Interviewer: preciouspearl20
Interviewee: chhvjhwr
Interview editor: _Summer14

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Hi! I am Pearl. Today I am here to take the great honor of interviewing our very own talented member for The Freak Show. So, what's your name? And what are your pronouns?

Hiya, Pearl! I'm Alexa and my pronouns are she/her.

Nice to meet you, Alexa. It's really a pleasure. So, when did you join CLN?

Nice to meet you too, Pearl and I joined CLN back in August 2020, so 2 years.

Ah! 2 years of the ecstatic journey. So, what intrigued you to join CLN?

Ah! Yes indeed, and I joined CLN indirectly through the forums that Wattpad had, I met Mary through the forums and we started talking on Wattpad itself when she told me about CLN, I looked at the profile and thought "ooh I like the name and the community seems really fun" and applied originally as a graphic designer and then as an editor.

Wow! That's really interesting, to be honest. But yeah, I agree with you at one point. CLN has a kind of cool vibe which makes you want to join eventually XD. Currently, what are the positions you hold in CLN?

Ikr! And currently, I'm a founder and helpline head.

It truly signifies how dedicated you are to the team. And that's what is actually needed in every team work. Since you are a founder, I want to ask you a question regarding that too. Which work really seems easy for you and which one seems tough in CLN?

Oh psst, none of the departments have easy work but personally, I find the party server stuff easy because it's all fun, but the tricky thing in that is to get the work done by the deadline when the people getting married aren't active on the same time, and the toughest one I'd say is of the founders out of these because you need to look at all the different departments and servers, the helpers have a pretty intense duty too but it gets easy because everyone works as a team. For example, founders have admins to help them out and helpers have other helpers to help them, so it's efficiently managed.

Indeed! That's how a team works. Personally, I think when everyone is working as a team, it makes the work even easier, but as well as difficult when conflict starts rising. May it never rise in CLN. You have been here for almost a year and a half, right? So, How has it been for you, the whole journey?

For me, it has been an amazing journey, I remember when I first joined, the conversations I had were so bleugh and cringe and I rarely talked to anyone, then I took a break, left CLN for a while cause of school stuff and then later rejoined and since then, it has been a really fun experience.

Aye, aye! I was coming at the part like why did you leave? But I am glad that you came back. CLN doesn't want to lose a precious gem like you. It's Indeed a fun experience. Only people here can know it very well. ;)

You know, our life is very hectic. I can't ignore the fact as I myself sometimes struggled very hard. But how do you manage everything with your real life hectic schedule?

So what I do is that I work by taking breaks, if I'm busy, then I'll do the work that I'm doing for an hour or 2 and then be on Discord for 15-20 minutes, and whenever I'm absolutely free, I'll be on here.

Hehe. That's a great strategy, I must say. Breaks are needed to refresh your mind. What is the best moment for you till now in CLN?

For me, the best moments have been the late night vcs, whether they be normal vcs or music ones, also whenever we tease Ettila and 'bully' her. The spamming, the shipping, muting people until they sleep, the theme days, everything is so fun and having that cln twist to everything makes all of it so much more enjoyable.

Hehe! That's true. So, what do you like to do in your free time? What are your hobbies?

I watch netflix when I'm free, recently I've been interested in true crime stories as well so i spend quite a lot of my free time reading and listening about them. I also picked  up cooking during covid and I still cook whenever I'm in the mood.

Oh, wow! I didn't know that you love cooking as well. By the way, what do you love to cook? I mean, what kind of foods?

True that and I cook whatever I like to eat lol, as long as I have the youtube video for it ;) I've made Italian, Chinese and Indian till now.

Wow! So much talent you have! Thanks for sharing this info XD. I know our every journey is full of ups and downs. But what was the hardest part for you in the CLN journey?

For me, the hardest part was seeing the people that were a major part of us leave, like Kiri, Janet, Shreya to name a few.

True indeed. It was really heartbreaking to see them leave. But what can we do? Those who are meant to stay, will always stay. Some leave us on this journey. But yeah, their memory will always be with us. What has been really inspirational for you in this journey?

The most inspiring thing for me is the way we all love each other and are there for each other, how everyone works as a team and how everyone is an absolute nutcase XD

Yes! Amiability is the most important thing. Here in CLN, you can surely find them. That really motivates a person to work happily. As you have mentioned, you get inspiration by seeing teamwork, how do people work here in CLN as a team?

The prime example is the helpline, we've got a lot of staff in there and if someone needs to go away, someone else is ready to take their place; similarly in the graphic designing department, if a task is there, the head pings the staff and anyone who wants to take the task says that they can take it and when they are making it, they constantly ask for feedback from the other staff members regarding the fonts or the placements etc.

The same thing happens in almost all departments in terms of work. In the fun aspect, if we plan to spam someone, we'll just ask if someone else wants to join in and usually that way, we have around 3-4 people spamming a single person and making the work much easier.

You are absolutely right. It's really ecstatic to know that someone is always there for us in the time of need. I guess that enchants CLN more. So, what has been your strength and weakness in CLN? You can describe it as a person also.

I guess my greatest strength is, I can be really friendly with almost everyone and I can talk with almost everyone, and a weakness would be having a short temper, even though I try to keep it controlled, there are times when I'll either directly take out my anger or be passive aggressive (It's mostly when someone insults someone close to me or tries to cause unnecessary fights).

Well, that's really true. Honestly speaking, you aren't to be blamed though for losing your temper. I mean, don't we all feel like that at some point? We also have limits, you know. At least, it's what makes you a better person. Because you know your strengths and weaknesses as well. Moving forward, have you ever received negative criticism in your leadership? If so, how did you deal with that?

There was a time when we were accused of being unfair and not following the rules ourselves. (For the record we weren't being unfair and the rule breaking was done with a very set goal to be achieved which we did reach) However, about how we dealt with it, we made a separate group chat and properly explained our side, heard their side and made them see why we did what we did.

That is a cool way of dealing with criticism. What is your ambition? What are you intended to do in your future life?

Thank you and I intend to get into astronomical research in my future.

Hehe. Astronomical research! Interesting. What really has inspired you to take the profession as your ambition?

Yep lol, and well originally it started from a comic I read about Kalpana Chawla and later on there was just this innate sense of curiosity, like when you look up at the night sky don't you wonder what's out there, how it all works, the possibilities that there could be or could have been intelligent life somewhere other than here, I guess questions like these and how they were yet to be answered made me interested in this as a profession.

Wow! Interesting indeed! Yes, honestly speaking, I admire Kalpana Chawla too. At some point, I believe it's fascinating, but it needs guts as well. I'm afraid that I don't have it XD. May you succeed in your goal. Do you have any favorite author/artist in your real life or online who has influenced you much?

Thanks lol. And I've limited the amount I read a lot now, but still as childish as it sounds, I like the sense of humor of Rick Riordan. Along with them, I also like Cassandra Clare and Sidney Sheldon.

Awwww! That's really sweet. We all have that favorite someone who influenced us in some manner. Although the three mentioned people seem amazing.

They are, you should try out their books.

Thanks for the recommendation. I will definitely check it out XD. As you know, CLN stands for its craziness besides other things. Of course in a good way! But do you consider yourself crazy as well?

Have you met me? Yeah, I do consider myself crazy lol, but then again I can be serious when needed too. So I guess, I'm a balance between crazy and calm.

Good question! Have I met you? Lol. Of course, I have. Yeah, that's great. We need to be a little bit crazy in our life. So, it's no problem. XD Aye, aye! That's good. Keep it up. You know, CLN is different in every way. But if you have to describe it in a few sentences, how will you do that?

Thanks lol. Well, for me, CLN is a family who's there for you, who's crazy, who has its own inside jokes, who has its own past and history, but still in the end, it's a family which will be there for you no matter what. But it'll be a family only if you consider it as one and are willing to be that way for everyone in there.

Awww! That's true. Indeed it's like a family who has been there for us in our good and bad times. Only the people here can relate very well. A family full of craziness but with sweet, good memories. Alexa, as a person we always try to know better, we learn from our mistakes. Have you acknowledged your growth as a member in CLN?

Exactly. I have actually, an awful lot to be honest, earlier I used to rarely talk in CLN cause you know, it's a very diverse community, we've got people from a lot of countries and age groups, I felt shy earlier about talking to anyone but then I started talking and even though I was a little shy, that shyness seemed to go away and I also got better at communicating in real life, I started talking to a lot of people in real life too and that's the best upside to being in a community as big as CLN I guess.

Wow! Indeed. I agree with you. It really helps us to be more reliable and comfortable. I went through the uncomfortable part like you too so I can feel you. But glad to know that you have been better in your real life too. That's true. Amiability is the largest criteria here. Looks like we are coming to the end. Before ending, do you have a few words for our CLN members?

Yeah, there's that initial awkwardness but as you get to know everyone you realize that no matter what country. religion, color or age group you are from, everyone here is just plain crazy and that really helps to open up.

Well the only thing I wanna say is that, you guys are absolute gems and continue to be just as crazy as you are and maybe even more, always fear the chappal, Hinos is supreme, make Kiri's nuking plans successful and Yuti's pee apocalypse too. And yeah, that's it, just be you no matter what.

Awww! That is honestly so sweet. Yes, people here are the best people. We are glad to have you as our co-worker as well. Because it's the truth, someone like you has always inspired us to go ahead. Thanks for being with us always.

Aww thank you so much, it was fun to do this interview too. Have a good day ahead.

Ah! Glad to hear that. Have a nice day/night ahead as well. <3