*sigh* Here I am at the Mixer

[Catlady (Rita Prince Winston)]

I *hate* doing these self-bio things, so I'm copying one from last
June (but editting it a bit).
>  
> ***Name:
> Rita Prince Winston
>  
> ***Nicknames/IDs:
> catlady_de_los_angeles (Yahoo)
> Catlady (Fiction Alley)
> catlady at w... (e-mail) 
>  
> ***Age, Birthday, Place of Birth:
> 45
> November 7, 1957
> Los Angeles California 
> 
> ***Home
> Venice, California -- I live in a two-bedroom apartment half-a-mile 
> from the beach. It's in a beautiful low-rise complex with a big 
> lawn with a couple of old trees. 
Back in June and July there were
> some wild ducks and ducklings from the canals eating the grass from
> the lawn. My landlady is an angel-darling.
>  
> ***Family:
> I don't have any children, intentionally.
> Both my parents are dead, which is something along the lines of 
> "good riddance"
> I have one brother, two years younger, who works at Stanford 
> University in Palo Alto, but in the last ten years, the only 
> contact we bother to have is to e-mail Happy Birthday to each
> other.
> My domestic partner is named Tim Merrigan (I call him Timcat). I 
> pretend to support us and he pretends to keep house.
> There are currently four cats in the household: Cinnamon, Elway, 
> Taliesin, and Pixy. I reminisce of the late Nan, Obi, Sasha, and 
> Fancy from my adult life, Cindy and Pippin from my youth, and
> Foggy, Wally, Winthrop, Linda, Smokey, and T'Challa from my 
> childhood. 
> My best friends are Lee and Barry Gold, who live nearby (two miles 
> inland, in a *single-family detached house*). 
> 
> ***Education/Job
> I dropped out of Bryn Mawr College -- if I had stayed, I would have 
> flunked out.
> Then I got an Associate (two year) degree in Data Processing from 
> Santa Monica College.
> Then I got a job as a COBOL programmer.
> Which I still am, currently at LACMTA 
> (Los Angeles County Metropolitan Transportation Authority).
A few months ago, I *finally* figured out what I want to be when I
grow up: RETIRED!
> 
> ***Other things we might want to know about you:
> I lived in New York City May 1980 to October 1984.
> I met Tim at LASFS (Los Angeles Science Fantasy Society) and used
> to go to cons and write in apas. 
> Would it come as a great surprise that I dote on cats?
> And am a Wiccan? altho' not very observant.
> And heterosexual?
> You-uns have probably already noticed that I'm an unreconstructed 
> liberal. (The rules against discussing politics on HPfGU are wise.)
> But maybe not that I'm INXJ, and really *very* shy in person.
> And *very* fat. 
That's a cue for Favorite Comfort Foods: Chocolate. Chocolate.
Chocolate. Hot tea. Pasta with alfredo sauce.

Oh, and Technical Ability: Tim told me once that I have the 
mechanical aptitute of a gerbil, but later decided that that was
unfair to gerbils.
> 
> ***Current/recent reading:
> Current events (which is VERY depressing).
> Magazines about archaeology and science.
> HPfGU main list and OT
> no time for anything else
> altho' I used to read fanfic by Lori, Cassie Claire, Ebony, Heidi,
> Barb, Carole, and Alex -- all wonderful.  
That's a cue for What Book Would I Recommend to Almost Everyone: COD,
THE BIOGRAPHY OF A FISH. 
> 
> ***First contact with Harry Potter:
> 1999. Lee lent me the first three books (of which I had previously 
> heard on NPR, but not paid attention). I instantly was addicted, 
> staying up all night to read them all. I talked about the 
> Potterverse until all my friends were bored out of their minds
> (they think the Potter books are very nice, but not as excellent as 
> many others). I had just been invited to an e-group for a totally 
> other interest, so I got the very original idea of checking whether 
> there was an e-group to discuss HP ... and here I am!
> 
> ***Extent of Potter obsession:
> Less than Extreme: I don't collect multiple copies of the books or
> buy a lot of the merchandise and I didn't make (nor even buy) a 
> movie Hogwarts uniform ... but I *do* write a Snape/Draco/Pansy 
> fanfic ...
I posted chapter 6 a year ago, but I have not given up! I am still
struggling with chapter 7. 
> 
> ***Favourite Potter things:
> I'm a Ravenclaw.
> 
> PoA is my favorite book.
> 
> Remus/Sirius is my favorite ship, which doesn't keep me from 
> enjoying Remus/OC and Sirius/Lily fics. I am unable to get
> emotional about shipping the Trio, but do insist that 
> McGonagall/Hooch is obviously canon truth.
> 
> Remus is my favorite beloved, Sirius second, fanon-Draco third, 
> Severus fourth...
> 
> I have the big blue mug with the Hogwarts shield on it, probably my 
> favorite merchandise (why did they stop making it?). I also have
> the (US) set of four House Mugs ... I like the House shields with 
> whole animals on patterned backgrounds MUCH better than the House 
> shields with torn-off pieces of animals on the original calendar
> ... but I like the "boats to Hogwarts" picture on the original 
> calendar (all those lights on the dark lake, and the fancy castle
> on the cliff, look so magical that I can ignore how ugly they made 
> Ron) so much that I got that mug, too.
> 
> I have the Christmas stocking that says "Harry Potter" on it with
> an idealized picture of the Sorting Hat and some stars and glitter.
> It was a present, but I love it. I hung it on the wall of my
> cubicle along with my Christmas stocking with a cat on it. That 
> Christmas, other friends gave me a Dept 57 box, a figurine, a 
> look-into-tube, and a box of HP-themed butter cookies. Except for 
> the butter cookies and the pretty box they came in, I put those 
> things in the linen closet. 
> 
> Oh, I also have a denim tote bag with the Hogwarts shield on it, 
> currently hanging on a doorknob holding yarn to crochet an afghan.
I used to crochet all the time, but I don't like the current project
(an afghan made of far too many little pieces) so I ignore it a lot.
> 
> I bought the DVD of the first movie right away and haven't watched
> it yet, so I didn't bother to buy the DVD of the second movie. 
But I was very pleased to see the (second  movie) DVD "extra" scenes
at Nimbus 2003: they revealed that Kloves had actually read the book
before he began butchering it.