westerosorting | Will I win or die?

Name: Jo
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!): The magic that is Tumblr.
Age:24
Location:The middle-Westish bit of America
Occupation: Currently waitressing ex-student with aspirations to being a storyteller.

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!.
Whenever anyone asks me what my favorite place is, or whenever you do those mental relaxation exercises that instruct you to go to a calm place in your mind, the answer is always Washington and the place is always Mt. Rainier National Park. (A specific part of the forest actually...the third inlet up the main road from the entrance.) While I would like to live in England at least for a little while, I don't have a clue where I like best there, so the area around Seattle is what springs to mind. It has my three favorite views: the sea, the mountains, and forests. People like to whine about the rain, but I like the rain. If I had to live in the city itself, it would be in one of the old pleasure homes from the 1920s, right around the Sound from the Space Needle and the Pike Street Market. Those homes seem tiny when you see them from the street, but most of them are built into the side of a hill, so there are hidden levels underneath with patios that lead out onto the slope of the hill behind the house. It would be open and sunny inside, with at least one huge window facing the Sound. If I was living more in the country, which is what my true ideal would be, I would have lots of land and a comparatively small house that would either be a refurbished old homestead or built to my design. Either way, there are a few necessary features: an open stone hearth, a small wood stove, a library, and hidden rooms. Even if I have to have the hidden rooms built myself, they will be there. One will be accessed by crawling through a wardrobe in the attic, and I will never tell everyone where all of them are. The library will have all sorts of reading nooks and window seats and probably a skylight for lots of good lighting. (There will also be a balcony with a telescope for stargazing). I would have enough of a garden to where we won't starve if society collapses and there will definitely be a koi pond just because koi make me smile. There would be at least two horses, maybe a cow or two, some chickens, a mess of barn cats, and a few good dogs, and the sea within easy riding distance.

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!
I would be a genie's worst nightmare...I would sit and think for ages about this, and then the genie would get annoyed and I'd have to make it a coffee while I keep thinking. I'd also make wishes with all kinds of stipulations and clauses in order to tie up any potential loopholes. I can think of two right away, one being that all the horrible diseases in this world--like cancer, AIDS, malaria, TB and et cetera-- to become curable and/or wiped from current and future existence. I wouldn't wish them gone from history, because they have effected the turn of humanity and to erase, say, the Black Death would alter too much, but they could be gone from this day forward.
The second wish would be for a literary agent as those are extremely hard to get. I wouldn't want to wish to be an instant best selling author; that would defeat the purpose, and I want my work recognized for its merits. I'd just want the leg-up to getting my stories out there.
My final wish is tougher to come up with and I'd probably have to have the poor genie stay for dinner while I considered it. I've read too many fairy stories to wish for love or infinite wealth. Or maybe I would wish for love. Not the love of a specific person, but just to be assured that I will have a partner to share my life with. I still have a bit of romantic in me, I guess.

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 wrote a play for my senior thesis that was two years in the making. It delves into notions of identity, the commodofication and sexualization of the female body, mother-child relationships, and the role of science in the economy. It also exorcised some of my personal demons regarding my body image, my sexuality, and how I have been viewed by those around me based on nothing more than my genetics. My advisor, a playwright herself, was extremely pleased with it. Telling stories, in any form, has been the drive of my entire existence, despite my young age. I recorded stories on my cassette recorder as a child, I drew them in school, and when I discovered writing stories and my teacher told me that I was good, it became a defining aspect of me. If I never become anything else in my life, I will be content as long as I have told stories and I feel like this play was the first step towards that.

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.
I know right away money is the least important to me. Money is immaterial despite its necessity and no judge of a person's worth; there are better ways of judging that. Most important would have to be family. Family can be more than your biological and legal relations, it can also be the family you choose in your friends. Family can encompass love of all kinds.The others are all important and things I enjoy and strive to have in my life, but is there really any greater motivator and source of anger, joy, comfort, and pain in our little human lives than family?

5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
"Most blest is he who lives free and bold
and nurses never a grief,
for the fearful man is dismayed by aught,
and the mean one mourns over giving.

Cattle die and kinsmen die,
thyself too soon must die,
but one thing never, I ween, will die,-
fair fame of one who has earned."

These come from the Havamal, which is a long poem full of advice for living in Norse mythology. There are many bits of good advice to be found, but these two are inseparable for me even though they are far apart in the poem. I wish to live my life with wild abandon to the fullest extend I can. I want to gather good people around me and be generous with my home and my time and myself. There is no joy in holding back for fear of failing or in hoarding all things for yourself. I've seen it played out in my own family members; being miserly, sour, and controlling comes back at you tenfold in the end.
And speaking of the end in the second verse, well, "valar morghulis". "All men are mortal" is how the second line is often translated, and we are. For all our myriad mythologies and faiths we know nothing with certainty about what may or may not await us beyond death. All we know is that we live in the memories we have built with those who surrounded us in life. And if you live your life like the first verse, those memories will endure with greater strength for far longer because you will have put good into the web of those people's lives.

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 manage money very well, I think. I've had a savings account in my name since I was three and my parents made sure I understood how it worked as a child. I got a checking account when I started college and never hit the red, even when I didn't have a job. I've come close a few times, like last year when I was financing my capstone play, but I kept it together. Financial security is pretty vital to my calm. I've seen the stress living check to check and relying on credit cards causes and I do not ever want to have that in my life. I don't feel a need to be fabulously wealthy, though I would like to be able to have certain things in my life (like owning a horse and travel) and be able to send my hypothetical future children to school comfortably, but if nothing else I would like to be stable. I'm financially responsible to a fault, I think. I'm not cheap, necessarily, but right now I'm working a job that is draining me emotionally and directly interfering with my goals...and yet I can't bring myself to just quit without having another job lined up, even if it would save my sanity at this point.

7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
Writing, theatre, and dance. They are hobbies in the sense that I enjoy them, but they are also what I want to build my livelihood around. Still, considering I'll be working boring day jobs and doing these in my spare time for a good many years yet, they will have to remain classed as hobbies. I have so many stories in my head that they all fight to get out at once, and then none of them do or parts of one will escape. My process has changed a great deal over the past few years and I don't think I've adjusted to it yet. Theatre is sort of an off shoot of my writing, since I write and direct plays and it's another form of storytelling. Dance is just fun. I like the physical exertion of it and I like performing it. One of my older hobbies that I want to get back into now that I'm out of school is archery. I used to shoot at least twice a week when I was in high school; so much that my string fingers had temporary nerve damage. I have a beautiful bow that my dad gave me for my 17th birthday. I've been wanting to name it, but none has seemed quite right. If I had the disposable income, I would be VERY into riding, but alas...it isn't so.

8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
Deep water. It's not a paralyzing fear, I guess, just an extreme sense of caution and respect. I'm fine with swimming pools,I don't hate swimming in lakes or the ocean as long as it's close to shore, and I love sailing, but swim too far out and it's not our world anymore. In the ocean, you literally do relinquish your place at the top of the food chain and somewhere in the back of my mind all lakes have monsters in them. Maybe I read to much about Nessie when I was little, but I just feel like large bodies of water need to be respected by me not mucking about in them beyond my depth. Scuba diving? Forget about it!

Anything to do with zombies. I can watch H.P. Lovecraft movies and sleep like a babe, but show me "Dawn of the Dead" and I'm pushing the dresser in front of my bedroom door and holing up with supplies and non-reloading weaponry because my imagination cannot handle that. Of course, since zombies aren't real (I so freaking hope) it's the horror of living without awareness and, sort of conversely, of living and being aware but trapped in a failing body that they represent that really terrifies me.

And I fear living an unsatisfying life. I don't necessarily fear not succeeding in my current aspirations, but that I will let myself be sucked into the steady march of "well, this is good enough" instead of striving for something beyond just merely "good enough". I want to live boldly and stand by my convictions and I fear reaching my last days and finding that I've failed myself.

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.
1) Loyalty. I'm not a gregarious person. I have acquaintances who are lovely people and whom I like spending time with, but there are a few people that have come to be extremely dear to me and one old friend from childhood in particular that I will stand by to the end. This doesn't mean we always agree or that we never have our differences, but it does mean that I am there for those people come hell or high water.
2)Non-judgemental. I don't like jumping to snap conclusions about people or situations based on one or two snippets of information. I sit back and watch or listen and think over what I've seen and heard before I form an opinion. Of course, those opinions can change for better or worse when new information is brought to light.
3)Independence. I've never been a follower. I've always been extremely nerdy, but I was never ashamed of that when I was growing up. I liked what I liked, and hell with what other people thought of that! I dislike having to rely on others for things like transportation or money. Not that I won't accept help from someone, but I have to return that in some way and I prefer to be able to stand on my own.

1)Reclusive. I tend to retreat into myself and get stuck there, especially if I'm stressed or upset about something. I'll spend days alone in my room with my books and my computer and only come out for food. I don't really feel good when I do this and it doesn't end up being a productive time.
2)Suspicious. I am not a very trusting person. It takes a long time for me to confide in someone and there are some people, friends even, who I will never really confide in. I'm afraid that what I say will be blabbed around to other people or that I will be laughed at. My mother did this to me when I was a pre-teen. When I confided in her about boys or problems with my friends, she laughed with her friends about the first and didn't take either seriously. I'm not very open with people, and it makes for problems in relationships and friendships sometimes.
3)Prone to procrastinate. I put things off constantly, whether it be school work, errands, or important conversations. I'm forever waiting until the final moment and then rushing to rectify it all which means I'm usually running late.

A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.How many books from the series have you completed? All five! I'm a massive fantasy nerd and I had heard of the series vaguely but hadn't picked it up. I had suffered a severe disappointment in The Wheel of Time and long, unfinished fantasy series made me rather nervous. I admit, I began by watching the show. I saw a mention of it on my Facebook wall (ironically by a fellow with the Stark name...I jest you not!) and decided it was worth a look. I was instantly hooked and picked up the first book about halfway through the season. I devoured them and then was halted at DWD because I didn't want to buy the hardcover when all my others were paperback, but I didn't want to wait for the paperback version...so I bought a Nook and read it that way!

2.Who are your favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Three is such a limiting number, though! UGH! There are so many wonderful people in this story!
Catelyn Tully-Stark is my immediate first reaction. I liked the story when I began reading it, but it was Catelyn that made me love it. Her chapters are so emotionally real and everything about her being is so wonderfully complex and conflicting. She is the woman Cersei strives to be: aware of the sad and unfair lot women get in Westeros, and instead of raging against it and accomplishing nothing but bloody fists, she storms into it and says "I am powerful just as I am. I have no need of men's toys to prove that". She's like Eleanor of Aquitaine. In a literary sense, she is one of the most feminist characters in modern fantasy simply because of her completeness as a person. She is not just a trope. She is emotionally complete, psychologically developed, and her actions move the plot.
And now I have to start tossing coins and weighing merits, because there are so many characters that I'm invested in.

Asha Greyjoy will be my second choice. I love her brashness and her wit and her confidence, but also that her deep fears, passions, and insecurities come out in her chapters. It would have been so easy to skip her over as POV character and keep her as just this sexy bad ass but Martin chose to let us see inside her head and make us remember that she is, first and foremost, a person. I admire her devotion to and pride in her people and I really think she would be the best ruler of the Iron Islands. She's the only one who seems to grasp that raiding is all well and good but for a people to truly flourish they are going to have to sow (people compare the ironborn to Vikings, but "vikings" were just the raiding arm of a farming people). She wants the Ironborn to be independent, not picking at the fringes of other peoples' wealth. I also relate to her very strongly in the way she thinks.

And as much as I love Daenerys I'm going to have to pass her up because, Jaime..oh, Jaime! It was such a masterstroke letting us into his head! I can't excuse the things he's done, but I love seeing his psychology at work. I love his inner conflict and how he sees himself vs. how he knows he is viewed and how we see him viewed by other characters. I think he is set up for some very interesting development in the coming books and I don't think Brienne is going to kill him for Lady Stoneheart. We have to see the completion of his separation from Cersei and his closure with who he is without his sword hand before he can go to his death. (Plus the brief and tragic but beautiful romance with Brienne that has to happen...)

3.Who are your least favorite three characters in the series? Why?
Aegon "Targaryen". He is smug and cocky and something about him rings false to me. He has no concept of how hard it is to rule and yet he thinks he will be the bestest king ever just because of who he is (or thinks he is). (As contrasted to Dany, who feels she has the right by blood but also is keenly aware of the pressures, pitfalls, and real work of ruling). I don't want him anywhere near power. If he is truly Targaryen, I have a bad feeling that the coin came down on the crazy side for him and it just hasn't shown yet. Besides, I'll just be miffed if Daenerys does all this work and has all this characterization and tribulation only to have Aegon swoop in and take all the glory at the last second.

Victarion Greyjoy. UGH. Just shut up with your manpain, Victarion. You beat a woman to death because "she made you do it"? No. Go be lunch for Drogon. Seriously, I want him to die in a brutal duel with a Mormont woman or maybe Brienne. As long as it's a woman. And then I want him buried on land. He does not get to go to the Drowned God. He is too despicable.

Gregor Clegane. He is brutal and everything he does is horrific, but the real reason I have such a negative reaction to him is that he's exactly the kind of character my emotionally abusive ex would idolize. I had to stop reading for a bit after the duel with Oberyn because the way he talked was just too similar.

4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
When Dany finally rides Drogon. This was the moment all of fandom had been waiting for from the instant those babies hatched. One of the things I like about ASoIaF is that the dragons don't have Pern or Eragon like sentience. They are wild animals that require very intense training and like animals they react differently to different people. I like that Dany's first flight was chaotic; if it had been regal and measured it wouldn't have had the same effect. Dany's journey is a series of (sometimes literal) trials by fire and each new crisis makes her stronger. Plus, now that Drogon is big enough to be ridden and she knows she can do it she's going to find her other two heads very soon and I'm really looking forward to finding out who they are.

5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
After a massive, epic battle in which everyone unites against the Others, Daenerys returns to rule Westeros with her two other heads of the dragon: Jon, her consort, and Tyrion, her general. Ser Barristan remains captain of her Queensguard until his death, never failing her. Daario is revealed to be a double agent and Jorah kills him in single combat, but dies himself in one last sacrifice for his princess. Aegon is revealed to be a fake, though even he didn't know, and dies in battle. Jon Connington kills Varys via greyscale infection in retribution for the lie and then goes down fighting the Others. Mellisandre dies fighting the Others as well, but not before going mad with the realization that Stannis is not Azor Ahai. The wildlings and the Night's Watch become a permanently conjoined force and Sansa (who has defeated Littlefinger), as Queen in the North, takes any willing wildlings as her subjects. Asha becomes Queen of the Iron Islands and like sensible, forward thinking people, she and Sansa negotiate on the ironborn settling the northern shores. After her personal retribution on Walder Frey is complete, Lady Stoneheart is finally laid to rest beside her husband. Brienne continues her oath to the Starks as a true knight and the Hound is Sansa's constant protector and right hand. Jaime fulfills his role as the valonqar and slays Cersei in a tragic and poetic repetition of his slaying of Aerys. Arya becomes Dany's master of whispers. Bran returns to Winterfell and uses his magic to protect the North and strengthen the Wall. Sam becomes a rather eccentric wizard. Theon destroys all the Boltons and takes the black. Myrcella marries Tristan and becomes heir to Casterly Rock (Dany also decrees Dornish law to be the law of the land) while Arianne becomes head of House Martell and Tommen is just happy to have some kittens to play with. Davos goes home to his wife and children and lives a happy and peaceful life.