mandalay

the element of surprise

so i've realized lately that i really like to be wrong about people. this is not to say that it's not also gratifying to be right, but i love it when something calls into question my judgment abilities. kind of like perception anti-fog. let's take for instance my friend elizabeth who graciously lent me her apartment when she wasn't there last weekend so i didn't have to pay for a hotel. i first met elizabeth 2 1/2 years ago in a poetry workshop class. sophia and i were in the corner close to the door and elizabeth sat not too far from us, but we were kind of in our own world and more fascinated by the redhead guy who wrote a poem about his "little falafel" than anyone else in the class. i was really surprised when one day elizabeth came up to me a little while after class on the south mall and asked me about going to maine and told me about how she was traveling to nyc to intern and she was so bubbly and nice. then 8 months later, we ended up in the same class when i came back from maine for my last semester and became good friends. how does that happen?

and then there's my friend and co-worker jen who, i must admit, when she first started here i was worried she would be over-eager or abrasive. and i was wrong. she's awesome. my days would be considerably less fun if she weren't here for me to IM and discuss the hate mail business we're going to start and and take smoke breaks with (hey even non-smokers need a break).

there are many more people like this in my life, but my point is this: when you're right about people, there are no surprises. you met them, you formed an opinion and you were right. but befriending people who i really wouldn't have expected to have any common ground with is so much more gratifying. it's all about the surprise.

posted by amanda @ 9:19 AM