i'm mean

It's a rare occasion that you'll find me ranting on my blog (only 1/31 posts so far), but it doesn't mean I don't go berserk on my own time! [I mean, have ya met me?] But if I'm expending the energy to rant here, in writing, it means I've already gone through an inner musing and/or an outburst of emotions about something, and that still hasn't satiated my appetite - or maybe it's an unhealthy love - for ranting. And that's bad news. Cause that means you're in for a treat.

Tonight I attended a dinner tonight to celebrate Christmas as well as the closing of the term. But I knew the company would be so so awkward. There are a few people from other divisions of SISU that I just can't stand hanging out with. Ok, namely one person. And you know what this rant is about? The fact that I've met her several times and still cannot pinpoint exactly what it is about her that gets under my skin. She (it) is utterly annoying! I wish I could take someone along with me to observe this girl, whom we'll call D. Or videotape her without her knowing and youtube it and get comments. Ha. Ok, ok, I'll stick to writing. Something shall come of this.

For starters, I think part of the problem with her is that she has this obvious crush on a guy with a girlfriend. And though she's in her 20's, she has the painful demeanor of a middle school kid trying way too hard to get the "cute boy" to notice her. Ack! You know the kind of behavior I'm talking about? Jokes. Raucous, exaggerated laughing, flipping of the hair. Yes, a revelation! She exaggerates everything so that everything is in your face! From flamboyant hand gestures down to the valley-girl accent that I don't know how an Arizona girl came to possess. It's soooo painful. Ack! again just thinking about it. Half the time I have to turn away and roll my eyes. She's completely transparent, poor girl.

Then there's the fact that she's an interrupter. And the worst kind. My co-worker and I were talking about the kind of transient, laissez-faire students that we get at my department, the Test Training Center, and describing their antics, and from out of left field D starts talking about, "Oh, get this, one time I was trying to quiet my students and so one student said, 'You heard her, shut the fuck up.' " (Ok so much for the curse-free blog. CG and wynsters, I take it back. It adds flavor.)

??? <-- That's me.

But, miracle of miracles, conversation continued normally! People laughed. I must have been the only one who was like - Wait. I don't follow. (Not to mention the clear fact that as a teacher, especially one of languages, one should never allow that kind of profanity to exist in the classroom.) What kind of people am I working with? So I stuck my nose back into the conversation and brought the ball back into my court. You see, it's not just the interrupting. It's the disconnect that she brings with it. It's also the fact that whenever she interrupts, she feels the need to one-up you. As if she has something to prove that she feels can't be achieved unless she contributes some made-up, extreme story to again, grab your attention.

I've been watching a lot of Seinfeld lately, on account of my homesickness, and I've realized that this could be such a good Seinfeld episode. But I'd need a name for her, akin to the likes of "The Low-Talker" and "The Sidler." What've you got?

But apart from all that, I've also figured out that her behavior is simply that of a girl starved for attention. And it sucks to be her, I admit. Like I said, poor D. But seriously, it sucks to be the ones listening to her. Amen.