I shake my head at some boys...

Two funny exchanges happened last night at our stake's FHE carnival...

The first exchange was a little serendipitous. My brother-in-law's brother, who has been on a mission for two years and living in New Mexico before that, was in the parking lot of the park where we were. As we were pulling in, Rachel said, "Hey, that's Jon!" Indeed it was. As we walked past, I sidled up to his group (a bunch of college guys) and said, "Hey, Jon!" He turned and looked a bit confused...here is the exchange that followed:

Me: Do you remember who we are?
Jon: Nods
Me: ...Laura's sisters...I'm Annie and this is Rachel.
Jon: Yeah, I know.
Me: It's been awhile, huh? You just got back from your mission?
Jon: About a month ago.
Me: Well, that's great! And now you're here just going to school!
Jon: Yep.
Me: We recognized you and just wanted to come say hi. I guess you haven't seen Matt and Laura for awhile, huh?
Jon: It's been about three years.
Me: Wow! That means you haven't even met two of the nephews!
Jon: Yeah.
**It just kept getting more and more awkward because you could tell that he was hoping the conversation would just end so he could get on with his non-awkward life. We talked for a tiny bit more about what his ward was doing up there and why we were at this park as well. Finally, I said, "Well, I guess we'll see you around!" and we were mercifully done with the conversation. Rachel and I kind of laughed about it for the rest of the night, but we'll also give him the barely-home-from-the-mission benefit of the doubt. I'll have to email my sister in Abu Dhabi about it.

The second of the two stories was even a little more painful than that. A group of girls from my ward was standing around talking, and a guy moseyed over and introduced himself. One of our friends asked some introductory questions about him, but then he turned to me and started asking me questions. Umm...ummmmm....ummm.....HEY, where did everyone go?! They had all abandoned me. Now, it's not that this guy was horrible. I talked to him for a good ten or fifteen minutes, but we really didn't have much in common. He had no sort of ambition to get any kind of degree. And then he had the gall to mock me for my English degree and persisted in telling me about his awful grammar habits that he cherished. He kept pronouncing words in horrible fashion (it is a 'CREEK'! Not a 'crick'!!), and then he relished it when I would shudder. I don't think he realized with whom he was dealing. I finally nudged our proximity closer to where my friends were. When it got to a little bit of a lull in the conversation, I turned to Rachel and said, "Are you about ready to go?!" I think she caught the hint of desperation in my voice because she eagerly agreed to head out. I got a "we'll see you around" from him, and we called the time of death. Crisis averted.

Now, it's not that I am opposed to getting my flirt on...but this guy was obviously not my type. He was kind of a little more awkward, and I appreciated that he wanted to carry on a conversation with the likes of me, but there was definitely nothing there. And the more he kept trying, the more I kept thinking, "Oh please, just stop." I even said to him, "I think I'm going to stop while I'm ahead!" To which he replied, "But you're not ahead. I am." Oh, sweetie, this is ridiculous. My friend called later to find out if I had gotten his number or if he had gotten mine. When I breathed a sigh of relief and told her no, she was kind of disappointed. Just because he's male and breathes (like certain kinds of coral) doesn't mean I need to have interest.

In short, my faith in huMANity was a little shaken last night. But it sure makes for some fun stories!

On a completely unrelated note, I just have to brag that I got on the scale this weekend, and I am now the lightest I've been, probably since my sophomore year of high school. Yay!