Win or Die.

[dahliaxxx.livejournal.com]

Name: Carmen
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!): direwolfdragon  mentioned it in a Game of Thrones community.
Age: 21
Location: Sardegna ( Italy )
Occupation: University 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!.
Home: My ideal house is a cottage with some modern improvements. First of all my cottage wouldn’t have only one floor (as required by the classical architectural structure) but I would like it to have three floors. At the entrance you couldwould see a platform from which a flight of rounded stairs depart to the upstairs hallway.
On the first floor, on the left side I would have the central hall.
Big sofas of soft light leather would be in the middle of the room, divided by a glass coffee table, small and round- shaped, resting on a smooth woven carpet on which you could walk barefoot.
In front of those I would have a big fireplace (absolutely non-electric), stretched up with a more rounded and sinuous form, and on its sides there would be a library with all rare books.

Across the entrance on the right side of the stairs there would be the dining room with a long table for ceremonies separated from a kitchen-island in white marble that would also serve as an every day’s table.

Upstairs there would be a music room, slightly larger than the living room, with a grand piano in the center.
The piano's chair would be facing the windows so you always have the light behind, so you could read the music sheet. In case they're needed, there would be some good fresh white linen curtains to cover the French windows, which would lead to a covered terrace.There would then be wooden chairs in the style of the nineteenth century (with delicately carved flowers or fruit) arranged in the room, and shelves with all the musical scores, and rare antique instruments.

The bedroom would be down the hall, a little 'far from the music room, furnished with a definitely romantic nineteenth-century style in shades of peach and pale gold.
The bed would be a canopy, the blankets should be soft, just as the pillows scattered over the reading armchair in the corner of the room, near the second library with modern books.There would be a large mirror in the style of the nineteenth century, with the frame matching the make-up table near the entrance of the walk-in closet.
There would be a few carpets on the floor and a little cat's bed near the bed .Then there would be the bathroom with a tub and a marble shower, and many little tables filled with perfumes, makeup and everything related with aesthetics.

On the third floor, the last, there would be the studio in the attic with a professional desk and the computer; the television would be above the fireplace in front of the desk.
There would also be all things technological banned from other rooms: Playstation, stereo and CD collections.

Location: Since I suffers in hot climates because of my physical constitution, I would definitely prefer to live in a cool, well ventilated place (maybe surrounded by a forest of green trees).
I would love a place like Osaka with the trees growing near the houses, or the green landscapes of Hungary.



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. The possibility of devoting my life to the activities that I prefer without worrying about money. I would like to spend a lot of time reading and playing the piano without having to deal with other commitments.

2. Being able to learn quickly.
Havinge a particularly receptive mind, maybe a high IQ, or a very special talent, like being able to learn music sheets as easily as when I learn from books I read.

3. Have a beautiful voice.
I know it's a stupid desire!But I would love to because I've always wanted to be like the fairy tale princesses who are able to sing in a such a delicate and sweet manner tothat they tame even the beasts of the forest. (Of course my favorite princess is Snow White).


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. ;)

Surely to be the first of my family to achieve academic goals.
I completed a course of classical studies, not without the difficulties imposed by the study of dead languages like Latin and Greek, but I never had any desire to give up, even when things seemed to be too much for my skills.
I was spurred on and supported, but most of all I managed to pull myself alone, stand on my legs and go over the rocks of certain deprivation: I haven’t had much of a "social" life because I was busy studying for most of the week to achieve my goals and to get better, now I finally started the first year of university without having any problems with the entrance test.


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.

Knowledge. I don’t want to quote a classic "Knowledge is power" but I think that is perfect in this case. Knowledge is not a matter of a display or an ornament to wear on certain occasions: knowledge requires the strength of spirit to set aside the rest to grow your own knowledge.
I firmly believe that while forming your own personal culture you have to confront with yourself, therefore being forced to work on what you want to change; this inevitably brings security and confidence, which are what makes us maintain stable relations, both in love and with friends , it improves your prospects, so you can work on your knowledge to improve your social position, and it certainly cannot be overlooked that we can also educate ourselves about pleasure.

Adventure. I've never had a passion for adventure. I’m not saying that I don’t like it but I put it as the least important because I’m completely indifferent about it and I don’t care for things that are indifferent to me.

5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
“Take piano: keys begin, keys end. You know there are 88 of them. Nobody can tell you any different. They are not infinite. You're infinite... And on those keys, the music that you can make... is infinite. I like that. That I can live by...
You rolled out in front of me a keyboard of millions of keys, millions and billions of keys that never end. And that's the truth, that they never end. That keyboard is infinite... and if that keyboard is infinite, then on that keyboard there is no music you can play. You're sitting on the wrong bench... That is God's piano.
Christ, did you... did you see the streets, just the streets? There were thousands of them! Then how you do it down there, how do you choose just one... one woman, one house, one landscape to look at, one way to die...?”
- The Legend of 1900 –

The quote is from one of my favorite books, and just like the protagonist, who was born and lives on a large passenger ship that is always on the same route, I live on a ship of my own.
A ship made of fairy tales that I like, a niche that I've always with me when I need it because sometimes the world is so illogical that I find it much more reasonable to curl up in myselfves rather than trying to choose a way because, after all , choices are a bit randomly chosen unless you know for sure where you’re going. How to choose? What to choose?
There are some questions that 'people stops asking themselves because they’re used to answer them when they face a situation that requires their attention but I am personally just arrived to the point of wondering at the vastness of possibilities.



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 don’t spend much, my expenses are mainly two: books and music sheets.
Furthermore I do not have a fixed income because my day is spent between university and piano so my finances came from my parents. I'm not obsessed with money, I have a healthy relationship with it because as I said before I don’t have major vices, sometimes I even forgot aboutnot having money until one of my parents reminded me.


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

1. Photoshop / Fanart. I started using Photoshop 5 or 6 years ago (along with my new computer). I'm not a pro (as you can tell be my works) but I really enjoy creating the classic web resources (icons, wallpapers etc.) mainly because I enjoy creative people so I am stimulated by the challenges or just from seeing new techniques , usually I work on them until I learn how to do so now I am quite adept at using Photoshop and editing images.

2. Playing music. If it wasn’t clear yet I play the piano and I love it. I love music (even if this sentence seem a little 'bland because I've read it so many other times on other blogs XD), I like to hear it and, especially, I love playing piano. It helps me blowing the tension from a day spent on subjects that I don’t understand or after long, boring lectures., I can stay away from the piano for months because of more pressing commitments but there is nothing keeping me away from coming back to it every time I have just half an hour even just to do exercises for finger’s mobility.

3. Read. I read so much, I read often and pretty much everything. I finish more than one book every month and I don't even count how many I read every ear, it’s something I do daily for an hour or two when I’m under exams, or for whole days when I am on holiday.

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

1. Bugs. I’m 100% Entomophobice . I don’t like any kind of insect, some of them scare me and for others I just have repulsion but the gist of it is that I can't be within 20 meters from one of them without feeling ill! It is not even because of something that happened to me that includes insects, I think it's just a matter of genetically determined fear!

2. Burns. There is nothing that scares me most of the burns (of course I speak of the serious ones), even if the sun burns aren’t better). I am very pale so I burn easily simply by staying in the sun and I have also experienced third-degree burns after sunstroke so I know the pain of "fire" and is something that scares me, I would never want to experience burns from contact with chemicals or direct sources of heat such as stoves.

3. Not being good enough. Not being good enough for someone I love or just myself, is something that I always carry within me and sometimes gets really annoying when I feel about to fail, because I tell myself what I'm afraid to get wrong, reproaching myself in advance and also screwing what I have left to do.

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:
Pride. I am a proud person, almost to a fault. My pride prevents me to make compromises for anything , I can’t stand disrespect and because of this I’m able to settle quickly with people , identifying which one I can have a relationship with. Being proud often helps me in things I do because it prevents me from giving in to defeatists impulses or believinge people who would have me doubt myself, I can stand for myself and I know my value.
I think it's a good thing.

Loyalty. I can say that I have never betrayed anybody in my life (well, maybe I'm still young XD). When I bound with someone there is nothing or no one who can convince me to stay away from him / her, for the sake of someone I love I could throw myself from a cliff and then ask if I can do anything else.

Creativity. I have my head up in the clouds because I can’t stop having the imagination of a child. My mental world is full of princesses, princes, witches and wizards, but since I am not able to have them in real life I try to recreate it whenever I can through music or even just to bring it to life with words. I really like to share my imagination with people I like because I really like people who understand what it means to have a world in their head but I must admit that I enjoy sharing my creations even with those who don't understand.

Worst:
Mistrust. I’m naturally suspicious, I don’t trust people easily because I can’t enter relationships lightly. I'm jealous of my independence and when you get close with someone it often end up with a lot of explanations about why or how you behave in certain ways, I’m unable to change on command, even for people I like.

Wrath. When I get angry I have no limits but I am not a person who gets angry for nothing.
There are few valid reasons but when I begin to talk it is unlikely that I will stop until I have fully vented and it is quite unlikely that after I vented some of the relationship remains.

Coldness. One thing that is often unwittingly is that I become cold and distant towards something / someone. I don’t have interest in matters of courtesy or convenience so I find myself indifferent or sometimes I do it without even thinking about, unfortunately in these moments I can hurt people around me.



A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
1. Davos Seaworth. My love for this character was instantaneous and still now with the same intensity! Mainly I love his way of lovinge (excuse the pun) without asking for anything in exchange, his way of deeply lovinge a man and his ideas regardless of what he has done. I think it is obvious that no one could have feelings for the man who punished you for an action which has actually brought benefits him, if you hadn’t had an extraordinary ability to see beyond what is on the surface. Davos is able to see beyond, he was able to see Stannis as a man and his gratitude for what he has been granted, in spite of the hatred for what has been taken away, has swept me away from the first moment; he accepts anything with stubbornness and never forgetting for whom he does all this, without complaining or repenting.

2. Daenerys Targaryen. My favorite female character, absolutely . A girl on whose shoulders weighs the fate of a lineage and the bulky legacy from a brother who was an hero and from another who was a beggar, she made her mistakes, as the other characters, but she has a determination that made me love her beyond the reckless things that she might have done. She wants something with all of her soul, learns alone how to obtain it and fought against the doubts that are natural in a similar situation, but in all of this she never forgets who she is, and that is what I love above all. She never forget who she is, where she came from, because her sorrow constantly reminds her that it is not possible to surrender, that defeat is not acceptable.

3. Jaime Lannister. I like him because he is a complex, suffering character, and nobody pays attention to him if not to insult him. He never said the truth about Aerys when this, perhaps, would have given him the opportunity to be more appreciated by people. For everyone he is only a murderer, while for his father he has always been only a perfect toy to showcase as his perfect heir; he has made a mistake believing that he is worse than he actually is, and I understand him in spite of his actions. He could be the hero but doing something good doesn't always erases the evil you’ve done, he pays for not being understood but he continues on his way undaunted.
2.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?

1. Gregor Clegane. I don’t think there is much to say about it! I don’t think that I could find something to save in him! Cruel, vile, and without feelings of any kind.

2. Catelyn Stark. I never liked her. It could be because I am not a mother so maybe I don't understand what she do during his adventure but I find that her behavior and her way to complain for situations that her own actions have created is unbearable. She is not the only one to have lost a man or a child during the war and yet she acts like she don’t care about anyone (I find the scene where she freed Jaime is the worst in this sense) but a ruler can’t worry about herself when there is something more important at stake.

3. Frey. In general, their House. Can I hate a House? XD They’re something untenable! I believe they gave irked me more than Ramsay or Gregor, they are devious and turncoats.

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

The battle of Blackwater certainly. I appreciated the possibility of reading a scene of war so well written that contained not only a clash of armies but also a dynamic situation that leaves you continually with the mouth open or makes you swear because of the wrong strategy and the Wildfire or even when you feel proud of Tyrion for taking the Sandor's place and leading lthe troops into battle.

4. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
Let's see…
I don’thave too much faith in George’s kindness so I would like (a lot) to see some of my favorites remain alive, maybe Daenerys on the throne to establish a kingdom safe and peaceful for all the people who have suffered during the war. Sansa should return to the North and become the queen because she deserves something good after everything she’s going through ! If it were up to me she would be Mrs. Clegane ever since Clash of Kings but since we are in my dream ending she would rule in Winterfell with Sandor and restore the castle to the splendor of its forefathers.
Something nice for Theon and the Greyjoys (they had their dose of bad time too) and also for Davos (Tsomething that I’ll find out in October since in Italy ADWD hasn't been released yet).
As much as I like George's ability to exterminate anyone ignoring their importance in the story, I’d like to imagine that for someone it will end up well even if it is unlikely.

Comments

Stark

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