Three years since joining MySpace and my life has taken a number of turns. I've dipped into the abyss of self-reflection, sometimes flopping about in critical self-analysis, while occasionally ascending into the perriwinkle skies of optimism and enlightenment. I've spent the last year without the comfort of "student" status to support my identity. Instead, I've worked a couple of different jobs, filled out lots of school applications, and taken the time to read for myself, write for myself, and just breathe. And it has been a surprisingly refreshing year of fumbling about the delusional "real world," at least as far as an inexperienced 20-something y/o is concerned.I want to eventually be a teacher. I want to write stories, publish at least two novels. I want to try sending out a screenplay. I want to write about films. And I want to work as an editor. When? I don't know. Where? No clue. In fact, I don't know what I'll be doing in five years. And I'm glad. I think that having an opened mind about your future allows for more opportunities to flow your way. And it makes the outcomes that come to you that much more exciting and inspirational.I enjoy spending my free time curled up in the corner of a local coffeshop/bookstore, either reading or scribbling down ideas. I love movies- watching them, analyzing them, and critiquing them. And I have an intangible, extremely long list of movies to watch (and one day, perhaps I'll get even halfway through it). I love to write, but sometimes, it's hard for me to sit down, organize, and plan a story. My mind is quite a jumbled vortex so most of my musings stem from the inspirations of the three o'clock starlight, the observations that I make in everyday instances and the passerbyers in my life's story.Since '06, I have visited England and Scotland, walking around Stonehenge, through the squares of Bath, knocking down Jane Austen's door, and hopping about the streets of London. I've done my pub crawls, paid my respects to Shakespeare's birthplace and final resting place. I've survived my undergraduate years at a hard institution with some strange stories of academic challenges, streakers, and colonial people. And it's made me all the stronger, smarter, and ridiculously quirky. I've gone skiing for the first time in the winter and didn't break anything (though I fell down... a lot). I'll be playing bridesmaid in my brother's upcoming wedding. And coming up in Fall 2008, I'll be off to get my Master's in English Lit. It's been an exciting couple of years.My hobbies focus on the arts and entertainment. I admit that I am an arts-and-crafts dork, construction paper being an especial weapon of choice. I have been classically trained by my brother to not only play certain types of video games, but to kick ass at them (examples: snow boarding, role playing games, tennis games- see Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts, etc.). I have one year's worth of elementary Japanese under my belt due to my interest in the Japanese pop culture (I used to be a more die hard anime fan). I fiddle my way about the violin. I enjoy singing. I love bright colors, which infiltrate my life in clothing, drawings, and methods of organization. Amateur photography is something that's always interested me. I enjoy long walks in rural areas because I suck at jogging. You will rarely beat me at Connect Four or Catch Phrase. I love music and live my life through a variety of sounds from around the world.I have grown up as an avid fan of Charles Schulz's work, so I am well-known for having an odd collection of Charlie Brown & Snoopy DVDs, books, clothing, and other things. From the simplicity of the humor in Snoopy's 'Renaissance Beagle' nature to the adult-like themes spoken through never-aging children, Schulz's philosophy has been a mixture of bleak pessimism with a twist of a pinch of optimism that has matured with me in age. People disappoint you and make you fall on your ass just when you think you'll kick that football of opportunity into the sky, romance falls unrequited and takes the taste out of your PB sandwich, and yet something remains that leaves you thinking: maybe next time.I think the one thing about me, though, is that I know you never get the complete impression of me from one meeting or from one particular environment. People at work or in class will usually get the serious, helpful, hard-working Tiff. Those folk call me sweet or seemingly reserved. Substitute "reserved" with "observant" and you'll be on a better track. I consider myself smarter than a number of people, pretty friendly, and probably nicer and more forgiving than I should be. But I'm sillier than you think (and with quite a deceptively twisted mind). I'm more creative than you think. I have more mischief, sarcasm, and sass than you can imagine-- and only those worthy of the challenge are typically exposed to that. And don't piss me off- I'm scary when I'm angry and spitting fire. I can initially come off as being shy, but that quickly fades once I get a feel for your character. Then again, I take after my mom in that I can talk with almost anyone as long as s/he seems friendly.Or to summarize me up, as I've been told: I'm a strange, unique sort of soul.
