Tink-Tink-Tink!

[msbeadsley]

> "HERE'S to FIVE more YEARS!"
A glass of elf-made wine for me, please...clink, clink...SMASH
(in the fireplace, as is done at Callahan's, put the glass on my
tab)

> * Name(s).
Sandy Diersing

> * Provide the etymology of your signature/handle/moniker/email 
> address. In other words, how and why did you choose the name 
> you use on the HPfGU lists.
Msbeadsley: From little Buffy's doll on Family Affair, Mrs.
Beasley, who was such a lovely confidante for a little girl to have,
with an added letter "d" to reflect my jewelry-making
hobby/livelihood, and "Ms" Instead of "Mrs." as I
prefer the title which doesn't remind me of when women were
chattel or point out spinsters

> * Whose signature/handle/moniker/email address at HPfGU 
> (a)  do you wish you had come up with first?
> (b)  intrigues you?
I like mine fine, but some delight me: SSSusan, of course,
constance_vigilance, sarcasticmuppet, and Amandageist, and as for the
intriguing ones: entropymail, and bboyminn (what does it *mean*?) and
I'd ask about Eggplant, but

> * If you lived in the Potterverse, who would you be, and what 
> would you do for a living?
I think I'd work in Diagon Alley, perhaps in Flourish and Blotts.
Or I think I'd like to be an Ollivander. You'd know such
secrets!

> * What would you see in the Mirror of Erised?
Me holding a picture of my parents renewing their wedding vows and a
winning Lotto ticket...or being J.K. Rowling would do, too.

> * What shape would a boggart take, if you chance upon one?
Probably sort of a God-Voldemort-Cthulhu-Kali thing, a supreme deity
manifesting all the worst traits from all religions telling me I made
all the wrong choices in my life. (Well, you asked...)

> * What happy memory will you rely upon, if you are to conjure 
> up a Patronus?
The first time I ran registration at a science fiction convention and
realized I was in the middle of a REALLY big and totally nifty family,
many of whose members were crazy in the same ways I was.

> * What form might your Patronus take?
A hyacinth macaw, which is the largest (about 40 inches long and 2 1/2
pounds) and also gentlest of parrots: vivid royal blue, with bright
yellow skin around its mouth and eyes and an enormous curving black
beak. See pictures and info:
http://www.whozoo.org/Anlife2001/monreich/mr_hyacinthmacaw.htm

> * What might your animagus form be?
Same as above.

> * What gifts would you register for in Diagon Alley?  Or would 
> it be Knockturn Alley?  How about at Weasleys' Wizard Wheezes?
Just like regular non-dietetic but calorie-, fat- and caffeine-free
chocolate, if such is available at Honeydukes. (That would truly be
magic! And if they had it without theobromides, we could all share it
safely with our animal friends, to whom chocolate is otherwise toxic)

> * Times being what they are...what is your favorite flavor of 
> jam?  What is your dearest ambition?
Strawberry jam, and to win a Hugo award (but that means I'd have
to write more seriously and actually submit stuff...)

> * Which of the HP books is your favorite?
It was PS/SS before HBP; now it's GoF. I don't know
why...except that the early books seem just a little misleading to me
now that things have gotten and stayed so heavy.

> * Who is your favorite character?
Harry. Dumbledore. Snape. Fleur.

> * What do you hope will happen in Book 7?
I actually have considerable wordage on this in a text file, but you
asked:

--The Malfoys will go into hiding (I am heartily sick of all of them),
but Greyback will bite Draco before it's over, turning him into
something he's always feared and forcing the Malfoys in the end to
take up campaigning for civil rights for the marginalized...

--Lupin will turn out to be right about his relationship with Tonks (I
think he did/will do things beyond his control--horrific, beastial
things--as a result of his undercover role); later, in the wrap up, we
will find that he is with a nice lady werewolf (who will appear once
the war is over and the more prejudicial legislation is stricken from
the books), and Tonks will end up teaching DADA at Hogwarts so long
that her unmorphed hair will be solid white (maybe she will start as
the first repeating DADA teacher after the curse is laid to rest)...

--Voldemort will try to regain that part of himself which resides in
Harry and be sorry because it's become toxic to him (too much
love)

--Snape should have a good, cleansing crying jag that we will never
know about

--Harry will nearly die defeating Voldemort, lose much of his magic,
and get to become an ordinary bloke and have a family with Ginny and
become a bombastic old fart

--Ron will die (not that I don't like him; I do, but if we have to
lose someone out of the trio he's my pick to cry over next
time...and we'll see Krum in Book 7 (JKR said so, didn't
she?) because he'll be comforting Hermione) after having
accomplished everything he saw himself doing in the mirror of Erised

--A chapter called The Source of Magic (a la what Piers Anthony did
for Xanth)

--The Statute of Secrecy repealed

> * What do you think will happen in Book 7?
More from the text file...

--Snape will assist Harry anonymously from afar (perhaps signing
himself R.A.B.) with the horcruxes; Dumbledore's faith in Snape
will prove both well-founded and self-fulfulling in the end

--Voldemort will scramble to check on/reinforce the protections around
the rest of the horcruxes, and that effort will actually expose their
locations and protections

--Harry will use thoughts of love instead of Occlumency to repel
Voldemort from his mind

--Harry will be forced to chose between his hunger for vengeance
(Snape, Bella, Peter, Voldemort) and defeating Voldemort by purging
hate from his heart and feeling nothing but love

--Harry will learn that Snape did not murder Dumbledore
  
> * Given all the books whose titles are canon (see 
> http://www.hp-lexicon.org/wizworld/books.html ) which would you 
> read cover to cover *first*?
Hogwarts, a History

> * What's in your Scrapbook for JKRowling.com ?
http://www.hp-lexicon.org/about/sources/jkr.com/jk
r-com-scrapbook.html 
Not much, and what's there I got by cheating (tips)
  
> * What's your personal best for Expert Level Minesweeper?
It's been too long since I played, and I was never very dedicated
or stellar anyway.

> * When did you join HPfGU?  How did you find us?
August of 2003, in my flummoxed state over OoP. I just surfed the web
until I found a forum I thought might help with the funk the book put
me into. After reading about 3000 posts I felt better and waded in.

> * Point us to your delurking post...how was that maiden voyage?
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/79320
It actually wasn't that bad. I wondered about Harry's
inability to Crucio! Bella; was it because he was unpracticed rather
than what she said; and would he work on getting better at it?

> * Point us to your favorite posts, your own or otherwise.
There are so many! I miss Kneasy especially, but no particular special
post. I loved finding FILK on HP4GU, as it was something I'd learned
to love (and sometimes not) over 20 years in SF fandom.

I guess my VERY favorite post is
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/HPforGrownups/message/79974
largely because I had only been a listie for about a month when I
wrote it, and was still on modified status when Steve emailed me to
ask if he could add it to the Lexicon's Dumbledore (sniff!
snivel! now reading it makes me cry) page. My head didn't fit
through
the neck of my t-shirts for weeks after. ;-)

Then again, there are the six entries in Sirius Black's Death
Journal "blog" (beginning 80220 and ending 81089)...I quite liked
writing those. Fun *and* therapeutic.

BUT WAIT: my favorite post of all time has to be whichever one I was
on last night when I realized that I had FINALLY caught up--and had
read each and every post since the release of HBP!

> * Point us to, in hindsight, what you now wish you'd never said 
> [ex.: ships sunken by new can(n)on, being flagged by LOONs...]
Anything I posted in response to the denial over Sirius's death
before I was inspired to write Death Journal entries instead. I
found that it just doesn't pay to be at loggerheads with someone
over emotional issues in the books; expressing yourself creatively is
more satisfying and probably far more persuasive, too.

> * Have you been around since August 2000?  What were the hot 
> topics for you personally five years ago, post-GoF?
N/A
  
> * What things about you often come as a surprise to others?
Sentimentality, a fondness for the (Fanta) Fantanas, and occasional
bouts of stuttering. Oh, and I'm mushroom-phobic due to a childhood
trauma.

> * Things you do when not staring at the computer:
Read, make jewelry, watch too much television, play with, talk with,
and clean up after parrots, hang out with other fans, annoy koi, sell
jewelry, write HP theories longhand on a legal pad in bed (laptop
doesn't speak to the net). 

> ** Got a question of your own?  Ask it here.
Where have I been for the last year (not on HP4GU):
Recovering from the whopping case of carpal tunnel I got after too
much jewelry assembling and activities associated with moving house.
 
> Professor MacFusty's Sorting Hat: http://tinyurl.com/sqz2
Ravenclaw (in spite of asking for Griffindor)

> http://www.personalitylab.org/tests/ccq_hogwarts.htm
Ravenclaw (again): 72;  Griffindor: 62;  Hufflepuff: 62;  Slytherin:
45  

> http://www.btinternet.com/~harrypotterguide/sortinghat.html
Score of 30, Ravenclaw again!

> * Is your interest in Harry Potter just good, harmless fun...or
> are you bordering on obsessive? Find out here:
> The HP Obsession Test: http://www.fuuko.com/hpquiz.html
32% at this point in my life

> * How nimble are your fingers?
Not very, never mind.
 
> Scholastic's Harry Potter Wizard Challenge:
> http://www.scholastic.com/harrypotter/challenge/index.htm 
I got 70 (couldn't find my copy of PoA; what do you mean this
isn't an open book test...)

Sandy aka msbeadsley, who hadn't dreamed that list of her post #'s and
subject lines she compiled would come in handy so soon, glad to be
back