go read the rest now...' and the rest was history. I've always been a huge Greek mythology buff to the point that my Latin teachers constantly call me out on using the wrong names (and I call the English teachers out for telling the stories incorrectly), so the demigod thing was an instant attraction.
the oracle
04. What do you wish to accomplish in life? Honestly? I just want to ride horses.
Of course, it would be nice to get a job, and things like that, too, and to get published, and be on the NYT Bestseller List, and other things of that nature, but when it comes down to it? I want to ride horses. Full stop. Well, that, and have kids. I really think that I was born to be a mother.
05. What type of magical object would you like to have? Well, as an avid writer, and fencing enthusiast, I can't deny something like Riptide. But as an archer, I'd prefer a magic bow (and the obligatory arrows which never ever ever get lost in the woods!). Of course, in my opinion, the best of magic items are the ones that reveal something about the user.
06. What makes you like or dislike a person? I can honestly say that there's really no one I dislike. I like some people less than others, to be sure, but to dislike someone just isn't in me. My best friends? It's a trust thing. I have a hard time trusting, which is perhaps why I tell everyone my secrets, but never all of them to the same person.
07. Are you a leader or a follower? Depends on the situation. I'm naturally inclined to be a leader, but I'm also socially nervous. I'm more likely to take charge when it's something I'm interested. I'm an editor of my school's literary magazine and I've been basically running it in congruence with a few others for three years now. But you'd never see me commanding a group for a science project.
08. What would you consider your fatal flaw? I have a hard time trusting people. Even the ones I consider to be my closest friends I constantly fear might stab me in the back. It's happened, though, so it's a justified fear.
Now if that's what the sirens would sing to me, I don't know. That's an entirely different matter.
09. What do you think are your top five best qualities? 01. Being the shoulder. I'm the person who always ends up being the one that people come to the sort things out. I'm a person to cry on, and the mediator in arguments. And I like this. I'm naturally inclined towards mothering people. I rather think that I have some weird overdose of 'mommy hormones,' or whatever! ;) But really, I find an intense joy in caring for others.
02. Insightful. I'm kind of the resident philosopher, wherever I am. Perhaps it can be a little annoying, and I'm sure it is, sometimes, but to me it's one of my most important traits.
03. My ability to use words. Maybe it takes a little while to get there, but emotions, I feel, are incredibly important, and eloquence in their expression is the highest form of artistic merit. Artistic merit, though, is of course subjective, and I hate to judge.
04. Speaking of, I hate to judge. I am one of those people who simply cannot participate in politics because I can always see both sides of the argument, and sympathize with both. It's hard for me to make strong opinions. I don't think there should ever be only one right and wrong - and if there is, there are certainly infinitely many ways of interpreting it. I don't want to take on the responsibility
05. I pride myself on being self-aware. It takes one to know one, I feel, and in the same manner I believe that knowing and understanding ones own mind is the best way to take control of it (in a totally healthy way, of course!).
10. What do you think are your top five worst qualities? 01. Being the shoulder. It means I never have someone to go to when I need help. I'll abandon myself because I'm so worried about caring for others.
02. I'm a talker, but in the worst of ways. I feel the need to share everything. Part of this is because of the fear that I'll lose the thought forever if I don't share it right this moment, but sometimes I just crave to be listened to.
03. Doubt. I said this earlier, but I have a very hard time trusting people. I've been betrayed before. I was very young and in retrospect it wasn't a big deal... but when you're young, of course, everything is a big deal.
04. Equine obsession. Okay, this is weird, but when it gets to the point where I skip out on everything else just to go sit at the barn with my horse, there's something up.
05. LOL I totally forgot to put an answer here before posting... forgetfulness, coupled with procrastination. I'm terrible about getting things done. I tell myself I will... and I tell myself I will tomorrow... and I totally and completely forget.
the series
11. Who is your favorite character in the Percy Jackson series? As if I could pick! I would have to say Rachel, barely. I know a lot of people dislike Rachel, but hold on! I sympathize with her a lot. I know what it feels like to be hanging on the edge of a world that you can't really entirely participate in. I also know what it feels like to see things that you can't explain - I have prophetic dreams; have since I was little - and the pairing of fear and awe and sheer confusion that comes from that. She is going through something incredibly confusing and turbulent, and I think that she handles it with grace. I don't think she's given enough credit by this fandom. Now, I'm glad she didn't end up with Percy - I'm a total Percy/Annabeth shipper! - but I commend her on the way she handled the whole situation. She is brave and resourceful. She's brazen and speaks her mind, something that is often extremely hard to do. The psychologist part of me is in love with her mind, and I just want to analyse it endlessly - but the emotional part of me reveres her as someone to be admired.
All that, and the whole oracle thing is effing awesome. I mean, come on, people! SHE'S THE ORACLE OF DELPHI. She lives in a cave! And the Oracle is traditionally a sad old lady who gets high off of sulphuric fumes and hallucinates all day long.
12. Who is your least favorite character in the Percy Jackson series? I mentioned above that I don't really dislike people. The same holds true for characters. Well, except the male protagonist, in a large variety of cases. But I do adore Percy himself. His narration is so distinct; it's wonderful. But we're talking about disliking here. I already said that I find Rachel fascinating, and the same holds true for Bianca, who also doesn't get a lot of fanfic love. I think villains are fantastic too, again for the psych standpoint. Um... perhaps... rawr, why don't I dislike anyone!? RR, this is your fault.
13. If you could spend a day with one of the Percy Jackson characters, who would you choose and why? Hestia. No hesitation. Minor character (and goddess) she may be, she really is the part of the story that has always been there. She always holds true. I identify with her as the mother, as well, and as the little girl who no one notices when they walk by. I think that maybe we could be friends. And I have immense respect for her for taking on Pandora's jar. Such cahones. I think we forget about her too much, and she doesn't deserve that. She really doesn't.
14. What is something you would change about the series? MOAR PERCY/ANNABETH PLEASE. Okay, cop-out answer. I which they were longer? I wish we got to learn about some of those instances that Percy says he'll tell us about later and then NEVER MENTIONS AGAIN. I do want to hear about the very, very lost pizza delivery guy, even if it is a long story!
15. What is something you would never change about the series? The dynamic between Percy and his readers. The Clarisse/Annabeth/Silena friendship that comes out of nowhere but somehow just seems to fit. I can go on.
One thing that I very specifically love, though, is Riordan's portrayal of ADHD throughout the series. I'm afflicted with a pretty serious case myself, and he gets all the nuances down (from, what I understand, personal experience with his sons). Writers don't always portray it properly. It's not all about OOH SHINY. In fact, that's the easy part. Riordan tackles the hyperfocus part, too, and that's what I, and I'm sure many others afflicted, would tell you is the most debilitating part of having ADHD.
etc
16. Pick a fictional character from any book/movie/tv show/etc. Which cabin would you place them in and more importantly why? See, this is a tough question, because while I can sort people into their ATLA elements or Harry Potter houses (I'm no element as yet and a Ravenclaw forever) with the gods there's so much overlap. I think that Dorian Grey from the titular novel could easily be a member of the Hesperides wait for the explanation! I know that's not technically a cabin, but think about it. They guard the golden apples which provide eternal youth/life. Dorian doesn't really do it on purpose but that's what he's got. As far as actual gods go, though... he's a Dionysus. A partier. Although a sullen one at that who eventually commits suicide - and insanity is part of Dionysus' realm, too.
16.Sort these words in order of appeal to you: beauty - glory - security - power - wealth - self-fulfillment - freedom. Explain your answer. I'm going to start off with a warning. I'm about to place wealth first, and that turns most people off. Just wait.
1. Wealth. THIS IS NOT ABOUT BEING RICH. This is about my horses and my photography, although mostly the horses. They are expensive, but they are also necessary for my sanity. I mean that in the most primal of ways. If they weren't part of the factor, though, I honestly couldn't care less about money.
2. Freedom. Choice is the most powerful thing a person can have, whether or not they decide to use it.
3. Self-fulfilment. I believe in knowing who you are, even if it takes you a while to get there.
4. Power. I don't mean power in the sense of ruling over people, which I suspect is what the application writers did. For me, power is more about having control over yourself and your mind. It's connected to freedom and self-fulfilment as mentioned above. It's part of what makes humanity so intriguing, and dangerous. But, I find, power is integral to knowing oneself and taking control of your life. Most of all, I believe that we are not all born with power, but we can all learn to create and use it. And again, this isn't about control of others. It's about control of self and your situations. After all, "He who controls others may be powerful, but he who has mastered himself is mightier still." Lao Tzu. I collect quotes the way some people collect coins, or mothers collect good report cards, or serial killers collect victims.
5. Beauty. I'm just going to say it, there's a confidence that comes from being comfortable in your appearance. This doesn't mean beauty in the attractive sense either, necessarily. If I was applying this only to inner beauty, it'd go up much further. Beauty is something that irradiates from a person whether or not they're pretty to look at.
6. Security. This one should perhaps be higher up on the list, but I believe that with all those other things security comes hand in hand.
7. Glory. Glory is something achieved only after a slew of other traits crop up. Important? Of course. But it is never obtained by itself.
17. Which god do you feel the least likeness towards? This is another question I find very difficult. I find ways to connect to even the strangest of deities, and the disliked ones. Hera, Hades, Persephone, Morpheus, the Muses who aren't technically even gods. Perhaps the one I feel least kin to is Apollo... and that's really just because I think he's hot and it'd be weird otherwise. ;) Unfortunately, I am a huge music person and I love archery, so maybe that's not the best choice. Although in classical mythology, if someone was raped, as my Latin class which just read The Metamorphoses loves to remark, APOLLO DID IT. Thus making him a bit of an... well, you get the idea.
half blood hill
18. Age: 17
19. Location: Generally, southern USA.