As mentioned in LKF #7 and LKF #13, I like to put pieces of myself into my heroines and books. Serenity smiles constantly. For the most part, I do as well. It’s the first thing people notice about me. Everyone kept mentioning it so often that I wanted a character who did the same.
I have three reasons for smiling as much as I do:
#1 – Muscle memory – Back in my junior year of high school, I was in the color guard (the girls in the marching band who twirl the flags). All through practice, the marching band coach and the color guard coach would yell at us to keep smiling no matter what. We had to smile during the performances so we had to smile during practice as well. One of the color guard girls complained that it hurt to smile so much. To which the marching band coach replied back, “It’s supposed to hurt!”
After that year of color guard, smiling became second nature to me as well as muscle memory. My face got used to smiling so it’s what I do now when I’m not really thinking. Sometimes I don’t even realize I’m smiling until someone mentions it.
#2 – Garfield the cat. I love reading Garfield. He has a motto that I took to heart long ago — “Smile. It makes people wonder what you did.”
#3 – If I’m in a situation where I have to wait for long periods of time (for whatever reason) and I don’t have access to a computer, more often than not, I’m entertaining myself in my own head with little stories or remembering music or movies or TV shows. It’s a way to pass the time and keeps me occupied. Most of the time I’m remembering a funny comedy show or movie that I’ve seen, like Patton Oswald or National Lampoon’s European Vacation.