Hello, Stranger.

For some reason, random people tend to just come up and talk to me. I don't know why. Maybe I look like a nice person? Maybe I look like I need friends? Maybe I look like I have all the answers? Yeah, that's probably it. I mean, it's a good thing that I like people and I like talking because that would be one big unfortunate mess if I were some antisocial hermit. I guess if I were an antisocial hermit I wouldn't be out in society anyway, so people couldn't talk to me if they wanted to. I would just sit in my underground home until my skin became completely translucent. I would probably have a pet Mediterranean Gecko because:

1) They are also translucent! And my mom always tells me that people get pets that look like them/begin to look like their pets, so the translucent gecko would fit that requirement perfectly. One time I wanted to get a Shar Pei, because I think they are one of the cutest creatures on the entire planet, but Mom said "no" because she didn't want people to think we look wrinkly.

2) I really like geckos. My older brother, Andy, used to have one when we were little and it changed my life forever. It was small and brownish purplish green and had these cute little suction cup toes. It was pretty much the coolest thing in the world from the time I was in about 3rd grade to the time it bit my finger and wouldn't let go. My Mediterranean gecko wouldn't bite though. It would just suction cup itself to me.

Anyway, one time, I was walking across campus and Habitat for Humanity was doing their annual fundraiser where they sleep in boxes outside the library for a week. Isn't that a wonderful idea for a fundraiser?! Anyway, I was walking by the cardboard houses and this kid on a bike yells to me and asks me: "WHAT'S WITH ALL THE BOXES?" The caps lock indicates that he was, in fact, yelling. I can't remember, but I suppose he must have had his iPod in because I don't know why else he would have been yelling to me. I guess he was like 8 feet away when he started yelling, so maybe he just thought he was further. But that's not the point of this story. The point is, he must have thought I knew a lot about cardboard or something because I was one of approximately 194 people walking in his direct vicinity.

I also tend to smile a lot, which could be another factor to consider when wondering why people come and talk to me. I smile when I'm walking, and when I'm sitting, and when I'm in class and when I'm in my room by myself. I like to think my teachers like it when I smile in class. If you're wondering, I'm that girl in the second row that smiles and nods in agreement during lectures. I mean, smiling is good, right? I'm not that weird girl who smiles all the time, right? Wouldn't it be crazy to be recognized all over campus as that girl who smiles all the time? I mean, I guess it would be crazy to be recognized all over campus for anything, like that kid who never wears shoes or that girl with the Hello Kitty bicycle or that girl with the pink moped and matching pink helmet. On a side note, "helmet" is one of those words that I always, without a doubt, spell incorrectly. Not cool. Maybe I should stick a sticky note on my computer that says "Helmet is NOT spelled H-E-L-M-U-T." When I was in 5th grade, I won my school spelling bee. My word was "dolphin" and I beat a 6th grader and I got a dictionary signed by the principal as my prize. I'm just lucky I didn't get the word "helmet" because I would most definitely own one less dictionary. Then I wouldn't be smiling. Spelling is serious business. Anyway, the other day, I was sitting in a coffee shop doing some homework and smiling, and this guy walking by looked at me, looked away, and then came over and said: "Do I know you?" I didn't know him, so I told him: "No, I don't think so." And he responded: "Oh, I thought I might know you because you were smiling." I didn't know him, but I guess I need to be careful who I smile at so I don't confuse anyone else.