You talkin’ to me?

Posted on by dannygregory

 

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I’ve always talked to myself. When I was little, I would narrate my doings, describing the astonishing thing I was building with Lego, the culmination of a stellar building career, summarized in grandiose terms by a plummy narrator, like a BBC biographical documentary.

As big, batty person, I talk to myself in the shower a lot, singing, using accents, getting louder and louder, repeating phrases I like just to feel them roll off my tongue and into the tub. Usually someone else in the house knocks on the door and asks if I’m okay.

I talk to myself when I make dinner, pretending I am hosting a cooking show, explaining how to properly julienne.

I talk to myself, less loudly, when I walk, immediately clamming up if someone passes by. Or sometimes I’l wear headphones just so it seems I’m just on the phone.

I dunno, I like to hear my voice in my head, and I like the idea of saying silly nothings that could amuse only me. Those I live with sometimes get irritated by my chipperness. They aren’t morning people. Or morning dogs. No problem, I’ll talk to the sparrrows.

Sometimes drawing is like talking to myself, especially when I am drawing from my imagination. A couple of days ago, I listened to the radio and filled a page of typing paper with hippos, some buck toothed, some with trotters, a giraffe or two, a crocodile in ballet shoes. They spoke to me.

I like it, it passes the time, it is not for anyone but me. But I like to listen to whatever it is in me that wants to say hi.

16 thoughts on “You talkin’ to me?”

  1. Ahahahahah….me to….and you give me a good idea:
    «sometimes I’l wear headphones just so it seems I’m just on the phone»…ahahahah!!!

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  2. I have to admit I haven’t really talked to myself… out loud. I DO however talk to myself inside my head. I think that is the creative genius trying to get out 🙂 I’m sure it won’t be long before I join the rest of you… as I can feel my tongue begin to move hitting the roof of my mouth as I think. All that’s left is to part my lips… and I’ll finally be talking to myself too.

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  6. I have discussed this with both me and myself and the three of us agree that we would never admit to such a thing!! 😉

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  7. I live with someone like that. Oh no, there are two, three.. of you out there?!
    Yes, sometimes it is irritating, but I’ve lived with my husband for 34 years and mostly, I feel his exuberance for life. So, when I draw his portrait, I draw cashews, pecans, nuts! 🙂

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  8. Yea, I did not know that was abnormal for most of my life. Now I just smile when people ask who I am talking to.

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  9. Hahaha omg! I can’t believe it! I also talk to myself a lot n clam up when people pass me by or come closer and start to listen! 😄 talking to myself in the shower, while cooking, thinking, watching movies alone 😄 and in general I like to talk so much and my husband is a laconic person… Oh well..I talk enough for both of us I guess.. 😄

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  11. I talk to my cat-tell him stories as he passes through the house from front to back, and then back again. so maybe it doesn’t seem as nutty. But when you think about it, maybe it’s nuttier!!

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  13. This made me smile (and maybe a little relieved?). I talk aloud when I’m alone a lot, to myself but also to inanimate objects. I like to think most of my things (electrical appliances and such, my tv is 20 years old for instance) last so long because they like me talking to them. 😉
    I also pretend things from time to time to make life more interesting, tell myself stories, and I sing when I do boring chores around the house. I actually have had comments about this from neighbours (positive mind you, thank god they think it’s cute).
    Just this morning I was doing a couple of portraits after pictures in a mail order catalogue (my trusted source for portraits) and I noticed I talk to the girls in the pictures as I draw them. Observational talk like “oh, you have really small eyes” or “that line of your jaw should be different”, like it’s an interaction or something.
    I might be slightly insane, but I’m thinking it’s the fun kind. Maybe I just never really grew up.

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  14. Love this post, Danny. My eldest son constantly chatters away to himself so it’s become the norm to me. Sometimes, I can’t help but smile at his conversations with self. I think it’s great! 🙂

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