That Interview meme

[sistermagpie]

Happy birthday--a day late--to dorrie6!!

It's dog city outside! There's a dog party for cancer research in the park and they're now all walking back, tired and happy, or having brunch at cafes. Marigold was wary at first--as soon as she saw the roommate was taking her down streets they don't usually walk on she planted her little dirty feet and said NO VET! But once she got to the Frosty Paws stand she was quite happy with the party. She's now snoring behind the toilet muttering in her sleep about how she was the prettiest dog there.

In other news,

From fictualities:

Probably I'm the last person on LJ to do this, but in case I'm not: if you'd like to play, say so, and I'll ask you five questions, which you then answer in your own LJ and repeat the process. If you don't want to play, feel free to snark at my answers regardless.

1. If you could design your own city, what three things would you include to make it not just livable, but an exciting and vibrant place to be?

The thought of my designing a city seems like a recipe for disaster, but here goes!

Good system of public transportation--including walking
I can't get my head around cities where you have to drive everywhere. The most basic thing to any city seems like good buses, good subways, and things you can walk to if you want. I feel like without that I wouldn't feel connected to the city itself and the people in it.

Free or cheap entertainment
There's a joke I've heard on more than one sitcom where someone will say that New York is great because of all these cultural things you can do. The other person then says, "Do you do those things?" and the person always says, "No, nobody does. But it's there!" That joke always confuses me because I don't know anybody who *doesn't* take advantage of these things fairly regularly. Nobody does everything all the time but people really do go to the theater, the opera, the ballet, the symphony, jazz concerts, outdoor dances, outdoor movies, fringe theater, book readings, museum exhibits, cabaret acts.

Access to adult education
In whatever you want. Really good ways to learn about whatever you want. Language, music, art, yoga, martial arts, sports, mechanics, engineering, cooking.

I guess the principle joining everything is wanting to make people feel like they can go out and carve their own place in a city, where everything is built from the ground up. It's at people level. So nobody would ever feel stuck where they were.

2. Which minor HP character (not the Trio, not the Marauders, not Snape or Draco or Dumbledore) do you think is most intriguing, the one you'd most like to learn more about, and why?

Some of my favorite minor characters have already gotten their say, so learning more about them would just reinforce what we know. But my answer is Regulus Black. I'm pretty sure we're going to get more information about him. I want to know how he felt about Sirius and his family, how he came to finally see his life the way it really was, see the truth of how to be a real man, that sort of thing.

3. If you could be ten years old for a day (and school was out), what would you do?

Here's the question that made me take all day to do this entry. I'm going to assume this would involve going back in time so I wouldn't be suddenly a ten-year-old in 2006 with no clue how to be that! If you asked me what I wanted to do for a day when I was ten I'd probably have said, "I dunno," which is what I think now, but in a good way. I've never been one for activities--I like days where I or my friends just happened to hit upon something that was fun. So I'd probably want to get together and do something that involved walking around, coming up with a fun pretend game to play--maybe walk to the movie theater for something we really wanted to see. Then I'd come home and have some favorite TV rerun I'd like watching, maybe ride my bike some and at night hopefully I'd have a really good book to read before going to bed.

Basically, my idea of a really good day now is totally not very different from a good day when I was ten, with the addition of a couple more things that I've discovered are fun to do since then.

4. If you could perform one spell from the HP universe, what would that spell be?

I would totally be an Animagus if I lived in that world. Of course it would kind of suck if the animal I was wasn't something I enjoyed, but since you become the animal that's right for you I figure I'd get some self-knowledge too, and it would probably feel very much like you were "coming home" in a sense. If you "were" an animal in your basic nature, I should hope you wouldn't be disappointed in it.

5. Apart from music, what's your favorite sound?

Wind through the trees is a big one (though that sometimes mixes with the big bells my mom has hanging up in our backyard, which is nice), and crickets too. I think I'm going to go with the sound of American Crows. If fall has a sound, it's this sound. Crickets is of course a sound of summer, and fall is my favorite season.

Comments

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

*heart*

Thank you!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Hope you had a great day with Lucy!

[dorrie6.livejournal.com]

I did indeed. :)

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

The ten-year-old question is interesting, but yeah, very hard. But I know one thing I'd like to do if I got to go back in time to be a 13-year-old, and that is showing off in computer-class! :DDDD I was the laughing-stock, back then, afraid of pressing any button in fear of destroying the machine. I might, of course, also show off in French class, but somehow that doesn't sound as appealing, as my classmates would pretty much expect me to. However, I'd like to have seen the look of my family, if I started speaking French, or Spanish, to them.

I've done this meme twice already, I think, but it was long ago, and I'm kind of curious of what your questions would be.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Heh--if you got to tell people off, that would be something! Okay, I am trying to get the hang of the questions side now:

1. If you had to live the life of a fictional character, who would it be?

2. If your cat would talk, how would she talk/sound? (What kind of human personality would come out?)

3. If you could have any job at all, what would it be?

4. If you were to write your ultimate Mary Sue story right now, who would she be, what would she do, and what canon would she take over and how?

5. Which of the deadly sins is your biggest vice--and what is of the virtues is your greatest?

[go-back-chief.livejournal.com]

I'm planning to answer these this weekend, but I need you to clarify something for me first; what are the virtues, are there seven of them, like the deadly sins?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Whoops! Sorry, yes there are 7 deadly sins and virtues (officially as far as I know). They are:

Seven deadly sins: Pride, envy, gluttony, lust, anger, greed, sloth.

Seven heavenly virtues: faith, hope, charity, fortitude, justice, temperance, prudence.

[ishtar79.livejournal.com]

Good system of public transportation--including walking
I can't get my head around cities where you have to drive everywhere. The most basic thing to any city seems like good buses, good subways, and things you can walk to if you want. I feel like without that I wouldn't feel connected to the city itself and the people in it.

*nods* I've heard from a lot of people about those cities where you drive everywhere, and I can't quite wrap my head around the concept. I'm a big walker too (even now in Athens, which is bigger than most places I've lived, and people occasionally give me odd looks when I tell them I walk everywhere), and I just hate the idea of needing your car to just go to the nearest shop or whatever. I have this half Brit/half American friend, and she told me how she would always get mistaken for a hooker when she lived in Sacramento, since only hookers walk. O_o

Your Animagus form would be a magpie, I'm positive on this. :D

I wouldn't mind giving the interview meme another shot, if it's not too much of a hassle to think of questions!

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I'm so nervous driving I just have to be near a train. Otherwise I have to walk--also I just really like knowing that I'm someplace where I could, if I had to, walk home.

Your Animagus form would be a magpie, I'm positive on this. :D

You know that's totally what I would be hoping for.

1.What is the biggest misconception you hear about your country?

2. What was your favorite kind of game to play as a kid?

3. What is your favorite kind of game to play now?

4. Which is your least favorite Doctor Who and why?

5. If you had to take one stupid fanfic cliche (Mpreg, bonding, whatever, rapefic) and show how it can be done well, which would it be and how would you approach it?

[oselle.livejournal.com]

I'm going to boggle your mind because I am the living punchline of that New York joke. I just about never go out and take advantage of anything, unless someone prods me into it. For several years now, just about the only cultural experiences I've had have come about because they were fandom-related in some way or because fans were involved. I don't know why this is, but a lot of it has to do with living out in Queens and with having to get home to the dog. But logistics aside, I generally just don't like attending anything. It's always too expensive and too crowded and way too much of an effort. Would you believe I attended more cultural events when I lived in Maine, just because everything was so easy to get to and didn't cost too much?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

See, and here I think you do stuff all the time because I've been there with you. That's why I count fandom stuff.:-)

But yeah, it's the money that's the biggest issue, and the time. When something's easy to get to and is going on it's so much easier if it's not a big hassle. That's why a lot of times it's more interesting to go to some odd show someone I know is in than it is trying to get tickets to any big expensive show. I remember a while ago the Met did some special thing where they had really cheap opera seats and it was a huge hit.

[samaranth.livejournal.com]

I’m a little sorry I’ve never met Marigold. She sounds quite the personality. :-)

In regard to NYC, you do have all of those things. Lucky you! It’s what makes it such an phenomenal place to visit, too. Here is different, because our city area is quite small, and the suburbs stretch away to infinity. We quite deliberately decided to live close to the city so we can walk/go to things. Sometimes we talk about selling up and going bush, but we stop even thinking about it pretty quickly because we know we’d get horrendously bored and restless. I need to feel the city’s heartbeat, and step out into the stream every now and again.

I’ll play, if you can find the questions.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Marigold is definitely quite the personality. Even with her hair falling out as it is now--seems to be a side effect of this Cushing's syndrome she has. Luckily she looks very cute without hair in the summer, but it's still a little weird finding tufts of hair everywhere.

In some ways I'm such a homebody I can be perfectly happy making my own entertainment just sitting at home with others. But if you're going to live in a city you want to have access to it. I like to be able to do both, go out and do interesting things and just sit home and enjoy not having anywhere to go.

And now for the questions!

1. If there was one moment in your life you could do over differently, what would it be?

2. What's a quality J has that you are most proud of?

3. If you created a character to be the complete opposite of you, what would s/he be like?

4. How do you think your life would be different right now if you'd never gotten into fandom?

5. If you could have one fictional character come and visit you in your world for the day, who would it be and what would you do?

[fictualities.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool answers! (I'm, erm, really sorry that the one about being a child was so hard. The day you describe sounds fun to me; beautifully unplanned and unscheduled in the hope that something cool will happen along, which sounds very like what a kid would do.

Your description of the ideal city makes me miss New York horribly. I think that the first one -- good transportation -- makes the second two possible.

An animagus! Very nifty. I'd like to be able to do that, too, if only to find out what my animal was. It's an interesting concept, isn't it -- a disguise that conceals you completely but that also shows your true personality. Probably I'd be a hamster or something like that.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Your description of the ideal city makes me miss New York horribly. I think that the first one -- good transportation -- makes the second two possible.

Absolutely. I was surprised at how easy the Animagus question turned out to be. When I read the books I think I just wonder why on earth everybody doesn't do it!

And here, questions:

1. If you were going to write your own trademark fantasy epic, who would the hero be and what sort of adventure/quest would s/he have?

2. You're a minor character in a Henry James character. Write your own biting sum-up paragraph description.

3. Did you ever have an imaginary friend?

4. When you were a child, what place in your world scared you the most?

5. What did Sam find when he went over the sea?

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

You're a minor character in a Henry James character. Write your own biting sum-up paragraph description.

Err...make that a minor character in a Henry James novel.

[guza.livejournal.com]

I can't get my head around cities where you have to drive everywhere.

Never move to Auckland, then. Heh. :D There is no subway system here (they were talking about starting those tram things... in the sky - bear with me I don't know what you call them - but that never happened and it never will), the buses kind of suck - they don't come frequently enough and they aren't convenient enough for everyone and are quite expensive as well. Basically, unless you live right in the city, and not out in the suburbs, you have to have a car, unless you're willing to pay lots of money for buses and waste your time walking to and from bustops.

I'm lucky because the bus that I need stops really near my house and almost right outside the part of the uni where I go to.

The traffic is absolutely terrible here, and to minimise it they are talking about instituting a new system, where you'd have to pay to drive your car into the central city. USE PUBLIC TRANSPORT INSTEAD!!1! People would, but there almost is no public transport to use.

I liked your answer to the 10-year-old question. :D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

Yes! I was reading about stuff like this and the main thing you really need to get people to use public transport is good public transport! Like in lots of places it's just like you said--it's too difficult to be convenient. In places where people use it there's lots of places to get on and off, it goes lots of places, it's convenient to pay for, there's lots of stops. Once it becomes a hassle of course people are going to go for cars.

[ackonrad.livejournal.com]

I can't get my head around cities where you have to drive everywhere.

In my case, there were two reasons for preferring to use the public transport (I can't afford a car) instead of walking - my laziness and the fact that I have a public transport card I get every six months and which I have to pay. So, my motto was: if I have to pay for it anyway, then why not use it?

I started walking about a year ago, and honestly, I'm sorry I didn't do it earlier. It's much more fun to start earlier and enjoy your walk than stuff yourself into a stinky bus in the last possible minute and feel sorry for yourself for not being able to get away from the man opposite you who won't stop staring at you. I don't like people I don't know stare at me. I prefer ignoring.

Free or cheap entertainment

Yes. I would go to the cinema or the theatre or to concerts more often if it wasn't that expensive. I understand that the actors or artists have to get their money, but honestly, they are richer than all of us anyway - is it really necessary to have to pay 8 Euro to see a movie?

I've already been interviewed, and even though I wouldn't mind doing it again, don't pressure yourself if you can't think of questions for me. To put it up simply, interview me only after you've done everyone else and still can think of something about me you'd like to know. :-)

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

It's true--public transportation can sometimes just make your whole day worse. When I come out of my dance class it's always a fight to see if I can get across the street without missing a bus. There's the longest light in the world there, and a bus can drive up, board people and pull away while I'm still waiting for the light.

It's so funny that people wonder why fewer people go to the movies nowadays. Um...because they're ridiculously expensive?

I have thought of questions!

1. If you could imagine having been born and growing up in another country beside your own, what would it be and how would you imagine yourself?

2. How would you have written the end of QAF, especially Brian and Justin?

3. Describe a single day in your life you remember as just being the best day.

4. What loss in your life was the hardest?

5. What's one thing someone could do or some quality they could display that would end a friendship for you?

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

She's now snoring behind the toilet muttering in her sleep about how she was the prettiest dog there.

I'm sure she was :D

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

She totally was.

[tinderblast.livejournal.com]

That's her, in your icon? What a fluffy little peach she is.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

That is indeed her, looking very fluffy and peachy.

[q-spade.livejournal.com]

Aw, Marigold! :) Your dog sounds like she has a great personality.

I completely agree with your 3 ways to make a city exciting & vibrant. A walkable city is a wonderful city, but trains & buses do come in handy! And YES to affordable education & entertainment! :D

I really enjoyed the .wav file of crows cawing. While in Frisco this weekend I took some photos of crows playing around a disused windmill in Golden Gate Park, flying against the wind and being silly.

I'd be up for some questions, if you're game.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I love crows being silly. I just finished reading a book about crows and ravens and I swear the scientific study that shows actual crows is far more interesting than any folklore anyone can come up with.

Questions!

1. If you had to move away from NYC, what would you miss most?

2. Whether or not you believe in reincarnation, what past life do you think you could have lived and why?

3. What Tarot card most represents you, do you think?

4. If you were forced to follow an organized religion or a religion different from your own, what would it be and why?

5. If you could live for one day as a different identity--different race, different gender, different nationality etc., what would you pick and why?

[slinkhard.livejournal.com]

Late, but I wanna play!

The other person then says, "Do you do those things?" and the person always says, "No, nobody does. But it's there!"

My aunt lives in London - closest we have to an NYC here ;) pale comparison really... and she never does half the stuff she brags about the city having. I wonder if maybe you appreciate places more or less if you grew up in them. Like you're from NYC originally, yeah? So maybe you've got into the habit of exploring it since you were a kid... I'm from a fairly small town, really - for entertainment in the evenings, say, there's pubs/bars/clubs (where you will always run into people you went to primary/high school with) or the cinema, basically.

[sistermagpie.livejournal.com]

I grew up right outside of NYC so I came in a lot with my parents or with school, but not exacty the same thing. The town I lived in was small and like you said, you always saw the same people.

Questions are fun!

1. If there was one opinion or argument in fandom you never had to hear/see again, what would it be?

2. If you could have a superpower, what would it be?

3. You get to have one servant work for you. What does s/he do?

4. What was your worst subject in school as a kid and just how bad at it were you?

5. Would you ever consider plastic surgery and if so, what?