I've decided it's not a good idea to envision the characters in books your reading to look like people you actually know. Sometimes it becomes hard to separate the character from the actual person you see in real life.
I've done this on 2 occasions in my life. Once was when I was reading "Tennis Shoes Among the Nephites". I envisioned Marcus the dashing son of the evil Jacob who later turns good and ends up marrying one of the characters in a later book to look an awful lot like my lab partner in Chemistry. I don't know that we were partners exactly, but my partner, let's call him Miguel, came across to me as somewhat more charming than he actually was and I had a little bit of a crush on him. He was nice and everything but lets face it. The only reason I was romanticizing about him at all was because I spent hours reading about Marcus that looked an awful lot like him but of course with a few improvements in physique etc,...and I imagined myself attracted to him in the book so of course when I saw him in person and we interracted on a friendly manner I had a hard time disconnecting the Marcus from my book from Miguel who I got to interract with on a daily basis.
This little mix up of reality only lasted a short while right? no big deal...
So why did I do it again? I now find myself feeling somewhat protective at times like Katniss in the Hunger games when I interract with or about my coworker who happens to look an awful lot like Peeta from the same. At least I have the good sense not to feel romantic or anything about this guy seeing as I'm married and really not interested in changing that situation in the slightest,...but still. It's strange to feel attached to someone I barely know and don't even get along with too terribly well all because my brain decided he looked a lot like the description of Peeta in the Hunger Games so it wasn't much of a stretch for my brain to transform Peeta into the visage of this coworker.....
Come on brain! don't you see how this is obviously throwing me curve balls mixing reality with fiction?
