And in the Aw, What The Hell category...

[darkemeralds]

Not long ago, I challenged ravurian to get a photograph of himself at his most fabulous, and I said I would do the same. While we wait for Mr. R...






I don't know whether this is the most flattering picture, but I liked it the best of all the ten zillion I took trying to get something I could bear. I think it speaks the most truth about me.

Honestly, I wouldn't have posted these three weeks ago. Things are converging, and I'm growing down into my real, actual, 55-year-old self, so I figure I might as well show my face around here.

Comments

[andeincascade]

Well, hello you! You are stunning.

[darkemeralds]

Aw, shucks! Image control, baby! The older I get, the more careful lighting is my best bud.

[nwhepcat]

I think you look awesome, and thought so when I met you at Writercon.

[darkemeralds]

Right back atcha, gorgeous! :D

[branchandroot]

I wish my silver looked that good! I'm still dying it red and gold because it's just dusted all over.

[darkemeralds]

Thanks. It's been a long time coming: I started going gray when I was 29 (high fever--that's my story and I'm sticking to it) and colored it for twenty years before finally throwing in the towel. I was pleasantly surprised to find that the horrible, ever-present roots, when I was finally through the painful process of growing them out, looked much better than expected.

Oh, and pearl powder. Let us not forget pearl powder, which is liberally present in these photos.

[donutsweeper]

You look AMAZING! Absolutely beautiful!

[darkemeralds]

Well...thank you! Wow. Good light today.

[sporky_rat]

You have got the most beautiful shade of silvery grey hair.

*is in awe*

[darkemeralds]

Thanks. It was a hell of a long road getting to it: it started at age 29. Your icon is wonderful!

[panisdead]

YAY, YOU'RE SO AWESOME!

[darkemeralds]

YOU TOO!!!! \o/

The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts

[karen_jk]

You have such a distinctive face! And none of the bits of yourself you've shared so far revealed what a beautiful smile you have.

Both pics are nice, the second is stunning.

Re: The Whole is Greater than the Sum of the Parts

[darkemeralds]

Oh, I'm glad you like that second one. I wasn't sure how it would come across to people who've never met me. When I looked at it small, in my camera, I thought it was ambiguous whether I was crying or laughing, and that's what I liked about it. Nobody reaches this age without having learned how close together those things are in life.

One of the problems with regular snapshots and candids is that for a lot of us, the camera emphasizes what the eye edits out, and doesn't capture personality or spirit very well (lucky the photogenic person who gets the opposite effect). It's so shocking to feel one looks pretty good, or at least acceptable, then to see a photograph that is nothing but dark circles and sagging jowls, puffy cheeks and wrinkles and hooded eyes (not to mention "figure flaws"). I deleted literally dozens of pictures like that to get two showing something like the person I see in the mirror on a good day.

[cattraine.livejournal.com]

Still beautiful! \0/

[darkemeralds]

:D

[without_me]

I'm still at the coloring stage; I hope one day to be able to have silver hair as lovely as yours!

[darkemeralds]

It was a great relief to stop coloring, and now and then when I think about coloring my hair again (usually when someone mistakes me for being even older than I am because of the gray), I remind myself how hideously difficult the growing-out process was. It took a couple of years and several really expensive transitional coloring jobs from the salon, and I'd never want to go through it again. It's very liberating not worrying about roots after 20 years of worrying about roots!

[cookiemom6067]

You're gorgeous!!!! What a beautiful smile.

[darkemeralds]

I thank you and my dentist thanks you. :D

(I'm actually quite pleased to see some resemblance between my anime-self in this icon and my real self--LOL!)

[dine]

yep, you're looking damn fabulous, all right

[darkemeralds]

LOL! Your two cents' worth, huh? Love your icon. And thanks.

[lamentables]

WOW!

Fabulous.

[darkemeralds]

:D Thanks.

[communicator]

emerald, you look lovely. I have hair the same colour and I like it.

[darkemeralds]

Do you? Lucky us, huh? \o/

[ruric]

You look amazing!

Like others I'm envious of your fabulous silver hair - the last time I saw my natural hair colour was nine years ago in the post cancer treatment growing out phase (befoet hat it was whwn I was 14!) It came back as salt-and-pepper-grey tight ringlets (after the initial regrowth which ravurian referred to as my "butch skinhead" phase) and had me reaching immediately for the henna. *G* Once it was coloured again the ringlets rocked, alas they went with time. if I was silver I'd stop colouring like a shot but I'm not there yet and doubt I'll ever have such a great colour. (I keep letting the root grow out a bit and peering at it in hope but defintiely not there yet).

Also considering those two pics and your gorgeous smile I find it difficult to believe that you're not one of the naturally photogenic *G* but I'll take your word for it!

[darkemeralds]

I've known several people whose hair type changed completely after chemo, and one (my mother) whose hair changed completely after pregnancy. My mom's became curly and stayed that way. What a shame your ringlets didn't last! I've always liked super-curly hair (though its possessors tend not to like it quite as well).

Seriously, these two were the pick of almost 50 shots I took. The rest were UG-LEE.

[executrix]

It's a pleasure to see you again, especially looking happy and, even better, content.

[darkemeralds]

*waves*

[runcible_spoons]

You are lovely. And now I have a lovely lovely face to put with my Restraint memories. Thank you for your strength and courage.

[darkemeralds]

Thank you. It's a bit daunting to have a novel out there and to know that readers imagine its author as one thing or another, but probably not as just a middle-aged American woman. I completely understand why published authors often spend so much money on good photos for their book jackets.

[altariel]

Hey lovely! That huge smile! :-D

[darkemeralds]

kispexi2, upon first meeting me, said, "You have American teeth." :D

My icon shows an earlier version of roughly the same smile.

[ranunculus]

Very nice pictures indeed.
I'm struck by the fact that your face has changed, even since we met, to reflects your changing person. It has become more defined, and your skin is lovely. As for the hair, I've always loved grey hair (yes I use English spellings...). Silver hair as well, but for me there is something just plain nice and down to earth about it.

Keep up those Zumba sessions, clearly they are really good for you!

[darkemeralds]

That's very encouraging, because I haven't actually lost any significant amount of weight (on the scale) since we met. I think perhaps the skin that got loosened in the initial weight loss has begun to tighten up a bit.

I've been happy with my gray hair for the most part. Except when someone mistakes me for my sister's mother. Grrr. She's two years younger than me. Not a gray hair on her head.

[kis]

Fabulous indeed! :D

[darkemeralds]

One sees only one's flaws. I woke up this morning thinking OMG WTF have I done, posting photos of myself online?? LOL! Well, at least they aren't of some senator's crotch.

[tehomet]

Lovely photos! You look beautiful. Your Bambi eyes and killer cheekbones will serve you well; you'll still look amazing when you're 110.

[darkemeralds]

"Bambi eyes"--now that is a first. LOL! But thank you.

Your comment reminds me of my favorite joke.

An attractive woman of about 60 years of age is on her daily walk in a woodland area. Suddenly, from on high, a great celestial voice says, "YOU WILL LIVE TO BE 100".

"What? Who is that? Me? I'll live to be 100?"

"YOU WILL LIVE TO BE 100," the voice repeats, and after a bit, the woman accepts that it's the Divine speaking to her.

Wow, she thinks. Forty more years! She makes an immediate appointment with a cosmetic surgeon, and over the next couple of years proceeds to have everything done, because if she's gonna live forty more years, she wants to look good doing it.

Finally, she's leaving the clinic after her final checkup--everything's been tightened and lifted and she's got a clean bill of health and her scars and bruises have all healed. She steps out into the street and is struck and killed by a bus.

Up in heaven, she goes storming off to find God. "You told me I was going to live to be 100!" she cries, distraught. "And then you let me get killed by a bus at 62!"

God looks at her in puzzlement and then says, "Oh! I didn't recognize you."

[cat63]

The first one is perhaps the prettier of the two, but the second one is my favourite because you look so happy! Both of them are good photographs of an attractive lady though.

[darkemeralds]

Thank you very much! I look at that second one and I see my true self. I can't remember the last time that happened in a photograph.

[phil_v]

Wow!!! Fabulous, distinguished, and totally spectacular!

[darkemeralds]

*curtsies* Thank you, kind sir!

[verilyvexed]

You're absolutely beautiful.

And I'm still enjoying reading about the journey, despite the fact I fell off the self-discovery wagon and decided sleep, nutrition, and not feeling lousy were somehow less important than making comics, caffeine, and nachos... You're still an inspiration. 8)

[darkemeralds]

Comics, caffeine and nachos (and the creativity they support) all have a valid place in a lifetime of artistic expression, enthusiasm and pleasure!

I just find that at my age, the price is getting pretty steep, and I feel so luxurious and self-indulgent right now getting enough sleep and lots of good food and sunshine and exercise and all those things that your mom told you were good for you.

Soon enough (the muses willing), I too may be back on the late-night bandwagon of creativity.

[roxy]

Damn, girl. Look at you. Beautiful!

[darkemeralds]

Awwww! Thanks. Image control, that's the secret.

[alex_beecroft]

You look amazing! And you seem to be effortlessly stylish. All that and gorgeous silver hair :) (I'm another who would stop dying if my hair was silver, but unfortunately it's an unhappy combination of dirty blonde and iron grey.)

[darkemeralds]

"Effortlessly stylish" might be the best compliment I've ever received. Thank you. (It means that I've successfully hidden the workings! :D)