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You can contact me at svaha at iki dot fi.

Q & A Games (or: "If I were A Celebrity...")

(I fused together several questionnaires I came across on the net, all according to personal whim.)

"Up Close and Personal"

What word best describes you?

It's no longer "Quasimodo", and never will be again! Perhaps... "passion"? As much a cliché as that is...

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

Easy. The Phoenix power from Marvel's X-men comics, especially as employed by Rachel Summers, the "Baby Phoenix".

Which person - living, dead or fictional - do you most identify with?

This is difficult, because there are so many. I used to identify with young or vulnerable heroes (not heroines) - Frodo Baggins and Luke Skywalker. Perhaps it's Frodo even now, though I've also begun to identify with women more strongly: all the heroines in "Firefly", most of the X-women (in the comics, in Claremont's golden run), almost all of Guy Gavriel Kay's women, both heroines in "Strangers in Paradise"...

What quality in yourself would you like to improve?

Everything - mind, body, soul, skills. But I suppose my self-confidence is even now in the direst need of improvement.

What book or movie title best describes your life so far?

The World Is Not Enough.

What's your biggest complaint in life?

The nice one: I'm not useful! The actual one: Everything comes to me so late!

Name your biggest regret?

Not sticking to my guns and demanding that my parents let me apply for the High School of the Performing Arts in Kallio. Deluding myself into a relationship that lasted six years despite being dead from the beginning. Letting said relationship persuade me from becoming a psychiatrist.

Name your greatest achievement?

Well... perhaps managing to arrange the extras for the fantasy TV series "Siamin tytöt" for Yleisradio in 1999, but even that could have gone better.

What's something in the world you'd like to see outlawed?

The death penalty, for what it does to the soul of a society that accepts it.

What does love mean to you?

Loyalty, first and foremost. Being there for your loved ones through fire, water and void. Being on their side, supporting them against others in case of conflict of any sort.

However, if the word is used primarily in the romantic context, I must add that I don't believe a long-time romantic relationship can last unless it was based on sexual attraction (whether that, then, was based on looks, intellect, charisma, or other characteristics, doesn't matter - just that one must have felt that attraction, that desire). Otherwise, disgust will set in sooner or later, and there's no help for that, loyalty or anything. Or at least this is how it works for me.

What is your astrological sign?

I refuse to tell you, since I don't believe in horoscopes.

Then what do you believe in?

God. Jesus as a bridge between God and man (though not in original sin and therefore not in redemption). Tolerance. Love. Loyalty. Sacrifice. That there are many ways to God. That a person can live a moral and ethical life, no matter their personal beliefs or preferences, and that good and bad are not, ultimately, relative.

That people's private lives are their own business.

That people are ugly-minded and miserable little shits, but they can still be loved and accepted. And that they have the seeds in them to be something greater. That we don't all have to be bosom friends, but we could at least leave each other in peace and take care of business without personal conflict.

That I have a moral duty to make myself useful for the rest of humankind.

LARP-related questions

What is your all-time favourite line of a character?

Here are some I can remember:

  • "En tahdo, mutta opettelen tahtomaan." (Corona Kawa, Domus) (This simply doesn't translate. Essentially, she is answering the "I do"-question with "I don't, but I will learn to (want to)".)
  • "Knights, why is his head still attached?" (Queen Ysandra, Draiocht II)
  • "You call that a kiss? ...Now this was a kiss." (Kaarina, The Helsinki Chronicle)

What aspect of which larp character would you like to have?

  • The beauty and joy of Seelie Baroness Blai (The Fay Trilogy)
  • The strength and loyalty of Tanya Walenski (Wanderer)
  • The inner peace and faith of Natasha Stanislavsky (Ground Zero)
  • The dedication of Sally Jo "Firebird" Hopkins (Colors)
  • The willpower of Corona Kawa (Domus)
  • The presence of Ilmatar the Mistress of Pohjola (Kalevala: Vainovalkeat, Pohjolan häät)
  • The brains of Helena Uusimaa the lit-crit. (The Inner Circle)
  • The knowledge or Caladnei of Cormyr (The Faerun campaign)
  • And finally, the love of Dianora (The Goblin Marshes campaign)

If you could play any other adapted character, which would it be?

Well, I've had the good luck to play many interesting adapted characters, from Rita Hayworth to Morgan leFay, so I'm pretty satisfied in that department. But I confess shamefully that I'd love to play several female characters from books and comics (any of the X-women, one of Tolkien's heroines, or one of the Elder Amberites, or any woman from Guy Gavriel Kay). My secret guilty pleasure, Polgara, is one example.

Choices, choices

Dogs or cats? - Cats, though I like dogs as well (as long as raising them is someone else's responsibility). I adore the Burmese breed, thanks to Alvari.
The Sun or the Moon? - The Sun.
Gold or silver? - Gold.
Favourite month? - July.
Favourite food? - Traditional Finnish Christmas food.
Favourite colours? - Dark red, purple, plum, white.
Favourite jewel? - Ruby. Garnet is an acceptable poor woman's substitute.
Favourite flower? - Pink-toned cymbidium orchid. Roses in white-to-red shades.
Favourite element? - Fire and water.
If you were a tree, you'd be...? - A rowan-tree who wants to be a maple tree.
Favourite movie? - Before Sunset. Hero.
Favourite song? - Too many. Most of Clannad's music, such as "Trail of Tears" or "I Will Find You". "Belle" from the musical "Notre-Dame de Paris". Toni Edelmann's songs to the Finnish stage version of The Lord of the Rings.
Favourite sci fi show? I'm a "Firefly" gal through and through, but I do have a special admiration for the new "Battlestar Galactica". And I'd add something about Star Wars, if I didn't feel that the prequels raped my childhood, too...
Favourite Firefly character? Oh dear, all of them, except possibly for Jayne and River. But, well... Inara.
Angel or Spike? - Angel for Buffy, Spike for interest, both for fantasy. And Riley for me!
Which Harry Potter ship? - H/Hr for real (trio for dreams). Not that I didn't see how it was going to go; I'd just prefer it the other way and choose my fanfiction accordingly. And R/T, YAY!!
Favourite LOTR character? - Frodo. No question. Frodo forever.
Slash? - Am all for it in principle, but it doesn't do it for me, unless written exceptionally well. And even then, some pairings are just impossible or uninteresting.