Yet another intro post

[Stephanie]

One small spoiler is in this post,
So those who've not finished should run.
You'll agree this warning's excessive, I'm sure,
But I wanted to join in the fun.

***

Hello, everyone, and thanks for having me!  After replying to 
Catherine's invite yesterday I've been trying to catch up on all the 
HBP chat (and, I must admit, enjoying the spoiler space almost as 
much as the posts themselves), which has been a terrific alternative 
to packing for Accio.  I'm soaking it all up before posting to avoid 
any maddening HPfGU-esque repetition.  Unfortunately I'm only halfway 
through and my flight is tomorrow...  But here is my intro, and when 
I get back in a couple of weeks I'm looking forward to joining in the 
conversation.

***Name:
Stephanie Dutchen

***Nicknames/IDs:
Moony, Hermione (Russian co-worker – think Krum pronunciation), 
sev7snape (online). No LJ.

***Age:
23

***Family:
Live with my father (hopefully not for much longer), a technology 
consultant and teacher in a large hospital system; mother about 45 
minutes away, who teaches high school computer science and sings in a 
folk/blues/rock band; my sister is entering her last year at college 
and looking into entertainment law; have some relatives we 
call `cousins' for simplicity in Hull and London.  Currently single, 
no children. :)

***Home
Huntington, Long Island, NY, born and raised.  Claim to fame: 
birthplace of Walt Whitman.  Went to Walt Whitman High School, shop 
at the Walt Whitman Mall, drive down Walt Whitman Road ... you get 
the idea.

***Birthday, Place of Birth:
July 26, 1982 in Manhasset.  (We have some pretty fun town names 
around here, care of the sometime native populations: Ronkonkoma, 
Hauppague (`hop pog'), Mineola, Amagansett, etc.)

***Education/Job/Role in Life etc:
B.A. in English and B.S. in Journalism from Boston University, which 
are supposedly being put to use in my official capacity as a web 
developer/medical copywriter for a small company that creates 
websites for doctors.  Looking to go back to school but haven't 
settled on a subject from among medical writing, English, multimedia 
journalism and pop culture studies.  I've thought of myself as a 
writer since as far as I can remember and probably always will.  I 
don't know if that means fiction or non-fiction but it definitely 
doesn't involve reporting (blecch).  No Ritas here.

***Other things we might want to know about you:
Introvert, perfectionist, terrified atheist, omnivore, fantasizer.  
Hopeless with clothing and small talk.  I identify with fanon-Remus 
for his socially awkward maturity (among other things) and am a 
perennial dork who is needled by the fact that it's now cool to be a 
social outcast.  Utterly lack the ability to judge my own work or to 
know when to stop writing, as you'll notice in this post and in my 
Accio paper if any of you come across it.

***First contact with Harry Potter:
One of my roommates at school bought PS for me and actually sat me 
down one night and read the first chapter out loud when she saw that 
I hadn't touched it yet.  I liked it but it didn't take.  I saw the 
first movie and thought it was cute and pretty but wasn't inspired to 
read the books.  It wasn't until June of 2003 that I stumbled across 
some HP fan fiction (through a Buffy crossover) and got hooked on the 
characters – mostly the adults.  Right after that I read the first 
five books in a row from June-July and haven't been the same since.

***Favourite Potter things:

Books - I would say PoA is my favorite, except because I came into 
the fandom through fan fiction, much of the end was spoiled for me.  
I tell people that if they don't like the series after PoA they're 
allowed to stop reading.  I'm neutral on GoF, liked OotP the second 
time, and think HBP is tied for the best book so far.

Characters – Snape, who I thoroughly believe is good (though flawed), 
followed by Lupin, who I am now dreading to think may be not-so-good 
after reading some of Pippin's arguments!  I like Hermione but I 
think she is approaching a crisis that will involve her considerable 
book-smarts – she's too confident, inflexible and controlling for 
comfort, and it's going to get her and probably her friends into a 
lot of trouble.  Fred and George are always good for a (slightly 
disturbing) laugh.  Fan fiction has helped me tolerate Sirius Black, 
though I prefer him in the Marauders days.  I respect Arthur Weasley 
more with each book.  I would not stop anyone caught strangling Dobby.

Ships – I tend to be attracted to relationships that aren't explicit 
in the books, particularly any involving Snape or Lupin.  So at first 
I read Snape/Hermione fics (mostly when she was older), then 
Remus/Hermione, then Sirius/Remus, with various others in the mix as 
well.  Am very much looking forward to all the Remus/Tonks that is 
surely heading our way.

Alternate casting choices for the films – Jeremy Irons for Voldemort 
or Snape.  Or David Bowie for Voldemort – though he's not tall 
enough.  Not happy with David Thewlis (who is, really?) but can't 
find a satisfactory substitute either, except maybe the actor who 
played Quirrell...  `Shine'-era Noah Taylor would have made a fine 
young Snape...  Mick Jagger has/had the right attitude for teenaged 
Sirius Black.

Collectibles – HP candy wrappers, a Slytherin felt flag, a couple of 
Hot Topic t-shirts and socks, and four Hogwarts House candles my 
friend found somewhere a few years ago.  I also made some Shrinky-
Dink pins from Potter Puppet Pals and other character doodles I found 
online.

***Extent of Potter obsession:
Fluctuates, with a baseline of Mild.  Thanks to Accio and HBP it's 
been a fairly steady Crippling for several months.  I chat with 
Potterhead friends about the books and movies, I read fan fiction 
every so often, and just about everything in `real life' reminds me 
of a person or moment from the series.  I admit I haven't read any of 
the books more than twice straight through, though I choose to blame 
this on being a relatively new fan.  As far as online involvement, I 
don't have the time or patience to keep up with all the Live Journal 
scurrying, HPFGU or MuggleNet etc. posts, so I tend to check on 
things periodically.

***Other interests/activities:
Picked up Irish step dancing about a year ago (it's becoming 
something of a fad here) in a move that surprised even me as I'm not 
at all a dancer.  Other semi-athletic activitiy includes racquet 
sports – tennis and badminton mostly.  Most of the time I'm reading 
or doing something else that involves the computer.  I play the piano 
a little – took lessons for a few years, now just attempt pieces that 
interest me (most recently short pieces from `The Piano' 
and `Amelie').  Am a sucker for trivia, especially stuff relating to 
health conditions and diseases.  Other interests are vampires, the 
Byronic hero, word games, fan fiction (reading and studying more than 
writing), sci fi and traveling.

***Current/recent reading:
Aside from HBP... Mind Wide Open by Steven Johnson, In the Absence of 
Men by Philippe Besson, The Liar by Stephen Fry, Arcadia by Tom 
Stoppard.  Have been working through the Chronicles of Thomas 
Covenant the Unbeliever by Stephen R. Donaldson for about a year now, 
along with Tennyson's collected poems.

***Current/recent listening: 
I'm a folk rock groupie, and lately it's been all about Richard 
Shindell; Alexi Murdoch and Beth Orton are supposed to have new 
albums coming out but appear to be MIA.  Last month I found a duet 
called `Elia Rising' by Sort Sol and Sissel that I couldn't stop 
listening to for a couple of weeks.

***Current/recent viewing:
House, M.D. and Boston Legal.  I'm pretty picky about TV because I 
like to watch every episode of a series and don't like sitcoms or 
reality shows.  Usually if I want to watch something I'll go for 
reruns of Buffy the Vampire Slayer, Star Trek (esp. DS9), or my two 
favorite short-lived and obscure series, Brimstone and Roar.

Films-wise, on the night of HBP we went to see Charlie and the 
Chocolate Factory, which was a delight for the eyes and especially 
for pedophobic sadists (The New Yorker's term, alas, not mine).  Have 
also recently watched PoA, Leon: The Professional (my favorite 
movie), Dead Poets Society, The Prophecy, Whale Rider and Farewell My 
Concubine.  I tend to rent/borrow videos more than go to the movies, 
so `recent' is a relative term here.


We now return to our regularly scheduled workday ... Thanks again, 
Catherine, for the invite!

-Stephanie