Appeal
Name: Jen/Lux
Age: 20
House you were sorted into: Gryffindor
Link to original application: Here you go.
Are there any questions you would like to elaborate on?
I could technically elaborate on my entire application all over again, since a lot has changed me in the past year. But, I don’t want people in the appeals committee to not bother reading what I write because it gets too long or sounds redundant, since I know questions will be asked later; instead, I’ll pull out fragments from my application and explain it a little more.
The text in the small, red font is from my application.
If I had to change one thing about the world, it wouldn’t be something big and dramatic like ‘end world hunger’ or ‘end the poverty in the world,’ I would choose to open people’s minds and hearts.
I say this because there are a lot of people I talk to out there that are completely stuck on the stereotype, or they just can’t seem to ever see past anything besides face value. They won’t accept the possibility that there could always be another answer. You know, it amazes me to this day that people still believe in the creation story? I’m Catholic, I’ve been through twelve years worth of religion courses throughout my time in the education system and it’s been said, proven and even written into (okay, I’m not going to get into big religious terms here, since I might just lose people again) official documents that those stories are to teach morals, not to be taken in word for word. And then, I meant people who quote the bible and tell me that the world was created in seven days, no ifs, ands or buts. This is from a university level student at the same age that I am. It kills me, talking to people like this.
I hope I didn’t lose anyone on my example. My point is, people these days, no matter how advanced our technology is getting or how ‘smart’ we think we might be compared to our ancient history, we’re still extremely closed minded people. Racism, Sexism, Discrimination, Homophobia, Hate, all of that, it exists because there are huge groups of people out there who just won’t open up their mind a little to accept something a little new or give the effort to learn something that they have never knew before. If I had to change one thing in the world, it would be to open up people’s minds because I honestly believed that is all it would take to make our world a better place.
What makes a person respectable in my view is if they did something that is worthy of respect. They don’t have to be the nicest person in the world or the most helpful person around; they just need to possess something that normal people usually don’t show.
This answer has changed a bit from last year. Instead of possessing something the normal person wouldn’t show, I’d say I would have respect for someone who would/could do something that I couldn’t do. People who are extremely hard working, people who sacrifice a ton of material pleasures in life to achieve something, or just plain people who stick to their loyalties/beliefs for scores of years have my utmost respect. There’s more of course, but that’s basically it. I’m not extremely hardworking towards any goal, people like Terry Fox who’d still attempt to run across Canada (big country!) even though he has cancer himself and walks on a prosthetic leg is just amazing.
Then, the other bits I’m talking about are already mentioned in my original application.
What do you look for in a friend?
I’m going to re-answer this question since I don’t think I was very clear the first time around. In a friend, I look for someone who can understand me completely and on some level, be someone who I can share talks and advice with without feeling too... exposed? I’m a pretty private person, anyone who knows me can tell you that there’s a ton of stuff about me that they don’t know about, even if we’ve been friends for six or seven years. In real life, most people would probably just see me, label me as a certain stereotype and then shrug, I wouldn’t bother changing their opinions since I see no real need to. It’s not on purpose, just somewhere along the line of growing up, I ended up developing into a person that doesn’t share much information. It’s very hard for me to trust someone, even someone who should technically be a person that I’m very close with, I still don’t completely trust them enough to reveal myself completely to them. I start to feel exposed and I panic when it happens. I hate being at a disadvantage in anything and not having anything to hide behind makes me feel disadvantaged. A friend to me would be someone who could accept all of that and still offer his or her friendship to me
I want to be really happy.
This is from ‘what I want to accomplish the most’ question. I think I need to clarify this one for people to get what I’m talking about when I say happy. I’m not an emo kid, let’s say that first. No offence to anyone who is. But I’m always either ridiculously stressed out, worried or upset about at least one or two things on a daily basis. I’m never completely happy or satisfied, I haven’t had those feelings since like grade two of my elementary schooling. There’s always something about the next day I have to dread or worry about or there’s work that is never finished, tests to stress over or group presentations (which I LOATHE) to prepare for. Half the time when I get home I feel like hiding myself away from everyone just to get some “me” time to breathe and try to relax from all of that, of course, that never works.
To accomplish this little goal of being ‘really happy’ for once would probably require me to finish off everything that needs to be done so that I can finally relax. The sad thing is, I realise that most likely won’t happen until I’m retired and it’s my kids turn to do the stressing while I bask in the money they make. It’d make me really happy if I could get to happy-dom before I’m old and gray or suffering from Alzheimer which I’m sure I’ll get since my memory at age twenty is already the shiet. And you know what? Thinking about when I retire and my kids supporting me back makes me wonder if I’ll even have kids or bother getting married in life, because being alone when you’re old and gray could potentially be pretty depressing.
... I think my problem is I think too much or too depressingly and end up making myself unnecessarily miserable.
But, at this very point in time. I think my 'really happy' might be synonymous with being 'being rich' because a lot of the major stress and worries in my life right now come from financially related issues... it has been for the last ten or so years of my life.
Explain why you feel misplaced in your current House!
I've been a member of HiH for over a year now; I've participated, modded and met a lot of people so I've truly given my house a very long try. I’m not some teenybopper who changed her mind in just a month or anything. While I wasn’t ecstatically happy being stamped as a Gryffindor at first, I could see where the votes were coming from and I just shrugged and thought, “why not?” After awhile, I honestly did end up liking being in Gryffindor, mostly because back then it was awesome back then and the Prefect team was absolute love (nothing against the current team or anything, just those positions have been tossed around too many times in the last few months for a connection to grow). I even sort of developed some of that house pride for a while, however, over the last few months those feelings have pretty much died away. I don't feel that 'click' with Gryffindor anymore and a lot of the original Gryffindors that I had originally connected with have left or they're no longer active anymore. It makes me feel like I'm just clinging to a loose tree branch that will snap at any given moment and I'm not particularly fond of that feeling.
What would you see in the Mirror of Erised? Be exact with your descriptions!
... Honestly, I think this is a stupid question. What I see in the Mirror of Erised right now, would be different from what I would see an hour later. Even Harry Potter didn’t see one continuous thing throughout the book, he first saw his parents, and later on in a different situation he saw where the Philosopher’s stone was. But before all that, it wasn’t until after he looked into the mirror that he discovered what he really wanted to see so there’s no telling what the mirror would show me. While writing this application right now, I haven’t had breakfast or lunch yet and I’m pretty hungry, if I looked into the mirror at this moment I would probably see myself eating a delicious meal and feeling satiated. Does that reveal anything about myself? Because I happen to be eating does that mean I’m a glutton? No, it just means I’m hungry right now so yeah, I don’t think this question is really that useful?
However, figuratively, what I would want to see for myself in the future (but this was already one of the questions in the sorting application?), I would see myself successful in life. I would have my own house, mortgage paid off early, a successful job where I wouldn’t have to work horrible hours or in uncomfortable situations and I would just... relax. Enjoy what’s left of my life in an easy and leisurely pace, perhaps visit the countries I’ve always wanted to go to and tour through amazing/sacred/rural/picturesque areas of the globe that aren’t trampled with tourist attractions. I want to see the world I’m living in.
What makes you unique?
We’re all unique on this globe. I’m unique because I’m me. There’s not another me in the world and every choice I make, every word I use and every breath I take is unique because there’s only one me in this entire world who would think and act this way. ... Am I going to get slapped for answering like this? I mean, we are all unique as we are without having to pull up a zillion reasons to explain why we're unique. We aren't clones or robots.