don't i know you?

one of the things i've been bitching about lately (yes, they have been various and sundry) is the east-coast phenomenon of acting like you've never met someone before when you have. i don't mean that you pass by someone on the street who ignores you after you've had one drunken conversation with them at a bar. i'm talking about people who you used to hang out with, maybe through mutual friends. you weren't ever gonna get married to them, but you can remember their names; surely they can remember yours.

it happened twice on sunday when tom and george and i went out to the bar. on our way to the bar, walking down st. paul st. (and obviously walking briskly so as to avoid getting robbed at gunpoint), we passed by two acquaintances. one of them is some dude that i met several years ago. i met him online and when he met me face-to-face he informed me that i didn't look like my picture and that i was unattractive. although i have perpetrated this same brand of atrocity, i'd never experienced the other side of the coin. when we ran into them on the street and this guy started to be introduced to me by our friend i said, "oh, we've met, actually. it's been a few years, though. i'm robert." i refused to play that game. why should i act like he's a stranger when he, just a few years ago, told me i was ugly?

three hours later we were at (grand?) central station. in the bathroom i ran into an old acquaintance named sam, someone with whom i used to hang out when i was dating ed. in the last few months, sam has joined the ranks of people i've met who suddenly have social amnesia. is there some sort of statute of limitations nobody told me about? after a certain number of months or years has my face or personality or name changed so much that you can't recognize me? or you've just drunk away your memory of me? sam surprised me, though. as i was peeing, i saw him try to catch my eye. this is never a good sign when you're in the bathroom at central station, but i know him, so i smiled. he said, "i know you. you were dating ed. how have you been doing?" he went on to explain that he and ed had never really been terribly close, and that after ed and i broke up they'd fallen out of touch. i don't remember the whole story, but it was nice to have someone break protocol.

blame it on my folksy oklahoma goodness (or, more accurately, the fact that i'm a bumpkin), but when i meet people i remember them. then say hello to them. and i'm going to keep doing it until every last bitter, sad, or uncomfortable queen is as bubbly as dolly parton.