Gotta Win or Die, Y’feel?
Name: Dorothea, or Dolly
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!): Over on tumblr, marthappants wanted me to help sort her and so here I am doing the thing.
Age: 19
Location: Canada
Occupation: Student/File Clerk (ah, me)
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’m always torn, but the main features I’d like are probably a Victorian or Edwardian style home with a front porch, definitely a bay window (overlooking a bay would be a plus). I wouldn’t want a really big place, maybe just a small living floor with an open kitchen/dining area, water closet and parlour, and then just a larger bathroom and my own room upstairs. Having a big family really isn’t a priority for me, I really want just a cozy, safe place for myself. Hardwood floors, an affectionate cat, a sunflower-yellow kitchen with hanging pots… Somewhere like Prince Edward Island or Ireland would be nice. And floor-to ceiling bookshelves. In at least one spot, anyway. A spiral staircase would be great, too. Call me tacky, but I’d like some of that striped floral wallpaper accenting the parlour or a front hallway, and a carved hat/coat tree. Ooh, and in the parlour definitely a big, soft chair with a cozy throw blanket, and an overstuffed chesterfield heaped with pillows.
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!
After arguing with the genie for a while as to WHY infinite wishes are not permitted, I’d probably wish for a more androgynous look (taller, leaner, more elfin) and for a lifetime of steady work as an actor. Because the former is impossible to do conventionally, and the latter is so highly unlikely for even the best of us, and I’m far too fond of easy solutions. And since that’s all I’d think to want, in my selfish way, I’d wish the genie to be free. In part, it’d be because I wouldn’t want anyone else to get that chance, or take what I wished for away from me.
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. ;)
Unfortunately I have trouble deciding not because I have too many, but in my eyes too few, and not much of significance. I suppose I was proud when I got a $5k per year university scholarship, and that was the only time I ever cried from happiness. Of course later I lost it within a semester because I didn’t meet the courseload requirements. I couldn’t do it. I’ve got a habit of losing things that are important to me, that way.
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.
Friendship is first, because those bonds are closer, more fulfilling, and most importantly chosen rather than part of a genetic happenstance. You only need a few to feel you’ve got a lot.
Pleasure comes second, I’m very fond of creature comforts like soft beds, long showers, and good food.
Money comes third, since you can’t get a lot of good comforts or the time to enjoy them without a surplus of the stuff.
Knowledge would be fourth, as I like to be in the know, have information, and pretend I’m the smartest one in the room, though I know I’m likely not.
Adventure comes fifth. Though on paper and screen it’s well and good, adventures on a whole seem to entail danger and discomfort, which I can only handle in small amounts.
Family comes sixth. I don’t like all my family, and the ones I do I would rather consider friends, and my group of friends is close enough to be family for me.
Love, romantic love anyway, comes last, and I could do without it entirely.
5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
“Don’t Panic”, from the cover of The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy. On one hand because I do tend to panic, frequently and seldom for good reason, and it usually turns out to be nothing. If it’s NOT nothing, however (as the guide intends to advise), there’s a likely chance that a) you will likely survive or b) worrying about whatever’s come up will just make your imminent demise uncomfortable and undignified.
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.
I am at once stingy and extravagant. In my current situation I don’t need to worry about the larger strokes of finances, rent, utilities etc, and so my small income is almost entirely disposable. I don’t like to spend money very often, and electronically spending (with a debit card, credit etc) only makes me unaware of how much I’ve got left, so I try to take out physical currency for day to day expenses, and keep regular tabs on my savings. However, if I do want something, I’ll either just buy it without thinking or decide to abstain entirely, and so I’ve made a few larger purchases that in hindsight were probably inadvisable. Financial security, and a degree of affluence, matter very much to me, and it’s one of my greatest worries that I’ll inevitably no longer be so comfortable as I am.
7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
I’m (obviously) an avid reader, of fantasy, humour and science fiction (and mixing of the genres is always approved), and watcher of historical, fantasy, science fiction, and comic media (some of my current favourites being Community, Game of Thrones [though dubiously], Elementary, Hannibal, and Sleepy Hollow). I also dabble in crochet, though I’m not good enough to do much more than flat scarves yet. I enjoy confectionery/baking, too! I work occasionally in the kitchen of a chocolate shop, so I’ve learned how to make ganaches and fillings, and make my own truffles occasionally to share with people. Additionally I’ve been training as a singer for nearly five years, and I’m still working up the courage to preform publically but I’m fairly strong, in my own biased opinion.
8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
On a superficial scale, spiders. They’re awful little beasties who are far too fond of appearing and landing on me directly before or after going into the shower, they have too many legs and eyes, and they skitter around like they’ve something to hide.
Failure. I am so terrified to fail or be rejected that usually I will abstain from participating or trying at all, it’s a problem and I have attempted to no avail to fix it. I’m so ruled by this fear that I’ve become cowardly and passive, and I realise that my final, self-absorbed fear is likely true.
That I am not extraordinary. It’s so narcissistic of me. But I’ve had so much time to spend in my own head and my own world that there’s at once a stark realization that I AM very uninteresting and unremarkable and will live and die so, and this overwhelming urge to ignore that and continue in a delusion that I am more important than I know myself to be.
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.
My best qualities? I’m fairly eloquent, and I can try to argue a point succinctly (though it takes a good deal of work for me not to go and elaborate on the opposing view and its merits, and effectively undermine my own arguments). I have a solid vocabulary and I love language, just the way words sound and feel on the palate and ring with acoustics, mental image, and meaning. I am generous to my friends, evolving from a point in my life when it was only through gifts and favours that I even had friends. I’m often so keen to pay for dinner, buy gifts, or make things to cheer my friends up that (I’ve been told) it’s sometimes uncomfortable and they feel like a burden to me. Which I admit, I don’t understand, because it’s me wanting to do these things for them. Maybe I guilt people that way. I’m a good listener. Not having a great wealth of my own stories to draw on and talk about at length, I prefer to hear and percolate others’ words, instead of waiting for my turn to talk. Often, though, I’ll forget what was said to me later on.
Worst qualities I can think of far more easily. I am lazy to the point of slothfulness, staying in bed for hours when I have no pressing reason not to, procrastinating until it is absolutely impossible no put a job off any longer, cutting corners and taking shortcuts whenever I can. I can be very caustic and quick to judge people and write them off as incompatible, assuming they’ve no interest in me, so I’ve no reason to have interest in them. So I come off as cold and misanthropic, which is probably true. I’m also very petty and I hold grudges over the most flippant things, waiting for apologies that won’t come because nine times in ten they’re not at all warranted. Now I think on it it’s probably best phrased that I’m passive aggressive in practically every way. But just not that good at it.
A Song of Ice and Fire Related
1.How many books from the series have you completed?
I’ve read all through AFFC, and I’ve started ADWD, though I’ve spoiled myself on a lot of plot points from it already.
2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
In case the username didn’t tip you off, Petyr Baelish! He’s an inspiration in a lot of ways, from his ability to roll with punches almost ALWAYS to his benefit, to his ease with people and incentives (and puns). He came from humble origins and climbed to greatness almost entirely on his own merit, which is much more than can be said for the majority of characters, who were born to great privilege and status. He managed to gain the trust, if not respect, of a great number of influential people on faith in his abilities rather than his reputation or any archaic feudalist traditions, which in my eyes is pretty much unprecedented outside of the Night’s Watch.
Sansa Stark. Probably one of the few PoV characters I’m at all invested in! She has time and again impressed me with her ability to survive with grace and dignity through hardships, to keep true to her kind nature and still in her own small ways rebel against those who held power over her. She’s much smarter than some fans would give her credit for, and she will only improve, . Probably one of the few PoV characters I’m invested in! She has time and again impressed me with her ability to survive with grace and dignity through hardships, to keep true to her kind nature and still in her own small ways rebel against those who held power over her. She’s much smarter than some fans would give her credit for, and she will only improve, becoming one of those richly nuanced women of history along the lines of Lucrezia Borgia or Catherine the Great.
Samwell Tarly. He’s one of the most genuine and book-smart people in the series, and I relate to that notion of being more learned on paper than in life. His backstory is one of the most upsetting, and in a way similar to Sansa, I’m so proud of him for being able to remain who he is, even in adverse settings like his abusive household or the barracks of the Night’s Watch. He is afraid, but he admits it and recognises it, making him braver than the boldest knight, for me anyhow.
3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?
I’m gonna get flak, but the three that come to mind all have similar reasoning, so this’ll be short. Daenerys, Jon and Tyrion. I don’t hate them-I find it very difficult to hate anyone in the series given its very subjective and fluctuating morality, but these three have just been lackluster to read about. The former are very much in the Cambell-esque Hero’s Journey camp, which in a series that glories in its subversion of tropes and convention, is out of place and makes for dull reading. The latter I felt has been very much overhyped, and his humour falls flat.
4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
Goodness. Hm, hm, hm. I really liked Jaime and Brienne’s duel. Some (including the narrator) made the connection between their sparring and sex, but I felt it was more like a dance. All passion, skill and grace, it never felt remotely allegorical to sex. It was much more dynamically written than any of the actual sex scenes, at least. Which we could do without, I’ll be honest.
5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Well, I’ll grant Stannis, Jon, and Daenerys heroic deaths on the War of the Others. The dragons are necessary for eliminating them (the Others), there’s no question. Hopefully after that someone will recognize the massive destructive capability of dragons and realise the power imbalance they’d bring and promptly rid the world of dragons again. I can’t see them being anything but bad news. I look forward to seeing Sansa in a close but not necessarily romantic relationship with Petyr as Queen and Hand in charge of an allied kingdom of the Vale, Riverlands, and North. The Iron throne as it stands I cannot see maintaining power without the rule of terror the Targaryens had, so the continent will dissolve, if not into its seven kingdoms, into at least three smaller divisions (the North/Vale/Riverlands, Crownlands/Stormlands/Westerlands/Reach, and Dorne). I couldn’t possibly cover the fates of every character, so I think I’ve covered my bases. Thank you for reading!
(Side note, I may be the onlyone here who wishes there was a Frey option.)