Hugely, catastrophically late for the Mixer...

[Wendy]

Even MORE hugely and MORE catastrophically late . . . 

Wendy walks into what appears at first glance an empty room strewn 
with the debris left over from a party. After having a look around, 
she notices that she is not alone, after all . . . Kirstini is 
pulling at one of her legs as if trying to unstick her foot from the 
floor. Ah ha! A captive audience. Sounds like a good time to present 
*my* bio. 

I have nothing so grand as a thesis-finishing to account for the 
extreme lateness of my arrival to the Mixer, but oh well. I'm here 
now, and that's what counts, right? Also, I apologize in advance for 
the "Bridget Jones' Diary"ness of some of this writing. For some 
reason, I wasn't always coming out with complete sentences, and it 
is now very late and I want to post it before bed, so I'm leaving it 
as is. It's readable, just not always entirely grammatically sound. 
<G>

Name:
Wendy St. John

Also known as:
Hebridean Black (preferred username just about everywhere); 
Professor MacFusty; Hebby Elf

Age/Sex:
37/Female

Birthplace/Livingplace and feelings about same:

Heh. Born in Hollywood, California (doesn't that sound glamorous? 
It's not really. Trust me <g>). Currently living in northern 
California (East Bay area, near Berkeley). Also unglamorous, but 
somewhat preferrable to L.A. In between have lived in central 
California, Indiana, Florida, North Carolina, and Scotland. Not 
particularly happy in northern California (unbelievably expensive 
and I have no friends, as we only moved here a few months ago 
<whimper>), although I'm not hating it as much this week as I did 
last week. Perhaps I'll like it even better next week. :-)

Family Life:
Married (8 years, together for almost 14), one child - my gorgeous 
little boy Connor, who will be 5 next weekend. No mammalian pets, 
but we have lots of fish (lovely - don't poo on the floor), mostly 
Congo Tetras. Although Connor is beginning to clamour for a 
pet . . . I'm planning on his first proper pet being a rat. But not 
yet. I want to wait until he's old enough for me to at least 
*pretend* he'll have any part in actually taking care of the animal 
(cleaning the cage and such). 

Personality:
ENFJ (former ENTJ before having child). In other words, a Gryffindor 
with Ravenclaw tendencies. 

Words friends have used to describe you:
Smart, creative, honest, daft, good mother.

Words you have used to describe you:
Smart, honest, daft, worst mother known to humankind <g>, or good 
mum (depending on mood), a bit thick at times, intense and prone to 
stroppiness <g>. 

Things you do when not staring at the computer:
Sleep. No, really, I enjoy it. <G> Okay, I suppose I do have a 
couple of other hobbies . . . Singing (1st soprano, currently 
singing with Oakland Symphony Chorus), I play the piano (badly); 
Birding (life list of 496, and really *really* wanting to get to 500 
before end of year), Scrapbooking (mostly on the computer these 
days, although I started out in proper albums), just a tiny bit 
addicted to Live Journal (http://hebrideanblack.livejournal.com). 
And I do manage to spend some time with my child, too. Our latest 
adventure . . . driving up Mt. Diablo in search of tarantulas. (We 
were successful! YAY!) <G>


Comfort foods:
Pasta, Lo Mein, various types of soup, Ding Dongs. Not all at the 
same time. 

Education/Work:
Haven't managed to finish a university degree, because we've moved 
so many times because of my husband's job. Last time I was working 
toward a degree, it was in Vocal Performance. Hope to go back 
someday, but probably won't study music. I'm thinking about 
Paleontology or some other natural science. Have worked in lots of 
bookstores, in administrative assistant-type jobs, and have run a 
few of my own businesses (desktop publishing and scrapbooking). Am 
currently doing no paid work, but working somewhat diligently as a 
Stay-at-Home-Mum. Thinking about re-starting my scrapbooking 
business, but going digital this time.

Language skills:
Three years of high school French (I was able to successfully order 
food in Paris and get simple directions, but not much more); one 
year of German at university (could certainly order food, and carry 
on simple conversations - German better than French because studied 
more recently); a smattering of Spanish from growing up in L.A., and 
of Italian from singing opera. Not even close to fluent in any of 
these, but have pretty good pronunciation (good enough for singing, 
anyway). 

Technical know-how:
Used to be a wiz at Word Perfect, and surely could be again if 
necessary - could work with Word, too. I know just enough HTML to 
perform simple updates to websites and post pictures and scrolling 
marquees in my Live Journal. I'm pretty good with photo manipulation 
in Adobe Photoshop Elements.

Favourite HP book:
PoA. It's actually one of my favourite books of all time, and 
although I hate memory charms in general, I wouldn't mind having one 
used on me to erase my memory of reading this book, so I could read 
it again for the "first" time.

Favourite HP character(s):
Severus Snape. Severus Snape. And . . . let's see . . . Severus 
Snape. <G> He's just Dead Sexy, no getting around that for me. I 
should probably also add that I find him complex and fascnating and 
all that, so I don't just sound like some sad old fangirl. <G> I 
also love Remus and Hermione, and I have a sick fascination with 
Lucius Malfoy, but I really don't think I should say too much about 
that. Oh, and I suppose I do like Harry. I hope he survives the end 
of the series. Well, I will say that about all of the above (except 
Lucius. I won't mind too much if he dies a painful and horrible 
death). <g>

Favourite HP line
"Maybe he's waiting to hear why you weren't on the school train" 
(That's from memory, might not be exact. But I know you know which 
scene I'm talking about). 

Watching/Avoiding the HP movies?:
Watching. They are very pretty, so I try to overlook all the 
mistakes and horrible screenwriting choices just because they *do* 
add to the visual Potterverse I carry around in my head. They 
haven't actually replaced much of it, though . . . my own vision of 
the books is still very strong.

Into HP fanfiction?
A bit . . . I read a lot when I first discovered the fandom 
(Snape/Hermione, mostly), but stopped when I realized it was 
clouding my knowledge of the canon. I've flirted a bit with it 
lately, though, reading a few things that have been rec'd here and 
there. 

Books you'd recommend to just about anyone:
"Poisonwood Bible" by Barbara Kingsolver and "Seat of the Soul" by 
Gary Zukav.


Favorite TV shows:
Don't watch any TV, as we don't currently have cable or satellite. 
Back when last I did watch, I enjoyed Buffy, Law and Order, NYPD 
Blue, Dawson's Creek, The Nanny, and Jeopardy. While in Scotland 
(also cableless, but able to receive a few channels nonetheless) I 
was fond of Graham Norton and What Not to Wear. Oh, and I liked Alan 
Titchmarsh's programme as well. Charlie (isn't that her name?) rocks.

Favorite Movies:
I don't often get attached to movies, but a few that I enjoy 
watching repeatedly are: Jurassic Park (1 and 2 particularly); 
Truly, Madly, Deeply, Sense and Sensibility, Shrek, Galaxy Quest, 
and Nightmare Before Christmas.

Favorite Musical Artists:
J. S. Bach (he's The Man), Loreena McKennitt, Robbie Williams, Led 
Zeppelin, Avril Levigne. I listen to a lot of opera, as well 
(particularly fond of Mozart, Gluck, Purcell and Handel). 

One thing about your life you'd change if you could (sorry, but you
may not say "lose weight"):
Hmnnh. I would really rather live somewhere else - Scotland or Italy 
would be at the top of my list, but a more realistic option would be 
moving back to North Carolina. I'd also like to have some romance in 
my life, which has been missing for more years now than I want to 
count.

One thing about your life you wouldn't change even for an advance
copy of Book 7:
My Sweetest Little Boy (Connor). 

Philosophy for an easy life:
Believe that everything works out for the best, and do unto others, 
etc. Although I'm not sure this (or anything) is going to give 
an "easy" life, nor that an easy life is even preferable. I'd settle 
for peace of mind, actually. :-)

How you found HPfGU:
After reading the books, I searched a bit on the Internet (keyword: 
Severus Snape <G>), and found some fan sites. I kept hearing about 
this *fantastic* group called Harry Potter for Grownups, and 
searched Yahoo and joined it. Well, there I was, and I wondered what 
all the fuss was about, because the place was pretty lame. Turns out 
I was in the wrong group . . . finally, I found a link to *this* 
HPFGU and fell rather promptly in love. :-)

Active at other HP sites:
I'm a list elf for HPFGU (does that count as an answer here?). I'm 
also the owner of the Room of Requirement, and I'm a member of PWP. 
I'm on the planning committe for the upcoming Convention Alley in 
Ottawa next year (not that I've contributed a darned thing to the 
planning yet . . . but I do intend to <g>). I also have rather a lot 
of HP chat in Live Journal.

Take a moment to wave to members of the fandom you have personally 
met:
AH! Lots of people at Nimbus, and I'm sure to forget someone . . . 
Gail B, Debbie, Judy, Incitata, Lilac, Caius Marcus, Cathy (Anise), 
Lady Demeter, Sushi, Lexin, Webba Pettigrew, Mike (Hedwig), Marina, 
Ann-Laurel, Deborah, Beth, Katy, Heidi, Pippin, Haggridd, Phyllis, 
Flourish, Cat Tosenberger, Steve Vander Ark, Ebony (briefly), John 
Walton (also briefly), Barb, Sara, Linda McCabe, Ixchelmala 
(briefly), Ms Scribe, Carrie, Diana, and Audrey. And others whose 
names I never caught. 

Oh, and I've also met Alan Rickman, who (while not a member of the 
fandom) surely deserves a mention here somewhere, right? <G> 

ADD A QUESTION OF YOUR OWN AND ANSWER IT:

Are you up past your bedtime writing this?
Why, yes. I am. Thanks for noticing, and good night! <G>

:-)
Wendy