Mini me
How cute am I? I’ve been playing around with Yahoo! Avatars (as of now, it works on IE5+ only), via Ernie, who developed the site.
This rendering isn’t far off, actually. Okay, I don’t own a pair of ripped jeans and my hair is currently a lot longer, but I admit it: I have a big head. I’ve always known this, but it was made biometrically clear a few months ago. Thom and I were browsing for frames at the eyewear store, and a salesman came over and offered to measure each of us so we could know which frames were likely to fit us, using the number noted on a sticker on the lenses. The salesman brought out something approximating a slide rule, measured the width of Thom’s head, and said, “You’re like, an eight or nine.” Then it was my turn, and it turns out I’m an “eleven or twelve.” Gee.
Anyway, the avatar maker is kind of fun, though still limited; it’s a beta after all. When used with Yahoo! Messenger, the avatar conveys your mood according to the emoticons you use, which is cool. It has a sad face, a happy face, an angry face (though I think the overall cuteness mitigates it: “Look, it’s all, ‘Grr!’ How cute!”), etc. When I instant message, I mostly use AIM, so the IM aspect of this avatar isn’t so practical for me. I just like playing dress-up.