LJ: Devil's Playground

I should take a picture of my hands sometime. Or someone else should, as I have no idea how I'd hold the camera. Hands are so amazingly interesting, and have always been one of my favourite subjects as an artist (and, inherantly, one of the hardest). And on the same note, I should really read more about palmistry. Hands hold so much mystery and differentiation, it's hard not to be amazed by a person's hands. Even if they're weird or different than most hands, it's hard not to look. Once upon a time I bought a mini, keychain-sized book on palmistry, read it on the bus ride home (this was on my 8th grade fieldtrip to a Portland mall), and analyzed my own hands as I read. Just like astrology, some of it made so much sense that I couldn't see the divination method of palmistry as bogus. And thus I believe my fascination with hands began.

I always thought my hands to be a little odd. When I was young, old women told me my ivory skin was pretty and that I should be a hand model. But I don't know that anyone's ever found my hands particularly attractive. They are small, as girly hands should be. When I first started dating T my senior year of high school (he was a sophomore), our hands were the same size. Four years and much laborious construction later, his hands had grown a fair bit larger and more scarred. Very angsty metal guitar player of him. Makal's hands, however, are not only a fair bit larger than mine but amazingly soft and pretty (for a guy's hands ;). Must be all those years of computer geekdom, getting quasi-cush tech jobs and typing all day. Constant typing makes for very deft, agile digits.

So, we have established that my hands are small. I will admit, they are also slightly pudgy. Being of a healthy weight as I am (I have the curvy figure of a belly dancer, I tells ya!), my hands reflect my figure: not so fat as to look like little pink sausages, yet not thin enough to be bony or angular. My mom long teased me for my slightly dimpled knuckles; no matter my weight, my fingers are always fleshy enough for my knuckles to dimple *just slightly* when my fingers are extended.

My nails are basic, square-ish shaped nails. Sadly, they are weak, and I can never keep them long for extended periods of time (unless I have one of those fancy nail conditioning polishes). They're generally just long enough to pass the tips of my fingers and have a bit of white, or kept short. Long nails aren't particularly suited to computer work, anyway.

My thumbnails, however, are a bit different. They are much more of a landscape layout than a portrait, as someone once phrased it to me. The last section of my thumb is a fair bit shorter than the middle, causing my thumbtips to be quite rounded and squishy (all the better to button-mash my way to Tekken victory, as I see it). People generally don't notice they're odd unless I point it out. Also, it's impossible for my thumb to bend backwards much. Forget hitchhiker's thumb, even the "regular" thumb on that page bends more than mine can. I have odd thumbs.

Once upon a time many months ago, Makal referred to my hands as "creepily child-like". He also wishes I would stop bringing that up and just forget about it, but it does amuse me so. So not only are my hands child-like--an easy conclusion to come to considering their size and squishiness--but they are creepily so. Ha! Sure, attached to the body of a then-21 year old, I can see how child like hands would be a bit odd. (Though if one were to reconsider that I am, of course, only 5 birthdays old... well, perhaps having small hands makes sense.) Then last weekend, he was watching me type, and remarked that he liked my hands. He said they were soft and delicate looking, but still moved quite precisely and with perfunctory ease. So, these five-year-old-like hands still move and perform like an adult, eh? I do have a tendency to keep my pinky out whilst drinking any beverage... Story of my life people, underestimating me based on appearances.

Like I said, hands hold a mystery, and can really tell you something about the person if you look deep enough. ; )