Friday, May 14, 2004
proof positive...
...that people tend to be a little harder on themselves than others will be. Or at least that I'm pretty tough about my photos.
Tuesday night, after BookCrossing, CuteNerdBoy and I had our customary post-BookCrossing dinner. I was a bit tired after two pretty stressful days at work (which are still less stressful than Lions Gate - heh), so I wasn't my usual sparkling self. Oh, I cracked jokes at the small meeting of three earlier in the evening, and there was laughter but sometimes my joke-making and conversation felt forced. And it was difficult for my brain to come up with any bon mots on its own.
Anyway. I was tired. I was not too talkative. But apparently I was feeling a little mischievous regardless. CuteNerdBoy had put his wallet on the table for some reason (I think this was after paying the check), so I decided to just grab it. And I did. Now, I wasn't going to open it or go through it or anything, though the thought had crossed my mind. After a quick, "Hey!", in retaliation, he also grabbed my lovely new wallet (b-day present from NewYorkWriter - nice and small, just the perfect size for me).
Unlike me, he had no qualms about opening my wallet. Possibly he thought I was going to root around in his billfold and he wanted to make the pre-emptive opening strike. So I opened his. I looked at a couple of his cards as he checked out my wallet.
"Pull out the bus pass," I suggested. He ooh'd and aah'd over the pretty holographic bus pass, but I told him that wasn't what I wanted him to look at. Under the bus pass he saw my brand new driver's license. I was about to mention that I didn't like the picture as much as my previous DL photos (I tend to be surprisingly photogenic in my DL photos) when he nodded and said it was a nice photo of me, or words to that effect.
I think I stared at him a little in surprise, because while it isn't a horrible photo, I don't think it's all that good, especially when I compare it to my previous DL photo. Then again, I'm so bleached out in the 1999 photo that any flaws that might exist were washed away - it's almost like soft focus. You can barely tell I have a nose. And I noticed that my face was much rounder in the '99 picture. But I guess I feel the 2004 photo just emphasizes the fact that my skin ain't that great (though that probably has more to do with the way the license is created), my hair needs a good styling and that I definitely have aged a bit in the last five years. I know I still don't look 38, but in that picture I certainly don't look to be in my late 20's, as some people have guessed.
I think I demurred, as I always do, but I guess I just need to learn to take a damn compliment already. Besides, as I told him, the new picture (and another one taken at BookCrossing on Tuesday) has convinced me that I really need a haircut, no matter how much BabySis and ModelGirl like the "romantic" look of my current long hair. Though I won't go back to the short hair of 1999. While some friends have gushed over how cute that haircut was on me, it just took way too much time to style and I don't have that kind of patience or time.
Anyway, I certainly appreciated CuteNerdBoy's comment, even if I had trouble accepting it. That, combined with his earlier surprise at the BookCrossing meeting that I hadn't been asked to recap TV shows for Television Without Pity (we were telling the other BookCrossing member about the website), served to put a nice little smile on my poor stressed out face for the rest of the evening.
Maybe I should stop being so hyper-critical about my pictures. And about my poor hair. Okay, maybe not about the hair. Though it's only been a couple of months since it was last cut, it desperately needs some styling.
But definitely about the pictures. Maybe.
(FYI, his DL picture? Brand new this year and quite cute. I think my surprise at his comment stilled my tongue. As much as it can ever be stilled.)
*************************
In my phone call with WriterBoy last weekend I told him about the horrendousness that is Van Helsing, warning him away from it as best as I could. So this week he sent me a link to fifteen minute synopsis of Van Helsing. Hee!
Tuesday night, after BookCrossing, CuteNerdBoy and I had our customary post-BookCrossing dinner. I was a bit tired after two pretty stressful days at work (which are still less stressful than Lions Gate - heh), so I wasn't my usual sparkling self. Oh, I cracked jokes at the small meeting of three earlier in the evening, and there was laughter but sometimes my joke-making and conversation felt forced. And it was difficult for my brain to come up with any bon mots on its own.
Anyway. I was tired. I was not too talkative. But apparently I was feeling a little mischievous regardless. CuteNerdBoy had put his wallet on the table for some reason (I think this was after paying the check), so I decided to just grab it. And I did. Now, I wasn't going to open it or go through it or anything, though the thought had crossed my mind. After a quick, "Hey!", in retaliation, he also grabbed my lovely new wallet (b-day present from NewYorkWriter - nice and small, just the perfect size for me).
Unlike me, he had no qualms about opening my wallet. Possibly he thought I was going to root around in his billfold and he wanted to make the pre-emptive opening strike. So I opened his. I looked at a couple of his cards as he checked out my wallet.
"Pull out the bus pass," I suggested. He ooh'd and aah'd over the pretty holographic bus pass, but I told him that wasn't what I wanted him to look at. Under the bus pass he saw my brand new driver's license. I was about to mention that I didn't like the picture as much as my previous DL photos (I tend to be surprisingly photogenic in my DL photos) when he nodded and said it was a nice photo of me, or words to that effect.
I think I stared at him a little in surprise, because while it isn't a horrible photo, I don't think it's all that good, especially when I compare it to my previous DL photo. Then again, I'm so bleached out in the 1999 photo that any flaws that might exist were washed away - it's almost like soft focus. You can barely tell I have a nose. And I noticed that my face was much rounder in the '99 picture. But I guess I feel the 2004 photo just emphasizes the fact that my skin ain't that great (though that probably has more to do with the way the license is created), my hair needs a good styling and that I definitely have aged a bit in the last five years. I know I still don't look 38, but in that picture I certainly don't look to be in my late 20's, as some people have guessed.
I think I demurred, as I always do, but I guess I just need to learn to take a damn compliment already. Besides, as I told him, the new picture (and another one taken at BookCrossing on Tuesday) has convinced me that I really need a haircut, no matter how much BabySis and ModelGirl like the "romantic" look of my current long hair. Though I won't go back to the short hair of 1999. While some friends have gushed over how cute that haircut was on me, it just took way too much time to style and I don't have that kind of patience or time.
Anyway, I certainly appreciated CuteNerdBoy's comment, even if I had trouble accepting it. That, combined with his earlier surprise at the BookCrossing meeting that I hadn't been asked to recap TV shows for Television Without Pity (we were telling the other BookCrossing member about the website), served to put a nice little smile on my poor stressed out face for the rest of the evening.
Maybe I should stop being so hyper-critical about my pictures. And about my poor hair. Okay, maybe not about the hair. Though it's only been a couple of months since it was last cut, it desperately needs some styling.
But definitely about the pictures. Maybe.
(FYI, his DL picture? Brand new this year and quite cute. I think my surprise at his comment stilled my tongue. As much as it can ever be stilled.)
In my phone call with WriterBoy last weekend I told him about the horrendousness that is Van Helsing, warning him away from it as best as I could. So this week he sent me a link to fifteen minute synopsis of Van Helsing. Hee!
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