Life on the Web, Story #1: Heckled

Am back from my weekend "away"--the women's retreat was at a Christian camp/conference center in the Santa Cruz mountains, so I just went for the activities and came back home to sleep.  Although I did not get much sleep--getting there by 8:00 every morning and not getting home until 11:30 every evening.  But it was a very good weekend, and there is SO MUCH I would love to share with you all--hopefully I will get a chance this week to get some blogging time in, while the ideas are still fresh in my mind.  (I did take notes, so that will help.)

But before I do, I just wanted to wrap up something I started to write about last week.  It is a three-part series about some of the things that were a part of my life on the web last week, and they run the gambit from silly to heartbreaking. 

I'll start with the silly.

Up until about two weeks ago this was my facebook profile picture:

I was very happy with this profile pic and never had reason to change it, esp. since I am rarely on facebook.  But a couple of months ago I started feeling guilty.  Honestly, I loved the pic because it was one of the best I had ever taken.  But I was starting to get the nagging feeling that the pic was no longer an accurate representation of me.  As in, not at all. That photo was taken, um, I am now embarassed to admit it, seven years ago.  But I swear I was not trying to be (just) vain by chosing it for my facebook account--I think the best profile pics for fb are the ones where you can see clearly the face of the person.  It is so annoying when someone wants to be friends with you, you can't remember who they are, you jump to their page to refresh your memory, and the person's profile pic is Scooby-Doo or something.  And since I am the photographer of the family, I am not in very many of our photos, let alone good ones.  So when I first signed up for fb it seemed like no-brainer to use this one--you can see me well, and I look good!

And actually, that last is one of the reasons I always liked the photo--would you believe I was between 8 and 9 months pregnant with Merry in this pic?  But I was going to be presenting a paper at a conference and they asked for a headshot for the program, so one evening I just said, "Oh, heck with it," and just asked DH to take my pic.  I didn't do my hair (which was up in a plastic clip) or put on makeup (except maybe a little lipstick--hard to tell), and was wearing one of DH's old sweatshirts, being hugely pregnant and all.  I sat on the back of the sofa so we would have a nice uniform backdrop of the living room curtains, and he took the shot.  So I was flabbergasted that the photo turned out so well, which has always made me enjoy it even more. I think that must have been when I still got the pregnant glow--instead of the haggard bags I enjoy these days.

Merry got her pic in the program too, since she was 6 weeks old when the conference came around, and I took her with!:

ANYWAY, two weeks ago the guilt was getting too much for me, so I posted the following status on fb:

. . . is wondering how many years i can keep the same fb profile pic without crossing the line into fraud.

And my dear Susan, who was on the computer at the same time there in Colorado, shot back with:

ha ha - I have to admit that I think of your profile photo as a "vanity" shot. I dare you to post a new one that is less posed!

Which response of course just goes to show how much we love each other.

Well, the gauntlet had been thrown, and so publically too!  Of course I HAD to change it now!  So, grumbling all the while to DH, I immediately went over to Google images to look for something to use, since I knew I didn't have ANY recent pic that would suffice.  My grumbling to DH went something like this:

Me:  Alright then, I'll get a photo that's less vanity.  Less posed.  I'll show you!  Hey, DH, what celebrity do I look a little bit like? 

DH: (bless him) Angelina Jolie?

Me:  (Snorting, but typing "Angelina Jolie brunette") Ahhhhhhhhhh-haaaaaaaaaaa!!!!!! 

And a moment later, on facebook:

How's this one? Not bad for being in the late 30's and having pushed out a couple of puppies, eh? ; )

Susan approved. ; )

And I have gotten many chuckles since I posted it.  Funniest of all are the distant relatives and old aquaintances who don't remember exactly what I look like (and clearly don't follow contemporary culture) who think this is me!  As I said to one old friend who asked if it was me:

  it's either me or a not-so-great pic of one of the most beautiful women in the world. if you can't tell, i'm certainly not going to. ; )

One of the most humorous part of it, for me, is that really the only resemblance between me and Angelina Jolie in this pic is the hair and that is some ugly hair.

But the best moment came from an email, from DH's grandma, who is one of my fb friends:

I was just surfing through Face book awhile ago---what's with this strange. cold looking picture that you say is you???  It sure doesn't look like the sweet one that I know!!!!!!!!!!!!!! (looks like some "hard" Honkey tonk person!!) sorry--that can't be you!!!!!!!


and are those pictures on your photo page of this years reunion or 20 years ago---they look 50 lbs heavier than I have ever seen you!

Um, thanks, Grandma?

Clearly it does not matter if it is an old picture, or a very recent picture--I can't win.

Except Merry came up to the computer right when I posted the first photo, and said, "You look pretty in that picture.  And you look pretty now."

Aw, thanks, girl!