Ah… one of my favorite songs from my bitter middle and high school days. I was such a loner…
My daily school routine was class, lunch, class, go home. I didn’t even really say hi to people I knew as I passed them. (Mostly because more often than not, I knew someone’s name, but they didn’t know mine.) That changed because of Michelle Encarnacion, though. (Bao knows her through Model UN!) She thought it was so weird that I didn’t say hi to her that she made it her mission to get me to. She’d make sure to always say it to me whenever we saw each other, and I, being the difficult brat that I was, refused to give in. 
She finally got me to crack after a couple of weeks of this when she had her whole crowd of friends walk by and all stop right in front of me and yell “Hi Dinh!” at once. I was shocked and embarrassed into replying. 
Wow, writing that little story brought back a flood of memories. I could probably write for days about Michelle. She was the first girl I really liked. And the only one to have ever shown any sign of returning those feelings. I thought a couple of others have, but it always turned out that they were just friendly, and I was a horrible judge of… not character… what’s the word I’m looking for? Anyway, yeah… I always read too much into it, convincing myself there was something there that wasn’t really. But there was that one day with Michelle and Tina… man, I was so stupid. But yeah, looking back… I’m pretty damn sure Michelle felt something for me… at least for a brief while.
But like I said, I was stupid. She was popular with the fellows, and I was even more timid than I am now. I guess I’ve gone through life expecting rejection and failure. “How could it have ever worked between a popular chick like her and a geek like me?” I asked myself.
Which leads me back to where I think I had originally intended to take this post. Have you guys been watching this show on WB called Beauty and the Geek? The premise is that they match up ditzy pretty girls with some nerdy Mr. 1600s and have them compete in various challenges. The girls would be tested on booksmarts, while the guys are tested on social skills.
(Yeah, when we found out all the guys had gotten 1600s, everyone turned to me and said I should have been on the show. I joked that it would be the best thing I had ever gotten out of that stupid test. But now I don’t know…)
The concept is that the guys will teach the girls what they need, and the girls will teach the guys, and maybe there will be some bonding between the partners along the way. Of course, that was conceptual only. The girls quickly seemed to take charge in every pair, and the guys kinda just were like… whatever. And then the drama began. One of the girls hooked up with a guy other than her partner. So there’s one interview clip when the partner guy says something to the effect of, “Yeah, I like her, but I’ve liked girls who have liked other guys my whole life…”
Every girl in the room went, “Aw…” at that point. I found myself thinking… “That’s bull! You pity him because he got the chance to say something like that on TV. If you met him on the street, would you give him a second glance?” Because in the end, it really is all about looks and popularity.
… there’s that bitterness of mine again. 
mmmm no?… looks and popularity mite be important to some people, but that’s still hella shallow. i dont think i’m into looks and popularity… just look at the guys i’ve dated… *sigh* wonderful hearts, but… not what i would say “great looking”.
fine. some of them were cute, but that’s not what most people, at least not me, look for.
cus what if this guy’s a pretty boy but has no brain? i hate stupid people. i can’t stand it if we dont have some smart conversations.
in the end… who would want to date an airhead, you know? life would be sooo boring!!