Posted by Ryan
November 13, 2008
Ah, high school! Those were the days! Oh wait, I didn’t go to high school. Whatever. They were still the days. Whatever “the days” really means.
And they really weren’t “the days,” anyway. Who says that about adolescent years? A lot of people, actually.
They were “the days,” if that’s meant to imply that the days were awkward and weird. Because that’s what they were. But only in retrospect.
I’ve seen a lot of photos of my two older sister’s high school days. Whenever I see one I think “wow, I’m glad I wasn’t that awkward.” But then I realize I was. Probably more so, since I was the home schooled kid. Perception plays a big part of awkwardness and telling someone you are ‘home schooled’ makes that perception, whatever this perception is, bigger. The words ‘home schooled’ generally evokes images of anti-social, geeky people learning how to bake bread.
Not that there’s anything wrong with learning how to bake bread. I would have loved doing that. Baking bread smells amazing.
It’s usually delicious, too. Especially with homemade raspberry jam (that you learned how to make while in home school!).
Anyway, eventually you look back on your life and realize everyone was awkward, everyone was geeky. 10 years from now we’ll look back and think we were all sorts of awkward. This means two things: we’re all hopelessly awkward, or we’re not at all. I vote not at all because that means we can all just move on and not worry about what we look like.
So, I’m the guy in the back left of the photo. I don’t remember my date’s name. I remember having a hard time with her name that day, too. It’s weird. I can’t remember her name, yet I see people I saw once 15 years ago I know who they are and what they do. Okay, maybe not to that extreme, but still. My name-remembering ability seems to be mere random coincidence. So if I call you George when your name is, in fact, Sally; I’m sorry. I apologize now.
P.S. I loved my home school experience and wouldn’t trade it for anything. Except, maybe, for large amounts of freshly-baked bread with homemade raspberry jam.
Posted by Ryan
September 11, 2007
You know those people who can go up to anyone, strike up an interesting conversation, and become really good friends within a few minutes? I am so not one of those people. Instead, I opt for the really awkward conversations. When starting a lifelong friendship, there’s nothing as effective as an awkward conversation. I find that the weather provides ample conversation starters for those lifelong friendship endeavors.
Me: Hi, it’s been pretty cold lately.
Person: Yep
Me: It wasn’t as cold last week.
Person: Yep
Me: Did you know that it rained twelve times in Portland yesterday?
Person: Only twelve?
See how interesting that is? It’s moments like those that make me proud of my ability to start conversations.
Here’s a conversation I recently had:
Me: Hi, my name is Ryan, my sister, (her name), gave me your phone number a few months ago. She said she’d gotten it from you and said I should call you, so I finally am.
Her: (repeated my sister’s name)? I don’t know anyone by that name.
Me: Uh…
Her: …
Me: Well, this is awkward.
Her: haha!
Me: You met her when you were home from school for the summer…
Her: OH! Yeah I know who you’re talking about now.
Me: ha! I guess that’s what happens when you get a phone number and wait a few months to call.
….later in the conversation…
Me: Would you like to go have more awkward conversations in person, this Saturday, over ice cream?
Her: I have a boyfriend.
Me: Oh right, haha. Well then. This is another one of those things that happens when you wait several months to call someone after getting their number.
Her: haha, yeah. We could still be friends though.
Me: Right, do you or your boyfriend like to dance? (note: what on earth was I doing? asking them both on a date?!)
Her: I pretty much avoid dancing at all costs.
Me: Oh, I’m pretty much the opposite.
Her: Well it was really nice to meet you, I’m flattered you called.
Me: Yep, well nice to meet you too.
Her: bye
Me: bye
I learned/re-learned a few things from this conversation:
- Acknowledging any awkwardness makes it funny and gets rid of it
- She seemed genuinely impressed/pleased that I’d called. I had no reason to feel awkward. Well, except that whole “I waited 2 months to call her” thing.
“It’s easy to regret your awkward conversations but hard to regret the ones you didn’t have.”
- xkcd (quote comes from the title text when you hover over the comic)
Even though I have a lot of awkward conversations I’d much rather have them than no conversations at all. They don’t always work out, but they’re worth it either way.
What’s an awkward conversation you had? Did anything come of it?
