the writing's on the wall...

As part of the 10th birthday celebrations of this blog, I'm digging back into the archives for posts that I love.  Actually, I might only do this once, as I've got better things to be doing than rummaging around ten years of mostly pointless posts.  Panning for gold?  There's very little decent prospecting around these parts.....  Anyway.  When I was thinking about ten years of blogging though, this is the one post that really sprang to my mind.

I can't quite imagine doing something like this these days, and if I did, I'm not sure that anyone would be interested enough to take part.  Still, those were different time.  So, without further ado, a repost of something I wrote in November 2005.  Morrissey lyric post title, obviously....

Anonymous call, a poison pen....
Tuesday, November 29th, 2005

So here's the thing:

In the end, eighteen people answered my call for handwriting samples:

[2014 note: I imagine many of these links are now defunct, but I leave them mostly intact as a point of historical interest]

--> Jenni from Wonder(ing) Goddess

--> Aravis from Exploring Aravis

--> Di from Suburban Hen House

--> Le Flash from The World of Flash

--> Statue John from Stand By Your Statue

--> Foxy from The Urban Fox

--> Spinsterwitch from Life As I Know It

--> Chig from World of Chig (welcome Chig!)

--> Mark from Fear & Loafing in England

--> SwissToni from SwissToni's Place

--> Adem from The Big Blog

--> Rufus-Fan (who has a blog, but isn't ready to tell us where it is yet!)

--> Bee from Life in the B

--> John from The Ultimate Olympian

--> Michael from Yummy Brain Gravy

--> B1rdie Num Num from The Num Num

--> The Eye In The Sky (who doesn't have a blog, but likes prog rock!)

--> LB from [redacted]

Each one of these lovely people sent me a picture of a handwritten lyric. For a dazzling prize -- the honour of naming a post on this blog and perhaps a SwissToni mix CD -- all you have to do is match the handwriting to the person.

To help you out, an eminent graphologist (the numnum) has kindly provided an analysis of each sample.... click on each picture to enlarge.

You ready? Here we go then......

Sample 1



Mystic NumNum says: "This person has a good level of confidence, requires personal space a lot, and is fairly caring of those around. The convex baselines indicate a good starter, but a rather poor finisher in most cases. The short upper loops indicate a material person who does not partake in religious type thought. The short sharp hooks indicate a irritable and cranky persona. The lack of a g/y/f/j may have tilted this analysis off track though."

Sample 2



Mystic NumNum says: "This person is a clear thinker who is reserved and caring. This person is a tad hypersensitve, so I shall tread gently. Focused in the here and now, but with a strong fantasy drive and a very childlike demeanour in most cases. (This person is also one who dislikes unlined paper, which makes my job bloomin hard!)"

Sample 3



Mystic NumNum says: "This peson is a logical thinker, who is keen to keep distance (slightly reserved). This person is unfortunately a tad insecure, and tries to balance that by involving in social activity. The clash of behaviours leads to insecurity. A strong focus in the past, and a non-egocentric view of life. However, the slightly falling baseline indicates a level of fatigue with life, which needs rectifying to balance the usually strong focus."

Sample 4



Mystic NumNum says: "Optimism, and a bit of a penchant to dwell on the past. Another good starter but not really geared to finishing with much aplomb. Strong level of self confidence, this person is slightly emotional and spontaneous with a bit of a quick-judgement. Sometimes prone to inferiority bouts, the optimism helps keep the driver going. Sometimes childish with a bit of a dreamy quality."

Sample 5



Mystic NumNum says: "An entire song when a lyric would have sufficed, matches the overreaction quality of the narrow spacing. Unfortunately I cant see it in good detail, but it looks like a bit of an inconsistent personality - at one stage calm and another very nervous and insecure. Very here and now, material driven, so no dreams of utopia or unrealistic futures, but a bit of an optimisitic streak."

Sample 6



Mystic NumNum says: "A balanced mind, thinking a fair bit about the future. Keen to continue learing from mistakes, this person is sometimes a bit too impulsive. However, mostly a very clear thinker with a high capacity to care for others. Very determined too. But again, could do with a bit more freedom and some plain-paper!"

Sample 7



Mystic NumNum says: "An orderly person who is conventional and requires privacy. Has a strong ability to care for others. Fairly confident and proud, though more leaning towards a religious view of life, and extremely hypersensitve. A strong penchant for all things olde, a childlike behaviour and a fantasy driven mind. A very bad starter but manages to finish in the end."

Sample 8



Mystic NumNum says: "Heavens, this is all over the place. An inconsistent personality, flitting between impulsive behaviour and a bit of a guilt complex afterwards. A strong fantasy type mind, that is dirving to optimism. A not so good finisher, but adaptable, caring and conventional most of the times. As an aside, if its a man, he sure has very feminine handwriting! The kind of guy who would have a tie pin and button hole, or the kind of woman who has a trinket or two on her person, but not really driven to catwalk-style (?)"

Sample 9



Mystic NumNum says: "Looks to the future this one, but has a bit of a hangup in learning much from the past. Strong self confident, lives in the here and now. Oddly enough shows signs of a need to fit in! Sometimes childish, but a dislike of y/g/j in their lyrics, leaves me little to work with in 5 mins."

Sample 10



Mystic NumNum says: "Secretive. Sometimes hypersensitive, this person has a lot of guilt driven behaviour. Optimism keeps them going, they are a bad starter but manage to finish in the end. An objective outlook of life, they do need some time alone to themselves. An odd sense of confidence, though the ego is sometimes taking over."

Sample 11



Mystic NumNum says: "Very neat! An artistic view of life, prone to walk off the beaten track somewhat. Very controlled behaviour, with a lack of confidence in most situations. A caring outlook, with a motherly view of life, though very focused in the here and now with little time to dream and fantasise. What is striking, is that amongst this, is a bit of inconsistency, so prone to moods."

Sample 12



Mystic NumNum says: "No time to waste here! Alas inconsistent behaviour shows that this person flits a bit now and then. Keeps their distance, then jumps right in and takes centre stage. No lack of confidence here, though it is sometimes masked as uncertainty. Driven by a need to satisfy material and physical aspects of life, this person is always on the go!"

Sample 13



Mystic NumNum says: "Seems like a clear thinking person, but there are aspect of extreme chaos here. Not sure where they lie, but could be on the personal rather than work side. A spontaneous person, who seems to lack confidence. Living in the here and now, they are able to learn from the past and use that well. Optimistic behaviour, but sometimes lacks pragmatism."

Sample 14



Mystic NumNum says: "Hmmm. Lack of performance confidence, but a stong physial and material driven person. Respects authority, but lacks confidence. Clear thinking, caring and holding a bit of hidden aggression. Conventional, but a need to be slightly different. Doesnt experiemnt, but should do, and if it doesnt go well, should try again and not give up!"

Sample 15



Mystic NumNum says: "This person is tired, fatigued. They dream of something, but something is distracting them, and they dont have the energy to progress. There is confidence there, but no ego. Largely living in the here and now, they can think clearly but have a hard time finishing things. A streak of individualism, but conformist too! I suggest a holiday!"

Sample 16



Mystic NumNum says: "This essay was a bit hard to read. This person is very realistic. Very driven, and a bit on the physical/sensual side! There is a strong ego there, and a bit of a fantasy mind. But a lot of inconsistency, which means there may be some confused people around this person. A bit tired, they do finish what they start, sometimes!"

Sample 17



Mystic NumNum says: "Sometimes forward thinking, sometimes not! Very inconsistent in that aspect. Strong healthy like for the past, but a very healthy confidence. Optimistic, caring, but somewhat conventional. It looks like two people to be honest - or a split personality! One is more grounded than the other, but both have healthy fantasies!"

Sample 18



Mystic NumNum says: "Last but not least - A very bold statement. Determined, though a bit tired. Childish behaviour somtimes, but largely optimistic. Good levels of confidence here, very much here and now though. Conventional, clear thinking and caring. Very good margins too! Person is good with budgets!"

---

Over to you.... shall we say you've got until Sunday night to make your guesses?

Thanks to everyone for sending in their handwriting samples, and an extra special big thanks to the numnum for giving up his Sunday afternoon to pore over them and provide his often scarily accurate analysis.

---

Back to 2014....

If you're interested, then the answers and winners can be found here.  I think what I loved most about this post, apart from the collaboration and how everyone got involved, was the selection of lyrics on display.  I'm reminded, flicking through these comments, that I did one of these on bookshelves too, so I might dig that one out too.  Wasn't blogging fun all that time ago?

Oh, alright then:

1 - Bee
2 - Di
3 - Michael
4 - me
5 - Flash
6 - Jenni
7 - B1rdie Num Num (thanks again for the analysis too, mate!)
8 - Foxy (still love that choice of lyric)
9 - Rufus-fan (aka Sarah)
10 - Statue John
11- LB
12- Spinsterwitch (aka Kari)
13- Adem
14 - John the Ultimate Olympian
15 - Mark
16 - The Eye in the Sky
17 - Aravis
18 - Chig

Good game, everyone.  LB won, but mostly because he'd seen 5 sets of the handwriting before!  I'm still not sure why so many people had me down as the Streisand lyric, mind....