When first impressions aren't fact to face

Oftentimes in the business world, I have contact with colleagues, but do not actually meet them face to face. With contact limited to phone calls and e-mails, the outcome is that I form a picture of each person in my head. If and when I actually do come fact to face with that person later, the picture in my head is completely inaccurate pretty much every single time.


For instance, in my first position at Hallmark, I had business relationships with people at the company's banks, subsidiaries, and retail stores. I had the opportunity to meet one such contact, whose last name is Whitebread (which I thought was hilarious, even after 2 years. I never could figure out why no one else thought it was funny), after months of e-mails and phone calls. Lets just say that the voice on the phone did not portray to me "tall, blond and a mustache".


Currently, I most often use my imagination this way on the CFA discussion board that I frequently visit. (Don't be jealous; I'll give you the web address if you ask nicely, and you, too, can be a part of this web community of nerds discussing nerdy topics.) After seeing firsthand the individuals that sit for the CFA, I can tell you that there is no generic CFA candidate. The room I was in was filled with mostly white guys aged 20-40, lots of Asians, and a small handful of white women, like myself. On the discussion board, not only do I not know what anyone looks or sounds like, I also have no way of knowing whether they are male or female, where they are from, or even if English is their first language (though it is sometimes easy to spot). I generally assume that everyone is a white male until I find out otherwise (I think other people do this, too, because even though "steph" is in my user name, I was once referred to as "Stephen").


So basically everyone on the message board looks like this guy in my mind until they make a truly funny &/or sarcastic comment, at which point they start looking more like a younger Brad Pitt. Freaking out about how far behind one is on studying 6 months before the exam will actually crank up the nerd factor.


Which makes me wonder, what would an impression of me look like? Do I want my imaginary impression to bear resemblance to Jessica Alba, only to face disappointment if a face-to-face meeting were to occur? Or do I want to put off the vibe that I am incredibly unfortunate looking, so face-to-face is more of a pleasant surprise? I guess I will never meet these people, so perhaps I will post a topic titled "I am often mistaken for Jessica Alba."