2006-07-25 - 6:07 p.m.
People Just Gotta Be Themselves: A True Story From ELOFTING@HOTMAIL.COM
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I was smoking up at the beach and studying Japanese verb forms.* Two girls, maybe 14 or 15 years old, were lazily throwing rocks into the water a little farther down.**
The girls knew I was smoking up. They were too far away for me to be able to actually hear what they were saying, but it was obvious that they were having the you-go-ask-no-YOU-go-ask talk which anyone who has ever been a teenage girl is familiar with.
And soon, one of them came over to ask if I had a lighter.
And soon, the three of us were smoking a bowl together.
And then one of the girls asked me why I had to do so much school work in the summer.
And I didn't know how to answer her right away. I mean, to me, language studying seems a lot like ostentatious book-carrying, but about ten times worse. I mean, most language studying will likely involve carrying around at least three books. (Or, in my case, two notebooks and a bunch of photocopies.) Sitting down to read a book, and spreading out a semi-circle of notebooks and photocopies are two completely different activities. I really do need to study this stuff, but there are very few places that I will,*** mainly because I feel like a weiner when people ask me what I'm doing, and I have to answer that I'm studying Japanese, then quickly think of something else to say which will prove to them that, despite appearances, I'm not a pretentious A-wad. (And I assure you that when tall, blonde girls create a semi-circle of notebooks and photocopies, they are always asked what they are doing...)
Uh, actually it's not for school. It's for me...
I'm studying Japanese...
At the beach...
I'm a huge nerd.
It's OK, says one of the girls.
Yeah, adds her friend, people just gotta be themselves.
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* Yeah, that's right, I'm smoking pot again. Mostly because I don't know what else to do when it's this hot outside, and partly because Japanese verb forms are much, much more interesting when one is nicely toasted.
** And I decide that I like them already. Probably because they remind me a lot of myself at that age.
*** Actually only two, at the beach and at home. Sometimes I think about taking my books out for coffee, but I never do.
