#hannahdimond

What do you dream about at night?

I used to have such vivid dreams…  I rarely dream these days, or at least, I don’t remember them.  Sorry >__<

What’s your favorite song?

OH MAN I need a playlist for this one!  Check it out here!

The songs are in no particular order.  I should also mention that I can’t find the version of August that I like on Youtube…  This one is so slow and mournful instead of pensive and emotional :/  But you get the general idea.  AHHH I like too many songs, I could easily have a thousand song + playlist, but I tried to pick as few as possible x__x

Tell me about the book you’re reading?

I just finished A Murder of Crows by Anne Bishop today.  The first book in the Others series, Written in Red, is probably my all-time favorite urban fantasy.  The rest of the books in this series…  Well, it feels like this should be a trilogy, but she’s already written five books, and at least one more remains…  It’s just stretched out waaaaaay too much with not enough happening.

I absolutely recommend the first one, though.  It’s an excellent book.

Where would you go if money wasn’t an issue?

The question is really, “Where wouldn’t I go?”  Haha!  But Japan first.  Hell, I’d stay in just Tokyo for like a month before moving on to the rest of the country, lol!  I also want to visit Hawaii, Bora Bora, Italy, Ireland, Spain, Greece…  And how about a rain forest?  A coral reef?!  And all of the national parks in the states!  

What’s your deepest wish?

I wish I knew!  Whenever I hear about the Mirror of Erised in Harry Potter or places representing your heart (Persona dungeons, for example), I wish I could take a peek for myself!  

I would love to not have to work and focus on creating (singing, playing guitar, writing, drawing, cooking, photography, blogging) instead.  But…  I worry about the world a lot.  Issues like overpopulation, hunger, poverty, and climate change/habitat destruction/pollution make me wonder how sustainable humanity is…  And I haven’t even touched on our social issues.  So I guess…  I really wish people would think about the future and the present.  I wish people would think beyond themselves.

There’s part of me that wishes a lot of the things that happened to me in my childhood could go away, but then…  Then I would be a different person, and I like me.  So…  I guess I don’t wish for that.

Do you believe in magic?

In the sense of spells/magical creatures/potions/tarot cards/telling the future…  No.

I do believe in a more immediate and powerful magic: the resilience of the human spirit and heart.  The ability we have to keep moving forward with so many burdens on our shoulders is nothing short of miraculous.  And when we find ways to be kind of top of that…

It’s more impressive than wand waving, don’t you think?

What’s the weirdest thing that has happened to you?

I really have to thank you for this question, because it’s making me realize what a strange life I’ve lived, lol!  Where do I even start?!

My whole childhood was pretty weird…  I have strange medical stuff…  You would not believe my stories from working customer service at an aquarium in high school, and being the only American-born gal at a Chinese biotech company for five years had its unusual moments, at least from my perspective…

But as far as out-there, inexplicable experiences…  The strangest was probably the time I participated in was a Catholic Laying on of Hands.  Basically, a priest comes and places his hands near your head.  You tell him what you’re praying for; in my case, it was the health of my grandmother and myself, owing to the operations from my early childhood.  

Most of the girls received their blessings and moved on, but about a quarter of them ended up slain in the spirit.  This means they fainted when the priest placed his hands near them.  The religious explanation is that the holy spirit flows into you through the priest, causing you to faint.  I was curious, so I gave it a go.

When the priest lifted his hands, I felt massive pressure centered in my head.  I fell straight back into the teachers stationed there to catch fainted girls.  They lowered me to the floor; I was out cold for about two minutes before I came to and returned to my pew.

That’s the only time I’ve ever fainted, and I’m at a loss to explain it.

What do you need to get off your chest?

My work worries me.  I like my job, but I get so tired.  I took this Friday off to rest, and I literally spent the whole weekend in something near a coma sleeping.  I wanted to play and write, but I had to sleep.

Is this sustainable?  I work so hard all day, often not taking a lunch and having to convince myself to take a break to use the restroom and drink water.  I do it every day, five days a week, for about 50 hours a week.  

I know there are people who work longer hours for less pay.  I know most people have other responsibilities at home.  Am I weak?  Why is this so hard for me?  Will I ever adjust and be able to function after work?

One of my friends told me that this is what it means to be human these days: working in a constant state of exhaustion.  I cannot create when I’m exhausted; ergo, I can’t exercise something I need to remain sane and balanced.

Hmm…

Are you afraid for the future?

My future?  No.  Barring the unforseen, I have a biotech job and my husband has a software engineering job.  We have a home, food, health insurance, and love.  I feel extremely fortunate for all of this.

But I’m really worried about the future of the world, as I mentioned above.  When people ask me if I want to have a child, I…  I end up going on this anxious rant.  As our technology improves, we lose the need for unskilled workers.  Amazon is a particular offender, with their stores with no checkout, warehouses manned by machines, and packages delivered by drone (some of this is upcoming, but in the near future).  Self driving cars could mean the end of taxi/delivery/truck drivers.  And while I’m a huge proponent of green energy, it does cut out a lot of mining and oil gathering work.

Meanwhile, as the job market shrinks and grows more competitive, the cost of education and living in general is rising.  My generation is already struggling.  The next might hit a crisis point.  

And hey, oh yeah, we have more people than we can feed, and the environment is showing frightening signs of deterioration.  And again, I haven’t even touched on social issues.

Would it be moral to force a human into this scenario? 

That sounds really dark, doesn’t it?  I hate to be a downer, but I hate acting without thought even more.  I think we’re on the cusp of major social/economic change based on necessity, and the next generation or two (or possibly ours?) will bear the brunt of that change.  

17.)   Favorite singer?

Oh yikes, that’s... really tough.  As someone who was in choirs from age 10-22, I love choral music, so I’m big on Anuna as a chorus.  As an individual performer, favorites purely in term of vocal ability/sound include: Chloe Agnew (unmatched purity), Alex Sharpe, Michael Buble (can’t write a ship playlist without him), and Seal.  

There is something about Alex Sharpe that makes me feel like she’s singing to me directly; she has a warmth that I don’t know if I’ve seen anywhere else.  You can hear her singing with Celtic Woman here.  She’s famous in Irish theater, and her acting ability is the perfect enhancement to her singing.  

Actually, yesterday I showed my husband a fun video of Voctave performing a mashup of Poor Unfortunate Souls and I Put a Spell on You.  I told him, “The voices are fine, so why do I find it lacking?”  He replied that people really underestimate the importance of acting when they sing.

Alex has ‘em both is what I’m saying.

And when Seal sings, “You remain my power, my pleasure, my pain,” there is a definite release of oxytocin, lol!

26.)  The reason I joined Tumblr?

I was drawing companion art for my fics, and I wanted to share it with readers and hopefully expand my readership.  It slowly evolved into an Adventure fandom blog/personal blog, too.  It would be nice to get back into drawing...

50: Favorite movie

E: How are they with children?

Eimi loves kids, but that doesn’t necessarily mean that she’s good with them, lol!  She’s trying her best and is extra careful about their feelings; I’d imagine a lot of kids would respond to her earnest effort and care?

But Eimi would scold a kid who is being bratty, and especially one being mean to other children, so I uh...  How a kid responds to that would vary from case to case, I guess.  I think she would honestly be baffled by a random tantrum, too, lol!  

I: On a scale of 1 to 10, how much do they love themselves?

Oh man, yikes!  Uh.  Uhhhhh.  Man, this is a good/tough one O__O

Eimi has high standards for everyone, but they’re almost impossibly lofty for herself.  Any time she falls short, she beats herself up.  Additionally, there’s a lot of lingering trauma from her childhood; she was flat-old told that she can only hope to amount to anything with ferocious hard work and luck because she is lacking in natural assets.  

Crawling out of this mindset is a lifelong journey for her, but it does slowly improve.  

Interestingly, I think she is the most self-assured when she’s righting a perceived wrong.  At that point, her quality isn’t the issue; helping whoever needs her is what matters.  This, combined with low self-esteem, could be why she is willing to damage herself to help someone else.

M: What is their favourite dessert?

Ice cream!

K: How do you know when you’ve upset them?

Hmm, there isn’t a simple answer for this...  

For everyday stuff, Eimi will tell a friend if they are out of line, or if she thinks something they said or did is immoral/unjust.  If they apologize, that’s the end of it.  If not...  It’s case by case, I guess.

If someone she isn’t close to hurts her, she’s likely to make it known, then dismiss the issue and the person if they don’t seem willing to work things out.

The more personal the problem is, and the more deeply she is hurt, the more she will withdraw into herself.  It’s easy to stand up for someone else; it’s much harder to bring up her own pain.  I’d say...  Hmm, probably a friend might notice that she doesn’t smile when their eyes meet, or she’s suddenly harder to get in touch with.

O: What would it take to break them, inside and out?

Losing/letting down/hurting a loved one.  Failure to protect a loved one.

U: What’s their voice like?

Eimi’s voice is her physical charm, lol!  I’ve described it as lilting, sweet, high, bird-like, clear.  I’ve never heard someone and thought, “Ah-HA, that’s Eimi’s voice!”  But probably the closest I’ve heard is Alex Sharpe?

J: Write or describe an alternative ending to [insert fic].

Hmm, well, I’ve been thinking about alternative endings to Seeking Resonance, but seeing as how that’s forthcoming, I will say no more!

I will say that I would love to rewrite Four Years with a very tweaked personality for Matt and a slightly tweaked one for Tai.  I’m only starting to really understand Yamato thanks to Tri- some of his quirks make a lot more sense to me now that we’re both a bit older, and I can see how off my Matt is!  Although Matt and Yamato are pretty different...

Oh, but my greatest fanfiction regret so far is probably Taichi in Voices.  I had no ideas for him, and I had to keep stumbling on regardless because of the weekly deadline...  He kind of fell by the wayside D:

M: Got any premises on the back burner that you’d care to share?

I’ve been thinking a lot about Our Digital World, the sequel to Growing Up with You.  I have a lot of it planned, and it’s going to be more of an ensemble piece than its predecessor.  Chosen with Digital World careers will have big roles, including Taichi, Jyou, and Ken.  

I’ve also made a lot of decisions about the “Eimi in Tri” story.  I’ve decided what her trial will be and when it takes place, picked out a final form for Galemon, decided what happens to Galemon as a result of the Reboot, and some other things!  But I will probably wait for Tri to end before I start writing.  I’m also considering trying to write and perform a character song for Eimi to go along with the Tri CD, but I honestly don’t know if I can pull it off.

Oh, and I’m working on a oneshot story, Okaeri!  Meanwhile, I’m trying to figure out how Seeking Resonance and Four Years will end XD

S: Any fandom tropes you can’t resist?

I’m not sure!  Hmm...  Koushiro drinking fluids, especially oolong tea?  Prodigious?

T: Any fandom tropes you can’t stand?

I don’t know about fandom, but for writing/media in general...

-“The misunderstanding.”  A two minute conversation would have prevented all of this.

-“The idiot plot.”  None of this would have happened if these characters actually thought for two seconds.

-“Opposites attract.”  Opposite does not equal complementary.

-“Fixing the introvert.”  They don’t need fixing.