Get to know the girl: Part II ***long***

PREPARE THYSELF. No joking. This is a BEHEMOTH post.

For the last two days, I've been gathering great, great quality questions from my friends all over the social media sphere (Facebook, Tumblr, Twitterdom) for my "get to know the girl" posts. And, to cut to the chase, I shall answer them in one fell swoop in a fantastical questionnaire!

Here we go! 

• What are some things that always really make you happy?
• Honestly? A great ambiance: I'm by nature very, very sensory and empathetic, so even the smallest disruptive force is something that will be picked up by my super-power senses and then terminated or quelled (or CRUSHED BY SHEER FORCE) by me - if it resists. The kind of music I like (I like, not you like); the area around me has to smell like it came out of a LUSH Cosmetics store (or is one, y'know); if people are around me they have to be upbeat, chatty, sociable, and open-minded. Intellectuals! Scented candles! Tasty food! Nice lighting, very aesthetic and beautiful surroundings with lots of detailing. Spontaneous surprises, lots of action, places to be. Things that appeal to my cerebral side. I like art, and it has to play into everything. In short: Great vibes.
• In contrast: if your hands are clammy, someone's voice is shrill, or the weather is humid and nasty-gross, or if you or your place smells like the Stink Bomb Squad has been storming around, if you don't mind your "please" and "thank yous", or you like trap music (ugh trap music), or you sound like/are an ignoramus, get away from me and more importantly why is Houston weather always doing the thing (that thing) to us?

• Trapped on an island, and you only have 5 books. Which books would you bring to stave off the encroaching insanity?
• AHH, I love this question for the "encroaching insanity" bit - I don't think, that with these books in my desert island survival arsenal, that I'll undergo any intellectual/mental atrophy. The books in mention are books I own: they range from novels, graphic novels, and compendiums. 

You name it - I own it! Or not.

• "The Little Prince" by Antoine Saint-Exupery holds a special place in my heart forevermore. Every time I gloss through the pages of this delicately-put children's book, I weave the intricate lessons of the loss of innocence and love that Saint-Exupery pens. And every time, at the ensuing end, I tear up. I tear up a lot. Like, I just can't handle the feels that this CHILDREN'S BOOK gives me. Very touching, very bittersweet. 
• "Solanin" by Inio Asano is sort of like what picks up after the message of The Little Prince: finding one's way in adulthood, searching for a way of "being" when we're all impersonators, and just feeling at peace with oneself. This one's a "slice of life" genre graphic novel.
• "The Tale of Despereaux" OR "The Miraculous Journey of Edward Tulane" by Kate DiMicallo. I really hated how the big screen adaptation was a COMEDY??? Wait, WHY? These two are also children's novels, with beautiful illustrations that play with the idea of light and dark, belonging and isolation, pride and love woven into the storylines. My pet rabbit's name, actually, is based off "The Miraculous Journey".
• "The Complete Works of Lewis Carroll" by Lewis Carroll (Rev. Anderson). I lovelovelove Alice in Wonderland, but the Disney movie bores me to tears and lucid dreaming in my sleep, aching for days of more enjoyment and sunshine. Aside from AIW, he actually has witticisms in his other works that are incongruous (which makes them really, really funny but that might be because my humor is as dry as Jupiter's deserts). 

• "The Adventures of Tin Tin" by Herge (I wish I had the ENTIRE COLLECTION!) - if you watched the 2012 Academy Awards show and heard the faintest squeaking from whichever part of the globe you're from, that squeaking was really me leaping out of my couch for UTMOST JOOOOY when the film directed by Steven Spielberg won the Best Animation vote (TAKE THAT RANGO!!!). It's not that I didn't like Rango, I just bow down to Tin Tin, you know? On the real though, that was the ONLY reason I vulture-eyed the Academy Awards in the history of me. Tin Tin is a French comic based in the 1900s-1920s (it was written in the 60s); Tin Tin being the bright-eyed and laser-meticulous smarty-pants journalist that he is, with his ally Snowy, the Highland Terrier! At times Snowy puts up with Tin Tin because like Sherlock Holmes: Tin Tin can really skim over "trivialized" details and he falls into uncanny events that he manages to get out of every. Single. Time. Watch the scene where Tin Tin and the Captain crash land in the Sahara and Snowy heroically saves Tin Tin (and his coif) from an untimely demise. You'll see what I'm talking about.

• What made you first interested in cosmetics?
• I guess some of my friends think I'm running a makeup/beauty-only blog? Regardless, my mom's a cosmetologist so the interest is really cause-and-effect. Uh, meaning, when I was 5 I took one of my mother's bottles and nail polish and doused and globbed it all over my palms. My hands were rose-pink. I WAS PROUD as much as my MOTHER WAS FURIOUS. Now that I'm older, and less prone to the crazies, I do nail art as a soothing hobby whenever I have peace and quiet.

Painting my nails is akin to wearing mood rings! The mood I was feel when I did this set was colorful and punchy.

Mood/style: soothing, mermaid-inspired.

• What's your favorite make-up brand?
• Can't really say - I like certain things from certain brands? Drugstore-wise, or as Londoners say "high street brands", I like Wet 'n' Wild's lipsticks. The spread of colors and finishes really give Sephora and other department store brands a run for their money. Basically, I like certain things, like MAC blushes, Kat Von D palettes, Benefit brow cosmetics...  
• edit 4/1/14: My "holy grail (HG)" cosmetic will always, ALWAYS be bareMinerals Original SPF 15 foundation. It was when Bare Escentuals was still independent and at its peak of public popularity and hype, rolling the infomercials of "swirl, tap, buff" (swirltapbuffswirltapbuff) back in my middle school years. This is what eventually moved me into the whole "enhance your natural features" realm of makeup and the world of foundation. Even though I was 13/14 at the time, I leaned towards brands like Physician's Formula and Laura Mercier, which provided more earthy, neutral tones. This was the initial phase of me rejecting red lipstick (which I later warmed up to in my later years! thankfully) because I thought I looked like a clown. 

• What past times do you have for different seasons?
• In the spring and summer: I shop, I love dresses. They're my nitty-gritty guilty pleasures when it comes to binge shopping. Dresses. Skater dresses, especially, and THEY'RE IN SEASON - and don't forget the glorious, exquisite KIMONO JACKETS?! And the thing feeding my inner child: During the spring, when patches of clover cover the soil, I like to take my shoes off and stand in them. I like to feel the earth, it's very calming. Again, I'm very sensory. The ground is soft enough to even run on! (I climb trees, too.)
• In the fall and winter: Most things I do regardless of season, but I like to swaddle myself in blankets (a term I've coined as a "blanket burrito" since 2006) and drink hot chocolate. Oh! And steal people's body heat. That's exactly how I say it too: "I'm gonna steal your body heat." I'm charming, shush.

• How would you describe your personal style? 
• As someone who's young at heart with an old soul: it's a mix between gyaru, grunge, alternative, and retroglam. My closet breaks off in a dyad: brights (devoid of browns, blacks, grays) and neutrals (devoid of pastels, colors) and with no inbetweens. The only thing consistent is that each piece has a lot of texture and patterns. It's unique because it's my interpretation for combining those styles, I don't try to ascribe to a lot of trends or silhouettes because most people's fashions and styles aren't me. Sure, skater dresses and kimono gowns are "in", but even if they WEREN'T, I'd still be flaunting them up and down the streets and sidewalks because flow-y schtuff is my schtuff.  

• What's your general opinion of people?
• I have a love/hate relationship with people. I'm predisposed to see that everyone has good intentions (which comes across as naive) and I become extremely resentful when people use me or misunderstand me, which is something I usually have trouble with. So whenever I find companions who want and see the very best for me (read: take me seriously too!), you will be my friend, and I will be your friend. I will see you as family, because I don't take my friendships lightly when I emotionally invest in people.
• My view sounds a little stoic because we come from the past, but my feelings are slowly maturing into full bloom. I give people the benefit of the doubt (whether they deserve it or not) and I've got to discipline myself with more discretion and grace. 

• What types of qualities do you find best in people?
• People who have the best qualities that I have: spontaneity, optimism, passion, honesty, loyalty, a big heart, charisma, loves to change it up whenever things get dull, they're adventurous ("nothing learned, nothing gained" mentality), and a tendency towards empathy and compassion. Oh, and they're intellectual progressives! I love progressives (feminists, liberal-minded folks, the like). And for the qualities I lack: communicates fluidly and beautifully and well, like spoken poetry (I admit I can be brash when talking and it makes me appear careless and rude). They need to know what they want, but even if they don't, and their cards are folded, that's okay. They need to know and understand they can't always be courageous, and strong, and full of pep! and wow! and dazzle with woo-hoo glitter-in-the-air-party-up-in-here pizzazz. They're real, but they know how to keep things going and know that when things get tough, it's okay to ask for help.

• What are some things that you carry with you that you can't live without? 
• Day-to-day there are specific artifacts I use, not necessarily carry on my person 24/7, that are important to me and my lifestyle. The first is my iPod, named Vinyl (it's a classic black 160 GB model), but I can switch between Pandora radio, FM stations, and souvenir CDs I've gotten from concerts I've been to. My life constantly plays to a soundtrack - though I march to the beat of my own drum. Secondly, I need a form of pen and paper (or a note-taking app on my phone) to jot down spurious ideas that zip and zoom into my imagination. I like to lose myself in the moment, but I would never forgive myself for losing a fleeting idea stoking in the fires of my mind. I like to keep records, archives, scrapbooks, chronicles, tidbits... so blogging fits comfortably into my life (I've been doing some form of diary-writing or blogging since I was in grade school!) The next articles are specific:

These are the necklaces that my parents bought me. I drape them over my neck and decollete a good chunk of the time (not when I'm exercising or showering, etc). The star's from my dad - he bought it for me in 2011, and the little Ganesh pendant is from my mom - which I got this year. They hold a lot of  symbolic value for me, in the way that they're gifts from my parents (who I sometimes have a shaky relationship with), and their cultural/religious meaning.

At most, I carry a lot of lippies and moisturizers on hand! On the account that I'm dehydrated frequently and sporting chapped lips are unsightly (and feel unsightly) , I keep a good lot of them stowed away in my purse. Shockingly if I don't have any on me, I go buy more and then we have the makings of a lip balm hoarder... Again to prove how sensory I am: I carry a tin of solid, organic perfume (Pacifica Persian Rose is my go-to) so a sweet, rosy aroma can waft around me and cradle me in mind-numbing amazingness.

School didn't structure me to have a planner. I did, because I'd be on the fritz without one (did I mention my undiagnosed ADHD?). I've always had planners, but this Hello Kitty "engagement calendar" specifically (the brand and planner model) has been a two-year ritual for me - I bought my first Hello Kitty agenda from a San Francisco Kinokinuya's when my family and I hopped on a roadtrip to California during Christmas break '12. They're neither cheap nor expensive; cheap when you compare it to a typical Sanrio store, and expensive among normal, student planners. (It's $18.)  Putting things in writing is a motivational aspect in my life too, so I list out the things I gotta do for the day so I can prioritize my time.

• If you could steal anything from anyone, what would it be, and from who?
• Tsk, tsk. What I'd pilfer is something that isn't tangible or physical; I have enough possessions to last a lifetime, and I know it. To cut straight to the chase: I want unadulterated confidence and tact, diplomacy. I've hurt people without meaning to, and in return it hurts me, too. And then people sometimes manipulate me when I'm amorphous and unsure of myself. Who'd I steal it from? I dunno. They can keep THEIR qualities, because I believe at some point I'll get to that end without having to masquerade it off someone else. I'm fine.
• edit 4/1/14: The word I'm looking for is CONVICTION!

• If you could move anywhere right now, all expenses paid, with no strings attached to your current home, where would you go?
• San Francisco! It's the city my dad loves, and I love it because 1) the lovely bay weather (my personal moniker for San Fran is the "Yay! Area"), 2) it's surrounded by water which is something I've grown up with. When I was young and still living in Port Arthur, I lived directly across from Sabine Pass, so nesting near a body of water is crucial. And lastly, just the VIBE. It's oddball but historic and fresh and slope-y and structured but laid-back and all-in-all perfect?

• If you had one lesson to pass on that you've learned this far in life, what is it?
• This deserves it's own post and I will answer it in full depth to the extent of my being.

• What was your favorite thing about the "Kinetic" shoot?
• This deserves its own post too! 

Let me take a moment to take a breather (you should too if you bulldozed through all that!). This took me n amount of hours to compose, but I do it for you guys! And I really hope you appreciate it and the future content I will be providing. All your individual personalities have really shown through in the questions you asked! Thank you! For the last two questions I didn't but will answer, I will be hyperlinking the posts together so it navigates to-and-from each other.

xoxo