Miss Obnoxious Dumbass, complete with her hyena laugh decided to make an appearance last night when James Sherrill and Alicia Buss brought Jeff, to our performance, to meet me.
Now Jeff seems like a really nice guy, but shy, very very shy. When I introduced myself after the show, he complimented my singing (points for him), but Lisi, god bless her, jumped into the convo and Jeff faded out of it. In her defence, Lisi had no idea there was a set up happening, and was so very sweet with her compliments. I attempted another burst of conversation after getting out of costume and helping to clean up backstage, but struck out. We headed, in a group of 8, to Denny's for an after show bite and that is where Miss OD decided to surface. You see, my friends, when I get nervous I get loud. It's an out of body experience really, an instinctual attempt to be the life of the party, complete with sexual innuendo, grating laughter, and command of the conversation. I see it happening and can not stop myself. Did I ask him about himself? No. Thank him for coming to see the show? No. Listen to anything he had to say? No. Of course that is what I looked like from the inside, I can not imagine what my dinner companions saw, so if you were there please enlighten me.
I did have the good sense to pull out my card and suggest that he call me. Or rather, I think my exact words were "You should call me, goodnight everyone". Not awkward at all, very smooth Kristin.
Big thank you to James and Alicia, and my new PR agent Heather, I hope that at some point in this project I can make this worth all of your investment.
Oh My gosh!! I am such a jerk! I had no idea that was your date! Next time I promise to be better behaved! I'm sure it went well, He was probably just as nervous and was greatful that he didn't have to talk.
ReplyDeleteOkay, it wasn't nearly as bad as you think! Yeah, you could have attempted to draw him out a bit, but when we get nervous we get self-conscious, and self-consciousness automatically means we focus on ourselves. Rough. . . and difficult to get over. On the positive side, you were upbeat and you laughed at all of his jokes, so all is not lost. :D But we probably should work on not "hemmoraging energy" when you're meeting someone new. ;) Don't worry, I've got a plan. . . .
ReplyDeleteThis also happens to me...
ReplyDeleteLittle Miss Blow-It-All makes an appearance when i am nervous and/or attracted to someone. I tell inappropriate jokes and spew out innuendos. I think i know everything. I am too loud and talk about myself nonstop, not flattering stories either.
So at the end of it all what you know about me is i am loud and inappropriate and what i know about you is you know me as loud and inappropriate.
You are not a jerk, you are a very cool person who had no idea that there was a weird dynamic that you stumbled into.
ReplyDeleteHeather, when you say you've got a plan I get a little worried, but you have not sent me in the wrong direction yet. I'll just wait with bated breath.
How exactly do we quell this offending behavior? I suppose that this is the main dilemma facing me at present.
Well, I think just knowing about it helps. Begin a list of dos and don'ts and keep it in your bag/car/desk and review it before going into one of these situations. Then, elect a wingman to watch for the behaviors when they come. If I had known you're self-conscious about this stuff, I would have been a better wing man.
ReplyDeleteThere's your plan: get a better wingman! lol!
Have a mental list of question ready for him...not rapid fire of course. I have found that if I start talking about myself, I try and make it into a question, like, Telling a story about my prom, end it asking him about his prom.
ReplyDelete