Intro

[JoAnna Wahlund]

THE OLD CROWD – INTRO

***Name:
JoAnna (Walsvik) Wahlund

***Nicknames/IDs:
pt4ever, Wanner47 (AIM), j_wahlund at ... (MSN)

***Age:
22

***Family:
My mom and stepdad live in Dickinson, ND; my dad is moving to our town (Fargo, ND) in a few weeks; my sister lives here in Fargo as well, my brother & sister-in-law live in AZ, and I have as stepbrother & stepsister, a stepsister-in-law and two stepneices in Fargo too.  Lots of assorted grandparents, aunts, uncles, in-laws, and cousins too.

***Home
We recently moved to Fargo, ND from Minneapolis, MN.  When I first started posting to HPfGU, I was attending school in Laramie, WY.

***Birthday, Place of Birth:
November 3, 1980 in Grand Forks, ND.

***Education/Job/Role in Life etc:
I graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities on May 18 with a B.A. in English and a minor in Technical Communication.  I'm currently job-hunting, looking for work as an admin. asst. or receptionist, or something along those lines.  Work in the writing/editing field would be ideal, but in this job market (and in this town), those types of jobs are slim to none.

***Other things we might want to know about you:
Some of you may remember a guy who went by the handle of "Jarnor23" on HPfGU; he and I originally met on the board, and married 14 months later!  Our first date was at a party for GoF, and he proposed at a Harry Potter display at the Minneapolis Dayton's.  We were married on September 1, 2001 and our dance had a Harry Potter theme!  (We have the *cutest* wedding pic of the two of us in HP glasses.)  For the long version of our meeting/engagement as well as wedding pics, to go:  http://www.geocities.com/jwalsvik/

We're both recently converted Catholics (were raised Lutheran) but first and foremost Christians.  We're also liberal and can't wait for the day that "Dubya" is out of office.  :) No kids yet, but we have a spoiled-rotten kitty named B'Elanna.  Collin (aka Jarnor23) is going to North Dakota State U in the fall to get his B.S. in Computer Science. 


***First contact with Harry Potter:
My aunt Sheri, who's a sixth grade teacher, kept telling me that I *had* to read Sorcerer's Stone.  I finally got around to it during Xmas break of my freshman year of college - my mom, who's an elementary school librarian, loaned me the library's copy of SS and I LOVED it.  I bought CoS and PoA and was hooked.

***Favourite Potter things:
That's a tough one.  I LOVE Hermione - she reminds me of myself sometimes.  :-)

***Extent of Potter obsession:
It's pretty big - we have tons of HP stuff around the house.  Since everyone knew the story of how we met and such, we got a lot of HP merchandise as wedding gifts.  I have the books practically memorized and I ROCK at Harry Potter Trivia.  (No one wants to play with me anymore because I always win.)  

As for Potter merchandise, we have:  all four books (we used to have two sets but we donated one to my mom's library), SS in Spanish & Japanese, PoA in French, two coffee mugs, a blanket, a snowglobe, two different sets of bookends, a stuffed Fluffy, a Fluffy doorstop, the HP Trivia Game, HP Quidditch card game, HP Uno, 2003 HP CoS calendar, and a whole slew of Christmas ornaments.  We have both movies on DVD and the soundtrack to SS.  We probably have more, but as we just moved I haven't unpacked everything yet so I can't verify what we have.

***Other interests/activities:
I read a lot.  (I also read fast - I read GoF in four hours.)  I love Star Trek and Whose Line Is It Anyway?  (preferably British version - Clive Anderson rocks! - but since I don't get cable I usually watch the American version, but I like that one too).  I like to write stories, primarily Star Trek fanfic.  

***Current/recent reading:
Been too busy unpacking to read lately, though I'm in the middle of both "Dave Barry in Japan" and "Rush Limbaugh is a Big Fat Idiot."

***Current/recent listening:
Soundtracks to musicals, primarily.

***Current/recent viewing:
I just saw "Down with Love" - extremely cheesy, a bit implausible, but a fun movie nonetheless.

That's it for me - and I must also chime in that I am so honored to be invited to join!  After my marriage I was so busy I stopped keeping up the HPfGU, but now that OoP is coming out, I look forward to discussing the book with y'all! 



~JoAnna~
http://pt4ever.diaryland.com

"You know, you look at George W. and you realize some men are born great, some achieve greatness, and some get it as a graduation gift."  - Robin Williams

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