Getting to know you...

[v_hayrabedian]

Complete newbie, so I thought I'd post and say hi...

*** Name and nicknames
Victoria Hayrabedian, also known as kangeiko on livejournal.

*** Age
23

*** Birthplace/Home
Born in Bulgaria, now I live in London.

*** Family
Young, free and single. Currently crashing at parents' house for the 
summer (rent-free, you know) then, come September, I get my own 
place. I've got a younger brother (studying something scary and 
medical) at Durham, and an older sister who runs a business in 
Bulgaria. 

*** Work/Study
Just finished my MA in English Literature and Economics at Edinburgh 
(if you think it's a weird combination, that's nothing to what the 
undergrad committee said when I proposed it... 'lunacy' and 'freak 
of nature' were terms bandied about...). I'm starting an MSc in 
Gender, Development and Globalisation at LSE in October. Work will 
probably gravitate towards development and/or gender & minority 
issues. I tried my hand at the corporate ladder (three endless 
months at Procter & Gamble) and found that it drove me insane rather 
quickly.

*** Anything else you'd like us to know?
Erm... I helped run a theatre while in Edinburgh, called Bedlam (and 
with good reason). It was exhausting, thankless work, and I wouldn't 
trade the experience for anything. 

Anything else... I have the dubious pleasure of being groped by more 
than one supposed 'celebrity'. *wince* There's a reason I don't go 
to conventions anymore, and the behaviour of guests and attendees is 
pretty much it.

*** HP fandom history
One of my best mates bought the first two books for me as a birthday 
present. I read them, thought they were fine but nothing exceptional 
(I'm not a fan of the second one) and eventually bought the third 
book. I realised that I sorta maybe possibly liked Snape's sarky 
nature and that I disliked Sirius Black intensely. When book 4 came 
out, I dove right into it and that's probably when I fell in love 
with the whole wizarding world. It was the Burrow that did it for 
me, more or less, and the World Cup. Spending that much time in a 
world that is so completely different to what I understand to 
be 'normal' is exhilirating. And, yes, I adored the idea of Snape as 
spy. I think I was on a 'the world is going to hell and it's all our 
fault' kick and reading up about child soldiers in sub-Saharan 
Africa, so I did the maths and realised that Snape would have had to 
have been pretty young when he joined Voldemort. Throw in my 
personal conviction that he was, in fact, acting on orders from 
Dumbledore all along, and you have two sides, one dark, one light, 
both using children as canon fodder. *shrug* I liked the fact that 
even the heroes were morally reprehensible. (I don't include the 
Weasleys in that category, obviously, and I have some twisted 
opinions of Harry's mental health, but, other than that...)

The fifth book couldn't come out fast enough and I read it one 
sitting the day of release. I'm still not sure what I feel about a 
lot of it, but it's certainly food for thought. I liked Harry a lot 
more in book 5, actually, especially when he was acting like a 
bolshy teenager. I was starting to really tire of St Potter, as the 
wizarding world was painting him. The Occlumency lessons were just 
perfect, as was the portayal of James and Sirius (I'm somewhat 
obsessed with the idea that Snape and Sirius had a little bit more 
to their animosity than just, well, animosity. On the other hand, I 
have no respect or empathy for James or Sirius, at all, not even a 
little bit.).

Reading all that over, it makes it sound like I don't like anything, 
doesn't it! Oh, well. I'm a big fan of the books, of the situations 
and of the world. I appreciate the characters, even though they're 
not people I'd ever be friendly with in real life. I think the 
person I most identify with is Hermione (so what's new?), the person 
I'd throw myself at is Snape (etc etc), and the person I'd like to 
punch in the face is Lupin. 

As for the films... Well. Gary Oldman was pretty much the only actor 
capable of making me like Sirius. So now I have a bit of a dilemma 
that I'm still working on!

*** Favourite reading
Anything by Mo Yan (esp. The Republic of Wine), 'The Power Book' by 
Jeanette Winterson, 'Borderlands/La Frontera' by Gloria 
Anzaldua, 'Transmetropolitan' series (graphic novels), anything by 
Toni Morrison (esp. 'Beloved' and 'Song of Solomon'), 'The 
Simarillion' by Tolkien, the Hulzein and Kerguelen sagas by FM 
Busby, 'Development as Freedom' by Amartya Sen, about a million 
others...

*** Favourite music
a bit of everything.

*** Other interests
I draw, I write stories, I produce shows (and occasionally costume 
them - get thee down to the Edinburgh festival to see my 
latest, 'Emily and the Jabberwocky'). I also have a thing for 
languages, so I've tried my hand at Cantonese, Latin, ancient Greek, 
Armenian, German, Czech and French. I only really have any 
proficiency in the last three, though. Oh, I suppose Bulgarian as 
well. And I dance. Salsa, mamba, anything Latin, although my 
favourite is rueda (a sort of coordinated circle dance requiring 
constant changing of partners). I'm also somewhat partial to a 
ceidlih. :)

Okay, that was a truly excessive amount of information! My 
apologies, I figured it's best to get all the newbie introduction 
stuff out of the way now. I'm somewhat gutted that I missed the IMAX 
screening! Damn and blast. I hope that there's a similar excursion 
soon...

ta,

Vic.