i hope i'm doing this right...
edit: now with photos!
1. Name: Brigid Madel Davis. Bridey for short.
2. Age: 18.
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? Boston, definitely. While rural areas are refreshing and relaxing, I would go absolutely nutters with such a small selection of people… so certainly a city. I’ve always been more of an “East coast person”, and I love the crispness and history of New England. Boston is such an amazing city, with a mix of antiquity and the youth that comes with being such a collegiate city. I would love to live in one of those small English cities for a time (like Oxford), and southern U.S. cities are dear to my heart, but Boston wins out.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like? Oh dear. Er… wouldn’t that depend on the day and, you know, what I require? During boarding school such a room would have been brilliant at various points, for meetings and get-togethers and dinner parties and escapes… If we’re talking about just a general place that I’d like to go, I’m picturing a room with an excellent stereo system and tons of records-all the ones I love, and ones that I would love if I knew them, all arranged logically so that I could go through them… with lots of couches and cushions.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character? Peter Pettigrew. He makes me so angry. Even as a student, he’s someone that would drive me nuts-never really contributing of his own accord, but just trying to be cool by association. And that makes his betrayal all the worse, because while the other Marauders may have teased him, they still included him in everything and were good friends, as far as we know. I appreciate loyalty, and I appreciate people who have a backbone and will speak their mind, even if I strongly disagree. Peter rarely speaks his mind, and has no backbone or loyalty that I can see-Voldemort says himself that Peter returned to him out of fear, not loyalty.
6. Is the glass half empty or half full? That depends on if it’s in the process of being filled or of being emptied, doesn’t it? If you’re asking about optimism? I see myself as a realistic optimist-hope for the best, be prepared for the worst. People who can’t see the bright side or have hope drive me crazy, but so do people who refuse to acknowledge what’s wrong-either way, they aren’t going to improve conditions.
7. Give us a quotation (Can be from a famous person, a song, or even a poem-whatever you want) you feel represents your life or personality. “And perhaps someday it will please us to remember these things” (said by Aeneas in Virgil’s Aeneid). It’s better in the Latin and in context-the men seem to be in an awful place, and Aeneas is giving them something of a pep talk. It was the quote I used for my senior page, and it is just so fitting.
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends? Is that even a question? Friends. I’ll try to abbreviate this essay, but any family that I consider worth my time are those that I consider friends as well. I love my mother, but I’d stand up for her because we’re good friends, not because she gave birth to me. People say that your family will be the ones that will always be there for you, but that’s simply not true. You’ll always have some awkward forged connection, true, but I can cite several concrete examples of people in my extended family being completely abandoned when they needed the support most. You can’t choose your relatives, but you do choose your friends, and they choose you.
In addition, I went to boarding school for four years, and the environment there, in my opinion, encourages something of a replacement of your friends and housemates for your family. While the primary benefit of family is a similar background, an experience likes boarding school trumps any other. I’ll stop. Sorry to put so much on this, but this is a big issue for me, and I actually wrote a midterm on the boarding school bit. Point is, if you told me I could never see my extended family again, I’d be phased, but not upset; if you told me I could never see my friends from “The Academy”, I would probably try to kill you.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory? Um. That’s really difficult. I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time either making up games or with my mom’s friends. I used to love setting up “museums” in my room and then showing them to my stuffed animals… I can’t really think of any specific memories, just habitual things that I did.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw? Impatience. It’s awful. I’m rather impatient with stupidity and disloyalty. I’ve also become worse at dealing with people’s various flaws, from immaturity to depression, even if I share or have shared them. I like things to go my way and just get really irritable when they don’t or when people don’t live up to my standards.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.? Of course! I’m not sure who would say they wouldn’t, but I feel like I definitely would. Umbridge was awful as a person and as a teacher, and I would jump at the opportunity to take things into my/our own hands.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations. I can tend to deal with stressful situations rather well, especially if I’m able to organize people and take control of whatever is going on. Like I said in 10, I get irritable and impatient. I tend to come up with a way that I want things to go and then will just get angry if people or circumstances aren’t fitting with that plan, but I still try to make it work, if that makes sense.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice? Justice. Obviously one without the other is terribly imbalanced, and they aren’t necessarily opposed, but justice on the whole strikes more of a chord with me. I see compassion as an element of justice-you can’t have proper justice without compassion for the people involved. So by justice I don’t mean “an-eye-for-an-eye”, but fairness in distribution of rewards and punishments.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul? Again, do they have to be different? I suppose I’m more of an “old soul” and am often told that I’m mature for my age, because I am often the one taking care of my friends and being “responsible”, but I definitely have childish (in a good way) tendencies, from loving Disney movies to getting excited about imagining new worlds and silly games to appreciating the fun of running through the school or dorm singing and dancing while wearing makeup and my formal dress.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in? Well, the wonderful guys and gals at Hogwarts_elite sorted me into “Gryffindor like woah” (quoted from one of the votes), and I certainly have strong opinions that I will stand by no matter what. I try to be cool and collected, but it often results in me snapping at people to listen or getting overheated about something. Before H_E I tended to see myself as a mix of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, due to my intellectual elitism, love for erudite discussion of film and literature (fault of my high school), and high ambition, so who knows.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
That's me bundled up yesterday on my way out of brunch...
That's from... summer 2003. Forced extended family time due to mum's wedding. I'm the one in the black glasses making the crazyface.
There's also my icon, which is me from last winter.
1. Name: Brigid Madel Davis. Bridey for short.
2. Age: 18.
3. If you could live anywhere in the world, where would you choose? Boston, definitely. While rural areas are refreshing and relaxing, I would go absolutely nutters with such a small selection of people… so certainly a city. I’ve always been more of an “East coast person”, and I love the crispness and history of New England. Boston is such an amazing city, with a mix of antiquity and the youth that comes with being such a collegiate city. I would love to live in one of those small English cities for a time (like Oxford), and southern U.S. cities are dear to my heart, but Boston wins out.
4. What would your Room of Requirement look like? Oh dear. Er… wouldn’t that depend on the day and, you know, what I require? During boarding school such a room would have been brilliant at various points, for meetings and get-togethers and dinner parties and escapes… If we’re talking about just a general place that I’d like to go, I’m picturing a room with an excellent stereo system and tons of records-all the ones I love, and ones that I would love if I knew them, all arranged logically so that I could go through them… with lots of couches and cushions.
5. Who is your least favorite Harry Potter character? Peter Pettigrew. He makes me so angry. Even as a student, he’s someone that would drive me nuts-never really contributing of his own accord, but just trying to be cool by association. And that makes his betrayal all the worse, because while the other Marauders may have teased him, they still included him in everything and were good friends, as far as we know. I appreciate loyalty, and I appreciate people who have a backbone and will speak their mind, even if I strongly disagree. Peter rarely speaks his mind, and has no backbone or loyalty that I can see-Voldemort says himself that Peter returned to him out of fear, not loyalty.
6. Is the glass half empty or half full? That depends on if it’s in the process of being filled or of being emptied, doesn’t it? If you’re asking about optimism? I see myself as a realistic optimist-hope for the best, be prepared for the worst. People who can’t see the bright side or have hope drive me crazy, but so do people who refuse to acknowledge what’s wrong-either way, they aren’t going to improve conditions.
7. Give us a quotation (Can be from a famous person, a song, or even a poem-whatever you want) you feel represents your life or personality. “And perhaps someday it will please us to remember these things” (said by Aeneas in Virgil’s Aeneid). It’s better in the Latin and in context-the men seem to be in an awful place, and Aeneas is giving them something of a pep talk. It was the quote I used for my senior page, and it is just so fitting.
8. In your life, who comes first: family or friends? Is that even a question? Friends. I’ll try to abbreviate this essay, but any family that I consider worth my time are those that I consider friends as well. I love my mother, but I’d stand up for her because we’re good friends, not because she gave birth to me. People say that your family will be the ones that will always be there for you, but that’s simply not true. You’ll always have some awkward forged connection, true, but I can cite several concrete examples of people in my extended family being completely abandoned when they needed the support most. You can’t choose your relatives, but you do choose your friends, and they choose you.
In addition, I went to boarding school for four years, and the environment there, in my opinion, encourages something of a replacement of your friends and housemates for your family. While the primary benefit of family is a similar background, an experience likes boarding school trumps any other. I’ll stop. Sorry to put so much on this, but this is a big issue for me, and I actually wrote a midterm on the boarding school bit. Point is, if you told me I could never see my extended family again, I’d be phased, but not upset; if you told me I could never see my friends from “The Academy”, I would probably try to kill you.
9. What is your favorite childhood memory? Um. That’s really difficult. I’m an only child, so I spent a lot of time either making up games or with my mom’s friends. I used to love setting up “museums” in my room and then showing them to my stuffed animals… I can’t really think of any specific memories, just habitual things that I did.
10. What would you say is your biggest flaw? Impatience. It’s awful. I’m rather impatient with stupidity and disloyalty. I’ve also become worse at dealing with people’s various flaws, from immaturity to depression, even if I share or have shared them. I like things to go my way and just get really irritable when they don’t or when people don’t live up to my standards.
11. If you had been at Hogwarts during Harry’s fifth year, do you think that you would have joined the D.A.? Of course! I’m not sure who would say they wouldn’t, but I feel like I definitely would. Umbridge was awful as a person and as a teacher, and I would jump at the opportunity to take things into my/our own hands.
12. Describe how you react to difficult or stressful situations. I can tend to deal with stressful situations rather well, especially if I’m able to organize people and take control of whatever is going on. Like I said in 10, I get irritable and impatient. I tend to come up with a way that I want things to go and then will just get angry if people or circumstances aren’t fitting with that plan, but I still try to make it work, if that makes sense.
13. Which do you value more: compassion or justice? Justice. Obviously one without the other is terribly imbalanced, and they aren’t necessarily opposed, but justice on the whole strikes more of a chord with me. I see compassion as an element of justice-you can’t have proper justice without compassion for the people involved. So by justice I don’t mean “an-eye-for-an-eye”, but fairness in distribution of rewards and punishments.
14. Would you say that you’re a child at heart, or that you have an old soul? Again, do they have to be different? I suppose I’m more of an “old soul” and am often told that I’m mature for my age, because I am often the one taking care of my friends and being “responsible”, but I definitely have childish (in a good way) tendencies, from loving Disney movies to getting excited about imagining new worlds and silly games to appreciating the fun of running through the school or dorm singing and dancing while wearing makeup and my formal dress.
15. Which Hogwarts House do you think that the Sorting Hat would place you in? Well, the wonderful guys and gals at Hogwarts_elite sorted me into “Gryffindor like woah” (quoted from one of the votes), and I certainly have strong opinions that I will stand by no matter what. I try to be cool and collected, but it often results in me snapping at people to listen or getting overheated about something. Before H_E I tended to see myself as a mix of Ravenclaw and Slytherin, due to my intellectual elitism, love for erudite discussion of film and literature (fault of my high school), and high ambition, so who knows.
16. If you have a picture of yourself and feel comfortable posting it, please do so! Pictures are fun!
That's me bundled up yesterday on my way out of brunch...
That's from... summer 2003. Forced extended family time due to mum's wedding. I'm the one in the black glasses making the crazyface.
There's also my icon, which is me from last winter.