Intro Profile

[serenadust]

I just wanted to thank you all for inviting me to join the group and 
say how honored I feel to be part of "The Old Crowd", given that I 
only joined HPfGU in 2001.

> ***Name:
  Joann Mears
> 
> ***Nicknames/IDs:
 Jo Serenadust, Serenadust
> 
> ***Age:
 Fortysomething (women in my family never get specific)
> 
> ***Family:
  Married 20 years, one 13 year old son, one 14 year old daughter,  
  2 middle-aged cats.  Parents deceased, and I still have to remind 
  myself when I go to phone my mom. Two much older (10 and 14 years)
  sisters with whom I'm very close, one of whom was very recently 
  diagnosed with cancer which has me very, very worried.

>  ***Home
  Washington DC suburbs

> ***Birthday, Place of Birth:
  August 25, Pittsburgh, PA

> ***Education/Job/Role in Life etc:

  B.S. Degree in Political Science, took a job with the state of FL 
as an administrator of the Food Stamp program, and then the AFDC 
program which was quite educational for a *very* sheltered 21 year 
old.  Went back to school for my MBA when I simply couldn't take the 
frustration and despair in being a bureaucrat. Took a job with a 
large, multinational corporation in financial analysis and capital 
planning until finally quitting when my husband took a two year 
assignment in the UK.  Quitting to stay home with the kids was the 
best thing I ever did and I wish I'd been smart enough to do it 
before the UK assignment forced my hand.
> 
>  
> ***Other things we might want to know about you:
>  I know I took a Myers Briggs test at some point but don't 
remember what it said, so it must not have been very interesting.  
Irish Catholic, Registered Democrat, ex-liberal, newspaper and 
public affairs junkie.  Took up collecting blue & white (flow blue)
china when I first moved to England, because going to Antique fairs 
seemed to be a better way of dealing with severe homesickness than 
therapy (as it turned out, therapy would have been cheaper!).  My 
house is pretty much full of the stuff now, and I can never, ever 
live in California because earthquakes are now my greatest fear.
> 
> 
> ***First contact with Harry Potter:
I think it was 1998.  A good friend told me about these great kids 
books from England (I'd grown to love the childrens books we found 
in the UK), and since my kids were 8 & 9 at the time we decided to 
read them a chapter at a time every night at bedtime.  Since my 
husband and I took turns, I only read every other chapter of SS/PS, 
CoS and then PoA.  I thought they were pretty good, but didn't take 
them seriously.  Then when GoF came out, we bought 2 copies for the 
kids to read themselves on vacation.  On the 16 hour drive back 
home, I discovered I had read all of my own books so I started GoF 
in the car, and stayed up all night to finish when we got home.  I 
then went back and read the other 3 properly, and the rest was 
history.
> 
> 
> 
> ***Favourite Potter things (books, characters, ships, fics, objets 
> d'Art, general enthusing):
> 
> Book: OoP (was GoF, then PoA, CoS, and SS/PS in that order)

Favorite character is absolutely Harry followed by Ron, Hermione, 
the rest of the Weasleys (except Percy to whom I extended the 
benefit of the doubt until OoP), Sirius Black, and Remus Lupin

As far as ships go, I've become persuaded that LOLLIPOPS will 
actually sail.  Otherwise, I go with R/H, but am not rabid about it 
and honestly feel that worrying about trio ships was pretty far down 
the priority list after the trauma of OoP.  My first priority is 
ensuring that the trio's strong friendship bond stays intact; the 
rest of it is trivial.

As far as the movies go, they weren't as good as I wanted them to 
be, but not as bad as they could have been.  I do think they were 
well cast, for the most part, and have high hopes for PoA (now, if 
only we could get a new screenwriter next) 
> 
> 
>  ***Extent of Potter obsession: 
Probably mild to moderate. I used to read fanfic, but quit after the 
first few months.  I'm competing with 2 teenagers for computer time, 
so I barely have time for the canon-based lists.
> 
> Collectables: 2 copies of all books (US and UK) except PoA, all cd 
collections (Dale & Fry) through GoF, although I now own OoP by 
Dale, but won't listen until vacation in August.  Both DVDs, a 
Gryffindor scarf my daughter got me for Christmas, a few pewter 
Christmas ornaments, and a sweatshirt. 

> 
> ***Other interests/activities:
>Antiques (see above), driving children to and fro, repainting the 
house room by room, playing drunken bunko with other crazed 
homemakers, reading, going to the gym.
>  
> ***Current/recent reading:
Katherine Grahams autobiography, Delta Wedding by Eudora Whelty, The 
Lovely Bones.
> 
> 
> ***Current/recent listening:
 Returning to my FL roots with Jimmy Buffett (every summer),  
 returning to my youth with The Boss (there will *never* be a better 
 rock album than Born to Run)



> ***Current/recent viewing:
Antiques Roadshow (US and UK), Bargain Hunt on PBS, Law & Order.
Most recent movie: Bend it Like Beckham with soccer-mad 14 year old 
daughter. Really great!

I'm about halfway through my second read of OoP, and will be ready 
to post when I finish.  The first read was just too emotionally 
draining for me to be ready to pick it apart.

Jo Serenadust