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Cindy
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Name: Cindy Murray |
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Professional
Profile:
As
you can see in the non-Lara photo, as an entrepreneur, I produce and market
gourmet cooking sauces. What
inspired me to develop my business was comments from dinner guests that money
could be made from my sauces. An
article I read in a local newspaper described how Asian food buyers visiting a
Canadian International Food and Beverage Show in Toronto were looking for 500
new Canadian food products to add to their shopping list. From that point on I never looked back.
Now my products are in local supermarkets and I plan to
introduce the products to the US specialty retail market within the next
year. The Asian and European markets are part of my long-term
strategy over the next several years.
Similarities
to Lara:
The
greatest similarity must be my age. Like
Lara, I am 34 years of age and my taste in clothing is very similar to hers as
well – maybe it is the era we were raised in.
Several years ago, I used to braid my hair regularly, in fact, just like
Lara’s. However, being in
business now I usually tie it up in
a bun or at the nape of my neck.
In
regards to personality traits, I am a very curious person and I do love to
explore many things in life and once I set my mind on something, I don’t let
anything or anyone get in the way - that sounds like Lara to the Max.
Like Lara, a combination of work and geographic distance keeps me
from spending more time with family. My entire life I have been a rather distant and introverted individual
who prefers to go it alone. More
similarities are under the hobbies section.
People tell me my looks are very similar. Last Halloween I dressed as Lara and most, particularly the young fellas, knew who I was immediately. Some girls even commented that I had her face and waistline and there were cries from crowd ‘We Love You Lara’. I had to spray them with my water gun to cool them down. Though there was stiff competition, with elaborate wolf and even mechanically operated costumes which took months of tedious work, my Lara Croft costume received honourable mention - not to shabby for an outfit rushed together from my closet at the last moment.
Why
I am Entering:
I
am entering due to the constant nagging from one of Lara’s biggest fans - Ken.
He wants a couple of the winning prizes for his collection - he already has
several of her dolls, her guns and holsters, and plays Tomb raider religiously
using 3-D to get the maximum effect if you know what I mean.
As for me I would love to have some of her clothing particularly her long
black boots. A nice sum of money
would be even better though. As I
am sure you can appreciate, getting a business off the ground requires
significant financial investment.
Costumes
and Photos:
Ken
took my photos using a borrowed digital camera. I am not sure how good the images are for your contest, they
are not at a good resolution and the photos were done quickly over a period of a
few hours. Lacking sufficient time to invest in preparing several outfits to
impersonate Lara, we managed to put together three outfits from my closet.
Another one or two outfits could have been done as well if I had the
time. One is impersonating the
classic Lara, another is imitating Lara in her evening gown from her brand new
statue, and the third is a cat suit style that Lara would likely wear.
The backpack I am wearing used to belong to my dog ‘Baddest’ before
he passed away a few years ago. He
wore it when hiking to carry his own food and water.
Hobbies:
As
you would probably guess, being in business doesn’t permit much leisure time.
So I don’t get to do these things below as much as I would like to -
but I try to set aside a few hours here and there to re-charge and focus.
Basically, I do whatever strikes me at the moment and what I do is often
dependent of the time of year. Hiking
is one of my favourite things, followed by skiing, mountain biking and roller-blading.
I
usually hike and bike in autumn when temperatures are cooler and there is a
beautiful backdrop of bright colours. One
of my favourite places to hike is along Topsail Beach, 20 minutes, outside of
the Capital City of St. John's, where I live.
The beach is bordered by big rocks which are great for 'rock hopping',
and it brings you to a shallow cave carved out in a talc cliff face - it is a
beautiful place to watch the sunset. Occasionally I like to explore abandoned
buildings and old wooden and concrete structures when visiting small coastal
communities of Newfoundland - which is the earliest settlement in North America.
During
winter I ski as often as I can, particularly when the conditions are right.
In winter, there is absolutely nothing as pleasing to the eye as the sun
reflecting off the snow - it looks like a million diamonds right before you.
Skiing helps me get through the long cold and dark winters which is so
characteristic of Newfoundland - which is basically a huge oddly shaped rock
jutting out of the cold North Atlantic Ocean.
As harsh and varied as the Newfoundland climate can be, it ('the rock')
is my playground.
Berry picking
is great for relaxing and meditating. I
like to pick strawberries, raspberries, blackberries, blueberries, bake apples,
etc. There is one place I like to
go where I can pick strawberries while enjoying the cool ocean breeze, wale watching,
and just admiring the jagged coastline cliffs.
Sometimes, if I pick enough berries, I make my own wine.
My favourite is a full-bodied, medium to sweet, wine consisting of an
equal blend of blueberries and blackberries.
Several
times a year, I like to camp and fly-fish.
Campfire cooking is a nice change of pace from the usual kitchen and
backyard barbeques. At night it is
difficult to leave the warmth of the campfire, particularly on nights so clear
that you can see the milky way or the occasional meteor entering and burning up
in our atmosphere.
Astronomy
and space exploration interests me a great deal. Particularly the eventuality of
finding signs of life sustaining celestial bodies like ‘Earth’ orbiting some
of the other estimated 100 thousand million stars of the 100 thousand million
galaxies believed to comprise our universe.
The big question that both intrigues and aggravates me at the same time
is, how many earth-like planets are out there and how is life on them evolving?
Only to have the power to come back in the distant future when a means of
travel to neighbouring stars and galaxies may be possible.
Lara
may be lucky enough to witness this if she is successful in her search for the
‘Holy Grail’.
