Classy Idiot

I consider myself a spontaneous person. This is because I often say things on the spur of the moment that I regret later. So I find it hard to understand why it is that I go numb whenever I am asked a direct question. I answer questions out of turn in class most of the time, regardless of whether I know the answer or am just guessing. I do it mostly to stay awake, and sometimes to amuse myself. Hmm... I don't know if it's just me or do monologues put other people to sleep as well?

I remember once when Mister (my old arch enemy you might remember from my earliest post) was telling me in many different ways (he does not economize on words, and believes that repetition is the key to being understood) that I'd never make a living as an engineer, I actually dozed off! Didn't know I could do that while being insulted. Thankfully, I snapped myself back to consciousness and adjusted my expression to one of remorse just in time to hear the end of his tirade. By the way, the only reason I got away with it was because he was too involved in his speech to notice.

But I was going to write about something else. Ah yes. Class. So I was sitting in class, doing my thing, when the professor suddenly pointed at me. "You", he said. "Name a compound". It was an easy enough question. For anybody else, that is. I was unable to move, let alone speak. "You there, in the white sweater" he clarified, thinking I hadn't heard him the first time. I had heard all right. It was only my motor skills that were temporarily impaired. So I looked up with my big round eyes (I like to imagine I have big round eyes, like Japanese cartoon characters) and said nothing. Finally, with a Herculean effort, I managed to mutter "benzene". Well, I thought, I got through that one. But no, there was more to come. "Polar or non-polar?". Non-polar, duh, my head said. But my throat refused to co-operate. I looked around. No help. I surprised myself then by saying "I don't want to answer that". Seriously. The professor came to my rescue by nodding, turning around and saying while writing on the blackboard, "Yes, that is correct. Non-polar". He then proceeded to ask other students to name compounds, who answered with absolutely no trouble and he had a big list in less than 20 seconds. I realize I wasted half a minute of class time just being me. I really hope I get over my fear of answering questions before I defend my research proposal, or failing that, at least before I start a career, especially if it is a career in teaching. Ah well, que sera sera, the future's not ours to see. Always wanted to use French in one of my posts! :D