So, I've tried to use a consistent picture everywhere to identify me. Picking a unique picture to do that wasn't hard--it's the only picture of myself I have--in fact, it is the only picture of any kind I have on my computer. More on that later.
It isn't completely recent, ca. 2000. However, I'm not aging that fast at the moment either. Definitely heavier and a little less thatch on top, but not enough to post a bald picture, yet, 5-10 years maybe before that. Moreover, the point of the picture is to give more of an emotional take on me than a physically accurate one. I think this picture capture some of what I am.
However, to be totally candid and not misleading, I'm not into dogs, well not dogs for me. I'm perfectly happy to be friendly to other people's dogs. The dog in this picture used to belong to my [now ex-]wife(*). She was a very special dog named Blaze. This is probably one of the last shots with her healthy. She died the summer after this picture was taken. Even when this picture was taken, we knew something was wrong with Blazie. And, in that sense this picture is emotionally authentic. This dog was hers, she chose it, etc. However, I did love her though and I treated her lovingly and kindly. That's the aspect of me I'd like to have come out, that I'm generally a nice guy--not perfectly nice, but generally so.
If you catch the other side, that I'm not generally what people think I am and I don't disabuse people of their illusions, well then you're perceptive. That's all part of the package. I think people need to find their own truth. It would be arrogant of me to try to correct people's misimpressions without being asked. Even if asked, I'm simply going to help you understand what you believe and to see any inconsistencies and places where your views seem to run counter to others' perceptions. I don't have any special access to the truth, just my own set of assumptions and experiences.
As I said, this is the only picture I have. I'm not a big fan of pictures. I don't take them. I don't have them. I don't keep them. etc. My wife has a photo album on a flash drive with pictures of me, her, our daughter, our dogs, our travels, our relatives, our friends, our home etc. in various combinations. If you really want a picture of me or us, ask her. There are probably a couple of more pictures I could have that represent memories, but the number is limited. More importantly, there are so many more pictures that don't represent memories and I'm not interested in those. Likewise, the few things in my life that are important to remember I don't need pictures for. Of course, on numerous occassions people have given me cameras, vcrs, etc. I guess that's poetic justice. Hopefully, no one will invent a new must-have camera in the next few years.
From this you probably have me as very unsentimental, which at some level is true. However, I'm not unemotional. One of my favorite movie genres is the romantic comedy, e.g. the Wedding Date, and musical forms is the love song, e.g. 3 Times a Lady. It's just that my emotions are more intangible. I'm more interested in the image that provokes the emotion than the reality.
*) Here you can see my pedantic side, which isn't strong, but is there in the sense that I often try to be precise in what I say, which is actually rather comical and foolish because I have a terrible memory and often mix up facts. The brackets are important. At the time, the picture was taken, Blaze's "Mom" was still my wife, but now she is my ex-wife. That fact may not be important to anyone but me.
Well, if you got this far, thank you. Hopefully, you have a image of the person in the picture. Probably, not yet. Such is life.
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