Win or die

[turtleteapot.livejournal.com]

Name: Turtle Teapot
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!): girloficeandfire)
Age: 21
Location: Austria
Occupation: Student, cashier




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 is where the heart is so my home would have to be in England, preferably in the North/North-East. I wouldn't mind having to live in a tiny, dirty flat as long as I can escape Austria and spend the rest of my days in England. If I could chose though, I'd live in a big flat with a roof-deck. I would love there to be a swimming pool and lots of different plants. I want big windows for my ideal home, and the walls shouldn't be just plain white, they should be decorated with floral ornaments in a very specific turquoise-blue that is kind of hard to describe with words alone. I also want my home to smell good. I'd make sure to always have fresh herbs in the kitchen, even in winter, and they'd fill the whole flat with their scent. I also like tabletop fountains and being around water in general. I don't like very modern furniture, I'm more of the playful type who loves floral ornaments and colourful furniture. Vintage isn't bad either.
I also wouldn't mind having a full room just for my huge collection of books and for working on my art without being disturbed.
Pictures and photos are important too and I'd decorate my walls with them. Location wise my ideal home would be in the suburbs of a big city. I really am a city person and life in some tiny town just wouldn't work for me. I would make sure to have rather thick walls though to escape all the typical city noise. Coming home, to me, means being able to escape all the troubles of everyday life so I don't want to be disturbed there. My home is my sanctuary.

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!
My first wish would be for me to find that one person who I will love more than life itself and who will love me just as much. I know this is pretty generic, but I'm just being honest. Everyone wants happiness and nothing can make you as happy as true love. I want someone who doesn't ask more of me than I can give and who understands me. Someone I can connect with. And since I know that love alone doesn't grant you a happy relationship, I'd specifically ask this genie to make sure this relationship would last and be just right for both me and my partner for as long as we live.
My second wish would be for success. I want to be able to reach my goals in life. I know this is incredibly egoistical but I don't care. I want to fullfill my dreams and once I did this I can focus on helping others do the same. By success I specifically mean managing to lead a healthy, stable life (in England) with a great job, general happiness and without any tragedies. i had plenty of those...I really don't need any more.
My third wish is a second chance for humanity. So far mankind did its best to destroy itself and its planet but I believe that we're able to improve, to lead better lives if we were to get a second chance and leave the past behind. Maybe then we could truly achieve greatness. Being able to fly to the mars means nothing as long as so many people starve and suffer. If given a second chance, I hope humanity would invest in happiness rather than fancy cars and big houses.And woah I really just wished for something that would benefit all of humanity and not just me. I feel good now.

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. ;)
The pragmatic part of my personality would say that my biggest achievement so far is finishing school with good grades, but the biggest part of my personality is not so down-to-earth so I'd rather pick something else. I guess what I'm really most proud of are those moments when I make a friend or loved-one smile or when I'm able to take someone's pain away. This is what I live for. When I was still a child in elementary school I made sockpuppets to make a friend who always cried smile again. This is what I'm proud of, this is what I feel is important in life. It's not about good grades or economical success, it's about finding happiness and sharing it with other people.

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.

1. Love. Because love makes you strong and weak at the same time. It gives you pain that is sweeter than anything else in the world and it heals the wounds it previously caused. Love is what keeps family and friends together, what makes you enjoy your life and what keeps you going. I'm very idealistic when it comes to love because it keeps me hoping against hope, wishing against wish that there is something good in every single being. You could say I'm naive but this naivety keeps me alive.

2. Friendship, because you can pick your friends but not your family and if they are true friends, they will never leave you alone.

3. Knowledge, because I firmly believe that having a vast knowledge makes us more independent and lets us see the world as it really is. It's also needed to understand other people.
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Least important, to me, would be money. I'd still say it's pretty damn important to me since I live in a capitalistic society, but while it can buy you fancy clothes and big houses, it still can't buy you those little things that make life worth living like waking up on a saturday and knowing you don't have to work today, or the joy you feel when you're having fun with your friends.

5. What's one quote (or passage, song lyric, etc.) that effectively describes you and your values? Explain.
“I can believe things that are true and things that aren't true and I can believe things where nobody knows if they're true or not.

I can believe in Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny and the Beatles and Marilyn Monroe and Elvis and Mister Ed. Listen - I believe that people are perfectable, that knowledge is infinite, that the world is run by secret banking cartels and is visited by aliens on a regular basis, nice ones that look like wrinkled lemurs and bad ones who mutilate cattle and want our water and our women.

I believe that the future sucks and I believe that the future rocks and I believe that one day White Buffalo Woman is going to come back and kick everyone's ass. I believe that all men are just overgrown boys with deep problems communicating and that the decline in good sex in America is coincident with the decline in drive-in movie theaters from state to state.

I believe that all politicians are unprincipled crooks and I still believe that they are better than the alternative. I believe that California is going to sink into the sea when the big one comes, while Florida is going to dissolve into madness and alligators and toxic waste.

I believe that antibacterial soap is destroying our resistance to dirt and disease so that one day we'll all be wiped out by the common cold like martians in War of the Worlds.

I believe that the greatest poets of the last century were Edith Sitwell and Don Marquis, that jade is dried dragon sperm, and that thousands of years ago in a former life I was a one-armed Siberian shaman.

I believe that mankind's destiny lies in the stars. I believe that candy really did taste better when I was a kid, that it's aerodynamically impossible for a bumble bee to fly, that light is a wave and a particle, that there's a cat in a box somewhere who's alive and dead at the same time (although if they don't ever open the box to feed it it'll eventually just be two different kinds of dead), and that there are stars in the universe billions of years older than the universe itself.

I believe in a personal god who cares about me and worries and oversees everything I do. I believe in an impersonal god who set the universe in motion and went off to hang with her girlfriends and doesn't even know that I'm alive. I believe in an empty and godless universe of causal chaos, background noise, and sheer blind luck.

I believe that anyone who says sex is overrated just hasn't done it properly. I believe that anyone who claims to know what's going on will lie about the little things too.

I believe in absolute honesty and sensible social lies. I believe in a woman's right to choose, a baby's right to live, that while all human life is sacred there's nothing wrong with the death penalty if you can trust the legal system implicitly, and that no one but a moron would ever trust the legal system.

I believe that life is a game, that life is a cruel joke, and that life is what happens when you're alive and that you might as well lie back and enjoy it.”
-Neil Gaiman, American Gods

This quote pretty much defines me. I believe in the possibility of pretty much anything. I don't identify as religious but I'm not an atheist either because I believe in 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.

While money isn't the most important thing in my life, I'd still rather have it than not. I do think I'm good at managing my money and I hardly ever find myself spending it without a second or third thought. I like having money and I love having plenty of it. Financial security, in a world like ours, is important and I try to save my money whenever I can. Still, I believe that money can't make you happy unless you spend it on something good like having a nice day with your friends/family. In times of economical crisis and insecurities, one has to use money strategically and think about the future.Hiding it under a pillow won't safe it from being devalued but investing in the right things can grant you all the riches you dreamed of in the future. Patience and a good strategy are the keys to managing your finances.

7. Name (and elaborate on) some of your hobbies. What are your favorite things to do outside of school/the office?
I study social and cultural anthropology and this also happens to be one of my hobbies. I love learning about other cultures, about how they perceive the world and about their customs and languages. There are so many different peoples on this planet and they're all unique and wonderful in their own ways and i believe that we can learn from them as they can learn from us. I'm not talking about "Let's bring civilisation to the poor savages", no, I just think that trying to see the world through the eyes of other cultures will help us learn more about our own.
I also really love travelling and if I had more money, I'd try to visit every single country in the whole world. I want to see those "dangerous" countries like Afghanistan too, because I believe that there is more to this place than suicide bombers and war.
One of my other major hobbies is art. I love to draw and paint, mainly digitally using programms like SAI or Photoshop. Drawing gives me a feeling of freedom and inner peace and it allows my mind to wander and just let go of everyday worries and troubles. I think of myself as a creative person and I hardly ever plan ahead when I start drawing so every picture is like a surprise to me.
I also really love reading. when I was still in school, I read more than 100 pages every day and every word in these books was pure pleasure to me. Now, in university, I have a lot of required reading to do, which is not as pleasurable as my beloved fantasy novels but still pretty cool. I feel like I'm lacking the words to describe just how much I love reading and how much some of my books mean to me. When I read one of my favourite books, it's a bit like talking to that boy you have a crush on. It makes my heart beat faster and I'm all happy and excited.


8. Name three things you are afraid of. Explain.
1. Loneliness. A little bit of it can be good at times, but too much of it will kill you and it will be a slow, miserable death.
2. High places. I know it's and unreasonable phobia but there are few things that make me feel more miserable than being in high places. It's not fear of death but of falling, of that moment when you know that death is inevitable now and yet you have no time to prepare yourself for it.
3. Losing a child. This is one of my biggest fears, having a kid and then losing it for whatever reason. I couldn't live with that. For the longest time I didn't ever want children because you can't lose what you never had, but now I think I'll just have to be extra careful and hope that should I ever have children, they won't have a cruel fate.

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. Openness/ Tolerance
I try to respect everyone, no matter what. I try to live my life without too many prejudices and I want to judge people based on my empirical knowledge of their personalities. I don't care about religion, sexual orientation, ethnicity or political opinion and I will respect everyone who doesn't give me a good reason not to.

2. compassion
I'd say I'm a very empathic person and the suffering of other moves me deeply. When I see someone suffering, i don't even need to know the person in question to feel their pain and for wanting to help them. Unfortunately I have to say that I find myself slowly growing numb to all the problems everyone seems to have because nowadays you see more sadness than anything else and I almost don't notice the homeless people in the streets anymore. Nevertheless I honestly try to help ease the pain of others whenever i can.

3. Enthusiasm
I can get pretty damn enthusiastic about...well...anything. There's almost nothing I don't find fascinating and interesting.

Worst:

1. Arrogance
sometimes, when I feel very insecure, I get really obnoxious and arrogant. I don't want to be like this and the truth is that I'm just scared of failing and of not being good enough. I wish I could just stop hurting and pushing away my friends whenever I feel insecure but this fear of failing takes away all my selfcontrol and turns me into everything I never wanted to be.

2. Moodiness
I can switch from perfectly happy to angry to sad in mere seconds without any apparent reason. I don't know why I am like this, but it drives everyone mad. Especially because I'm very emotional so when I'm happy I could kiss the whole world, but when I'm sad it's like having a major depression.

3. Being unorganised
I'm very forgetful, I lose my things all the time and chaos constantly surrounds me. I can't remember important dates and owning a calendar never helped me because I just forget writing in it or checking it regularily. I'm the most chaotic person I know.





A Song of Ice and Fire Related

1.How many books from the series have you completed?
I just finished AFFC and read some spoilers for ADWD.

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

1. Sandor clegane
I always had a thing for scarred characters with a lot of emotional depth. He is a deconstruction of all those knights in shining armor we know but still a truer ser than all those other knights of the Kingsguard. I love all his flaws and his crude way of talking. I love how he is full of selfloathing and that he's still capable of goodness despite of everything that happened so far in his miserable life. He's not one of the good guys but not a villain either, he's the personification of grey morality and this is what makes him interesting.

2. Eddard Stark
Eddard Stark is a character driven by his own ideals who fiercly protects his friends and family and who stands up for his own beliefs. He is honest and full of compassion and one of the few good people in all of Westeros. His death still hurts me and I actually had to force myself to continue reading once I knew that there would be no hope for him. I know all his honour didn't get him far and he's very bad at the game of thrones, but I love him all the more for this. He lost because of compassion and love for his family.

3. Arianne Martell
Arianne is a fierce, strong woman who knows what she wants and who stands up for what she believes to be right. She's scheming, manipulative and a natural leader but also warm, caring and so very intelligent. I love how she seems to have the best of both her father and her uncle Oberyn. She can be quite hot headed but she never loses sight of her goals and she's a great player of the game of thrones without losing her kind, caring side.

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

Now that's a hard question because I both love and hate some of the characters. So let's start with the easy one.

1. Joffrey
He's a monster but I don't think this is entirely his parents' fault. I don't think he was born evil but I like to think that he has a couple of mental disorders that turned him into a sociopath.

2. Melisandre
Like Bronn, she intrigues me but I don't like her religious fanaticism and she kind of scares me. A life seems to mean nothing to her and I have no doubt that she will do about anything to reach her goals. I guess if she wasn't so fanatic about her religion, she could be a good player of the game of thrones and I sincerely hope she won't get what she wants.

3. Qyburn, Ramsay Bolton, Gregor Clegane
They are all monsters who could hardly still be considered humans. I have a hard time writing more about these three because even thinking about them too much makes me feel all sick.


4.#1 Favorite moment in all of ASOIAF so far? Why?
Sandor's fight with Beric Dondarrion or rather how he still managed to defeat his opponent despite being drunk and having to face a foe who uses fire, his biggest fear, as a weapon. His panic when he was burned again brought out the scared, little boy who was hurt so much and it was a really emotional moment to me. Under all these layers of drunken wrath, agony and hatred, Sandor Clegane is still just a hurt child who lost his faith in humanity because those who should've protected him made his life a living hell. Sandor is such a twisted, intriguing character and this scene really made me love him even more.


5. In your dream-world, how would you like to see the series end, and why?
In my dream-world, many years in the future, Rickon would come back as a man grown, leading a huge pack of ferocious direwolves and unleashing his anger on the world. He would show them that the North really does remember. having been away from home for so long, he'd have forgotten almost all of his siblings, except for Bran and the only person he trusts would be Osha. He would take over Winterfell and replace Bran as king in the North. Bran, loved by the smallfolk and a gentle ruler, would do his best to calm his brother's wrath but not being overly successful in doing so. Sansa, now a strong and independent woman and the hand of Queen Daenerys, would try to support Bran, especially because Rickon's wrath would anger the new queen. Her youngest brother, however, would not listen to her and once again bring war to Westeros. Trying to maintain the peace, Sansa rides back to King's Landing after visiting Bran to consult with him on what to do with their younger brother. She'd be too late, however, as Rickon would've reached the capital before her, covering the land with war and Daenerys would've been forced to attack him with her dragons.
Brokenhearted after the loss of yet another familymember and shocked by all the death, Sansa decides to leave Westeros forever and spends the rest of her days in one of the free cities with her sworn shield Sandor where she befriends a young woman who fights better than most men (spoiler:it's Arya!).
Meanwhile, Bran is again lord of Winterfell and tries to make up for the damage Rickon caused. The new words of the Starks are "The North remembers" but Bran is too wise to think of revenge and most people who wronged his family fell victim to his brother's wrath or the queen's justice anyway.

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