You win or you die: There is no middle ground.

[starkloyalist]

Name: Fio
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!): My friend found a link to it and decided we should both join and figure out our houses!
Age: 24
Location: Originally New York City, but I just moved out to Ohio.
Occupation:
I currently work as an environmental education intern at a nature center. Basically I take kids on nature walks, play ecology games, use props and find creative ways to get them excited about wildlife and the world around them. It can be exhausting but I end every day with a smile on my face as I remember the hilarious and interesting things the kids said or think about a moment where they got really excited about something they learned or discovered.

I've also worked on parrot, toucan and amphibian field research projects and have worked at two monkey sanctuaries and a zoo. Still teasing out a career in the general environmental field, but ideally will be working with kids and animals my whole life.

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 would love, love, love a super cozy, rustic log cabin in the woods somewhere, probably in the Northeastern U.S.
I love all seasons equally and would love to settle somewhere where you get the beautiful leaf changes of fall, nice snow in winter and pretty, warm summers. I would love a creek or pond on my property, since I have yet to outgrow the joy of catching frogs and looking for critters everywhere and would want any kids who visited to have the chance to romp around in it. I would have tons of bird feeders and bird houses in my yard and a nice big bird viewing window in my house with field guides and binoculars in it. I’d have plants in my garden that attract birds and butterflies.

I would want a good chunk of land for my dogs and kids (maybe my own, but at least other people's) to run freely through, getting muddy and exploring and adventuring. I’d have a pit for campfires because there is nothing so lovely as sitting around a campfire at night. And I'd have fun stuff like treehouses and tire swings and sandboxes too.

I would have it furnished with lots of nice old wood, would definitely have a huge library with wall to wall shelves and big oak desk.

I'd probably go with a North American wildlife motif for my decor: wolves are my favorite animals so there would be wolf stuff everywhere. There would be moose lamps and bear pillows and fox coasters and all that kinda thing and some Native American style art probably.

And I would have a fireplace. A huge, warm, fireplace that would always have a big dog lying in front of it. I might have some colored lanterns up or something to give off warm, low light off throughout the house. I keep a string of Christmas lights up in my room year round for the warmth they provide.
I'd also love a porch with rocking chairs, overlooking the pond or garden. I'd love to maybe keep a couple of chickens or goats too.

And since it’s a dream home, I’d have a mini movie theater somewhere, because I adore movies and would love to have LOTR marathons on a nice big screen with surround sound.

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!
1) Teleportation: I LOVE traveling. If you haven't figured it out by now, I am pretty much obsessed with animals and the outdoors, and I have a very long list of wildlife packed places I'd love to travel to, all of which are very expensive to get to. If I could be in Australia or Africa or South America in an instant, I'd be a pretty happy camper. I’d love to see all the wonders of the world, to boat down the amazon, trek the outback and go diving in exciting places.

Also, all my friends and family are stretched pretty far across the country and world right now so it would be great to be able to get to them with a snap of my fingers. I just moved to another state where I didn't know anyone last month (though fortunately the people at my new job are super sweet) so it would be cool to pop back to see some friends and family and my beautiful dogs.
2) To be Captain Planet.

Being very concerned about the destructive powers people have over the environment, it would be pretty amazing to have the ability to clean up damage, balance social justice and environmental justice and get rid of the major culprits profiting from degrading the environment. If I could set some of the wrongs we’ve done to our planet, its’ animals and people, I'd feel like I served a pretty great purpose.

3) Ability to jump into fictional worlds. As a huge sci-fi fantasy fan, there are plenty of wizards and space pirates and dragonslayers I would love to hang out with for a while and have some wicked adventures with.
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. ;)
When I graduated high school, I went to South Africa by myself to volunteer at a monkey sanctuary for six weeks. I ended up falling so in love with it that I deferred college for a year and stayed for a total of four months. It was life changing experience that really brought me out of my shell, gave me self-confidence and fulfilled a dream I'd been harboring since I learned that Africa existed through watching the discovery channel as a kid.

There were tons of international volunteers there from all over the world, and while I was never extremely shy, meeting so many people of different ages and nationalities really broadened my perspectives and made me more outgoing. It was great to live somewhere quite different than the NYC world I'd grown up in.

And the monkeys were so awesome and adorable. I still have a few scars from getting bitten occasionally, but overall it was just mind blowing to work with and interact with such intelligent creatures on a daily basis, to watch and be a part of their complex social dynamics and see hierarchies develop among the juvenile group of 16 monkeys I worked with. They were so active and fun to play with and hopefully they will someday be released back into the wild.

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.
Love, in an all-encompassing sense, is definitely most important. Kind of cheating by using that to cover friendship and family and everything else. Not necessarily romantic love, since I have almost no experience with that, but I know that can be powerful too. I've always held to the philosophy that friends and the family you choose and I am lucky to have ones that make my life so full of love.
That said, I do have a strong sense of adventure and a thirst for knowledge. I love learning and experiencing new and interesting things. A lot of my favorite memories are things like getting lost in the woods with my best friend while doing a beaver dam survey in the wintery Adirondacks, or accidentally flipping a kayak and ruining my new binoculars. I love moments that you can look back on and laugh at the absurdity of.

Least important: Depending on your definition of pleasure, I’d say money or pleasure. I mean, enough money not to worry is really nice and it's got its' perks but material wealth doesn't mean as much to me as spiritual, emotional wealth. With pleasure, I think sometimes it has a connotation of extravagance, which is definitely not me. But there are many simple pleasures that I deeply enjoy, such as listening to birds sing or watching a sunset, and those kinds of moments mean a lot to me.

5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
"In the end, we will conserve only what we love, we will love only what we understand, and we will understand only what we are taught." Baba Dioum
It's the mantra of many people in my field and it means a lot to me. One of the challenges environmental educators are facing today is that kids are spending an increasing amount of time inside, hooked onto electronics, and our goal is to get them outside, learning about the world, catching creatures, building forts with sticks and developing a relationship with the natural world.

Education and positive experiences in nature are vital if we want beautiful things to be around for future generations, so that quote sort of speaks to my life goal/mission. Only if people have connection to the natural world will they have a stake in it and want to protect it and preserve it.

-I also love "No pessimist ever discovered the secret of the stars or sailed to an uncharted land or opened a new doorway for the human spirit."

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.
Hahahaha...not too well, I must admit. No one really gets into this field because they want to make money. My salary is currently a pretty meager stipend, though I am fortunate enough to have housing and electricity paid for so I can't really complain too much. A lot of my jobs have been volunteer or pretty low salaried but I've had such great experiences with them that I don't regret anything.

I’ve been extremely lucky to have highly supportive parents who have been helping me out as I find my way in this field and pursue my dreams.As long as I am doing something that I love, I don't need much. I would rather not be rich but have a job I can't wait to get to each morning than a well paying job where I'm stuck in an office all day doing something I find dull.

7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
Hiking and bird-watching. I took an ornithology (study of birds) class and have since been keeping a life list of all the birds I’ve seen in the wild and have over 300, which is awesome, though I’ve met people who have over 2,000! I spent two months in Costa Rica last year which got me over 100 new birds, many of which were just so gorgeous and colorful.

I really adore traveling, especially to places with lots of biodiversity. I like national parks and staying at hostels. I’m pretty free-spirited when I travel (and in general) so I like to plan to hit a bunch of exciting places but leave room for deviating from the plan as opportunities present themselves.

I enjoy having a few beers with friends and lapsing into super nerdy conversations.
I love writing fiction (science fiction and fantasy stuff mostly). I tend to write humorous, adventurous, romantic stories while simultaneously putting my characters through emotional hell.
If I had a style, I'd compare it to Joss Whedon (though obviously .00001% as brilliant as him) in that I like writing funny, snappy dialogue but also torturing the characters with painful plot events.

I have been writing quite a bit of Jaime/Brienne fan fiction lately to deal with my excitement for season three.

Love reading too, of course, again mostly sci-fi/fantasy stuff as well as non-fiction about animal behavior/conservation/science.
Watching GoT, Firefly, Battlestar Galactica and pretty much anything with adventure and Strong Female Characters.

Oh and playing with my dogs. And any friendly dog I encounter, ever.

8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
I always find this somewhat hard. I don't have any particularly intense fears, at least not of typical things. As a biologist, I pretty much love spiders and snakes and stuff like that, I like heights and thunderstorms etc.

I guess I'd say I really fear losing the people that I love, which I think every person can relate to. I’ve been relatively lucky on that front thus far, and cannot imagine what it will be like to someday lose the most important people in my life.
I kind of fear driving. I grew up in NYC so I always depended on the subways to get around. I do have a permit now and I have driven but it still freaks me out and I’m being a ridiculous procrastinator about getting my license, partially out of laziness but probably mostly out of fear.
Also, pretty stupid, but rubber bands. My little brother used to ALWAYS aim them at me and threaten to flick them at my face and now I cringe and freak out if anyone does it to me.

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:
1) My sense of humor. I can be horribly sarcastic or totally absurd and goofy. I love banter. Most people that observe my friends and I together who don't know us assume that we hate each other, but insults are one of my ways of showing affection. I am usually able to find the bright/humorous side in any situation.

2) I'm a good listener. I really like when people open up to me and share their deeper emotions with me. I have pretty strong empathy and a relatively optimistic personality, so I often find myself being a shoulder for friends to cry on or express their problems to. I try my best to give good advice or at least some form of comfort, whether it's making a joke or seriously tackling the issue.

3) Passionate. I care about things. A lot. And I usually can't hide it and don't really try. When I love things, I pretty much let everyone know. If I find out someone likes a fandom I do, they WILL be having a deep intellectual discussion with me about Character A's motivations or Character B's true identity, whether they want to or not.

If someone makes the mistake of asking me about monkeys, I will talk about how awesome they are at length.
I care deeply about a few social justice issues such as marriage equality and women’s rights and staunchly express my views when the opportunity arises. I firmly believe all humans deserve equal rights and get pretty uppity when others try to infringe upon them.

Worst:
1)I am horribly, horribly disorganized. It's pretty painful at times. I don't know why my clothes always end up on the floor even though there's a laundry basket two feet away, or why I let my dishes pile up, but it is a problem I'm trying to work on.

2) 98% of the time I am a laid-back person who doesn't sweat the small stuff....but once in a while I panic and get really stressed out. Not as common now that I'm out of college, but when I was in school I definitely procrastinated before big tests and got super giddy and loopy and nervous and basically nuts as I tried to cram in all the details the night before. I have major math anxiety that turns me a little manic if I have to do even simple stuff and I can get quite frantic during any sort of time crunch. Whenever I go for a job interview or something I tend to get there at least an hour early just because I get really nervous about being lost or late.

3) I break almost all technology I come across. Broken laptops, cameras etc. are an inevitable part of my life. I break things and often lose things in general. I'm a huge, huge, klutz and can be a bit of a featherhead since I get caught up in my own head a lot.

Who can worry about where your keys are when the new GoT trailer is replaying over and over again inside your head?

A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.How many books from the series have you completed?
I've read them all. Currently working my way through it a second time, and am up to a Storm of Swords.

2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
1) Brienne is my number one. She just makes my heart literally ache with love when I think about her and all she has been through and how good she has remained through it all.

Despite all the tragic deaths he's written, I will forever adore GRRM for giving us Brienne. He created a world where knights are so often these horrible, cruel, selfish people, and then created Brienne, a woman, considered an ugly freak by most people's standards, yet she is the TRUEST, kindest and most noble knight in the Seven Kingdoms. She is just pure goodness, and courage, and my heart breaks when I think about how cruel people have been to her.

I love how despite being physically and (in many ways) mentally strong, she is also so insecure and unsure of herself. She is fragile and sensitive and people hurt her. Even though she’s strong enough not to let it stop her, she does feel pain at their cruelty.

She's quite naive when we first meet her and it's sad that the world is breaking down her innocence, like it is with so many other characters, but I love that she keeps her morals throughout. She is so loving and kind to Pod, which is lovely because the poor boy is so neglected.

I also love that Brienne is willing to change her perspectives on people and let go of her biases as she learns the truth (i.e. with Jaime and Nimble Dick).

I love that she got past her childhood's hard moments… with her cruel suitors, bitchy septa and being the awkward daughter who doesn't fit into male or female roles properly.

She is trying her best to make a place for herself in this world she really doesn't fit into, while doing the right thing every step of the way. She would have died for Renly, just because he showed her basic human decency. She would do anything to uphold her vows to Cat….but she would rather die than kill Jaime, after learning how much depth there is to him and how much he has changed.

Her courage astounds me.
More than any other character, she is the one I want to be able to hug and comfort. I just want to tell her how bloody AMAZING she is and how she needs to ignore all haters because she's the best (even though that would probably just embarrass her and make her stammer and blush).
And I want to bitch slap all the men who made that bet about her… with Jaime's golden hand.
She is perfect. She's probably the most moral person in all the books, and she is my heroine.
(I'll try to keep it shorter for my next two... I just really love Brienne.)

2) Jaime. -ties in heavily to my Brienne feels, since his interactions with her are really what won me over to his side.
He's a very complex character, and I was really moved by the experience of reading his SoS chapters. Learning that this man, who I passionately hated for two books, is actually shockingly human, was a powerful thing.
There’s nothing more fun in literature than finding out you misunderstood someone. I love how getting inside his head in book three makes you see him in a different light. Hearing the truth about Aerys and seeing him take back the cruel words he says to Brienne because she reminds him of Tyrion, changed my perspective on him entirely.

I think there's a lot of truth when he says it was the white cloak that soiled him, not the other way around, and I just love redemption arcs, so it's great to see him trying to change, to uphold his vows and be a better man.

For so long, I think his identity was wrapped up in two things: his ability with a sword and his relationship with Cersei. When both of those are taken from him, he could have given up, but instead he strives to uphold his vows to Catelyn and do right by Tommen. It was quite sad to see him realize that while his love and loyalty to Cersei defined him all his life, her lust for power is really what defines her.

I also love that he was kind and good to Tyrion all along even though Cersei and Tywin treated him like crap. It was pretty heartbreaking to see that relationship collapse too and I desperately hope they reunite at some point and Tyrion forgives him.

In short:
Jaime is very flawed, but he is really trying to be a better man and that’s worthy of my respect and love. Also, he’s freakin’ hilarious and such a sarcastic bastard and I have a huge weakness for the ‘asshole with a heart of gold’ trope, which he definitely fulfills.

3) Arya She's such a little bad ass. I love her whole journey, her sassiness, her ties to her family but her independence and ability to survive as well. I love her relationship with Jon and all the feels it gives me. I love how passionate and outspoken she is, how unladylike she is, how smart and brave she is. Also, Nymeria is just the coolest direwolf ever. It’s interesting and somewhat sad how ruthless she has become, but I don’t blame her for it and I would really enjoy seeing her get some revenge when she returns to Westeros.
(and I have to give honorable mentions to Cat and Asha because I love them so much as well.)

3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?
I'm gonna stay away from super obvious ones like Joffrey and Ramsay and try to discuss some that might be a bit more character-revealing.

1) Stannis- I just think he's a douche, really.
I hate how serious and hardhearted he is and I think his black and white justice is pretty useless in the real world they, and we, live in. Taking Davos' fingers was so unnecessary in my opinion and his stance on brothels is ridiculous.
I just don't see any passion in him, and as a passionate person, he frustrates and bores me.
I hate that Davos lost so many sons for his stupid cause and he threw him in a dungeon after it all, anyway. And he was considering sacrificing Edric Storm, which, whatever his reasoning, did not sit well with me.
Stannis, to me, is essentially mean and boring and hates fun and doesn't have any empathy and it drives me insane.
I do enjoy parts of his storyline and I'm enjoying him being up at the Wall with Jon for the plot developments, but as a person I just do not like him.

2) Littlefinger is a creepy, conniving stalkerish tool and he needs to back up off my girl Sansa now. I hate his creepy Cat obsession, it's transference to Sansa, and his overall hunger for power. He’s another interesting character who I despise as a person. He's usually doing something fascinating, but he's just so horribly devious, from his involvement in Arryn's death, to framing Tyrion and betraying Ned. And even though I don't like Lysa either, it was deeply unsettling to see him manipulating her while putting the moves on poor Sansa too, which put her at risk to Lysa's insanity.
Ugh, he's just a cruel, power-hungry monster...

3) Speaking of creepy, I used to like Jorah a lot, but as the books went on and he got more creepily fixated on Dany and became super pathetic after she dismissed him, I got pretty sick of him.
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
Probably the bear pit scene. Such an epic moment for Jaime and Brienne. I'm a pretty shameless shipper and that was just brilliant and warmed my hopelessly romantic heart.

My favorite passage is the one in Game of Thrones where Arya is thinking about the time Robb took her and Sansa and baby Bran down to the crypts of Winterfell.
A 'ghost' popped out to scare them and Sansa ran away screaming and Bran sobbed but Arya punched it because she knew it was just Jon covered in flour. The image of them all laughing their asses off down there is just SO cute and heartbreaking. It makes me want to laugh and cry at the same time because the Stark kids were so happy once and I so dearly want the remaining ones to somehow be happy again.

Tywin's death was really powerful and satisfying, (though Tysha's part made me pretty sad.)

5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Most importantly, I want the Stark kids to reunite.

Jon and Arya is the reunion I'm most looking forward to, but I also really want to see Arya and Sansa together. They've both changed SO much since beginning and I just want them to have a beautiful relationship as adults and put aside their differences. They’ve been through hell together and we know they really loved each other despite all the bickering (Sansa remembering their snowball fight when she’s at the Eyrie actually KILLS ME).

I'd love Jaime and Brienne to live happily ever after together, but I won't hold my breath on that. If Jaime gets a super awesome death after redeeming himself, I'd be okay with that, but I'd prefer him to live.
I think it would be cool if he was Cersei's valonqar since she is soooo convinced it’s Tyrion and it would be such a smackdown for her to realize how wrong she was.

I mentioned this before, but I really, really want Jaime and Tyrion to reunite and for Tyrion to forgive him for his part in the Tysha tragedy.
And since this is dream world, I’d love for Tommen and Myrcella to not die and for Jaime to get a chance to be a father to them at last. If they could all move to Tarth with Brienne and start one big happy family, my heart would burst, but I know there’s not a snowball’s chance in hell of that happening.

I think Dany coming to the wall and using her dragons to help Jon with the Others would be pretty sweet. I want Bran to warg into one of the dragons and have that be the fulfillment of the crow's words: "you'll never walk again, but you will fly"

I feel like the Iron Throne is hellish and don't necessarily even want any character I like ending up there, but I want there to be some peace at last for the poor smallfolk who have suffered so much because of this war.

Asha as Queen of the Iron Islands. Because she's the coolest character, hands down. And maybe poor Theon can help her out in some way and they can have nice relationship and he can have a good redemption arc as well.

Oh and I want Shireen to grow up happy. I find her so sad and sweet and her parents are so miserable. It’d be cute if she could marry one of the boys in her age range and live somewhere undepressing with them. And I enjoy Arya/Gendry so if that happened I’d be pleased.