2000-04-03

Click-click

I finally got around to taking the film from my New York trip over to be developed. I pick it up at 3.

I'm terrified.

As is somewhat evident by my picture page, I am not exactly photogenic. My friend Vu recently complimented me on my straightforwardness and bravery in putting up less-than-flattering shots of myself for all the world to see. The truth of the matter is that the number of flattering pictures of moi number in the single digits.

This is not to say that I consider myself unattractive; I simply do not photograph well, and haven't since about '76.

The arrival of my adult teeth, coupled with my near-sightedness, transformed me from a doe-eyed pink-cheeked cherub into a squinting, buck-toothed rodent in less than a year (certain well-meaning relatives helped to reinforce this image, by sending me one of those nightgowns with a cute animal on the front, with its pudgy little rump on the back -- my sister got one with a cute li'l kitten, I got a beaver).

Still, I looked "scrappy," which was well and good as I fancied myself a tomboy.

Alas, puberty added a couple of chins to my face, and I went from looking scrappy to looking downright pathetic. Sort of like Mrs. Potato Head. Really bad.

The years have proven kinder to my overall appearance, yet I still try to avoid having my picture taken. Invariably I'm caught at a bad angle, and the camera whelps a shot of me in all my snaggle-toothed, ski-jump-nosed glory. A zit or two always manages to magically appear in these shots as well, despite my having been clear-skinned prior to the flashbulb going off.

I tell you this not to be bombarded with emails praising my beauty (frankly, that kind of shit creeps me out); I suck at fishing for a compliment. As I've said, my self-image is on the whole a decent one.

Just don't take my picture, please.

lisamcc at 10:37:03

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