So can someone explain to me why my voice makes me sound like such a douche? I think I just rerecorded my voicemail message at least 10 times and it still sounds weird to me.
I mean, I've noticed before that the tones in my voice tend to rise and drop more than a typical person's. And most the time, it just makes me sound like I'm really excited about useless things like butter or my wall paint. But what I've come to realize is that I have very little control over my tones because they often fluctuate unconsciously.
For example, recording message number #1, I was actually pretty happy with it, but I thought, "No, I could definitely do better."
Message #2: I had a hard pause and strong enunciation in between "Michelle" and "Yee" and it made me sound overly confident, almost even arrogant.
Message #3: The "Sorry I'm not available" sounded like I was on a roller coaster while sniffing crack.
Message #4: I must have had a frog in my throat or something because that "Hi" was definitely a man's "Hi". It was as if my throat just rolled over and decided that he wouldn't have it. Mmm, maybe even two octaves lower than my typical register. I sounded like a boy hitting puberty.
I think you get the idea.
----------------------
The other time I really noticed this was when I was doing interview prep.
This was back last March when a hot-shot New York i-banker said he'd help me with prepping for my medical school interviews. He'd throw his questions at me and I'd answer. As he'd furrow his brow, I became concerned.
"Is everything alright?" I ask.
"Yeah, but try ending your words on a down tone."
"A down tone?"
"Yeah, your voice goes up and down quite a bit, and that's fine. But you need to make sure the end of your words are on a down tone. Right now, you end on an up tone, and it makes you sound like you're really unsure about what you have to say."
WTF?! Seriously? Not cool.
Alright, mental note. Must end on a down tone. Always.
Yeah, that never happened. It was especially evident in my voicemail recordings today. Sad story.
------------------
On another note, I went for dim sum with my cousin the other week. The guy's much older, i.e. early 30s but still very cool. He's the one Dr. we have in our family. Dentist. And in the army. Unfortunately, my family genes dictate that all of us are midgets.
**Let me briefly enlighten you. My dad has 3 brothers, each with 2-3 children, and out of all of my aunts/uncles and cousins, I am the tallest girl, and comparable to most the guys. Yeah, you heard right. At 5'3" I effing tower over my family. haha. It's about the only time I ever do.**
J says, "Everyone always laughs that I was pretty much your size back in the day, Uncle Benson."
"Haha. He wishes." I retort. "You're pretty damn buff compared to what my dad looked like. A toothpick would have been jealous of my dad."
"Yeah, but I worked hard in the army to be where I am now. The last thing I would want to be is to be the Big 3."
"The Big 3?" I ask.
"SFU. Michelle, let's face the reality. I'm short, can't do anything about that. And look at me, I know I'm not much of a looker, so let's say I border ugly. So the least I can do is assure you I will never be fat."
I burst out laughing.
"What's the equivalent for girls? Because height really doesn't matter too much for women."
"BFU. Bitchy, fat and ugly. Or FUBs."
haha. FUBs.
No comments:
Post a Comment