The Jazzy Bahsoun

Life's our oyster and we're gonna suck that bitch down with a champagne chaser.

Behavioral Therapist
MA Developmental Psychology, Columbia
BS Psychobiology/ French, UCLA

Shelfari: Book reviews on your book blog

Movies to See:
Mission Impossible
Haywire
Shame
A Dangerous Method
Underworld:Awakening

TV Shows to Watch:
Portlandia
The Life & Times of Tim

Book to Read:
Game of Thrones
by George R.R. Martin

Album to Listen to:
The Black Keys
El Camino

Person to Hate:
Newt Gingrich

Group of People to Despise:
Fox & Friends

Bitchin Links

Blogs and Writers of Note

Mary's Website

Mary's Blog

Ravi's Blog

Lauren's Blog

Cheryl's LiveJournal

TV Squad

The Soup

Cracked

Best Week Ever

The Chive

On Location Vacations

Cute Overload

Michael Moore's Blog

Joel Stein Columns

Maureen Dowd Columns

Secular Coalition of America

Richard Dawkins

Personal Stuff

My Facebook

My Twitter

My YouTube Videos

My DVD Collection

My Books

Machatz Self-Defense

For Politics and Political Satire

The Huffington Post

Salon.com

Politico

The Daily Beast

The Onion

The Colbert Nation

Truthdig

The Daily Show with Jon Stewart

For Entertainment

Ain't It Cool News

IGN

Rotten Tomatoes

DVD Active

Movie Stinger

AdTunes

The Daily Wav

Movie Mistakes

For Humor and Other Things

HuffPost Comedy

Funny or Die

The Lonely Island

Shit My Dad Says

F My Life

Daily Python

College Humor

Super Mario Crossover

People of Walmart

E-Mails from an Asshole

Church of the Flying Spaghetti Monster

God Checker

Church Sign Maker

Strong Bad Email

Japander: See Actors Embarrass Themselves Abroad

Landover Baptist Church: Jesus Loves You Sometimes

For Bruins

The Daily Bruin

Bruins Nation

Bruin Basketball Report

UCLA Bruin Marching Band: The Solid Gold Sound

The REAL $UC Application

Old Stuff

March 2003
April 2003
May 2003
June 2003
July 2003
August 2003
September 2003
October 2003
November 2003
December 2003
January 2004
February 2004
March 2004
April 2004
May 2004
June 2004
July 2004
August 2004
September 2004
October 2004
November 2004
December 2004
January 2005
February 2005
March 2005
April 2005
May 2005
June 2005
July 2005
August 2005
September 2005
October 2005
November 2005
December 2005
January 2006
February 2006
March 2006
April 2006
May 2006
June 2006
July 2006
August 2006
September 2006
October 2006
November 2006
December 2006
January 2007
February 2007
March 2007
April 2007
May 2007
June 2007
July 2007
September 2007
November 2007
January 2008
March 2008
April 2008
May 2008
June 2008
July 2008
August 2008
September 2008
October 2008
November 2008
December 2008
January 2009
February 2009
March 2009
April 2009
May 2009
June 2009
July 2009
August 2009
September 2009
October 2009
November 2009
December 2009
January 2010
February 2010
March 2010
April 2010
June 2010
August 2010
November 2010
December 2010
February 2011
April 2011
May 2011
July 2011

Friday, January 20, 2006
Haaaaaave You Met Ted?
The frequenters of this website must know by now that I am fascinated with human behavior. Not necessarily when they do intellignet things but moreso when they do inexplicable, sometimes even stupid things. The case I'm about to propose is not about stupid behavior (unfortunately) just downright strange behavior... to me at least.

Walking across campus, into Young Hall, in an attempt to waste time until my next class, I stumbled upon one of the young freshman from band. This particular person has been a nervous wreck since he set foot on campus so, being the kind person I am, I've taken him under my wing, helping him out when I could. I'm the Paulie to his Rocky. I try to show him the ropes. Anyway, he looked particularly distressed in the hallway. When I asked him if he was ok, he replied, "Yeah yeah I'm just waiting for the professor to this class. I don't know what he looks like though."
"Oh. Why don't you just go in the class and wait there?"
"Cause I'm not enrolled in it."
"Oh. So you want to get into the class?"
"No I just want to sit in on the class this quarter."
"Oh. What class is it?"
"Chemistry 110."
Ahem
"Oh. And you want to sit in on the class, why?"
"Cause."
"Fair enough."

As I was trying to decipher why he was so anxious to sit in on a chemistry class he wouldn't be graded on, this remarkably short girl walks up to me, approximately 2 centimeters from my stomach, looked up, and said, "HELLO."
"Uh, hi?"
"Hi."
"Umm... how are you?"
"Fine. I'm Cathy."
"Oh how nice."

My apprentice had run off to find the professor so I couldn't ask him for an explanation.

"You're tall."
"I've been told..."
"Teehee."
"OOK, I'm going to go... upstairs now."

I didn't have a chance to leave as the young Padawan had finally returned from his, I imagine, awkward conversation with the professor.

"Hi. So I'm going to go into this class."
"Oh ok."
I try to gesture towards the strange, dwarfish girl. He finally realizes that I didn't know who the hell she was and I realized that he did know who she was.
"Oh, this is Pasha."
"K, bye!"
She walks away into her class.
"What the hell was that?"
"Yeah, she's always been weird. I have to go."

Now there's friendly conversations with strangers and then there's awkward conversations with strangers and then there's this. Perhaps she doesn't have much experience in engaging in proper conversations with people she's never met. Although, judging by the way she approached me, I think she's had similar encounters with other victims before. Is it loneliness? Is it just uninhibited friendliness (the worst kind)? Is she out of her mind? Is she going to be one of those people who yells at cars as she walks on the sidewalk?

As always I find myself questions about human's behavior but cannot find a definitive answer. How many times have I found myself in this situation? A cynic's work is never done when an infinite number of specimens are available to analyze and when no explanations for these bizarre people can be found.

Is that what graduate school is for?
3:27 PM
Comments

Share