"First from my mom, middle and last from my dad."
Finley Mei Tien
Nickname
"Fin isn't uncommon- only sophomores or freshmen really call me President."
Fin, President, Finley
Age
"I swear, if you start singing that Taylor Swift song."
Twenty-two [22]
Major
"This may sound dumb, but I want to be an Imagineer."
Animation and Film making
Sexuality
"People. I like People."
Pansexual
House
"Best house on campus."
Theta Chi
Thoughts on being a Theta:
"I love my house- Theta is one of the houses that has the tightest bonds among sisters, and having been an only child, I value that a lot. Besides, our girls are known for their intelligence, and I think that it's great to be with a sorority associated with that. Maybe we take a bit of crap from some of the other sororities, but in the end, Theta is the place to be. But, of course I love Theta- I am the president this year, after all."
Dialogue Color
#2d7a2d
"It is not in doing what you like, but in liking what you do that is the secret of happiness."
- Peter Pan
Drawing || Computer Animation || Pixar || Disney || Studio Ghibli || Photography || Fairy Tales || Theta Chi || Intelligence || Work Ethic || Sweaters || Snow || Rain || Floppy Hats || Chinese [æŽéč¯] || Handwriting "I find handwriting telling of a person- and people who write beautifully, I often find to be beautiful" || Reading || String Covers || Ska Music || Blueberries || Mint Chocolate Chip Ice Cream || Jasmine Tea || Listening to Stories || Watching People who speak with their hands || Comic Books || Dropping in on Classes
Dislikes
Her Dancing || Reality TV Shows || Coffee || Starbucks || Alphas || Bullying || Nonfiction Stories || Doctor Zimbardo Documentaries || Really Large Handwriting || Stupidity || Excessive Vanity || Frozen Yogurt || Digital Music || Warm Winters "And yet, here I am, in Florida- Southern Florida." || Naturally Loud Voices || Southern Accents || Oxymorons || Filler Words || Small Talk || Snobbery || Busy Clothing || Sleet || Sweatpants || UGG Boots || Tabloid Magazines || Snakes || Bananas || People Asking her to draw them
Fears
Snakes || Not Finding Work After College || Failing as President
"They say the best blaze burns the brightest when circumstances are at their worst."
- Howl's Moving Castle
Finley is a very creative individual, and has been from a very young age. While most children have the tendency to prattle off fantasy things and have very active imaginations, she was an instance in which this continued to be the case much later into her life than one would expect, though she did eventually learn to stop telling people about playing pretend- her peers became far less interested in it by fourth grade, while she still was going strong in worlds of her own imagination. It is perhaps because of this gift, and love, for the creation of new worlds that Finley wants to be an animator or imagineer someday. She wants to be the one to create the worlds, not simply draw them, but figures that she must first start out drawing the visions of others before she can move on and become a world-creator in her own right. One thing to be mentioned about her creativity is that it is very detailed-oriented. She values art that just perfectly expresses the wind blowing across each strand of hair far more than she does that which captures an entire scene. Then, Finley is rather detail-oriented in all that she does, not simply in her art. The girl is not quite a perfectionist, partially because she doesn't believe in actual perfection, but she certainly can be very strict about making sure that little details turn out perfectly. The girl can spend hours working just on the slight curve of a sketch's hand, because it isn't right yet, and on putting flecks of dirt under a character's fingernails. Details are what make things come to life, in her eyes- UP would have been slightly lesser if not for the tweediness of the coat, and Brave may have lacked a bit of luster were it not for the detail put into Merida's hair. Finley has a passion for the littler things that others might overlook.
And from this tendency to notice the minor things stems a hardworking person, who is steadfast that those little things must be done correctly. Finley is not the sort to take a break from a difficult project and go out to have some fun. Perhaps, actually, that would be the best thing to do- to clear one's mind. But it is not her. Finley, rather, will sit and work on something for hours at a time, not letting up on herself until she has reached whatever specific goal she had in mind, whether that be to finish a portion of a sketch or to complete the entire thing. The girl often has to be dragged away from her work by friends if she hasn't finished it- she often will thank them later, however, for the break allows her to perhaps lock onto that which she had been missing because she had been focusing too hard on one aspect of it. The young woman doesn't really know any other way to be, though- she comes from a family which emphasizes that if one is going to do something, they will do it well, and will not cast aside that which they have already picked up. It goes against her breeding to give up on something, or walk away from a project. It almost makes her physically uncomfortable to do so, in fact. The young woman would rather stay up until four in the morning to finish a project, especially if she's on a roll with it, than go to sleep knowing that it is only half-finished. Add this work ethic to her intelligence, and she usually does a good enough job of things she commits herself too- still, she never quite reaches perfection, at least not in her eyes. Perhaps it doesn't exist, or perhaps she's still unable to grab hold of that extra something that makes a simply good movie into a masterpiece.
The girl is clever enough, though that isn't exactly atypical among the Theta Chi girls. Someone without a few wits about them would have a rather difficult time getting into the sorority known for its intellects, and certainly wouldn't find themselves as the president. When Finley first entered this university, she was bright enough to be accepted into Theta Chi. A few years of experience and the like helped to give her pushes forward, until she became the girl she is today- one who is irrefutably intelligent. Perhaps she isn't the typical 'theoretical physics' sort of intelligent, but she tends to know what she's doing in whatever she sets her mind to, and isn't the sort to lose her senses easily. She knows her stuff, and is capable of retaining her knowledge in situations of distress- most of the time, anyway. She can become a bit flustered at times, usually when pressed by deadlines or obsessing over a project, but otherwise the girl is able to keep her wits about her quite well.
In all honesty, Presidency, when it comes down to it, is not really determined completely by skill or intelligence. Perhaps partially so, but still. It is decided based upon who is liked by their peers, and in Theta Chi, kindness can go a long way. It was previously mentioned that Finley is quite good about noticing the little things- well, that applies to those around her, as well. She may not always see the big picture, but the young woman will notice a frequent clearing of the throat, or evasiveness about a subject, and is pretty decent at tuning in to whatever the issue is at the moment. She is somewhat sensitive to the emotions of others, though she's hardly infallible in her judgements, and she will do what she can in an attempt to help those around her- especially when they are close to her. Perhaps the only thing which can pull her away from a project is the need of a friend. She is loyal to those who are loyal to her, and kind to all of the members of Theta Chi. This perhaps stems a bit from her optimism, as well. The young woman likes to believe in possibilities, and that includes the possibility to help those who are hurt around her. She may not always believe the best in people, but she does believe that everyone can do something to help others, and does her best to be part of this.
Despite a sharp mind and an eye for details, Finley is hopelessly disorganized. Her room is frequently something of a mess, with latest projects sitting wherever there is room, piles of clothing to be put away stacked against the wall, and post-it notes covering the wall with reminders that date back weeks. As a general rule, she doesn't allow strangers into her bedroom because she's certain that a) they will immediately judge her and b) they will become lost forever in the void. While the girl does manage to finish all of her projects, it is because she works on them without stopping- otherwise, she would be likely to put them somewhere and then lose them. Her wall is a collage of random things that she has found and liked, such as clippings of disney characters or interesting articles. To be honest, she works best in this chaos, and most of her best work has been completed while her room was in its most disastrous state. Well, maybe that's because she ignored it until it built up, having been on a role. One of her favorite things to mock about herself is what an absolute mess her room is, among other things. The girl's primary sense of humor comes in two forms: references and self-mocking. She certainly knows how to laugh at herself, perhaps a bit too much at time. It isn't that she has a low self esteem, per se, but that she laughs the hardest when she's been called out on something, and finds her self-mocking humor to be much more honest than any other sort might be.
Creative || Detail-Oriented || Hardworking || Clever || Kind || Optimistic || Disorganized || Self-Mocking Humor
"Our fate lies within us. You only have to be brave enough to see it."
- Brave
Finley Tien was born in Beijing to a woman from the UK, England to be precise, named Joan Holmes, and a Beijing Native, Chung Tien. Thus, she grew up in Beijing, raised bilingually to speak both English and Chinese. Learning to read English happened before learning to read Chinese, though she did ultimately learn both in school. The girl was very bright as a child, and imaginative as well, something which her mother, a magazine editor, liked quite a bit in her child. Growing up in a bilingual home did mean that Finley was ahead of some of her classmates when she eventually began schooling, though only in that respect. She had to work just as hard as the rest did, if not harder in certain areas, at the other subjects, such as mathematics and science. Still, she got along quite well in school, and was, to a certain degree, spared the amount of pressure that many of her classmates had on their shoulders from their parents. When the girl was around seven years old, she moved away from Beijing and to Hong Kong, mostly at the desire of her mother, who wanted to be around more people of the same nationality.
In Hong Kong, Finley noticed a somewhat more relaxed, though not completely so, school environment. The school that she enrolled in there was one which was somewhat more relaxed, and had a far greater population of kids who were not fully Chinese than her old school had possessed. Many of her classmates were bilingual, as she was, and some classes were taught in English, while the others were taught in Chinese, depending on the teacher, typically. Her school was one that accepted a lot of transfer students and such, therefore being a very interesting environment, especially for a girl who, at her previous school, had been one of the handful of half-Chinese students. Her life in Hong Kong was relatively short lived, however, and when she was eleven years old, after four years of living there, her family moved again. That is, half of it did- the move to Hong Kong had made Joan homesick, or interacting with other British Expats had, at least, but Chung had not wanted to leave his home country, where all of his family lived, and where his business, which at this point was flourishing, was located. As the argument over this continued, both pushed more towards their own work, and eventually, filed for a divorce. Joan took Finley to live with her back in London.
It took Finley a little bit to adjust to the British School System at that point, as she had been enrolled in local Chinese schools up until that point. On top of her schooling, she also began going to extra classes for Chinese, at the wishes of her father, who didn't want his daughter to lose the language which she had grown up with. At first, she had a somewhat strong accent, and was teased for it by some of her classmates, who thought it rather funny. Her mother may have had a British accent, but she picked up her mannerisms for speaking from her peers, after all. However, as her mind was still young and flexible, her accent gradually shifted over the next few years, become less distinctly Chinese and blending with British until she had more of a British tone to her voice. She continued to go to school in England until she was sixteen years old, at which point her mother had apparently gotten over her homesickness, and accepted a job in New York City, where they picked up and moved to. Luckily, it was the beginning of the school year, and thus the young woman was able to at least start the new high school freshly. Whereas her Chinese accent had led to mocking at her old school, classmates in New York seemed to like her British accent, and she was accepted rather well into this new school, which had a focus on the arts.
Now, Finley had been into art ever since she was young, and had known she wanted to do something with it for a long time. But it was in High school that she began to have a clear idea of what she wanted to do with her life- animation. She had a life-long love for animated movies, after all, so this desire seemed natural, as soon as she realized it. The girl went through high school rather smoothly, spending two years of it in a relationship that ended on good terms, and getting rather excellent grades due to her work ethic and intelligence. She had continued going back to China to visit her father every Summer since moving, and had the tendency to take extra courses while she was there (something to do while her father was at work). Over all, Finley had quite enjoyed her college life, though she had been a bit disapproving when her mother began dating a coworker who she didn't like much at first. Even he grew on her, eventually, and so things went rather well indeed.
Of course, the height of the year was when she received her acceptance letter to Fulton University, which had an excellent animation program that was known for creating several successful animators who liked to hire from their alma mater. She went and pledged to Theta Chi, where she fit like a glove. And the girl has been there ever since, leading up to this year, where she is now president, had an internship with Disney last summer, and is planning another one next summer.