It creeps me out completely and I always feel like I'm drilling holes in the other person's head. My perception of things surrounding them changes and it's like I've suddenly zoomed in on their face. Surrounding detail gets kind-of pixelated and darker, my eyes burn slightly and feel like they're swelling.
It's weirdly intimate, too intimate, and like I'm doing something I really shouldn't do. Even the shortest glance feels far too long and too "meaningful".
Sometimes I do try but it just goes wrong and I zone out of it altogether.
The conversation quickly falls apart as I start thinking more about looking/not looking instead of talking. I concentrate too much on the mechanics of it - I should maybe look away now or concentrate on the forehead instead - oh, I just did that so I'll look at the left eye now. Hang on, they've looked away? Did I look for too long? And so on...
Er, sorry - what was that you were saying?
It's a distraction and gets in the way of talking. It's simply easier to do a broadcast: I point the conversation in the right direction while looking at something else.
Anything else.
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Giraffe: a ruminant with a view.