rivka

I'm not quite ready to invest the energy it'll take to get back to my travelogue, but I felt like posting something on the lighter end of the spectrum. I thought I'd follow

mactavish's lead and comment on my userpics.

The first userpic I uploaded, and one I almost never use. On the one hand, I think this is the closest I come to being conventionally pretty. On the other hand - or maybe it's the same hand, come to think of it - I don't so much feel as though it looks like me. It was taken at the wedding of a high school friend, in Sep 2000.

This was taken at alt.polycon 7 in Apr 2001, while I was waiting for the "Love is blind - that worries me" panel to start. In my own head, this is how I look - happy and kind of goofy, with a lot of animation in my face.

My default userpic. Ben took this picture for me. On alt.polyamory, people who make broad sweeping "we" statements are asked if they've got a squirrel in their pocket. I have a squirrel, enabling me to make universal statements. She's also royal, enabling me to use the royal "we." I keep meaning to get her a blue pencil so the editorial "we" will also be covered. Originally, I intended to use Her Majesty as the userpic for posts in which I was speaking ex cathedra or otherwise being dogmatic. I don't want to think too closely about what it means that she's become my default. But it's also true that she's handy for posts in which I don't want my face to be seen, or posts in which my smiling pictures would be emotionally inappropriate.

trinker made this for me after September 11th, along with another picture of a WTC shrine on a New York sidewalk. I got the picture from a Washington Post slideshow of post-September 11th images - it shows Palestinian children at a vigil honoring the victims. I was powerfully moved by images from all over the world of people sharing in our grief. I keep this picture for mourning posts, like the one about

peaberry's death.

This is my favorite picture from our recent trip to the Keys, and one of the best pictures ever taken of me and Misha. For me, this picture calls to mind my very favorite feature of our relationship - our easy, comfortable, effortless closeness. He's now using it as a userpic also. It's for posts in which I'm being cute with, or loving about, Misha.

Another Keys trip picture. I thought this would be a good userpic for when I'm feeling silly.

I just made this userpic this morning - we'll see if I ever use it. This is another picture that's very in line with how I look in my own mind. It was taken at our wedding reception, which is why I have a white lacy neckline and also why I look so unbelievably happy. That whole weekend, I felt as though I was under the influence of some sort of drug. I really was in an altered state of consciousness.