Social Skills

Well technically, this post is about the lack of social skills, but I am trying to be positive about things. There used to be a time when I felt I was probably the most socially awkward person in the world. Well... not anymore!
I was at an official dinner party last week, hosted by our professors, where I was doing what I usually do on such occasions- positioning myself at strategic points where I could observe the proceedings without being spotted myself. This is an art I have perfected over the years, and takes little or no effort these days.
Then came the big hurdle, the actual dinner. In this part, it is not that easy to blend into the background and, as luck would have it, I ended up standing behind a fellow student, a certain Mr. Z, at the buffet table. Z (who is now the undisputed king of SAPs- Socially Awkward Persons known to myself) turned around to look at me; more specifically at a point on my forehead. This was making me uncomfortable, so I proceeded to raise both my eyebrows (I wish I could raise just one at a time... now, that would be awesome). Anyway, that got his attention and he realized he had to respond to my unspoken question.
"Is that a headlight on your forehead?" was what he said. He might have been referring to the giant pimple right in the middle of my forehead, but I will never know for sure, because I thought it wise not to answer the question, preferring to just shrug and smile (another one of my time-tested strategies). But Z was not about to be discouraged so soon. He proceeded to ask me about my future plans, about the number and quality of the applications I had sent, whether I would like to have dinner sometime.. I had been smiling and nodding throughout. That stopped abruptly with the last question.
Thankfully, my dear, dear roommate rescued me before I had to actually say anything in response to the relentless questioning. So there were two things I found out that evening. One, that there is still hope for me, because there are other people setting the benchmark in the SAP championship, and that a friend in need is worth her weight in diamonds. (Psst, now you know why I said I'd miss you when you went home!!)