Familiar Faces

When you're in a new setting with new names and new faces, the typical tendency would be to absorb as much as you can until things become more familiar.  You meet as many people as you can and befriend those you don't scare away.  Soon you have a reasonable group of friends or acquaintances.  But there are always those elusive few who you either see all the time and haven't actually met yet or never see (or notice) and thus, don't really know about.  Something about those familiar strangers -- maybe their abnormal height or really 80s glasses -- just captures your attention and makes noticing them unavoidable.

So in med, I'm always around the same 300 people.  And though I've made a fair few friends, there are obviously many more that I want to meet.  Here's an excerpt from a conversation I had with a guy I had seen around class but just met recently:

- "Hey what's your name?"

- "Jessica.  And yours?"

- "[random tall guy]. Wait, are you in med too?"

- "Yeah..."

- "Oh that's weird... how come I've never seen you around?"

Now I like to think that I'm a particularly observant person.  With an above average perception level perhaps.  Or at least that's what I tell myself to keep the tears away at night.

But even though it's kind of strange to actually hear that someone you've seen around quite often has never seen (or noticed) you, it's just reality.  What about all those other people you don't actually know about at the moment because you've never noticed them?  It is very likely that they're in the same situation.  Just make sure you don't let the guy who keeps calling your name know that you have absolutely no idea what his is.

Alright, that scenario really wasn't too bad.  Here's another one that involved a friend and a friend of said friend:

Friend: "Hey Jess, this is [random gay guy] and [random gay guy], this is Jess.  Have I introduced you two before?"

[SIMULTANEOUSLY] Me: "Yeah."   RGG: "No."

[awkward stare] Me: "...we met twice before this..."

RGG: "Oh really?  I don't remember..."

Usually I pretend we've never met before if the other person seems to have conveniently forgotten.  But after being introduced to each other twice, I foolishly assumed I would be somewhat imprinted in a person's memory.  It's alright though.  I'm highly observant.  I'm highly observant.  I'm highly observant.  Yeah... that's it.