CIVILIAN. WINTERS, AIMEE

Female

Heterosexual

Twenty-Three

November 22nd 1989

American

English
Some French

None currently

0.50

N/A

N/A

N/A

30 NOVEMBER 2013 BY BUBBLES

Jay

None.

...

Yet.

Medium for now till finals are over and break begins.

Vietnam from Hetalia: Axis Powers

Aimee by no means lives the life of luxury. Growing up with two other sisters and a single parent, Aimee has had minimal financial support from her mother (much to her mother's dismay). Though she hasn't had a particularly hard life, she had to pay her own way through college and now  her way into adulthood.

Aimee lives in a single room studio apartment out on Long Beach. Having an affinity for the beach, that's where she knew she wanted to be. It's not the fanciest of apartments and it's rather bare. Aimee doesn't spend very much time there and though she's filled with with the essentials: bed, wardrobe, a smattering of cooking utensils, and bathroom necessities, she doesn't actually take the time and effort to make it feel very homey. 

While her apartment sits unused most days, Aimee spends her time at whatever magazine office requires her photographic skills. Aimee is a photographer and while she doesn't like to classify herself as part of the paparazzi clan that is essentially what she is until she can work her way up the photography ladder to the world of beautiful editorials and conceptual work. In her free time she likes to do a bit of freelance works for local smaller magazines and portrait sessions for families.

The Creator: Aimee loves art. She finds solace in gazing at different pieces and feeling emotions emitted. It was understood from a young age that Amiee had an interest, some would say a gift, for art. Instead of playing along in pretend and dress-up with her peers, Aimee would sit and quietly color or play with play-doh. As she grew older she realized there were different mediums in which she could express herself and found herself first gravitating towards watercolor and photography. While she wishes she could sketch, she has since accepted that she like everyone has their strengths and weaknesses and that sketching and surreal drawings just weren't for her. Aimee counts on watercolor to bring her a sense of peace and balance and bring her harmony while she's realized that photography is her money maker. While there are many forms of photography, conceptual has proven to be her favorite. There is just something amazing about being able to see an impossible image in her head and being able to bring it to life in a way no one else could with her camera and computer. This for Aimee is what true happiness is. Creating brings her a certain kind of joy and happiness that cannot be replicated by anything else.

The Peacekeeper: Coming from a family of all girls, sometimes things can get catty. This happens rather frequently between her two sisters whom have many things in common but differ on the opinion of which boy on Survivor is the hottest and who's shoes are the cutest. While they typically only fight about mundane and small things, Aimee is always somehow dragged into it and used as the tie-breaker. While Aimee finds it somewhat annoying, deep down she doesn't really mind as it usually is a way for them to bond and they end up laughing over it later on. It's only when her sisters get into a serious fight that she buckles down and takes it upon herself to mend the relationship. This usually requires several hours and a room in which to mediate. People often ask her why she doesn't just let them work it out themselves to which she replies "because if I do that, things would never get solved. It's just easier for everyone this way". Her sisters are rather stubborn whereas Aimee is go with the flow, making her the perfect mediator. Like the smaller fights, these bigger ones bring them all closer together despite the differences each one has.

The Doormat: Aimee by no means has a strong personality. She opts to be quiet and is usually considered "the listener", whether it's by choice or force is usually circumstantial. Maybe this isn't exactly the greatest quality to possess when pursuing a career in photography as the photographers are required to be quite vocal about the image they want. Perhaps this is why she uses herself for her conceptual art, as she knows what she wants and lacks the ability to give clear instruction. When she's at a portrait shoot, she usually lets the wife take over and pose her children the way she wants only getting Aimee's input when she wants it while she lets Aimee take and edit the pictures. Aimee believes this stems from a young age where she let herself be used as a doll by her sisters whenever they wanted to play with makeup and dress up with her. While it's not considered a negative trait in Aimee's mind it qualifies as something she needs to work on.

The Recluse: To put it simply, Aimee doesn't have friends. She has coworkers she gets along with and a few acquaintances that she doesn't mind having lunch with every now and again but no one she would qualify as a 'friend'. That's why it's so easy for her to move around and travel from city to city, because she has no one to leave behind. Planting herself in the city of Los Angeles, she expects things will be the same way. While her family worries about her for this very reason, she really doesn't mind. Her work is her love and her camera is her soulmate. Maybe one of these days she'll invest in a dog but until then, she is quite content with being alone and quiet. In all honest she doesn't mind going more than 24 hours without actually hearing her own voice. 

The Impulsive: Every now and again Aimee likes to break away from her comfort zone and do something impulsive, something she wouldn't normally do. Most girls her age would consider buying a pair of expensive shoes that they wouldn't normally, Aimee's idea is  to take on a risky assignment such as catching a famous actor in the act with his mistress. Some say Aimee has a bit of paparazzi blood in her after all but she will go to the grave swearing she's not. Despite her thin and weak looking stature Aimee can run and jump when the adrenaline starts pumping if she has reason to be doing so, especially if she's being chased.This impulsiveness has a tendency to get Aimee in trouble and her family are not pleased when they get a phone call at 3 in the morning from Aimee asking to get bailed out. There is just something about breaking away from her everyday typical routine life that she loves, especially the adrenaline rush she always gets. Rest assured though that at the end of the night or early in the morning she always returns home with minor cuts and bruises to the safe confines of her bed where the returns back to her normal self. 

0-7 Years old: Aimee was born born into a family consisting of two parents who already had a little girl whom resided in Washington. They were delighted to have another girl and thus this new little girl came be named Aimee Lynn Winters (after the mother's mother). Amiee's new sister Annalise quite possibly was the most excited of the three if that were possible because now she had a little sister who she could play dress-up and pretend with. It was obvious that Aimee had been born into a very loving family and growing up she could feel this. As Aimee grew up and went through the various stages of development, Aimee developed a deep, very strong bond with her father. While her mother and sister were very girl and loved all things pink, Aimee was different. She was more reserved, she enjoyed things like reading and looking at maps and coloring to playing with makeup and princesses. When Aimee's second sister Annie was born (they had a thing for A names) everyone was even more happy because Annie grew up to love all things girly which made Annalise and her mother happy and it made Aimee happy because now she would be left alone to do things with her father in peace. It was a win-win situation for all involved. Though she didn't have much in common with her sister's she still loved them dearly. 

 On Aimee's first day of school, her teacher noticed something quite peculiar about Aimee. Instead of running around excited or huddling in the corner shy and afraid, she sat calmly at the little round tables quietly and impartial as if she had done this kind of thing hundreds of times before. Day after day it was like that, she sat at the tables calmly and would ask to color. It was obvious that Aimee had an affinity for art and very much enjoyed it. As she grew older she discovered different mediums as mentioned above but gravitated towards watercolor and then eventually photography. The explanation as to why she loves watercolor is simply a mystery. Aimee finds it soothing for the soul and can appreciate the delicate strokes. She loves to see the care that can go into each piece or the lack thereof that some exhibit. Each piece of art is different and that quite possibly is what she loves most about art in general: no matter how hard you try nothing can be exactly replicated. 

When Aimee was seven her world turned upside down. Her father who had been the picture of health (in her eyes) suddenly died of a rare form of intestinal cancer. For Aimee this was absolutely earth shattering as that was who she bonded to the most. He was her rock when she needed stability and her light when she was feeling lost, what was she going to do now? While life moved on as it naturally does after the loss of a loved one, Aimee no longer felt completely whole. While her mother tried to convince her that their father was watching them and protecting them from up above in Heaven, Aimee wasn't buying it. This is when Aimee's need for the occasional adrenaline rush began. While a therapist considered it a coping mechanism, Aimee was really trying to prove whether or not her father really was protecting her from harm and the behavior just kind of stuck.

 8-14 Years Old

Adjusting to life with her two sisters and a mother wasn't nearly as hard as Aimee had expected it. They still left her alone as by now they knew she wasn't really the dress-up, make-up, pretend type and just let her do her own thing. While she was lonelier her mother tried her hardest to bridge the gap they had had before her father had died. Her mother and her read books together and even painted together (much to her surprise, her mother was fairly good). While the pain was still present, each day grew easier and easier to deal with and quite a bit more bearable. Life returned to normal (as normal as it could get anyway) and Aimee returned to being a semi-recluse in school.

Middle school flew by in a blur and while Aimee wasn't exactly picked on, no one really paid her much attention either. That was the beauty of being a late bloomer and not exactly having a chest; she could fly under the radar and keep to her simple life. She wasn't involved in any drama because art was a one-man job, and while she was talented she was smart enough to know not to flaunt it. 

When Aimee hit high school, things changed. By now she had boobs (much to her dismay) which attracted some attention and everything became more competitive. Like in middle school she kept to herself and worked on her art. Her freshman year was smooth sailing but then she hit sophomore year and things changed even more. For one she was being asked to compete her art in local shows which garnered her attention. Her works were entered, some won, most didn't but got some kind of honorable mention, which made her family very proud. For another, she gained the attention of boys. This was completely new territory for poor Aimee, luckily she had two sisters more than willing to help her out; even going as far as trying to teach her how to put make-up on and how to flirt back with boys. While it was fun for Aimee to bond with her sisters, the whole "girly" thing just wasn't her cup of tea like it hadn't been when she was younger. Accepting that she'd probably die alone, Aimee turned her attention back to her art the place where her heart really lie. When getting ready to sign up for next year's classes Aimee's art teacher pulled her aside to try and convince her to take a digital imaging class that the school was offering next year. Reluctant at first, Aimee finally caved one night after laying in bed thinking about it for quite awhile. 

15-22 Years old

With a fresh new year ahead of her, Aimee dove head first into her junior year not expecting to fall in love with digital imaging the way she did. Her relationship with computers and cameras in general had a rocky start, one could call it a love-hate relationship but with much practice and patience (and a wee bit of stubbornness) Aimee was able to catch on and eventually develop her own style. This was the year of style for Aimee as she learned what she liked and didn't like when it came to art. She realized she loved the impossible, she loved creating something that couldn't possibly exist in real-life and what she loved most about conceptual photography was that she could make it look like real with photoshop magic.  

This year was also important for Aimee in terms of the future and what she might want to do. While Aimee's older sister had opted to go to cosmetology school, Aimee knew she wanted to go to college. The only problem was how she would afford it. After talking to her counselor and mother many times over, she decided her best chances of getting the most money was through her art. Her grades were okay but not good enough to get her a full ride anywhere and while she knew she would get some "pity money" as she called it because her father had passed away when she was younger, it still wouldn't be enough. With that goal in mind, Aimee set out into her senior year to try to obtain a scholarship to the University of Washington, just a few hours drive away from where her family lived. Not thinking to use her newfound skills in photography, Aimee tried painting up a storm to no avail. Just when she thought it was all over an idea overcame her and while it wasn't the greatest thing admissions has ever seen, it was certainly the best piece in her portfolio and enough to cover a little over 75% of her tuition costs. Thoroughly satisfied with that, Aimee graduated with a semi-decent GPA and even a few people who she'd consider friends (mainly art nerds like her).


In the days leading up to her departure to college, Aimee was found wandering around the house in slippers in shorts not feeling the least bit inspired. Reaching deep down in her heart of hearts she knew she was scared. To the innocent bystander it just looked like Aimee was being moody but those closest to her knew otherwise. At night Aimee could be heard seemingly talking to herself. If one took a step closer and listened they would realize that she wasn't talking to herself but to her dad, hoping he would give her strength or a sign or something to let her know she was doing the right thing.  Now Aimee wasn't exactly religious nor would she consider herself spiritual, she just had to hope that he was up there listening to her and helping guide her in the best way he knew how.


College came sooner than Aimee would have liked and naturally her mother being her mother had to make it into a big family ordeal. Both of her sisters moved her into her new dorm and of course a plethora of pictures were taken, none by Aimee herself, all her mother. While moving in was nerve wracking at first Aimee eventually adjusted and even got along fairly well with her roommate. Another art major like her, unlike Aimee, her roommate specialized in sculpting and clay. Freshman year zoomed by and before she knew it Aimee was already into her sophomore year. She had a slightly larger group of friends by this point though not by much and she was for the most part content. Every once and awhile she'd pick up her camera she had gotten for her birthday one year and fool around with it. Playing with it and then playing with it in photoshop always made her happy whereas watercolor these days weren't as much. By the end of the fall semester her sophomore year, Aimee had officially changed her major to photography with a minor in digital imaging. 

Throughout college Aimee did a lot of growing up. She gained a greater sense of who she was and allowed herself to be surrounded by friends who showed that they genuinely cared about her. Aimee had an overall solid college experience and while it wasn't filled with partying and boozing it up, she wouldn't change it for anything. Graduation came way too fast and once again Aimee found herself at home after being away for four full years. Again Aimee began to pace the house in her slippers in attempts to figure out her next move. She had this degree how was she supposed to use it? At nights she'd talk to dad (something that had turned into sort of a habit for her when she needed someone to talk to) like she used to in the summer before she started college.

After months of literally moping around trying to figure out what to do, Aimee's littlest sister had an idea: What if she went to California? Aimee thought about this and the more she thought about it, the more it grew on her. That's exactly what she'd do! Packing up her things, Aimee once again set out on a new adventure, this time not as timid or afraid. 

Now:

After having spent the last year and a half traveling up and down California looking for jobs, Aimee has planted herself right in Los Angeles. She's set up a job through an agency who whores her photography skills out to whatever paper currently sees and likes her work. While she isn't exactly living the dream, she isn't poor and living on the streets either so that is something to be thankful for. Aimee has gone back to being alone, not attempting to make friends only because she knows she'll only end up moving on a few months anyway. What really bums her out is that she hasn't had time to  take the amount of conceptual photography pieces that she's wanted to. The next best thing that comes close to that is portrait photography. Not her favorite but definitely high up on the list, Aimee takes portraits on the side as a way to gain spending money when she wants to go visit her family up in Washington or go out for some sushi.