Meme of Me
Apr. 14th, 2011 11:17 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
lunasarielI've noticed a fair-sized upswing in visits to this little corner of my brain recently (which may or may not have to do with me joining the wide and wonderful world of ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-community.gif)
westerosorting and its cohorts *waves Stark Pride banner*), so I thought I'd make a general "who I am and what I'm up to" post. This is technically yet another meme, which comes from ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
blaze_villain , who originally got me started on memes, so I guess this is fitting.
You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.
1. First Name:
Rose. Funny story about my name: it sounds pretty and all, but it's really rather boring. My brother, P, was named after a saint (my dad's reason) and the High King of Narnia (my mom's reason). My sister, A, was named thus because it was the name of my dad's grandmother, who crossed half the continental U.S. in a covered wagon, and because it's a palindrome. I was just named "Rose" because it's easy to spell.
"Lunasariel" came from an online Elvish name "translator" many eons ago, when the earth was young (about 2001 or 2002, I think). The translator was crap, of course, but I liked the way Lunasariel sounds and looks, so I hung on to it.
2. Age:
20, turning 21 in July (more on that later). Yeah, I'm a baby of the 90s.
3. Location:
Northern California, one of my favorite places in the world. I always feel a bit bad for complaining about the weather, since any weather that isn't perfet seems awful to me. I live in a small town with about 1,500 people. I moved here when I was six, and I'll probably be leaving to go to real college (finally!) this fall. I'm sure I'll miss it, but I really enjoyed living in London last fall, so I'm kinda looking forward to living in a big city.
4. Occupation:
For the moment, full-time student. My plan is to get a B.A. in English (focus on British Literature, probably), and then get a MLS after that. It's my ultimate goal to work in a library. I'd prefer an academic library, since I don't like dealing with people (especially stupid people) all that much, but public libraries have a lot more job opportunities (or they probably will, once the economy picks up), and I'll certainly have more interesting stories.
5. Partner:
None at the moment. Part of the reason is that I'm still hung up on my ex, J, but I haven't had many opportunities since then. J's and my breakup a few years ago wasn't a huge, dramatic deal (he got accepted to a school in Portland, Oregon, and a long-distance relationship wasn't working out for us), and we're still friends. I just haven't met anyone better, as of yet.
6. Kids:
NONE. I really, really hope that I never become a parent. From what I've seen, parenthood doesn't necessarily equal happiness, and I've seen some parents put in some pretty horrible situations by their kids. I've seen people stay in unhappy marriages "for the children," and I've seen some good people having to raise rotten kids. In one family in particular, their first kid turned out pretty good, but the second one is just awful. My friend, the elder sister and aforementioned first kid, is getting a degree in psychology from Humboldt State University, and the younger sister is in and out of trouble all the time, and probably on her way to jail. She's been in and out of juvie a few times, and has cost her parents thousands of dollars, not to mention the unhappiness having to live with such a destructive, deeply unpleasant person. I don't want to end up shackled to a kid like that, and I don't think it's worth the risk.
7. Brothers/Sisters:
One brother, one sister, two stepsisters, one stepbrother. It's pretty cool how we're almost exactly a year apart from each other: my stepbrother is 21, I'm 20, my stepsister is 19, my brother is 18 (turning 19 next week, though), my other stepsister is 17, and my sister, the outlier, is 13.
My brother, P, is amazing, and one of my best friends. He's kind of crazy, but like the Doctor is crazy. He's brilliant and weird and sometimes neurotic. The world and its workings fascinate him, and he's currently working on a degree in biomechanical engineering (he says he wants to work on making people immortal), but he'll often get distracted by various weird musical instruments, obscure historical periods, and sometimes a social cause or two.
My sister, A, used to be one of the rotten kids mentioned above, but has mellowed out considerably in the past few years. She still isn't someone that I'd choose to spend time with, but now I can spend more than five minutes with her without being physically attacked for no discernible reason.
My stepbrother, Matt, is the only one of the whole lot who is older than me and he's...alright, I guess. He and I have never been really close, but we've never exactly been at each other's throats, either. We just sort of live and let live. He's into some stuff that I don't necessarily approve of (*old lady glare*), and he recently got out of a short stint in jail, but he seems to be a decent person.
My dad and his new wife actually met because my stepsister Hollie and I were in summer school together. We used to be great friends (in fact, it took me quite a while that my dad was always so happy to see me and H hanging out because it meant that he got to spend time with her mom), but now we've kind of drifted apart. It doesn't help that she has absolutely HORRIBLE taste in men. Seriously, for the past three or four years, I don't think she's dated one guy without a rap sheet.
The younger stepsister, Lexy, is great friends with P, since they're less than a year apart. P was Prom King the same year that L was Homecoming Queen, so now there's a joke about "keeping royalty in the family." She's sweet and perky and bubbly and adorable, and while she might be a bit much to handle sometimes, she's generally pretty awesome.
8. Pets:
One rather elderly Norwich terrier, whose official name is Moocher, but is just as often referred to as Frodo, Samwise, Caterpillar, Dog of Doom, the Man, and Bowling Ball Butt. He's mostly my mom's dog, snores loudly, is selectively deaf, and has recently become rather incontinent, but we all love him to pieces anyway.
We have three cats: Cassie, Apollo, and Custard. Cassie (full name: Cassandra) is a diabetic, haughty, and gorgeous tortoiseshell queen. Apollo (full name: Apollo Eärendil Rosenberg) is a neurotic flame-point Siamese who mostly hangs out with our equally-neurotic neighbor. Custard (full name: Custard Draconis Rex) is a tabby, is fully aware of how adorable he is, and is not at all above using that to his advantage.
9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
A) School. I'll be transferring from the dinky little junior college that I've been going to for budget reasons to a real college this fall. In a perfect world, I'd get into UCLA, but considering the state of the UC system, I'm damned lucky to have already gotten into UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara, and realistically, I'm probably going to choose between them. I used to abhor Santa Cruz, since it has a reputation as a bit of a party school and doesn't have its own English department, but the more I look into it, the more I like what I find. I'm still leaning towards Santa Barbara, but we'll see how things go. Now, I'm taking History of English Literature: Romantics through 20th Century (fantastic!), Debate (terrifying, but necessary), German (more fun than I thought it would be, although the professor has recently been piling on the homework *glances at the four German assignments I need to have done for tomorrow*), and Introduction to Political Science (I would probably hate this class, except the teacher makes it amazing).
B) H's wedding. When my best friend, H, got engaged last year, she asked me to be her maid of honor, which I gladly accepted. We've been friends since we were both eight years old, and it was always kind of understood that we would be the maids of honor in one another's weddings. But now, H wants her sister to be the maid of honor, but she still wants me to plan everything. :-/
C) Parents. I've seen a weird kind of role-reversal the past few years where I'm becoming very responsible for both my parents, especially my dad. Both his parents died last year, and he's really been taking it hard. His job is also very stressful and requires long hours, so he's been needing a lot of extra TLC lately.
D) Appearance overhaul. I freely admit that I'm not a very attractive person. I have a skin condition, alopecia (sp?), which means that I've lost a lot of hair, and what hair I have is brittle, coarse, and frizzy. I'm slightly overweight, but I dress in clothes made for a very overweight person, since I used to weight more than I do. I also have a speech impediment, which leads me to being shy and socially awkward. I'd like all these things to change before I head off to real college, so I have Big Plans in this regard. I'm working on getting in shape (or losing some weight, at least), I'm in speech therapy (which I don't really expect to do much, because speech patterns are difficult to change this late in life), I'm trying some new vitamins to control my hair loss (moderate success here), and soon I'm going shopping for more flattering clothes. As far as the "shy and awkward" thing goes, though, there's not much I can do, so I'll wait and see how things go in whichever institute of higher learning I end up ensconced in.
10. Parents:
I live with my mom, who is fantastic. She's amazingly clever, and our personalities and tastes in entertainment mesh pretty well. She's a pharmacist, so she's great to have around when one is sick. I hope that, one of these days, I'll turn out like her.
My dad and my mom divorced when I was about eight, and my dad remarried in 2004. His new wife and I get along alright, but I kind of don't like her. My dad is very...traditional. His attitudes would have fit right in somewhere around the early- to mind-1960s, and while this can sometimes be endearing, it's annoying just as often. He's a winemaker, so his job requires a lot of travel, as well as a lot of stress and some *really* long hours. I kind of worry about him because of this. He's not getting any younger, and has been injured on the job several times in the past year, but he still insists on putting in 16- or 18-hour days (and that's not even during crush!).
11. Who are some of your closest friends:
My best friend is probably H. The big news, as mentioned above, is that H is getting married in July. The wedding, in which I'm a bridesmaid, is only five days after my 21st birthday, so H has put forward the idea of combining my birthday party and her bachelorette party, which...I dunno. I guess we'll figure that one out when we come to it.
C, H's fiancé, is also a close friend of mine. C, H, J, and I formed our own little Pod o' Friendship in high school, and although we've drifted apart since then, there's still that sense of closeness when we do manage to get together.
K was introduced to me by H, who's known him literally since she was born. Like most of my friends, there are times when I wish he'd just shut up and go away (he loooooves to talk, especially about politics), but he's incredibly loyal, as well as courtly, in a weird, old-fashioned sort of way.
I met R during my recent sojourn in London, and we stayed in touch when we got back to the States. In London, he intimated to a mutual friend of ours, who then passed the info on to me, that he was planning on asking me out. I asked our mutual friend to gently discourage him, since he is hardly my beau ideal. But lately, I've been reconsidering the wisdom of that decision. I have to weigh the fact that on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being Quasimodo and 10 being Thomas Raith) his physical attractiveness rates about a 4, against the fact that he's witty, sweet, funny, nerdy, and brilliant...also, not exactly being a prize catch myself, I'm realistically not likely to do any better. God, that sounds shallow. Basically, I didn't want to go out with him when I felt no more than a friendly attraction to him, but now the winds have changed a bit. I dunno, I guess I'll see where this leads.
I guess J deserves a mention here, too. Our breakup was very amicable, and we remain close friends. We share a lot of interests, especially in terms of Brit Lit. He's probably the most intelligent (or at least the best-educated) person I know, and while I adore my other friends, it can sometimes be a relief not to have to dumb things down.
westerosorting and its cohorts *waves Stark Pride banner*), so I thought I'd make a general "who I am and what I'm up to" post. This is technically yet another meme, which comes from blaze_villain , who originally got me started on memes, so I guess this is fitting. You know how sometimes people on your friendslist post about stuff going on in their life, and all of a sudden you think "Wait a minute? Since when were they working THERE? Since when were they dating HIM/HER? Since when???" And then you wonder how you could have missed all that seemingly pretty standard information, but somehow you feel too ashamed to ask for clarification because it seems like info you should already know? It happens to all of us sometimes.
Please copy the topics below, erase my answers and put yours in their place, and then post it in your journal! Please elaborate on the questions that would benefit from elaboration. One-Word-Answers seldom help anyone out.
1. First Name:
Rose. Funny story about my name: it sounds pretty and all, but it's really rather boring. My brother, P, was named after a saint (my dad's reason) and the High King of Narnia (my mom's reason). My sister, A, was named thus because it was the name of my dad's grandmother, who crossed half the continental U.S. in a covered wagon, and because it's a palindrome. I was just named "Rose" because it's easy to spell.
"Lunasariel" came from an online Elvish name "translator" many eons ago, when the earth was young (about 2001 or 2002, I think). The translator was crap, of course, but I liked the way Lunasariel sounds and looks, so I hung on to it.
2. Age:
20, turning 21 in July (more on that later). Yeah, I'm a baby of the 90s.
3. Location:
Northern California, one of my favorite places in the world. I always feel a bit bad for complaining about the weather, since any weather that isn't perfet seems awful to me. I live in a small town with about 1,500 people. I moved here when I was six, and I'll probably be leaving to go to real college (finally!) this fall. I'm sure I'll miss it, but I really enjoyed living in London last fall, so I'm kinda looking forward to living in a big city.
4. Occupation:
For the moment, full-time student. My plan is to get a B.A. in English (focus on British Literature, probably), and then get a MLS after that. It's my ultimate goal to work in a library. I'd prefer an academic library, since I don't like dealing with people (especially stupid people) all that much, but public libraries have a lot more job opportunities (or they probably will, once the economy picks up), and I'll certainly have more interesting stories.
5. Partner:
None at the moment. Part of the reason is that I'm still hung up on my ex, J, but I haven't had many opportunities since then. J's and my breakup a few years ago wasn't a huge, dramatic deal (he got accepted to a school in Portland, Oregon, and a long-distance relationship wasn't working out for us), and we're still friends. I just haven't met anyone better, as of yet.
6. Kids:
NONE. I really, really hope that I never become a parent. From what I've seen, parenthood doesn't necessarily equal happiness, and I've seen some parents put in some pretty horrible situations by their kids. I've seen people stay in unhappy marriages "for the children," and I've seen some good people having to raise rotten kids. In one family in particular, their first kid turned out pretty good, but the second one is just awful. My friend, the elder sister and aforementioned first kid, is getting a degree in psychology from Humboldt State University, and the younger sister is in and out of trouble all the time, and probably on her way to jail. She's been in and out of juvie a few times, and has cost her parents thousands of dollars, not to mention the unhappiness having to live with such a destructive, deeply unpleasant person. I don't want to end up shackled to a kid like that, and I don't think it's worth the risk.
7. Brothers/Sisters:
One brother, one sister, two stepsisters, one stepbrother. It's pretty cool how we're almost exactly a year apart from each other: my stepbrother is 21, I'm 20, my stepsister is 19, my brother is 18 (turning 19 next week, though), my other stepsister is 17, and my sister, the outlier, is 13.
My brother, P, is amazing, and one of my best friends. He's kind of crazy, but like the Doctor is crazy. He's brilliant and weird and sometimes neurotic. The world and its workings fascinate him, and he's currently working on a degree in biomechanical engineering (he says he wants to work on making people immortal), but he'll often get distracted by various weird musical instruments, obscure historical periods, and sometimes a social cause or two.
My sister, A, used to be one of the rotten kids mentioned above, but has mellowed out considerably in the past few years. She still isn't someone that I'd choose to spend time with, but now I can spend more than five minutes with her without being physically attacked for no discernible reason.
My stepbrother, Matt, is the only one of the whole lot who is older than me and he's...alright, I guess. He and I have never been really close, but we've never exactly been at each other's throats, either. We just sort of live and let live. He's into some stuff that I don't necessarily approve of (*old lady glare*), and he recently got out of a short stint in jail, but he seems to be a decent person.
My dad and his new wife actually met because my stepsister Hollie and I were in summer school together. We used to be great friends (in fact, it took me quite a while that my dad was always so happy to see me and H hanging out because it meant that he got to spend time with her mom), but now we've kind of drifted apart. It doesn't help that she has absolutely HORRIBLE taste in men. Seriously, for the past three or four years, I don't think she's dated one guy without a rap sheet.
The younger stepsister, Lexy, is great friends with P, since they're less than a year apart. P was Prom King the same year that L was Homecoming Queen, so now there's a joke about "keeping royalty in the family." She's sweet and perky and bubbly and adorable, and while she might be a bit much to handle sometimes, she's generally pretty awesome.
8. Pets:
One rather elderly Norwich terrier, whose official name is Moocher, but is just as often referred to as Frodo, Samwise, Caterpillar, Dog of Doom, the Man, and Bowling Ball Butt. He's mostly my mom's dog, snores loudly, is selectively deaf, and has recently become rather incontinent, but we all love him to pieces anyway.
We have three cats: Cassie, Apollo, and Custard. Cassie (full name: Cassandra) is a diabetic, haughty, and gorgeous tortoiseshell queen. Apollo (full name: Apollo Eärendil Rosenberg) is a neurotic flame-point Siamese who mostly hangs out with our equally-neurotic neighbor. Custard (full name: Custard Draconis Rex) is a tabby, is fully aware of how adorable he is, and is not at all above using that to his advantage.
9. List the 3-5 biggest things going on in your life:
A) School. I'll be transferring from the dinky little junior college that I've been going to for budget reasons to a real college this fall. In a perfect world, I'd get into UCLA, but considering the state of the UC system, I'm damned lucky to have already gotten into UC Santa Cruz and UC Santa Barbara, and realistically, I'm probably going to choose between them. I used to abhor Santa Cruz, since it has a reputation as a bit of a party school and doesn't have its own English department, but the more I look into it, the more I like what I find. I'm still leaning towards Santa Barbara, but we'll see how things go. Now, I'm taking History of English Literature: Romantics through 20th Century (fantastic!), Debate (terrifying, but necessary), German (more fun than I thought it would be, although the professor has recently been piling on the homework *glances at the four German assignments I need to have done for tomorrow*), and Introduction to Political Science (I would probably hate this class, except the teacher makes it amazing).
B) H's wedding. When my best friend, H, got engaged last year, she asked me to be her maid of honor, which I gladly accepted. We've been friends since we were both eight years old, and it was always kind of understood that we would be the maids of honor in one another's weddings. But now, H wants her sister to be the maid of honor, but she still wants me to plan everything. :-/
C) Parents. I've seen a weird kind of role-reversal the past few years where I'm becoming very responsible for both my parents, especially my dad. Both his parents died last year, and he's really been taking it hard. His job is also very stressful and requires long hours, so he's been needing a lot of extra TLC lately.
D) Appearance overhaul. I freely admit that I'm not a very attractive person. I have a skin condition, alopecia (sp?), which means that I've lost a lot of hair, and what hair I have is brittle, coarse, and frizzy. I'm slightly overweight, but I dress in clothes made for a very overweight person, since I used to weight more than I do. I also have a speech impediment, which leads me to being shy and socially awkward. I'd like all these things to change before I head off to real college, so I have Big Plans in this regard. I'm working on getting in shape (or losing some weight, at least), I'm in speech therapy (which I don't really expect to do much, because speech patterns are difficult to change this late in life), I'm trying some new vitamins to control my hair loss (moderate success here), and soon I'm going shopping for more flattering clothes. As far as the "shy and awkward" thing goes, though, there's not much I can do, so I'll wait and see how things go in whichever institute of higher learning I end up ensconced in.
10. Parents:
I live with my mom, who is fantastic. She's amazingly clever, and our personalities and tastes in entertainment mesh pretty well. She's a pharmacist, so she's great to have around when one is sick. I hope that, one of these days, I'll turn out like her.
My dad and my mom divorced when I was about eight, and my dad remarried in 2004. His new wife and I get along alright, but I kind of don't like her. My dad is very...traditional. His attitudes would have fit right in somewhere around the early- to mind-1960s, and while this can sometimes be endearing, it's annoying just as often. He's a winemaker, so his job requires a lot of travel, as well as a lot of stress and some *really* long hours. I kind of worry about him because of this. He's not getting any younger, and has been injured on the job several times in the past year, but he still insists on putting in 16- or 18-hour days (and that's not even during crush!).
11. Who are some of your closest friends:
My best friend is probably H. The big news, as mentioned above, is that H is getting married in July. The wedding, in which I'm a bridesmaid, is only five days after my 21st birthday, so H has put forward the idea of combining my birthday party and her bachelorette party, which...I dunno. I guess we'll figure that one out when we come to it.
C, H's fiancé, is also a close friend of mine. C, H, J, and I formed our own little Pod o' Friendship in high school, and although we've drifted apart since then, there's still that sense of closeness when we do manage to get together.
K was introduced to me by H, who's known him literally since she was born. Like most of my friends, there are times when I wish he'd just shut up and go away (he loooooves to talk, especially about politics), but he's incredibly loyal, as well as courtly, in a weird, old-fashioned sort of way.
I met R during my recent sojourn in London, and we stayed in touch when we got back to the States. In London, he intimated to a mutual friend of ours, who then passed the info on to me, that he was planning on asking me out. I asked our mutual friend to gently discourage him, since he is hardly my beau ideal. But lately, I've been reconsidering the wisdom of that decision. I have to weigh the fact that on a scale of 1 to 10 (1 being Quasimodo and 10 being Thomas Raith) his physical attractiveness rates about a 4, against the fact that he's witty, sweet, funny, nerdy, and brilliant...also, not exactly being a prize catch myself, I'm realistically not likely to do any better. God, that sounds shallow. Basically, I didn't want to go out with him when I felt no more than a friendly attraction to him, but now the winds have changed a bit. I dunno, I guess I'll see where this leads.
I guess J deserves a mention here, too. Our breakup was very amicable, and we remain close friends. We share a lot of interests, especially in terms of Brit Lit. He's probably the most intelligent (or at least the best-educated) person I know, and while I adore my other friends, it can sometimes be a relief not to have to dumb things down.
![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 07:00 pm (UTC)I'd never be brave enough to post that many details about myself, but then I write rather detailed porn scenes and would absolutely hate this to become known amongst my RL family, friends, co-workers etc. So I have to be secretive, which is difficult, because in all other respects, I'm quite an open person.
Way to go with the weight loss and the getting in shape! It's not easy, but it improves one's health and outlook. I myself have lost 26 pounds slowly over the last year. I'm finally back down to a size ten. My goal is to keep going for another ten pounds. I've had the fitness thing working for me for a long time now, because I made it a priority back in my early twenties. I was an athletic teen, but then did nothing for a couple of years. I just have to somehow get over my deep and abiding passion for pizza!
I had to look up Thomas Raith because I had absolutely no idea who he is. This probably comes of practically never watching TV. Pardon me while I fan myself vigorously for a minute or two!
Your description of K sounds exactly like my husband.
I strongly advise you not to combine your 21st birthday party (a milestone birthday) with H's bachelorette party. At a bachelorette party, the bride-to-be is necessarily the star of the evening, the centre of attention. This may well be the only B party she gets to be the star of in her life. Your birthday will totally get lost in the shuffle, and might even be resented at a low level. It will also be difficult for the other attendees to reconcile what kind of party they're at and whom they should pay more attention to. Please make it a separate thing and avoid potential conflict.
no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 09:34 pm (UTC)Yay weight loss! And by "weight loss" I mean "getting in shape and avoiding heart disease and diabetes," not "anorexia." Whenever I say that I want to lose weight, people always seem to take it as a warning sign that I'm developing an eating disorder. There's a world of difference between healthy weight loss, like what you and I are working on, and starving oneself. Good luck on reaching your goal!
Re: Thomas: Thanks to hamsterwoman (*points down*), I have now found the perfect guy to play Thomas, if a(nother) TV show ever gets made. Google Matt Bomer; he's pretty much an exact copy of Thomas Raith.
Everybody needs a K-type of person in their lives! Sometimes I get a wee bit frustrated with him, but he's so darn chivalrous (sp?) that I can never bring myself to get fully mad at him.
I'm working on telling H that I want my birthday party and her bachelorette party to be seperate, because I really do think that having them together would be a disaster, but H has reached the "psychotic" stage of wedding planning when she has to do a million things at once, and anybody who interferes with the Plan is risking life and limb. She'll calm down in a week or two, though, and that's when I plan to tell her. Thanks for the support, though!
no subject
Date: 2011-04-14 08:04 pm (UTC)Also, I approve of your attractiveness scale calibration points :)
no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 09:40 pm (UTC)I love your icon! "THIS IS THE SKIN OF A KILLER!!!!" lol
no subject
Date: 2011-04-15 09:54 pm (UTC)(Although I have to admit an anteater would be a pretty awesome mascot as well. *googles* Apparently that's UC Irvine. Heh, everybody in the UC system has neat mascots but us :P Bears, pshaw.)