Tuesday, April 26, 2011

The Essence of Awkward



What what (in the butt) it do, blogosphere? Sir Marcus back here, and ohhhhhhhhhhhh boy are you in for a treat. Y'all don't even know. 

For at least as long as I have been in college, I have harbored an obsession - or should I say a "healthy fascination" - with the awkward. When I say that, I mean that I find awkward people and awkward situations especially humorous and captivating. I suppose I'm not breaking new ground by stating that I find awkward situations funny, but even so, I can't get enough of them - provided they don't involve me. 

Hate when this happens...
So as I was lazily perusing the interwebs today, I came across quite a few websites and articles detailing the various awkward situations that tend to arise everyday, the most germane of which being this one or  perhaps this one.That got me to thinking - there are probably far more awkward situations that don't get quite as much pub, but are no less common. Try as I might, even someone as awesome as I am is susceptible to finding himself engrossed in an awkward encounter from time to time, here are the ones most likely to happen to me or those I know:

1) That situation involving having to speak to a friend who is with a stranger. 
- This happens to me all the time. One advantage of being in college for half a decade is that it gives you plenty of time and opportunity to make new friends that you will stumble into on a regular basis. The disadvantage is that you often have to talk to these people in public. As fate would have it, you're most likely to run into this person when they are with someone that you don't know. For some, this is not an issue. For others, it is pregnant with potential for awkwardness. If you're like me, you're not socially inept enough to want to avoid speaking to people in public at all costs, but generally, the presence of that stranger is enough to throw you off your game a little bit. Consequently, you find yourself bumbling through awkward chit chat that feels forced from the jump. It often begins with you asking some benign question that you want to be a comment on something obvious - not so obvious that it doesn't even merit mentioning, but obvious and relatable enough so as not to alienate the stranger. Of course, rarely does it work out this way, and you most often end up making some completely inane remark, a conversational FAIL the likes of which haven't been seen since that first slave owner let an n-bomb slip the morning that he freed his slaves. "Oh hey, so what are you gals up to? You're writing with pencils? Nice, I had.... a.... pencil once" does not (unless you're intentionally being sarcastic - something that few can convincingly pull off) exactly make you come off as someone who is comfortable hatching conversations with people. Get your improv game up. 

2) That situation where you're the drunkest/highest/clumsiest person at the party. 
- Admittedly, I have no idea what this is like, and more often than not, it's most awkward for the people watching Mr. or Mrs. Drunkenstein, but awkward is awkward. Being a friend of the afflicted party is tough for awhile afterwards because you've often seen them in a different light or compromising positions. These cases lead to any number of unfortunate outcomes, such as:
     
Narcolepsy is a hell of a drug.
     *Dancing the night away at a family party and eventually throwing up all over your best friend. 
     *Waking up in the middle of your living room floor the morning after hosting a party. Your t-shirt and socks are still on, but your pants and underwear are M.I.A.
     *Making one swift, ill-timed dance move (again at a house party that you're hosting) and face-planting in the middle of your kitchen floor. But don't worry, the chipped tooth look is TOTALLY on the social upswing. 
     *Getting blackout drunk for the first time on a class trip to Europe and subsequently thinking that it's high time you took out your innermost frustrations on the door to your room. No, you're right - I definitely thought that if you built a full head of steam, you could take that sumbitch down. I mean, who expects an 8-foot tall, 4-inch thick wooden door to be anything but flimsy? Stupid European architecture...

3) That situation where you are again around strangers and have to pretend getting a call or text so as to avoid either making conversation or looking like a bewildered jackass. 
- We've all been here. I often find myself walking around campus or in a confined space with a stranger where I have absolutely no qualms with faking a call to avoid interaction. The walking one is simpler - you don't really have to speak to anyone but that also makes it trickier because you've realized that you have to turn around and go in the opposite direction and the people around are sure to see you do it. Without explaining to them what you're doing, you're going to look silly. And God forbid you do go outta your way to explain it - now you look both silly and self-important for explaining to a complete stranger something they give less than a damn about. What I do is always stop dead in my tracks, look around me for a few seconds as if the ghost who just called me may be close by, and then go back the way I came, faking exasperation and slight distress and muttering various things that sound like I'm confirming directions. Crisis averted.

The confined spaces one is probably far more common; so common in fact, that the other person is probably quietly upset or relieved that you whipped out the phone before they did. Of course, this is probably the oldest trick in the book, so they're also hating you because you're coming off as a snotty McAsshole who's too good to even stand their company for a small amount of time, no matter how brief.

4) That situation (FOR GUYS) where either the word "period" comes up in conversation, or worse yet - you are physically present to witness the purchase of tampons. 
- Okay, let me preface this section by saying I hate discussing bodily functions on any level with girls. I don't really ever think it's a proper conversational topic unless it absolutely can't be avoided, but those feelings are amplified tenfold when I'm conversing with girls. I can't imagine any guy is completely comfortable talking about periods, so gals, understand where a brother is coming from. It's just inherently awkward.

That being said, I'm willing to acknowledge that it happens. Much like the slaughtering of cows gives us the meat for burgers and their skin as leather for assless chaps, it's a necessary evil that, as long as you don't talk about it so much, we can live with turning a blind eye towards. But mention the word casually around some guys, and you'll see sphincters tighten up faster than Antoine Dodson's will loosen up in jail. 

That being said, sometimes we just don't see it coming. Nothing derails an innocent trip to Wal-Mart faster than spotting a rogue package of tampons in the cart. This is par for the course if you're with your girlfriend or wife, but if you're with a platonic, asexual friend, or worse yet - your mother - then you, poor sap, have been led astray somehow. You'll get temporary reprieve from the ordeal when you inevitably pass out from shock, but upon waking up from that blackout, the dirty truth will still be there, nestled ever-so-comfortably up against your box of Cap'n Crunch - what USED to be your favorite cereal. 

5) That situation where you have a friend that STILL regularly wears Ed Hardy. 
- Self ex-fucking-planatory. Get a new friend before the douchebarrel overfloweth onto you. 

6) That situation in which you're taking a picture with someone WAY cooler/hotter than you and you don't wanna touch them so you commit the cardinal picture sin: The HOVER HAND. 
Sweet glasses though, chief. 
- It's so tough meeting celebrities (or any strangers, for that matter) and being thrust into that surprisingly unnerving situation where you're about to be captured on film with them. You know - perhaps "hope" is a better word for it - that maybe, just maybe, this will raise your social profile and that people who see your facebook profile will see that you have met someone famous or that you don't just hang out with buffarillas. But when picture time comes, you're in a precarious position - do you just cozy on up to them  like you would any other friend, or do you feign contact by putting your arm around them, but not actually touching down on their body so as not to come off as too familiar? This quandary often leads to a mean case of the Hover Hand, which, ironically, often comes off as slightly creepier and more pathetic than if you had just gone for it - something you were trying to avoid, lest you seem creepy and yes, pathetic. 

This is a common affliction of the self-conscious, one I used to suffer from myself. But as I've grown and become more comfortable in my own skin, I've learned to shirk such trepidation and have realized that hey, she agreed to take the picture, so as long as you can subtly break the touch barrier without coming off like a pervert, then you might as well go for it. Don't treat her like a collector's item in its hermetically-sealed packaging -  MAN UP and make that picture worth your while, you pansy!

Anyways, today's offering was fun. I hope y'all enjoy reading it as much as I did writing it. There are no shortage of potential awkward pitfalls in everyday life, so if you think of some, let a brotha know. 

Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off...... Y'all stay classy out there. 



Tuesday, April 19, 2011

Black by Popular Demand



Season's greetings blogosphere! And at the behest of a few friends, this is Sir Marcus back in action here.

I know, I know - it's been too long since we last spoke. I'd like to say that it's because I've been busy, but I'm told that God hates liars. What can I say? I've had my mind rapt on updating this thing for awhile, but haven't felt that burning in my loins about any one particular subject for awhile. The resultant bad news is that it's given me an excuse to be away for awhile, and for that I'm sorry, dear blogomaniacs. The good news about that lack of burn is that  - thank the Jesus! - I don't have gonorrhea. Whoa ladies, not all at once...

Consequently, instead of one centralized rant, today's update will offer bits and pieces from various parts of my life in the month or so that I've taken off. Let's get the ball rolling...

Cheer up, ho!
- I turned 23 years young on March 19th, which means that I'm coming dangerously close to being able to remember two decades worth of birthdays. They say birthdays are all downhill after the 21st, which I find rude because it presumes that you spend your 21st celebrating your crossover into the world of legal alcoholism. For those of us who don't drink, that birthday is only significant because it means you can legally aid and abet your underage friends in their quest to circumvent the law. Being (mostly) straight-edge means that it's pretty much all downhill after 18, a depressing thought made all the more sobering (<---- see what I did there?) when I realize that that was half a decade ago for me. Half a decade! I mean, MY GOD, my 5th year high school reunion is coming up next month. That's a tough thought to put in my pipe and smoke before you even remember that I'm straight-edge.

But my birthday this year wasn't all doom and gloom. It provided an opportunity for an all-too-rare visit from one of my friends from back home, Mr. Ambition. A budding rapper/producer, he stayed back in Richmond to go to school while I came to Missouri, only recently uprooting and moving out to Kansas to stay with his father and get his career off the ground. We were really close friends back in elementary school, and while we still lived in the same city for awhile, things kinda cooled off after I changed schools in 6th grade. Obviously we kinda kept in touch after that - hell, we've always been members of the same church - but I admit that I was a little surprised when he asked to come for a visit. But I'm always thrilled to be able to host people from back home, and to say I have a bit of free time these days is a gross understatement, so I said sure.

Now, to be completely honest, I think I would always prefer to have my younger brother and/or cousin visit, but beggars can't be choosy. It's not anything personal, but again, I was surprised when he asked. When the time came, he ended up staying an entire week. That's a long time for ANYONE to stay with you, and while I appreciate his enthusiasm, for future reference, we'll probably whittle that down to a couple of days or so. Again, it's nothing personal, but as someone who enjoys time to himself almost as much as anything else, it became quite the burden having to concern myself with entertaining the both of us. On the one hand, that wasn't always an issue because I'm pretty self-reliant when it comes to diverting my attention to simple things and for as long as I can remember, he's laughed at almost everything I say. On the other hand, his tendency to sometimes oversell even the most benign statement from me adds a trifle of pressure to always be "on." We all know I'm a funny guy, but can a brotha not have a pensive side?

But more than anything, having someone stay with me for so long just got in the way of having time to myself. I couldn't spend time walking around campus and downtown as usual because I didn't wanna leave him at the house all day everyday. When you are hosting people, you feel the need to always be able to come up with stuff to keep them occupied, a needling sense of pressure that is amplified sevenfold when they stay for a week. To his credit, he seemed perfectly content just sitting around the house like I would, but still, he didn't travel two hours to just sit around, and I knew that. Not having my own car was pretty crippling in that regard, but all in all, we made the week work. He met Miss Frizzle and quite a few of my other friends throughout the week, so I think he got a good look at my life in the Midwest. It was good for us to catch up, and he's more than welcome to come visit again.

He had no idea how well he had it...
- Miss Frizzle has relinquished her residence here since we last spoke, opting to move in with her boyfriend. It was fun while it lasted, but it's easy to understand why she made the move. Only time will tell if it was the right move, but it's not my situation, so whether I wanted her to stay or not didn't matter. The intellectual companionship and financial relief were nice, but I've always been a little more comfortable operating on my own anyways. I don't mind having a roommate if it's someone I know and get along with pretty well, but all things being equal, I prefer living alone. That's no knock on her - I'm just a self-contained homebody who likes to let it hang loose while flying solo. It's like the old adage says - if a guy idles at home in front of the TV for hours at a time but no one else is there to witness it, is he still a bum?

- I tried to avoid it, but this coming Monday marks the 5th time I'll be showing up at the bookstore's textbook department as a seasonal employee. To be fair, I can't say that I've been trying THAT hard to find other work, but still, I'm concerned that I'm becoming the manlier, darker skinned version of Chatty Cathy, who some of you may remember from Textbook Temps, a chronicle of my first go-round oh so many months ago. I'd like to think that I'm the only one who's beginning to notice the parallels, but I'm probably not. I complain about how she always talks about how many times she has temp'd there, yet here I am, about to go balls deep into round 5. Is it sad that I'm signing on for a temporary job for the 5th time, knowing that I can't possibly get promoted to anything more there? Maybe a little, but it helps pay the bills, and it gives me something to do for the summer. Still, just because you ignore the elephant in the room doesn't make him irrelephant.

- Where are you, HM? It's been quite awhile. I wonder if you're gonna catch this shout out...

- Speaking of catching, I've caught a lot of flack in recent weeks from Gossip Girl, who feels I have deserted her this semester. There's something to that - we were almost inseparable for the better part of the last 3 years and now we barely see each other. It's not necessarily a conscious decision to avoid her; it just so happens that her last push to go out and enjoy what's left of college has coincided with my reversion back to my true identity as a homebody. We've both taken on a newer group of friends in the months since my "graduation," and it has meant less time for us as a duo. With Bo Peep away for this semester, the mighty Triumvirate has been disbanded. I'm not saying she's the reason, but that's just what has happened. I love those girls to death and miss our Triumvirate time together dearly, but I've also been able to find friends who are more inclined to do things that are closer to my taste. Neither group is better than the other; it's just nice to have a change of pace.

- It's NBA playoffs time. As of this printing, my Miami Heatles are up 2 games to 0 on the heretofore-hapless Philadelphia 76ers in the 1st round and are looking primed to make a run towards the title. I'm not saying they will or won't win it all, but I'm saying that they're gonna be a force, and if you follow basketball and think they aren't, then you are WOEFULLY ill-equipped to even be in this conversation. Especially you Lakers/Celtics "fans" who have only popped up in the last 3 years.

That seems like a good point to wrap it up. Sorry it took so long, but it feels to get back in the swing of things, does it not? Blame Jorge Pedro for the delay though - she kept saying she would guest write one of these bad boys for me only to back out of it. She's a rascal, that one. If you see her in the streets, it's okay to trip her up or whatever seems appropriate at the time. Tell her I sent you.

Anyways, it's time I bid you all adieu. Until next time, this is Sir Marcus T. Williams signing off....

You guys take care and stay classy out there.