Who I am — The Mystery of Me
My name is Sophie Lucas and to anyone I meet at any kind of social event, that’ll be all you get. If someone decided (for some ungodly reason) to probe for more information about me, they may discover that I attend Canterbury Christ Church, was originally from Easbourne, or attended Eastbourne College. This is dependant on the kind of person I guage them as. A clear distinction I draw between people is when, with the knowledge of my higher education, the arbitrary question of what I study arises. People that ask something along the lines of “Oh! What do you do?” won’t immediately get the Bathroom Treatment*. However, the people that specifically use the word ‘reading’ in regards to my study subject can return to the recum they pulled their heads from.
Once pretentious airheads have been weeded out, conversations tend to turn to a much more personal series of questions. Throughout this process, no matter who they are, I will try and redirect the questions back to them to exhaust their drive for conversation while I happily disclose as little information about myself as possible. I will say, if a topic I am actually educated in comes up, I will try and make conversation to make an effort, if not simply to prevent retreating back to the dreary topic we all wish we could evacuate from. If our inital meeting goes well; contacts are established and they have the patience to put up with my theatrical persona, I have made a friend! Friendship is a precious thing that I try my best to hold onto, which can certainly feel overwhelming for them at times.
I’m far from perfect, which is why I want to find out more about myself as I write in this course. In creating characters, in honing a voice for myself, I am sprinkling a little piece of my personality into my work and putting myself on a page. I can learn the mysteries about myself, and I feel I’m making good progress by recently accepting my depression. I want to write in the hopes that other people can discover truths about themselves they didn’t realise either and hopefully make a living from a passion I’ve had for over a decade.
*Bathroom Treatment: A defensive maneuver wherein the uncomofortable party will retreat into the nearest washroom or lavatory for long enough that the assailant will disengage conversation, thus resulting in both parties returning to a comfortable level of stress.