Recently, my mind has been wandering back to my college essays. I've been rereading them of late, and wishing I could've tweaked that, changed those words, moved that phrase from here to there. It's all too late, but at least I know I'm bettering what I've done. So what no one else will ever know?
So because I'm a lazy bum, I'm just going to copy-paste one of my extended essays I wrote for a college. If you applied there too, you'll know which. It is rather distinctive for it's essay topics. Due to this distinctiveness, I tried to choose the strangest and most unlikely topic I could - desktop wallpapers. Maybe I'm trying too hard, but at least I'll stand out now, right?
So, without further ado, I present:
I Am I and My Desktop Wallpaper
I wish it weren’t always so, but I have come to discover that we humans enjoy asserting our personality in as many ways as possible. We decorate ourselves and belongings with posters, pictures, badges, and fandom paraphernalia (maybe the teenagers more so than adults, especially for the latter). We flaunt our strengths and passions. However, we must do it in a way that appeals to others, so that our show-off routines are appreciated and leave a desirable impression. So, how can we easily show our personality while using the Joneses’ cool new electronics? Wallpapers.
A musician might have a banner of their favorite group, an artist could have an expressive painting by some obscure professional, and a cat lady may have a group picture with all her beloved pets. Humans instinctually label their things with personal touches that subtly drop hints about their best qualities. So if I see a good friend’s wallpaper for the first time, be it their locked iPhone screen or on their laptop, it usually doesn’t surprise me, because I would expect that friend to have a wallpaper that ties in with their personality and interests. Even when an unrepresentative wallpaper is chosen, perhaps because of a dare, it tells me that the person enjoys taking risks, or will willingly do something undesirable just to make others laugh. Someone’s wallpaper can reveal just as much about a person as their clothes or personal space do.
The quote “Yo soy yo y mi circunstancia” is rather expansive. An environment covers quite a lot of space, and not a lot is left that doesn’t affect a person. However, despite the broadness, people like to judge others based on how they react to a pressing circumstance, where they are panicking so much they don’t bother to create a façade that presents only the best side. Therefore, I tried to look the other way. How do people act when they are buried in their comfort zone? What do they reveal about themselves willingly, and not involuntarily, that still shows their true personality? Wallpapers are a lot more than a picture that takes up space. Even a blank or default desktop can reveal a person’s character.
I can hardly continue now without describing my own wallpaper. It’s a picture of the black cat analogy. The picture is, of course, in black and white. My close friends understand that it doesn’t matter to me that the logic of the analogy doesn’t perfectly work. For me, it’s funny and it has a cat on it, so I suppose I’m a person who enjoys semi-intellectual-ish humor. It’s black and white, so I can still see my desktop icons without psychedelic colors camouflaging them. Lastly, whenever I lock my account on the family computer when guests come over, I like to think that if they read it their impression of me is that I’m a witty and clever girl who enjoys learning academic things outside of school. Even I, a wallflower, cannot help but try to impress those that I will likely never see again.
Wallpapers are my near equivalent to book covers: They’re easily judged, and they divulge their owner’s personality. Of course, circumstances are everywhere and therefore probably a more reliable indicator, but desktop wallpapers reveal more intimate and less vague details about a person. We are ourselves and the sum of our lives, but how to let other people know? Hi. This is me, and since I know I won’t be asked outright who I am, here’s my wallpaper. Make of it what you will.
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I have no excuses.
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