Thursday, February 09, 2006

How do I look?


When I read a book, I visualize the characters in my head. Sometimes I see them as the author describes them or sometimes I see them completely different. Does anyone else do that? It occurred to me today that I do that with ya'll too. Some of you I don't have an image in my head, and others I do. Some of you have pictures on your blogs (Kerri, Sandra, Allison, Keith, Carole,Scott) and that's how I see you. I don't do like I do with books and make up my own version of you, but for you others, I come up with an image all my own. For example, because of Nicole's picture on her blog, I picture her very modern with pulled back (blonde) hair and glasses and very crystal clear blue eyes. I also picture her to be thin and in a business suit. I picture Vivian with dark brown shoulder length hair. I imagine her to look a lot like one of my ex-coworkers, Nancy. Now, Dee, of Herman's Head, I picture him as bald with glasses. I'm guessing that's him looking out of the window on his blog. Julia, I picture her as medium build with shoulder length dark kind of wavy hair. Shannon, for some reason, I picture to look like Allison's identical twin. I think it's because when I first started blogging, I used to get Allison and Shannon confused. Don't ask me why. Allison is a PWD and Shannon is a mother of a PWD. Ellen, I picture you as an older lady. Not old really, just older than the rest. I guess because you're son is older. I also picture you with short blonde hair. ( BTW, I picture all of you as attractive people. I don't picture any of you as being hideously ugly or anything.) Ryan Bruner, I picture to look like a guy I used to date, thin with dirty blonde hair and blue eyes. With some of you I've seen pictures of your kids and I may gather what you look like by those for others, I have no rhyme or reason for why I picture you the way I do.

So, how did I do? Did I even come close with any of you? Does anyone else do this and if so, what do I look like to you? ( No fair for my family to answer.)




9 comments:

Shannon said...

I picture characters in books, too. I usually match them up with an actor or actress.

As for looking like Allison, I'm totally flattered because she's so cute and pretty, but I don't look like her.

I do plan to post my picture after I lose about 30 pounds LOL.

Major Bedhead said...

I do have dark hair, but alas, it is stick straight and long. Thanks to my wonderful hairdresser, it has lovely red streaks in it. I have purple glasses, brown eyes, olive skin and I'm about 5'8" tall. I think Rueben-esque is an adequate description of my body right now. :D

Shannon said...

Penny I forgot to tell you how I picture you:

Your eye is not what I had in mind, but I picture you to have medium length brown hair. About 5'3" or a bit shorter and very perky like Katie Couric (maybe because a penny is small, so I imagine you as being small).

I picture most of the bloggers as having dark medium length hair. I never picture people being blonde for some reason.

Julia, I'd love to see how your purple glasses look. I didn't picture you with glasses at all.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Julia, I must see your purple glasses!!!! I did picture you as having olive skin, but shorter.

Shannon, Perky? Ha! Ask my husband if that describes me.

Allison said...

Shannon - Why thank you. :-)

Penny - I do imagine characters and the places from books while I'm reading, but for some reason, I don't do that with blogs. Instead, reading blogs is kind of like talking to someone on the telephone. When I read a blog, I can hear their voice as if they're talking to me. I've seen pictures of pretty much everyone in the O.C. Either from them sending me pictures personally or from the blogs themselves.

It's kind of hard to describe voices, though, so I don't think I'm going to try. Actually, I think at this point in my life I have come up with my "male narrator" voice and my "female narrator" voice, so I have a feeling everyone sounds pretty much the same! But I tweak it a little bit depending on the age of the person and where they are from.

Kassie said...

Penny, just so you know, I look exactly like Lauren Graham of Gilmore Girls. Except on Mondays, when I am the spitting image of Sandra Bullock. Go figure.

You, I imagine as a petite southern lady. Big smile. Dirty blond hair, shoulder length, max.

Penny Ratzlaff said...

Kassie, I wish I looked like Lauren Graham. She's very pretty. And, well, Sandra Bullock is not a bad person to look like. Sadly, I don't look like a movie or TV star.
It is so neat to hear what people think I look like. I'm going to give it a few days to hear some more comments before I reveal the "real me".

Shannon said...

Oooh! I'm so excited to see what you look like!

I can't wait for the Big Reveal LOL.

Carole Turner said...

Like you said, I leave nothing to the imagination. :-) I don't really picture people when I read, I don't think I have ever pictured you. Someone in Pitsburg always visits my blog and at first I thought it was you but now I know your in North Carolina. so I think your a Southern bell.