(Preface: Today’s Flickr greeting: Szia, the Hungarian word for ‘hello’).
Szia!
This coming Tuesday I will be giving my first speech of the semester, an impromptu on a fellow classmate.
In a classroom full of first-day anxiety and foreign faces, the girl sitting next to me hesitantly turned and in a most antsy fashion inquired, “Would you … like … to be my … partner?”
Well, I couldn’t say no to that. We quickly began exchanging information, nervous laughs, and meaningless stories.
“What genres of music do you listen to?” she asked.
In my head I scrolled down the list of artists in my iTunes library; possibly the most eclectic assortment of music in the history of collections of musical tunes. Where do you begin with this question?
“Well,” I started, then remembered a funny sequence that I had once noticed on my list of artists. Among the artists beginning with the letter ‘L’ lay the most peculiar combination, so I told her,
“I listen to everything from Ludacris to Ludwig van Beethoven.”
Is this really information that I want a class knowing? But really, where do I draw the line? Do I tell them that I am infamous for having a terrible driving record (only to risk them ever riding with me again), or that I cry during the movie Rudy, or sing distasteful, unmentionable songs in an other-worldly off-key voice while alone in a vehicle? What information, exactly, can one consider “safe”?
Unanimously I came to what I figure is the most guarded, logic decision: to tell the class a series of lies (white ones, mind you) about my hobbies, interests, and the like. Why tell them my real interests and hobbies (writing, photo-ing, thrifting, creating, adventuring, exercising, designing, staying up late, doing laundry, and studying Japanese street fashion) when fudging them a tad (playing with lightsabers, sychronized swimming, doing my laundry, spoiling my grandchildren, jazzer-cising, Tivo-ing, participating in eating contests, etc.) would bring other’s perception of me from “lame” to “a dull roar”.
I guess the only real question remaining is, does one risk their grade over a string of fibs? Or more importantly, does one jeopardize their pride for the sake of allure and excitement?
Yes, one does.
approximatelyes.com 