mean people suck

today was going to be mostly a decent day.

sure i had to be in at work for a couple hours, but whatever... that wasn't until like noon.

i got plenty of sleep... had time to work out, have breakfast, and take my time getting ready this morning... woke up with half a dozen happy birthday e-cards waiting for me in my inbox to make me smile... even roommate, who is working at camp, managed to find a cell signal and 15 minutes to call this morning and wish me a happy day...

work was fine... the 4 students i wrote yesterday about attendance showed up on time today and fairly nicely dressed and paid good attention, so i was glad to see that that warning worked.

the professor who had me running around in circles at the start of the program sat with me during the seminar today, and chatted with me like we were decent friends, which made me smile (instead of me feeling like he was looking for things i was doing wrong)

finally, i made it home mid-afternoon and went on my now daily 4 mile trek around town... it started off fantastic... for the first time ever, i made it up the steep hill on 5th ave and the steep hill on 6th ave back to back (usually i make it up the one on 5th and then go over to 8th to go around the one on 6th)... major personal victory for myself :-)

then, over around 11th ave. is a grade school... a couple blocks down from that there were half a dozen teenagers lounging around in the grass... as i walked/jogged past, one or two hollered "hello!" at me, and (still walking) i halfway waved at them without saying a word... 3 steps later, a couple more hollered at me "YOU'RE FAT!!!" and they all laughed until well after i was out of earshot.

immediately responses that popped into my head were "at least i'm not just sitting on my butt and doing nothing about it", or even better "at least my momma taught me better manners than to insult strangers to make myself feel good" (oh wait, that would be a little contradictory...)... probably for my own good, and theirs, i managed to just make a face at them like "whatever", and go on my way without saying a word.

nonetheless, no one has bothered to do that to me since like junior high/high school. sure if you're too tall/too short/to skinny/too fat, from like age 8 til age 16 kids in your class will pick on you, and i survived those years alright... it had been nice that for several years now, i've interacted mostly with people who are mature enough not to insult your shortcomings for fun, but to interact with you like you're a normal and worthwhile human being.

it never ceases to amaze me how two little words can deflate an otherwise perfectly good day. ben offered (on the phone after i got back) to go walking next week with me after his qual is done, and to beat up said mean kids for me then :-)... not that that will happen in reality, but whatever.

40 minutes to get un-sticky from my walk, and then colleen promised me dinner (i'm thinking the hungarian restaurant i was at saturday again, it was really quality :-) )... to be followed by finally seeing Sisterhood of the Travelling Pants, which i've been looking forward to for a bit.

at least, now that i have the above incident mostly out of my system, i have some time for fun and for hanging out with non-mean people :-P

later dudes.