Win or Die

[adeluxe.livejournal.com]

Name: Adelle
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!) Hi everyone! I've been searching for ASOIAF communities on LJ for the past couple weeks, and this one popped up on my radar a little while ago. I've only now gotten the time to sit down and properly fill out the application.
Age : 19
Location : London, UK
Profession : Student

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!.

Ideally, I'd have two homes. I don't know if this is cheating, but I can't exactly combine the two into one perfect place because the reason I find the two of them ideal is because of their polarity.

My first house would be a rooftop flat in a major city, probably either London or Chicago. The apartment building is lavish, but in a subtle way - the doorman doesn't wear white gloves and a fancy hat, but a doorman does exist. You scan your key and the lift takes you up to the top floor, and the doors open up onto an open plan kitchen/living/dining room. The walls are glass, and look out onto the Thames, if it's in London, or the lake, if it's in Chicago. In short, it's your classic über-modern, James Bond-movie setup of an apartment, complete with sliding glass doors that lead you out on to a rooftop patio, perfect for after-dinner drinks (there's a bar, and it's very well-stocked). Truth be told, I probably bought it in order to feel as sophisticated as possible, down to the gorgeous clothes in the large walk-in closet. When you look closer though, the reality is apparent beyond the black marble countertops - I'm a bit of a slob, so there's a lot of poorly-hidden mess. The gigantic bed is probably un-made, and there will be dishes in the sink, a cluttered pile of shoes by the door, a massive stack of intelligent-sounding books (that I really should be reading) catching dust on the coffee table, and some of those gorgeous clothes will be sitting in a clump on the floor of my bedroom. It's a bachelorette pad for a young professional, giddy with her first paycheck (and I'm guessing it's pretty big, if I can afford this place) and I'll love it more than anything because it means independence, financially and emotionally.

But then there's the second house, and it couldn't be more different. I can see it in my mind - a small cabin on the shores of an Alpine glacial lake. You can only get there by boat, or by a hardy Jeep if you like hurtling through the forest on an unmarked road. The cabin's small but nostalgically homey - a roaring fireplace in the living room, flowers in a vase on the wooden table in the kitchen, a well-stocked fridge with fresh fruits and vegetables. The bathrooms are simple but clean, with a massive old bath in one that you could lie in for hours. There's a bookshelf stocked with well-thumbed favourites and guilty pleasures, and a ridiculously comfy sofa that's just asking to be sat in. The bedrooms are light and airy, but the beds have flannel sheets in the winter and crisp ones in the summer, and you could float on the mattresses. The best part about the house isn't what in it, though, but who is - it's a family home. As much as you loved your single life in the city, you love coming here in the summers with your boyfriends, your friends, and eventually, your own family. Their laughter is what makes it home - when he's throwing you in the lake (he calls it "refreshing," you call it "freezing"), or when you and your friends stay up all night playing Trivial Pursuit and poker. It's home because it's everyone's home while they're there.


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. I would want to have a photographic memory, and that I could remember everything that I read, see, or experience. Imagine the possibilities! Namely, that I'd never have to spend hours and hours studying something, and could move on to having fun :) Also, more philanthropically, knowing so much would make doing good a lot easier.

2. I would like a million pounds. Yes, money can't buy happiness, but it can help with so much in life; I'm not naive enough to think that it doesn't. And although a million pounds is a lot of money, it's not such a ridiculous sum that I would feel disinclined to work for the rest of my life - I would just be able to feel a lot more secure.

3. I'll take the two houses I described above :)


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. ;)

I haven't accomplished much in life. I'm 19, and not a Disney star, so I haven't written a book or won a Grammy; I haven't even had a long-term boyfriend or a steady job. The one thing I've done of actual note was getting into college.

Try taking all that exists of you, all eighteen years, all your memories, the lessons you've learned, your good grades, your bad, your "passions;" in short, everything that makes you YOU, and wrapping it up with a bow in a neat little package to send off to complete strangers. That's what applying to university was like. It seemed impossible when I first started. I was a good student throughout all of high school, and I was happy with my grades. I was a singer, and an athlete, and involved in theatre, so I was "set" when it came to extracurriculars, or so my advisor told me. But there was so much more to me that I was never going to be able to show these admissions directors in a file that they'd read in twenty minutes. My parents were getting divorced at the same time I was applying to college, and it was traumatic, but there was no way I was telling some 25 year-old resumé reader that - I knew what they'd think: boo hoo, 50% of marriages these days end in divorce, we've heard it all before. And they'd be right; I felt as though it would be tacky to use my relatively normal personal drama to pump up my Common App essay. So I wrote an essay that I thought was just controversial enough to be interesting (about politics and religion - such a rebel!), and, stressed to the point where I was dreaming about rejection after rejection, I submitted my applications. And was accepted to five out of nine of my schools, including my first choice.

Those good grades? They didn't come from nowhere. Those extracurriculars? They took effort, and hours and hours of "free" time. Additionally, my involvement in them may have contributed to the lack of said long-term boyfriend (or maybe it was my lack of interest in unimaginably shallow high school boys). In September I'm flying thousands of miles away from a pair of screaming parents. I wrote countless essays, took pages and pages of notes, and had stress dreams to end all stress dreams, but I did it all and kept my sanity - that's an accomplishment I'll always be proud of.


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.

The most important to me is knowledge. In my opinion, knowledge encompasses the other aforementioned traits, because it is is knowledge that you find friendship, love, pleasure, etc. How can you be friends with a person, or love them, without knowing them? How can you be adventurous without learning something about yourself, or the world around you? How can you make money, and spend it wisely, without some knowledge of how your career and finance work? How can you appreciate your family without knowing what family means? Personally, gaining knowledge is pleasure in itself. To me, it seems as though knowledge is in all things, all of these traits, and is therefore the most important.

The least important? Probably adventure. As much as I love to travel, and hate being bored, I'm not an adrenaline junky. I'm not filled with much wanderlust. I like where I am, and I'm excited for the future, but because I have a plan for it. Adventure, in the classical sense, isn't that prominent in my everyday life.


5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.


"It's not who you are underneath, it's what you do that defines you" from Batman Begins.

Yes, it's cheesy, but it's also true. All the time you spend learning and shaping yourself as a person accounts for little if you don't do something with it. I'm not the cuddliest person but I do believe that people should try to leave the world having made it a bit better than the world they came in to, and the only way you can do that is if you act on the skills and lessons you've accumulated over a lifetime. Actions speak louder than words, as it were.


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'm quite careful with my money. I'm stingy as anything when it comes to my personal bank account, only because there's so little there. I'm protective of it in a way that some may be with their own children…

That being said, if I do a one-off job that pays cash, I'll usually spend it, sometimes on something frivolous (online shoe shopping is a disease), but usually spread out among every-day purchases like lunches, cinema tickets, etc. I also find that it's better to spend a little bit more on some things (like a good haircut, or a winter coat) which I'll use all the time. Cheaping out, in that case, isn't worth it.


7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?

I really enjoy music, so iTunes is almost always on when I'm not studying. I like most types of music, although I lean more towards classic rock/folk/etc. My favourite artists change weekly, it seems, but right now I'm really in to Fleetwood Mac, the Stones, the Pierces, and Kid Cudi. Wildly eclectic, I know! I'm also in a pretty intense choir, and that takes up a lot of time between rehearsals and memorising music (easier said than done when the music in question is frequently 16th-century choral hymns…I've sung enough Ave Marias to last a lifetime). I've tried writing a few of my own songs, as well, but I get easily frustrated when they don't turn out as I like, so I tend to give up on that.

In the rest of my free time, I like to do pretty typical, teenager-y things: reading (both books and the newspaper), watching too much TV, shopping, hanging out with friends on Fridays and the weekend, sleeping, and being incredibly lazy on the internet. It is ridiculous how much time Stumbleupon can waste when I'm trying to do coursework…


8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.

1. Mice/rats/roaches/vermin of all kinds. Ew. Ugh. Gross. I get nauseous just thinking about all the vermin scampering around the streets of London. Do I have to elaborate more?

2. I'm very afraid of death/dying. I know it's human nature to bury our awareness of our mortality, but I honestly can't bear the thought of my own.

3. Something less morbid, but still frightening - failure. I have a lot of dreams for life, dreams I know come with youth and naiveté, but they are very passionate desires nonetheless. It scares me to think that I worked so damn hard in high school and it could all account for little or less if I do something stupidly preventable, like flunk out of college. Or get pregnant.


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. I'm clever. As much as I hate Littlefinger, I see a bit of myself in him, because I'm highly adept at manoeuvring and bullshitting and remembering/using information wisely. I can talk my way out of a lot of the trouble I find myself in, even if it's just "What did you think of the chapter we were supposed to read for today, Adelle?" because I can pick up on clues in my surroundings and use them accordingly.

2. I'm loyal to my family, especially my sister, and my friends. If someone is bitching about one of them to my face, I have no problem telling them where to put it. If they were talking about my little sister, it would take every ounce of self-control to stop me from launching in to the cruelest tirade you could imagine - and I can have a very vicious tongue when I want to. I went through a lot this year and my friends were always there for me, and sticking up for them is only pennies in the pot of emotional debt I owe to them.

3. I'm inquisitive. I really enjoy learning, even if it's random facts about useless crap - at least it's knowledge. When I'm interested in a topic, I'll try and learn everything there is to know about it, from Jon Snow parentage theories (welcome to my life) to the spread of Christianity in 4th century Europe. I have a head for trivia and for remembering lots of little details, because of my albeit strange affection for learning so much about such narrow subjects.

WORST:
1. I'm always finding flaws in people, and although I'm tough on myself, I don't hold myself to the same standards I hold others. In short, I'm judgemental. For example, there are girls I know who act like idiots in front of boys in order to make themselves more "attractive" in their eyes, and as nice as they may be, my skin crawls when I have intelligent conversations with them because I am judging them so. damn. hard. Some people call me a bitch, even though I think I have a generally amiable outward appearance, but I couldn't care less. A bitch? I'll just say I'm honest.

2. I'm always running my mouth. I get in a lot of little troubles with my friends because I frequently slip and speak my mind. I rarely get upset over something someone says about me, but I forget that most people don't feel the same way.

3. I am terrible when it comes to procrastination. I've been able to get through school pretty successfully by studying a decent amount, and coasting by on the rest with a helpful combination of bullshit skills and a great short-term memory. The internet is a black hole of distraction that I cannot resist...


A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.Who are your favourite three characters in the series? Why?

1. Sansa Stark - I feel as though she may be the most relatable character in the entire series. I'll be honest - if I were stuck in the position of any of the main characters, I would probably end up dead. Sansa gets a lot of shit in fandom for not being like her sister - self-assured, confident, and fearless - but, as much as I love Arya, I don't think she could have survived in Sansa's position. I can't imagine being in Sansa's shoes and managing to stay strong and not lash out in anger. It's a different, quieter kind of courage that she shows, and I'm excited to see where Littlefinger's tutelage takes her (bonus! - maybe it will take HIM out a certain Moon Door).

2. Margary Tyrell - This girl is awesome! Although Sansa's relatable, if I were a woman in Westeros, Margary is who I'd like to be, even with the "three husbands, still a maid, currently under attack by her mother-in-law and the Great Septon" quandary she finds herself in. She's clever, scheming, self-aware, and manages to get herself out of so many of the situations that would send a lesser woman running. Truth be told, she's the kind of person I strive to be - a woman who uses what she's got (in this case, her maidenhead, her wits, and an equally crafty grandmother) to get herself out of a mess, and does it with style. She was lucky to be born the daughter of Lord Tyrell, but a lesser woman would have been killed books ago. She's almost like Cersei, if Cersei was competent at scheming, instead of simply batshit crazy.

3. Jaime Lannister - Is there another example of such incredible character progression in the series? He's gone from a horrible, child-defenestrating monster in AGOT to a man who, at times, shows signs of becoming what a younger Sansa might have called a "true knight," right down to rescuing the lady from the bear pit. And he's done so, in my opinion, very realistically. And as much as I love Jaime and Brienne as a friendship, am I the only one who kind of wants to see him and Cersei work it out, go off to live in a cute cabin in the woods, and have all the "brotherly love" they'd like?


2.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?

1. Ramsay Bolton. I'm not posting any spoilers here, so I can't elaborate, but wow.

2. Daenerys - I wouldn't say I hate Dany as a character, per se, but I really don't like the way her story has happened. I think it's safe to say from the end of AFFC that she's staying in Meereen. WHY? WHYYY? WHY ARE YOU THERE, DANY? GO TO WESTEROS. You are awesome and you have dragons, and you seem like you'd be a pretty competent ruler if you'd only LISTEN to those around you. Those very intelligent people who are telling you to GO TO WESTEROS! I was rooting for you in AGOT! "Fire cannot hurt a dragon" and all that. That scene with in the House of the Undying? Pretty badass. It was a tad unrealistic, but I won't hesitate to say that I cheered a little when Drogon burnt the slavers to a crisp, and the Unsullied killed the rest. But let's take count - you've got three dragons, an army of unfailingly-loyal super-slaves, and you are the last of your house. GO TO WESTEROS. PLEASE. Until then, I'm sorry, but I'm going to groan whenever a chapter involving your story comes up.

3. Aeron aka the lame Greyjoy - Victarion's crazy ways won me over. Euron has an eyepatch, what's not to love? Asha gropes her brother, throws knives, and is generally the bomb. Aeron, on the other hand, is the wettest of wet blankets. It's difficult to care very much about the Iron Islands plot, especially in the AFFC chapters, but the worst has to be when Aeron is just going on and on about the Drowned God and how Euron can't be the king because he's not pious and see? I am bored typing this.


3.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?

This is a hard one, but I would have to say my favourite moment in all of ASOIAF is when Arya stabs the Tickler, and is yelling "Is there gold in the village? Is there gold in the village?" over and over again, and Sandor Clegane has to pull her off him. It's great for the reader on an initial level because a horrible character like the Tickler gets what's coming to him. On the other hand, it's a masterful display of GRRM's writing, because this little girl who has seen so much just cracks, right there on the page. It's a death you should be cheering her on for, because he deserved it, but you're not concentrating on him as much as you are on Arya. You see what she's turned in to - no longer a girl who jokes about sticking 'em with the pointy end, but who actually does so, over and over again, in a fit of grief and anger. It's not a happy moment, but it's my favourite because it's so real. Poor, poor Arya!


4. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?

Danaerys: Dany can stay in Meereen, or control a khalasar, or whatever. She knows nothing about Westeros and its people, so she can stay across the Narrow Sea (with Jorah, who she has forgiven) with her dragons by her side.

The Wall: I ship Jon Snow and his oath, even if R + L = J. He is the Lord Commander, fights off an attack of the Others, and afterwards the Nights Watch and the Wildlings live in relative peace and harmony. Jon and Maester Sam are friends for many years. Stannis, after his failed rebellion, becomes a brother of the Nights Watch. Davos goes back to his wife and sons and lives out a quiet life. Stannis' wife Selyse and Melisandre go to Assai and live long lives in the service on R'hllor. Shireen is magically cured of her greyscale, and marries Edric Storm.

Everywhere else: The Boltons die incredibly painful deaths. Sansa pushes Littlefinger out the Moon Door and runs from the Vale, eventually meeting up with Arya, who, as a Faceless Man, was sent to kill her (but obviously cannot do so). They go back to Winterfell and re-build it, eventually meeting up with Bran and Rickon in the best scene GRRM has ever written. Sandor Clegane is alive, and he comes to Winterfell, where he and Sansa have one angsty night together before he vanishes for good. She marries Willas Tyrell and lives a happy life. Tyrion gets their marriage annulled, and he is Lord of Casterley Rock, although he is forever haunted by what he did in his last night in the Red Keep. He finds out "where whores go," but chooses not to approach Tysha, remembering the pain he caused her. The Greyjoys can stay on the Iron Islands because no one wants them, except for Asha, who gets sent to Dorne, where she and Arianne Martell have awesome adventures. The Sand Snakes kill UnGregor. Little Robert Arryn gets better and actually turns out pretty decently when he has space to run around and doesn't have breastfeeding mothers and stepfathers who are trying to kill him hanging around (somehow I'm feeling that Brienne takes an interest in him, and teaches him to be a proper knight). Margary Tyrell marries Harry the Heir and finally loses her virginity. Cersei, Tommen and his kittens, and Myrcella run off and live in the woods with Jaime forever, finally happy (albeit a tad dysfunctional).

I'm guessing maybe 2% of that will actually happen. We love you, GRRM, but you do love to fuck with our dream-world.

Comments

Martell

[kittenmittons.livejournal.com]

I'm feeling rather a lot of Tyrell about you. Not for any specific reason; it's more just a mix of your tone and your actual qualities. One step closer to becoming Margaery, as you'd like! ;D

P.S. Your app was a pleasure to read - I really like your writing style and your way of expressing yourself!

Re: Martell

[kittenmittons.livejournal.com]

Oh, and I forgot to mention: Your thoughts on Dany? ARE YOU ME?! I feel you on that, ugh, do I ever feel you . . .