(PICTURE: Oddly, dressing up like this is the best way not to feel goofy.)
You know that experience you have when you hear your voice on a recording? We all always think, "Do I really sounds like that?!" How we hear ourselves and how others hear us are never the same. This is exponentially true for video.
In 2000, seven friends and I lived in an apartment in Bayswater, London while participating in the Syracuse University study abroad program. During our months abroad we did lots of traveling in England and to other European countries. While I was snapping away pictures on a disposable camera, my buddy Alex was filming with his camcorder. He recently found all the footage and edited it all into an amazing thirty minute piece. While watching the footage I often found myself cringing at just how stupid I looked and acted ten years ago.
However, that was nothing compared to how stupid I looked on Huyen's sister's wedding video from just five months ago! Over Tet we watched the video and I truly am a big goofy white guy. In nearly ever shot that I'm in, whether it be in the foreground or background, I stand out like a giant. I can make a billion analogies but I truly look like Shaq reading to kindergartners. Well, you know, if Shaq was white and all the kindergartners were Vietnamese.
Watching with Huyen's family only reinforces how I feel about watching myself. Anytime I'm on the screen everyone immediately starts hysterically laughing as if I had just told a joke, rather than just sanding still. To make matters even worse, Huyen's sister Huong said to me, "You were more handsome then than now." Besides the fact that I've become uglier in five months, that also must mean I've become even goofier! Thank goodness nobody was videotaping during Tet.
