"The notion that such persons are gay of heart and carefree is curiously untrue. They lead, as a matter of fact, an existence of jumpiness and apprehension. They sit on the edge of the chair of Literature. In the house of Life they have the feeling that they have never taken off their overcoats."
- James Thurber, My Life and Hard Times

Thursday, January 21, 2010

Who do I think I am?

I don't play all the games on Facebook, but if they're easy to do and I have time, I join in. The first Profile Picture game this month was fun. Retro Week challenged you to post a picture from your childhood (or youth, whichever was the most misspent) as your profile. I have several pictures of me as a child, but chose this one:





"Queen Gayle graciously acknowledges her subjects before the beheadings commence."





For this week's game, we are supposed to post a picture of someone fictional who we think best represents our personality. The original poster said to "be creative."

Hmm... Who best represents me?

When I was young, I felt like this girl, at least on the inside.



For those of you who don't know Daria, this was a cartoon series on MTV. Daria was a smart, acerbic high school student, trying to find herself in that chaos called teenaged life. On the outside, I was too polite and quiet to compete with her snarkiness, but on the inside, she and I were identical twins.





This is a picture of the main characters. The pity of it all is that I wanted to be the girl on the left with the short black hair, Jane. She was Daria's best friend, a totally hip artist, unafraid to be who she is, plus she's tall and slender. Hell, I still want to be her.





Then, in my twenties, I felt a lot like Molly Dodd. Don't remember her? She was on a cable channel (don't remember which one), and was a kind, funny, single gal who was making her way through each day, trying not to be the one with her skirt stuffed into the back of her pantyhose.












On the inside, I'm a lot of people. One of my favorite's is Murphy Brown. In my youth, I was never allowed to blow my top in any way, and I'm afraid I have a hard time expressing my disappointments as an adult. But when Murphy aired, each week I lived vicariously through her funny, smart, temper tantrums. Rant, Murphy, rant and rave at stupidity! Ahhh, that feels good.






The biggest part of me is probably Auntie Mame. I saw this movie at an early age and never forgot its message, even if it took me a few (dozen) years to put it to use. "Life is a banquet," she says, "and most poor suckers are starving to death."






Thanks, Mame Dennis. As God as my witness, I'll never go hungry again.



But in the end, I chose the one character who represents me 90% of the time. Through his highs and lows, his brilliance and his foolishness, this is the closest to me that I can find in the media:
Th-th-th-that's all, folks!

How about you? Anyone out there have a fictional personality they'd like to share?

2 comments:

L.J. Sellers said...

My husband sometimes calls me Yosemite Sam, and I've had friends say I remind them of Elaine (of Seinfeld fame). I'm never sure whether to be flattered or insulted.

Gayle Carline said...

Okay, I don't see the Yosemite Sam (unless there's a handlebar mustache you keep cleverly waxed), but I can almost see Elaine. You're smarter than she is, by a long shot!

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