Lara I.

(5 Points) What is the color of my bedroom?: The walls are white, just like all the walls down here. I'll change that eventually - colored walls work wonders for a space, they really, really do.

(5 Points) What is my worst habit?: Procrastination. Self-doubt. Making a mess everywhere. Over-categorizing things, especially people.

(5 Points on creativeness) If I were stranded on a desert island/desolate mountaintop, what would I bring: Ah, this one is easy. SURVIVAL GEAR AND A WAY TO GET HOME! I don't want to be on a freakin' mountain, OR a desert island!

(6 Points) What's the biggest secret I keep from most people? Well, this is a good place for a sarcastic remark, like, mwa ha ha ha, you will never know my secrets!

Bypassing the sarcasm, and assuming I have secrets, of course, I wouldn't be putting them on my livejournal. I'm sure that makes perfect sense, doesn't it?

In real life, there are people that I know and trust and like, and I don't hide anything from them. We've had "spill sessions and the like - we know everything about each other... well, let me correct that. There is one person out there who does know every single thing about me and I know everything about him. Everyone else is a level or two or four or five hundred removed from that.

This person can't stand me and doesn't want anything more to do with me, and this hurts me more than anyone else ever could, I think, because we know each other so entirely. I don't think it's healthy to be thatclose to anyone - I really don't. This isn't just me reacting as someone who's been rejected and doesn't want to take another chance - I'm not the only one who's said this was an unhealthy friendship. When I hear it from someone else, or from several other people, I can take my own assessments a little more seriously.

In my internet life, things are a little different. I didn't start doing it intentionally, but until I started keeping a live journal - well, after I started, really - I kept my disability a secret. I mean, it's not like I said I played soccer and went jogging and to dance clubs and stuff... and it wasn't really keeping a secret, really, because in my early days of the internet I was mostly on creative writing sites, and there was to reason to be talking about myself anyway, unless it pertained to my writing.

But eventually I branched out to chatrooms and stuff, and... it just never came up.

So, livejournal is the first place in the internet I've ever flat out said: I am disabled.

...and it still feels weird to say it. It's still not how I identify myself. I don't deny that I am... it's just not how I think of myself.

It's not something I'd ever have to say to someone in person - why would I, they can see it for themselves, right?

And then once I wrote about it once, I feel like I write about it all the time. Here I am writing about it now. Go figure.

Bonus: I am totally, definitely, disgustingly sick.

(2 Points) What is my favorite color?: Yeah you know grey is my favorite color; I felt so symbolic yesterday. If I knew Picasso, I would buy myself a grey guitar and play... My favorite color changes from day to day, by the way, today it's grey.

(2 Points) Name something I hate: My job (see previous and following entries for details, I don't think I can go into more about how much I hate it at this moment)

(2 Points) Name a talent I have: I can sing! I often win at karaoke contests. I often draw applause at karaoke night! When I went to church... I sang at church. When I was in middle school and high school I sang semi-professionally with a youth worship team, we sang at sister churches and local and not-so-local churches of different denominations (we were paid but we gave the money back to the church). When I was in high school, ninth-grade girls were not allowed to join the regular choir or audition for singing groups because there were just too many girls interested in joining, but I did place very high in a blind-audition (they can't see you and don't know who you are or what school you're from) choral contest and would have had a place in a choral concert had I not dropped out of high school. I guess that is one thing I kind of do regret - when you're in the school system, you do have certain opportunities you wouldn't have otherwise. Singing and music in general are things I love, and I don't really have stage fright per se but I am pretty indifferent about performing - it's not one of my loves and definitely wasn't enough to keep me in the school system, so, yeah. Didn't happen.

(2 Points) What's my fave place to shop? SEPHORA. Do you know Sephora? The make-up store? You can get it all there, you know... I don't wear tons of make-up by any means, but I do wear high quality stuff, and it really does make a difference. Something about the particles being finer and more pure - foundation looks smoother and more natural, eyeshadow does not fade or rub off and the shimmer stuff looks... better, I don't know how else to describe it - and putting make-up on is kind of like painting so I think it's fun and I like to do it differently every day... right now I am into the brand Stila, which comes from Italy. They make very nice mascara, I have not had a problem with it running nor have I found it difficult to get off.

( (4 Points) What kind of shoes do I wear?: )

And they go with everything. I never wear skirts and I never wear shorts, so, they always work. Very easy.

My other shoes are sneakers. For in case, for whatever reason, I can't wear my Docs. I wore them for physical therapy, stuff like that. Maybe if it's absolutely, completely way too hot to wear my Docs I'll wear the sneaks. But that's about it.

Bonus: I'm definitely sick. Now I have a cough. I'm disgusting. Yay me.

(2 Points) How many piercings do I have?: Thirteen. Yes really! I have two holes in the bottom of one ear and two in the top. I have three holes in the other ear and two in the top. My lip is pierced, although I hardly ever wear the ring anymore, because I can't wear it at work. The back of my neck is pierced (and that is my favorite piercing). My belly button is pierced. And I have a dermal implant just above where my cleavage would be if I had bigger boobs :P I have been collecting this stuff for quite some time - I would like to have two rings in my eyebrow, but, again, I couldn't wear them at work, so that's pretty much off the list. I'm not interested in piercing my nose or my tongue - I don't think my nose would look good pierced and GOD FORBID I do anything that might make me talk funny! I couldn't tolerate that, even if it was only temporary!

(3 Points) What's my astro sun sign?: I am not even remotely into astrology. It has always seemed bullshit to me. Other people, even people who are known for not believing in "nonsense like that" seem to give it a bit of credit, saying how it can be eerily accurate and stuff, and, for other people, sometimes it is. Never for me. I was born on January 16th, and this makes me (and yes I had to look this up, that is how NOT into astrology I am) a Capricorn. I don't put much stock in that. I've read this description before and decided it was all BS, but here it is: Traditional Capricorn Traits: Practical and prudent, Ambitious and disciplined, Patient and careful, Humorous and reserved. On the dark side.... Pessimistic and fatalistic, Miserly and grudging. I just don't see that as me. AT ALL.

(2 Points) What's my favorite way to relax?: In short, distraction. Getting so absorbed in something I ignore everything else is very relaxing. So, I get the opportunity to relax a lot - drawing, reading, watching TV, listening to people talk, watching people interact, writing - yeah, it's all pretty relaxing as long as I get really into it. I guess if I have it in my head that I'm supposed to be doing something else instead, well, then I can't get completely into it and then it isn't relaxing at all.

(2 Points) Do I have any siblings?: Yes

(2 Points) How many?: One.

I have a sister. She is two years younger than I am. I have probably never mentioned her except to say that she has a middle name and I don't. I haven't seen her in a few years and I definitely haven't spoken to her in over two - but it's not how it sounds. We didn't have a huge argument and stop speaking to each other or anything - actually, I did something very, very nice for her, and then we just kind of... got pushed apart, I guess.

( My sister and me )

Anyway. In all this mess, I've never contacted my sister, and she's never contacted me. Like I said, we didn't have a fight or anything - shit just happened.

We look alike. She doesn't have pink hair, of course - well, since I haven't seen her in a long time, I assume she doesn't have pink hair. It doesn't seem like something she would do, anyway. But we look a whole lot alike. When we were kids people used to mistake us for twins.

She's taller than me. I don't know, somehow even though I'm the oldest I got the short genes, go figure. She's very smart - like me. And very musical - like me. She's shy - not like me at all, and sweet - also not like me at all :P

If I wanted to call her - I don't have her phone number. I don't know where she works or even where she lives now. So - yeah. That's about that.

(2 Points) What work do I do?: I am a hostess in a very busy restaurant that serves somewhat substandard food and has a bar that stays open for late night drinking and snacking and such. It's probably the worst job I've ever had - doesn't pay terrible - I'd say it's about fifteen dollars an hour, really, because I make an hourly rate and then get a percentage of the sales for the evening as well. Also, usually I will roll silverware and fill sugars for the servers and they each give me a few dollars, and so I take home a little bit of cash as well. When I worked for the Coffee Co. I made minimum wage - but I liked that job better.

When I lived in Philly I worked in a print gallery and frame shop. I made about the same amount of money and that was a really, really great job. I wish I hadn't have had to leave it because I liked it so much, and I wish I could be more confident that coming here was the right thing to do. I've run out of money - I don't have any in the bank and I've maxed out my credit cards. Soon summer will be over and I won't have the income of renting my upstairs every week - I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to make my bills every month on just this one job, and I still have repairs to do on the first floor of this house, not to mention furniture and stuff to buy if I want to rent both floors out next summer. It's got me pretty nervous and pretty on edge here, but I guess I just have to wait. I have to wait until the other house is zoned, and then I have to wait to be approved for another loan. If anything goes wrong with those two things, then I guess that would be the time to start panicking.

I've had other jobs - I worked in another restaurant that was more of a fine dining type place. I was a hostess there as well. I worked for an inventory company and would go to stores and count stuff in the middle of the night while they were closed. I worked in another art gallery, and I worked at the front desk of a hotel. When I was in college I worked in the dean's office for like one semester. In Philly I worked for a coffee shop too. I worked for an after school program at an art studio for a while - I really liked that job too but I had to leave because my parents needed me at home. Sometimes I didn't work. When I was a teenager I worked at a drugstore first as a cashier and then putting UPC codes into the computer system in the warehouse. My first job was working at the drive-thru at McDonald's.

Of all these jobs, the one I have now is the most trying and the most frustrating. You think I drink a lot? My job drives me to it.

I don't really drink a lot - I really am not supposed to and honestly, I don't even like to. It's more of a social thing - it just seems weird to me to be writing about how often I go out drinking when I'm not doing all that much drinking to begin with. I just like to unwind at the end of the night with other people, that's all.

(1 Point) My first name: My first name is Lara. There is no letter "u" in my name. Please do not add one. Without the "u" that means it's La-Ra. Even in Spanish. It's never Low-rah. Even in Spanish. I'm pretty sure that the spelling of my name is actually a miscommunication between my parents :P Mom probably said Laura and Dad wrote Lara, because Laura is Low-rah in Spanish. Or something. Whatever.

(2 Points) My last name: Is a Mexican name. Which is pretty funny, cause I'm only one-quarter Mexican. Just like Frida Kahlo. Really, I'm many parts many things. I don't claim one above another. And I've done enough traveling to catch on to those weird looks the rest of the world gives us Americans when we claim to be part this that and the other thing. I'm American. Not part. Totally American.

(3 Points) Take a stab at my middle name: My parents did not see fit to give me one, lol. They did give my sister one. Go figure.

(1 Point) Which Hogwarts house would I be sorted into?: Oh, please put me in Griffyndor with all my friends! I hardly know anyone in the other houses! I'd say I could be a Ravenclaw because I'm so smart, but then again, I'm pretty much a fuck-up, so perhaps not. Not a Slytherin, cause while I can be a creep, I'm not evil, even in a cool way. And Hufflepuff... who's a Hufflepuff, anyway? Doesn't the song even go good Hufflepuff she took the rest? Yeah. The left overs. No way, dude. I'm hangin' with Harry in Gryffindor.

Bonus: Today I watered my plant, Romana. I watched about half of season three of Boston Legal. I didn't do much more than that. Laid on the couch and thought about my fanfic but didn't actually work on it. Really, I've felt like shit all week. Too much to go out. Which pisses me off, cause I like going out. I didn't go in to work on Friday and I don't need a doctor's note or anything. It was just a regular call out - we are allowed to do that at this job. Just not at the Coffee Co, apparently.