BEDA 13: Dogs and Cats. And Pottermore.

Well.

I did myself the favor of not making any plans for this weekend (since I am going out of the country on Monday) but I forgot to consider the fact that I would then be bored out of my mind, alone in my bedroom, as a result. So when my mom tried to talk me into coming and hanging with the family tonight.. I agreed. I think she and my dad were both surprised; usually they have to twist my arm to get me to drive out there.

I'm not leaving for about an hour though, so right now I figured I would get today's BEDA post out of the way. I have been feeling apathetic about the styles of blogs I've been doing lately (the kind where I just list the things I've been doing, even though I've been doing relatively exciting things) so I decided to ask for various topics to blog about from you guys.

Here are the topics people suggested I blog about on Twitter:

1. Cats: I'm not even sure exactly what to say beyond this -- I absolutely love cats. I reblog way too many pictures of adorable kittens on tumblr and if someone has a pet cat and I'm over at their hosue, I can't help but start playing with it. I already have a natural affinity for things that are adorable, and it just so happens cats generally top that list for me. Sometimes I wish I didn't travel as much so I could have a little kitty of my own, but I know I'd be a terrible owner; always leaving it with a babysitter (catsitter?) every month when I'm out of town.

2. Dogs (particularly my dog): This story is a bit more complex than "OMG KITTIES I LOVE THEM!!" I never really liked dogs when I was younger. I don't like being licked or slobbered on, I don't like having big muddy paws landing on my shirt, I don't like hearing barking or stepping in dog poop or seeing any of my possessions covered in chew-marks. When I would go to friends' houses with dogs I felt like I spent more time pushing furry bodies away saying "get down, boy," and "go away!" then I spent enjoying myself.

My brother decided he wanted to get a pet dog when I was about fifteen and I was furious. Even more so when my mom and dad let him. An overexcited catahoula bounding down my hallway every time I wanted to leave my bedroom was not something I was excited to get used to.

But I did. The first year or so of having our dog, Honey, she and I had a strict co-existence policy on living together. She didn't mess with me, I didn't mess with her. I think she could tell I didn't like her, because she didn't come in my room, she didn't lick me, she didn't touch any of my shoes I liked to leave by the door.

I think it was this alone that made me fall in love with her. The fact that she was smart enough to realize I needed space to come to terms with her made me feel like I was living with the best dog in the world. After a while, she started testing out sleeping by my feet while we'd watch TV in the family room and resting her head on my lap while I sat at the dining room table. Over time she began to greet me when I came home from school and I would scratch her head/belly (but she still never jumped on me).

Now I don't live at home anymore and I really miss Honey sometimes. She showed me that dogs are just big loving creatures who want to be your friend, and through my relationship with her, I started to learn to love other dogs as well. In the end it was a really good thing that Nick wanted to adopt her. She really helped me grow as a person and an animal-lover.


I have now exhausted the topics suggested to me on twitter (slow day for social media, though I suppose I did ask on my second twitter, which has much fewer followers than my main one) so I'm going to finish this blog post today with a Pottermore survey I stole from Hayley.

1. What's your Pottermore username? StarPotion101
   
2. What House do you think it sounds like? I think it sounds like Slytherin house, mostly because of the Potion bit and always relating Potions to Snape. It also kind of sounds like Ravenclaw to me, because the "101" at the end makes it sound like a class one may take.
   
3. What House do you want to be in? I would like to continue to be a Slytherin, if it were up to me. The more I think about it though -- Back in 2004, I decided the best theme for a wizard rock back would be a 'Slytherin girl band', and I feel like I've spent the better part of the last seven years adapting my vision of what Slytherin house is to fit me (because I wanted so badly to identify with that house after 'representing' it for so long). I think I do embody a lot of the traits of Slytherin house (ambition, cunning, deviating from the norm, being overly emotional) but I may have lost sight of how much of that was from the band and how much I really truly identify with Slytherin myself. So I'm excited to get sorted, basically.
   
4. Does your username relate to you at all? I think it does! I was happy to get a username with "star" in it (in the sense that stars/space is awesome, not that I consider myself a 'star') and I like it paired with "potion". I think the best usernames are the ones where the two words kind of work together, not to mention I super lucked out with getting "101" as my number. I was hoping for a unicorn name, but I am very pleased with what I got.
   
5. What kind of wand would you wish to get? I always thought my wand would be willow, slightly springy with a unicorn hair. But... this is one of the aspects of Pottermore I am not worried about at all. I'm sure whatever I get will be cool.
   
6. Are you pure, half-blooded or Muggle born? You know, I never actually thought about that. In the Parselmouths we have a bunch of songs about being pure-bloods, but in all honesty, I bet I'd be muggle-born.
   
7. Which day did you get into Pottermore? Day 1. Like I would have waited. :)
   
8. What shape is your Patronus? A unicorn.
   
9. What does your boggart look like? I'm with Ron on this one - a big-ass hairy spider.
   
10. Would you rather be an Animagus or a Matamorphmagus? Animagus, definitely.
    
11. If you were an Animagus, what animal would you be? I would be a cat for sure.

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