Most of my life I have been that one in the corner, the abstract thinker, the eccentric, and the last one to get picked on the team. I am shy, backwards and twitchy. Yes my friends, I am awkward.
It all started in the fourth grade when my family moved to another school in the district. I was the token new kid that year and for some reason everyone was afraid of me. I was all of 4 foot nothing and a tad on the chubby side, what in the heck was there to be afraid of? It seemed like the hit game of the year was not teatherball, but make fun of the new kid in school. All I wanted was to fit in, but it seemed like the more I tried, the more I failed. I soon came to the realization that I was destined for a life of hiding behind a book.
This trend continued throughout middle school, junior high and high school. It's like I was invisible to the outside world. All I had was myself and my three other awkward friends. At least I was able to find two other people throughout the entire district who were similarly frowned upon. In my own little world, that was progress!
Through years of being the outcast, you tend to develop rather odd hobbies. For example, I was the only kid in youth orchestra. Half of the idiots I went to high school could not even name one section of the orchestra. I learned how to sew and I read about astronomy. How many tenth graders thought Sagan's Cosmos series was cool? I bet I was just about the only one....
Then I went to college and my life completely changed. For some reason the things that I was once frowned upon for were actually considered cool to my peers. I made so many friends it was hard to fit in school along with my social calendar. I hung out with the grad students when I was a freshman. I felt like the prom queen of the Kent State School of Music. During my tenure I even learned a new word that was once foreign in my lexicon; boyfriend.
Then I moved to NY.....
All of the sudden that shy little girl with the zits is back. I am socially inept. I think my coworkers don't know what to think of me. I eat lunch alone while the rest of them gossip about the teachers who aren't there. I refuse to gossip at my job. (Trust me ladies, I have put in my time as the queen of gossip elsewhere).
I have no idea how to get these people to realize I'm not a freak....I'm just from Ohio!