impressions of you

Subject: Obit: impressions of you
From: Sam L
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:04 AM

Obit? I meant to click B.S. but, okay.

A recent thread made me wonder. What do you suppose is the impression you give to others is, out in space? I'm a much nicer person than I write as, and better looking, too.
    Enter at your own risk, and knowing people offline is cheating. This is about that strangeness, like the first time I saw a radio personality in the recording studio and he was not himself at all. Have you ever looked up a public radio person and seen how mis-cast they are in the role of Themselves? (Except Sylvia Pojoli.)

   I have to confess, a few reliably nice intelligent well-mannered and sensible people have blended in my mind as a single Uber-catter.

   Little Hawk to me is the guy whose house everyone can agree to hang out at.

   There are several people I'm convinced I would get along much better with in person, and a few I get along swimmingly with online, who would probably get on my last nerve as soon as I met them.

   I'm not sure I should continue this dumb idea. maybe I should start out with a fresh one.

Subject: RE: Obit: impressions of you
From: Sorcha
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:06 AM

In person, I am probably a much worse person than I appear on line. I am the Quintessel Mom, but if I were nicer I could be a bitch. True. Ask my family.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Coyote Breath
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:15 AM

Well actually, I'm a genuine flake.

but then you all probably guessed that long ago.

CB

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Chief Chaos
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:17 AM

Easy answer because I've already been chastised. It's unintentional but I come across as a know it all and a hurtful person sometimes. If I've offended I offer you all an apology. I'd like to say most people genuinely like me but I guess there are always gonna be some who don't. Every so often I try too hard as well. As far as being a know it all, I wish I knew half as much of what I don't know as compared to all that I do. Did that make sense?

By the by, why am I paying a therapist when I've got ya'll?
LOL!

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Rt Revd Sir jOhn from Hull
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 12:19 AM

i'm not bothered about people got inmpresions of me, some people take the piss out of my spelling, buyt i'm not bothred, thisd is music site, noot spelling site, and they can kiss my arse.john

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Matt_R
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:03 AM

It's true! Sorcha is my 2nd mother.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: LadyJean
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:10 AM

Someone once said of me, "You're a cynical, sarcastic, old harridan. I like that in a woman!" I take exception to the old. I don't look my age.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Teresa
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:38 AM

Well, I think I am a lot more demonstrative in my writing and a lot more outgoing online than I am in person. In RL (real life) I tend to be a lone wolf. But I always like to know there are others around and a warm den to come back to. :)
Teresa

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Metchosin
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:39 AM

At the risk of being told to kiss your ass jOhn, everytime I read one of your posts, I get an overwhelming desire to reach out into cyberspace and kiss your forehead instead.

Very few Catters were physically as I pictured them in my minds eye, when I have on occasion checked their pics out at the photo link. Noteable exceptions were McGrath of Harlow and Kendall.

I don't know if anyone else suffers from this, but because of my dreadful keyboading skills, I rarely post what exactly comes out of my mouth or head. I tend to compose and recompose all my posts before I hit the button. I'm in awe of those here that don't appear to do that.

This still doesn't ensure that my posts, even when I have reread them a couple of times, will not be without grammatical errors, spelling mistakes, unintended slights or even make sense, so I'm not sure exactly what I am trying to accomplish by this.

What I am sure of, is that as a result, I usually come across as someone who has a carrot stuck up their bum. When I don't have a computer screen in front of me, I'm actually a very mouthy, spontaneous ditz, which is probably just as annoying.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Kaleea
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:31 AM

Gee, I certainly hope that I appear taller, thinner, less gray-haired & much younger in cyberspace! Do they do that with mirrors, or what?

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Thomas the Rhymer
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 03:17 AM

I love people, and I almost always let them get the better of me, because it seems important to them... I've got the social skills of an idiot, because I am one... I don't enjoy manipulating people. Being tall and dark, some ladies used to think I was handsome... but now they just think I'm a terrorist (it's a joke, OK?). Though I love to chat, I've lost interest in impressing others with cultural idioms. I am interested in all manner of culture in a detatched kind of way, but the smell of immorality makes me snooty... I enjoy all homemade music to excess, but I make mine the way I like... I've got a sense of humour that is unpredictable and spontanious, but I disdain to laugh at others... so, in terms of joviality, I can be seen as a prude. I have the fresh air of solitude in my mind, but I come across as though my head is vacant... I smile a lot, because I do. I believe in people, and if they let me down, I might tell them so... but I keep on believing in people. At work, I do amazing feats, and I talk about it freely... to myself... and you know what people say about THAT! I spend most of my time in my 'little world' of music and hard work and recovering from hard work, so I'm not very fashionable... I wear clothing that perfectly suits my profession, which is to say... I look like a dork. But Hey... sometimes I'm an inspired dork... I don't drink, and the glamour of drugs misses me entirely, so I'm seen as judgemental... I'm boring perhaps, but not judgemental... I am extremely musical and I express myself best with it... but I still don't read music... My choice... so I approach it in a way that many musicians have zero tollerence for... and then they seem offended when I 'just don't care' to take their critisizms immediately to heart... I'm pledged to non violence, so I'm both haughty and a wimp... Oh! I almost forgot... though my fascination for tightly metered rhyme is accidental... I'm hoping someday someone will like it... *pouty grin*

OK ladies... please submit your applications in an orderly fashion, and I'll be notifying you about interview dates in a week or so. ;^)
ttr

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: fat B****rd
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 04:52 AM

Some people think I'm generous and kind some people think I'm affected and selfish. Occasionally I have an insight about something negative about myself and try to change for the better.
Some people really don't give a shit what other people think about them. They are usually unpopular, but not to their face.
Calling myself Fat B****rd is possibly a defence mechanism but Hey..I get by.........

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Liz the Squeak
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 06:26 AM

Hey Metoch - you and I have so much in common! Except maybe the carrot.

LTS

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: *daylia*
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 07:06 AM

Thomas I like your resume! If you'd only expressed all that in rhyme, you'd have met just about every last one of my impossibly and self-defeatingly high expectations for men, and got me all like .... interested ... then you'd really be in trouble!    ;-)

I don't know what people think when they "meet" me on the net, but I was told once by a folksinger friend of mine that when we first "bumped" at the local coffeehouse/open stage, she found me "intimidating".

Intimidating? What's that mean? I'm too opinionated, maybe?   Too tall? Too short? Too skinny? Not skinny enough? Too smiley? Too ugly? Not ugly enough? Too flaky? Not flaky enough? I think my guitar needs tuning too often? Not often enough? WHAT????

I never wear makeup or high heels ... could that bother people maybe?   

Hmm... obviously this has bugged me more than I thought. Next time I see her I'm gonna ask her what she meant, and get it off my chest. If I don't like what she says, I'll tie her up and sit on her while I practice hitting the upper octave on my Native American flute for a bit. Or maybe my penny whistles. Now, THAT'S what I'd call intimidating!

AARRRRRGHGGHHHH I feel so intimidated now. Thanks for the therapy --- NOT!

daylia

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: CarolC
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 11:23 AM

A good friend of mine here in the Mudcat, with whom I have spoken by phone but not met in person, said that before he saw my picture, he expected me to look exactly like Laura Bush. I had a big chuckle over that.

People often seem to think I'm dumpy and frumpy and old or something, based on my posts. Sometimes they think I'm way younger than I am. Sometimes they think I'm serious when I'm joking.

Jack the Sailor (my husband, whom I met here in the Mudcat) says he thought I was a bit nuts (outside the box, a bit different), and he thought I was an exotic hottie. But he says that was from reading the Miss McGill stuff and the Mudcat Hoser Tavern thread, and not from reading any of the political threads. He says his impression of me did not change after meeting me ;-)

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 11:36 AM

An odd sort of librarian. Reasonably well read and intelligent. Druther laugh and help others to do so. Very possibly the only trumpet player who still plays the horn on the 'Cat. And, as I've been told by several three-year-olds, "You're silly."

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Metchosin
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:29 PM

Now that's weird LTS, because you are one of the ones I just assumed, easily and sponaneously rattled off delightful stuff as it came into your head. I never got the impression that you shared the carrot up the bottom with with me, although I believe we share a carrot top.

I failed typing when I was young. It was crushing. This was during a time when any female was believed to possess an inate abilility to master the skill.

I even managed to get my fingers rammed and stuck between the keys during typing tests, in the days prior to electronic typewriters. This lead to public hummiliation in class by the teacher declaring sarcasticly, "You're not very good with your hands, are you my dear" and the usual minus 10 WPM typing test score. The only fortunate outcome, was that it lead me to other endeavours, whereby I could usually cajole others into doing my typing for me.   

I could never slow my brain down to a point where my fingers could catch up and when on rare occasion that did happen, I totally lost my train of thought. Now unfortunately, my brain has slowed dramatically, but my fingers have also followed pace and I still loose my train of thought. I watch my offspring gaze into a screen and carry on a cyber conversation, giggling and laughing as easily as if they were speaking into a phone and I am still demoralized. My hunt and peck method also leaves my head bobbing like a chicken.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Emma B
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:30 PM

I confess - I'm actually Jeremey Clarkson in drag
ugh wot a n'orrible thought!
What I really hate is people who say "You're not at all as I pictured you................."

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Jerry Rasmussen
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 01:56 PM

Because I've always been a letter writer, long before I got on the internet, I've had some wonderful friendships over the years with people I never met, personally, or saw a photograph of. One of the most beautiful friendships I shared was with a man who was in his 70's at the time. He read about me in my hometown newspaper and wrote to me. As it turned out, the house he grew up in backed up to the backyard of the house my Father grew up in. We formed a hard, fast friendship that lasted for several years, exchanging music (from my end) and poetry (from his.) He saw photographs of me on album covers, but when I asked him to mail me a photograph of him, he said, "I don't look like me, anymore." Fred was in his 70's, and had been in poor health so he said that when he looked in the mirror in the morning, he hardly recognized the face looking back at him. He didn't have a photograph he wanted to share of who he pictured himself as being, so I never did see what he looked like. In a way, that was allright. It wasn't his appearance that had anything to do with our friendship. I too like to look up photos in here, but it doesn't bother me that I have no idea what brucie, or Raptor or other friends in here look like.

And what do I look like? I look like I'm approaching geezerdom.

Jerry

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Rapparee
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:10 PM

Me, I don't look at all like that. Just ask anyone.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Peace
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:15 PM

I have a lithe body, quite thin, long dark hair, sensual lips, deep brown eyes, beautiful makeup, gorgeous teeth, great smile, sexy and revealing sweater--What? Jaysus, I'm lookin' at a picture of Shania Twain. Where's the darn mirror?

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: dianavan
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:41 PM

I just discovered the photo section! What a good looking bunch!

I should tell you that I am not a musician but a dancer.

Since my picture isn't in, its only fair to describe myself:

Long, nut, brown hair (some red, some blonde), green eyes, pearly teeth, ears like seashells, turned up nose, 5'6", slim, long legs, large breasts, daity feet, 14 years old going on 57 ...

kind, patient, intelligent, witty, talented, insightful...

How do I appear on line? Off the wall, reactionary, angry, fed-up, bored (I've been ill and can't do much else) old, curious, full of sh**.

How do you appear? witty, intelligent, talented, probably people I would like to know - wish you lived a little closer.

d

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Bill D
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 02:53 PM

after 7 years here, I have some very clear ideas about whether and how I would get along with certain people in person..(having met many dozens of Mudcatters thru the FSGW Getaway, I know I have a good guessing average). [I have been surprised by a few as to appearance, but that is not the inportant thing.] There are many people I enjoy...and respect....but whom I doubt I would like for next-door neighbors, if that makes sense.

As for myself, I try very hard to present myself in print as I am RT, and pepper my posts with underlinings and other tricks to try to show emphasis and 'voice tone'..I love **good** humor (yeah, that means I shudder at juvenile attempts at jokes I outgrew in the 4th grade..*grin*)and I like serious, thoughtful debate, dislike unthinking bias and shallow pettyness and provincial narrowness of viewpoint.

What amazes me is how many folks there are at Mudcat who fit my exacting standards..*grin*...and how few I have serious reservations about!

I have a list of about 10-20 people here whom I would cheerfully drive extra hours in order to meet them and have some genuine interaction with! (and play music with, in many cases!)

This internet business IS strange--it is quite tricky to decide who you want to be and how to interact with others. Some people appear 'flat'...they type in short, abbreviated sentences with no 'feeling'...others have a personality which shines thru, (whether pleasant or not)....
   I wonder what it will all be like in a generation or two.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Metchosin
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 03:59 PM

oh yeah, in case it isn't obvious, I'm a small red head with some skinny parts and some not so skinny parts. Quite a bit actually, like the Rhode Island Red that hunts and pecks too. When I asked my husband how to describe myself physically, he said, "Well, you used to be quite attractive, but fortunately my eyesight has deteriorated to a point where I notice no differences."

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Sam L
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 07:49 PM

Hey, this got moved where it belongs and the idea of thread seems to have made sense.

I have to agree, McGrath's picture is the exact picture formed in my head, quite a classic look.

Jerry, you're an ubercatter.

I should've changed the obit myself, but part of what made me think about this was stories told about my dad after he died, which were nice enough but often baffled me. Then years later my mother was talking about some odd impressions dad had made, and what was behind them. He used to adopt funny little sayings with a history to them but would say them in front of anyone--which is more like me than him, I thought.
   A pretentious young writer once asked dad if he had "chosen his theme" as a writer yet, and he thought it was so silly he sometimes announced with mock-gravity that he had "chosen his theme" as an Appalachian writer. It was a fun bunch of stories to hear.

"long, nut, brown hair?" oh, I get it now, extra comma.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: GUEST,,heric
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 09:55 PM

Big bald lunatic. (You need to say it quickly for full effect; no comma.) Thinks he's funny. Larghetto.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: harpgirl
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 10:09 PM

I tend to make myself a projective object on the Mudcat. Sort of like work!

In real life I am practical, hardworking, honest, and irreverant!

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Justa Picker
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 10:09 PM

My startling resemblance to Sidney Poitier is uncanny.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: harpgirl
Date: 31 Jan 04 - 10:10 PM

freaky, dude! (see above!)

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 11:59 AM

I have no idea what impression others have, but it can't be too wonderful because they don't want to share it!!! :>)

For my part, I know good people and bright when I see them.


A

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Rapparee
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 11:09 PM

Are there any around here, Amos?

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Amos
Date: 01 Feb 04 - 11:20 PM

Yeah. One is that guy who ties your shoes for you every orning -- definitely akeeper!


A

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Cluin
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 05:30 PM

Empirical evidence would seem to confirm the impression that I am quite forgettable.

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: John Hardly
Date: 02 Feb 04 - 08:25 PM

I've met Jack the Sailor and CarolC -- they were just as I pictured they would be. They seemed to be just as they write.

I've met Mick and he too seemed just as I expected -- maybe even friendlier in person -- kind of a guy that looks you in the eye when you're talking. Someday I hope to meet him at Elderly's - I feel like something's missing from our meeting.....we never got to sit down and play music together.

When I met Mary in Kentucky I barely got a chance to say a word -- we meet at one of my busiest shows and I barely look up. Her impression must be that I'm rude -- but she graciously NEVER makes me feel that way! Thanks Mary!

The mudcat is one place that I really feel as though other's mental image of me must be severely at odds with who I think I am. Sometimes makes me wonder which of us is right :^). (Actualy, my participation in other forums is met with a completely different response from the one I get here -- no kidding)

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Mary in Kentucky
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 12:33 AM

Hi John. Maybe we'll get to visit next year! (Folks, the lines at his booth at the Art Fair are the longest ones...and this is a *very* prestigious, juried show!) I've heard John play guitar for us on PalTalk and look forward to hearing him in person someday.

As far as how we appear...I'd bet a lot of money that absolutely nobody here would have an accurate picture of me. As an exercise in college speech class many years ago, we had to make a collage showing our public self on one side and our private self on the other. I could not do it. My solution was to put everything on the public side...but with such extremes...that it was impossible for any two people to have the same opinion of me. I usually appear serious, sensitive and silly...and I like to use a lot of .............to indicate an open-ended conversation...

Subject: RE: impressions of you
From: Walking Eagle
Date: 03 Feb 04 - 08:24 PM

To me, I'm beautiful. I'd rather not shatter that imge by revealing the truth!