Meme.

[helbling]

So, here's a new meme, and something of a carry on from my last post, because I've had a couple of people get in touch and say they have exactly the same problem of internal image != what photos show them.

And this is me flailingly trying to help.

If I'm someone you know from IRL (or if you're someone I know from cyberspace and post lots of photos), comment on this post and I will tell you what I think you look like in my head. Without referring to photos. Without looking at any notes. I will tell you what my mental image is of you.

If you feel so inclined, feel free to steal this for your journal.

Comments

[flickums.livejournal.com]

Comment! :)

[helbling.livejournal.com]

CHEEKBONES!

Dude, seriously, that's what I see when I see you in my head - you rock your cheekbones something awesome.

Plus, hair. I have a thing for curly/frizzy hair and have since I was a kid (this might become a theme, given how many of my friends are so blessed), so I know you've had problems with yours in the past, but I like it.

But those are the two main defining factors for me when I picture you - I mean, nice eyes, nice mouth and all, but those are the two that kind of stand out to me as being 'Hey, it's Flick!'

[xanthipe]

I'll bite, cautiously...

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Lots for you, probably because I see you relatively often.

Hair - I fixate on hair a lot, but my hair on a good day aspires to be what yours looks like on a bad day.
Hands - yours are graceful, and I remember you having really nice nails; oval shaped, naturally white tipped. I have no idea if you ca nkeep them lik that for typing purposes, but I know you had them like that once, and it's stuck.
Lips - your's have - at least in my head - a perfectly formed cupid's bow on your top lip.
Skin - your skin is always tawny and always flawless. And you never seem to go *red* you always just flush attractively in ways that highlights your awesome bone structure.

[dbexx.livejournal.com]

Okay.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Your figure - more precisely, your waist; you have this perfect hourglass figure, and it makes you seem feminine in a way that somehow also in myhead means you're several inches shorter than I am, despite the fact I KNOW IRL you're roughly the same height.
Wrists. Don't ask me where the hell this came from, but in my head, you also have really slender wrists (and ankles, but you also normally are clad in stompy boots, so they pop out less).
Your laugh - not technically a physical feature, but the manner and gestures you make when you laugh - head slightly thrown back, you never ever laugh with your mouth shut, your lips always part at least slightly, even if you're doing that thing where you laugh through gritted teeth, and is very attractive when you do. (Laughing in general that is, not laughing while pissed the fuck off.)
Jawline, it's not heavy in anyway, before I make myself misunderstood ^_^ It's both feminine and defined, and it somehow compliments your mouth, which is kind of...rosebud ish? Ok, it's not, but that's the rough sort of shape, and your lips have very good colour.
Also, your eyes are very blue ^_^

[dbexx.livejournal.com]

You made me smile an awful lot with this. Thank you.

Curiosity makes me ask - what colour(s) is my voice to you? Is/are there associations?

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Blues. Mostly familiar and easily elegant. You're very often navy, but can go royal blue when you're putting emphasis into it. A lot of my loved ones have blue voices actually; it might be something I go for, I find them quite comforting and soothing.

[hermit.livejournal.com]

I'm intrigued, especially since we've never met.... ;-)

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Hair. Again - you have the curly/frizzy sort that as a child I wished to steal from other people's heads and implant into my own, hence the fascination with it, but I have you in my head as having that.
Also, I remember... *tries to do this without looking at any photos of you as promsied* black rimmed glasses? And you have an oval face and a perpetually big grin. Btu again, that might be photo influence.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

And ok, in my defense - having now checked your pictures - I swear there is a picture of you somewhere with glasses on!

[hermit.livejournal.com]

Haha! That's okay, it's the pic I posted of my daughter, Caelie, trying on HER first pair of glasses that you're recalling. I do wear glasses, though - after having LASIK in 2004 I'm now in need of bifocals so I just got fitted for a new pair recently (not black, though).

Apologies, since we've never met and I really don't post that many pics of myself. Otherwise, you pretty much got it. I do have naturally curly hair and an oval face, though! :-)

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

Ooh, how interesting. I'd be very interested.

*quickly changes avatar*

PJW

[helbling.livejournal.com]

Browns are an overtone with you - doesn't help that to my synesthesia, your voice sounds kind of woody brown, just to drive home the impression. You're generally tan, you're a brunette, but your eyes...are not? Erm, not sure.

Conventionally attractive in a way that makes lots of women go 'who's he?'*, rarely clean shaven but wears the stubble well. Short hair - I know you grew it out for a while dude, but it'll always be short in my head. My height. A very physical prescence that just says 'male'.

Always always with a big grin.

* - or, at least my mother did the first time she met you. >_

[pujaemuss.livejournal.com]

My eyes are indeed brown, tending towards hazel.

It's interesting; a lot of your description is things that I would love to think about myself, but very little that I genuinely believe. I read nearly every sentence with a smile and an instant internal, "Yes, but" riposte as I thought of my weak jaw, double chin or oleaginous cheeks.

PJW

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

Tentatively curious, as I frequently have difficulty associating my real image and my mental one*.

*The sound of my voice most of all

[helbling.livejournal.com]

If it helps, your voice is quite unique to me, because I don't see it as one colour, which is rare - it's common for me to get a colour with textures, or highlights, or even stranding, but yours is this really bold contrasting stripes. Strange.

Ok, you're about my height, have dark, thick hair and colouring which seems like it would go mediterranean olive if it got half a chance, but remains English rose pale. You have good colour in your cheeks, which helps bring out your facial structure, and dark, well defined, thick eyelashes and naturally well shaped eyebrows, making your eyes very much a memorable feature, although I can't remember for the life of me what colour they are. Also, for some reason, I associate you with knitted turtleneck jumpers. o_O

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

It does. I often feel the sound of my voice would fit a different person who speaks and thinks in a different way, so the contrasting stripes fits the two unmatched identities very well. Thanks :)

[same-difference.livejournal.com]

Also I'm not sure if I've ever worn a knitted turtleneck jumper.

[dantarian.livejournal.com]

Also interested, as photos of me rarely match my own mental image of myself.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

-Tall. I know you're not actually *that* much taller than me, but in my head, you very much are, which amuses me, because I know a few people who ARE an awful lot taller than me, and for the most part, I see them as of a height to myself.
- You and Judith are very much a matched pair, in that you both have good hair, and good skin, although your hair is closer to blonde than hers; skin tones, you're both the same smooth tawny hint-of-olive.
- You have a...stillness? about you. It's how you hold yourself - you are very much a picture of calm and considered movement, very graceful and smooth and generally very still, right up until the moment you need to move, at which point you are easy efficiency of motion. Which shouldn't make an impact on a static picture in my head, but it does.
- Voicewise, you're on the same woody-brown spectrum as Peter, but you're shifted into a kind of golden colour, while he is very definitely brown. Your laugh is similar to how a brass section looks.
-Classically handsome. Whereas I've said people previously are classically attractive, handsome is a different thing - I don't know how else to describe it, but that's how the layout of your features is in my head.
- HATS.

[aralli.livejournal.com]

I have two distinct and incongruous mental images of myself ... I'm interested to see which one is closest to yours.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

- Dark curly hair, looks thick, but light in movement, a little longer than shoulder length.
- The eyes-and-nose triangle is the main focus point of your facial features, eyes especially, despite the fact that one of the other memorable features I have for you is that you smile easily.
- You have good eyelashes.
- Slender, with a way of moving that's quite easy, and you run in an almost loping manner - generally full of energy, but not prone to fidgeting.
- A little shorter than me?
- Your voice is a light hazely-green, sometimes fading to forest green.

[aralli.livejournal.com]

Interesting - we differ in our mental pictures of me in quite a few ways!

For example, I always feel my hair is thin, frizzy, and lacking volume. And my eyelashes are very straight, so they make my already-small eyes look even smaller unless I go to town with an eyelash curler!

I've been thinking about my mental pictures of myself, you and other friends, and I've realised mine are much more impressions and feelings than images - I'm not good at picturing people visually, but I can put words on the kind of impact my mind feels from their presence.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

I'd be interested to know examples for that, actually. If you're comfortable sharing, that is.

[aralli.livejournal.com]

Sure :) This is my mental image of you, with an attempt to include physical features where I can. It got long ...

In my head, you are the Standard Female Height most women default to in my mental images - five foot six or seven, so an inch or two shorter than me (I'm five foot eight). Your hair is a long, golden-brown cascade, with volume coming from the active movement of each strand rather than sheer dense thickness. You have a healthy colour in your skin, as if you're real and present and not translucent.

Your eyes completely change how you appear when you're acting: I can picture you in lots of different roles, and your eyes are the focus of the distinctive personalities you put on. I can recall you looking very stern and businesslike, earnest and inquiring, skeptical, commanding, and silly, all from the power of expression in your eyes. When you're just being you, I tend to picture your face as being quite quiet but with shrewd eyes; watching and waiting to be animated by your next expression. I picture your eyes without make-up. After your eyes, I think of your mouth: neat and small when serious or restful, but capable of opening into expressive support for whatever emotion or state of mind you feel or portray next.

You are a physically strong and comforting presence in my mind - I can picture you fighting and being supportive and being highly competent at both. You dress neatly and unfussily, and you look comfortable and real in what you wear, and your clothes are practical with a distinctly feminine flair. You have the air of always being capable of dealing with whatever happens next. Your body is very versatile: rather than being specialised for one task, you are fit and able for pretty much anything placed in front of you, whether it requires grace, strength, power, quietness or regality.

You always seem as though you have a strong connection to your body that allows you to use it to reflect whatever state of mind you want it to - you don't seem like someone whose mind is off flitting somewhere while your body fidgets around; instead you can be a quiet, reassuring presence, a commanding warrior striking fear into the player crew, or an engaged, funny and loving person, and that state is a whole and comes together through your expression, your body, your voice, your words and your actions. You never seem dissonant, and that makes social gatherings where you are (situations in which I have a tendency to feel very anxious and exposed) feel safer and stronger. Therefore in my head you are tagged with words like 'safe', 'strong', 'real' and 'present' - the last two being traits that have a particular resonance for me.

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

This is a ridiculously sweet meme-idea. Can I ask for at least a couple of negative descriptors?

[helbling.livejournal.com]

You don't have much by way of negative descriptors, at least, not in my head :P I'm wondering if this is the problem - a lot of people have said I'm sugar-coating them, but I'm honestly not, it's just how I see them. Therefore, I wonder if I mentally sugar coat everyone, including myself - it would explain why I have such an awful gutwrench when I see pictures of myself.
Ok:
- Tall, you've got a good few inches on me.
- Dark hair, long, straight, if you're pushing me for negative descriptors, the ends are kind of scraggly :P
- You have a very 'pretty' face, which could look quite androgynous, were it not for the fact that the rest of you is unmistakably masculine; you have the classic broad-shoulders-narrow-waist often found on Disney prince characters.
- I perpetually see you in Biscuit's clothing. I'm sure you often dress in a more conventional manner, at least sometimes, but in my head, you are always in tie dye and a flourescent pink tutu miniskirt.
- Your voice is purple; normally quite a dark one, but when you do Biscuit's voice, it's a lot brighter and more jarring.

[aralli.livejournal.com]

I've seen Paul in a suit. It was weird.

[helbling.livejournal.com]

o____________________O Pics or it didn't happen.

[aralli.livejournal.com]

As that was the day we moved to Didcot, I'm afraid it slipped our minds!

[appyamy.livejournal.com]

I am a second witness, does this count? XD

[baloonworld.livejournal.com]

Thanks sweetie :P

[aralli.livejournal.com]

Do remember I'd only ever seen you as Biscuit, Potato and Lord Tarantraal before :)

[valient-starr.livejournal.com]

hello :D

[appyamy.livejournal.com]

Also, I very rarely make comments on stuff but this caught my attention and I couldn't resist.

I don't really think about my mental image of myself. I tend to assume a picture is the correct way someone looks then when I'm thinking about that person I focus on how they looked like the last time I saw them.

Which can get weird, some people end up as their characters in my head if that was who you were the last time we met...

[amnotcute.livejournal.com]

I've just come across this and I'm curious - seeing as it must be years since we've seen each other.