RiverSong
Spoilers
I've noticed in the last couple of years, maybe as I'm getting a little older?, that people often look at me strangely. Whenever I'm talking to someone or even if I'm not directly in a conversation, I can just be standing off to the side of folks, and I'll still get strange looks.
For the longest time, when I was a kid or in high school, it never occurred to me that this was odd. I just figured people looked at other people strangely, maybe out of habit. It was what it was. But then when I got to college and moved in with two roommates, strangers much younger than me, I started to feel out of place with the odd looks I kept getting from my roommates.
Especially one roommate in particular who, whenever she saw me, would give me this look where she kind of scrunched up her face in a tight-lipped smile. It bothered me whenever she did it but I couldn't put my finger on why. Months went by and I had no idea what that look meant. I knew she rarely ever talked to me and avoided me whenever she could. I just figured she didn't like. Oh, well. I went about my business.
Then one day while watching the TV show The Office I saw an actor make the same face my roommate had been giving me. And this time the face was given in context so I had a clear understanding of what that facial expression meant... That moment was like getting hit with a ton of bricks. All that time and I had no clue she'd been giving me a let's just call it a variation on the Jim-from-The-Office-look. Something like this:
She gave more of a strained smile but the overall expression is pretty close to this image. Now, you would think anyone would see this and know what it meant. Not me. I didn't have any context or explanation beforehand so I didn't know what the heck it meant.
I'd usually just give my roommate a "Hi" and she'd give me that look, which I finally realized meant that she felt awkward being around me because she thought I was annoying and weird. Just like how on The Office, Jim would give his co-worker Dwight a similar look because he found Dwight's eccentric behavior irritating and weird. I'm not really eccentric. I was quiet and just kept to myself but still I got the look because my everyday behavior wasn't typical enough, I guess.
This made me realize that I've missed, misunderstood, and flat out failed to recognize a lot of facial expressions and non-verbal feedback from people throughout my life. Even now, at home, I get strange looks from the people I'm living with (not my roommates thank goodness. I moved away from them).
But today for instance I got a weird look from someone I've known for some years. I know I must have done or said something wrong but I DON'T KNOW WHAT. I just know the other person gave me a weird expression when I spoke to them. And this is really starting to annoy me especially now as I'm actively trying to figure some of these looks out.
So, do people usually give you facial expressions that you don't recognize/understand? I'm not talking about the general ones like when someone is really happy, sad, or angry. I can get those. But the other more obscure, subtle ones are like I'm trying to figure out a foreign language without any translation. I feel like asking the person outright about what that look they just gave me meant would only make things worst... and more awkward.![Confused :confused: :confused:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png)
For the longest time, when I was a kid or in high school, it never occurred to me that this was odd. I just figured people looked at other people strangely, maybe out of habit. It was what it was. But then when I got to college and moved in with two roommates, strangers much younger than me, I started to feel out of place with the odd looks I kept getting from my roommates.
Especially one roommate in particular who, whenever she saw me, would give me this look where she kind of scrunched up her face in a tight-lipped smile. It bothered me whenever she did it but I couldn't put my finger on why. Months went by and I had no idea what that look meant. I knew she rarely ever talked to me and avoided me whenever she could. I just figured she didn't like. Oh, well. I went about my business.
Then one day while watching the TV show The Office I saw an actor make the same face my roommate had been giving me. And this time the face was given in context so I had a clear understanding of what that facial expression meant... That moment was like getting hit with a ton of bricks. All that time and I had no clue she'd been giving me a let's just call it a variation on the Jim-from-The-Office-look. Something like this:
![tenor.gif](/proxy.php?image=https%3A%2F%2Fmedia.tenor.com%2Fimages%2F06f53c156e0484a2d077d35b93842f61%2Ftenor.gif&hash=647de604fbb0bb4abe678d7cc308335c)
She gave more of a strained smile but the overall expression is pretty close to this image. Now, you would think anyone would see this and know what it meant. Not me. I didn't have any context or explanation beforehand so I didn't know what the heck it meant.
![Mad :mad: :mad:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f621.png)
I'd usually just give my roommate a "Hi" and she'd give me that look, which I finally realized meant that she felt awkward being around me because she thought I was annoying and weird. Just like how on The Office, Jim would give his co-worker Dwight a similar look because he found Dwight's eccentric behavior irritating and weird. I'm not really eccentric. I was quiet and just kept to myself but still I got the look because my everyday behavior wasn't typical enough, I guess.
This made me realize that I've missed, misunderstood, and flat out failed to recognize a lot of facial expressions and non-verbal feedback from people throughout my life. Even now, at home, I get strange looks from the people I'm living with (not my roommates thank goodness. I moved away from them).
But today for instance I got a weird look from someone I've known for some years. I know I must have done or said something wrong but I DON'T KNOW WHAT. I just know the other person gave me a weird expression when I spoke to them. And this is really starting to annoy me especially now as I'm actively trying to figure some of these looks out.
So, do people usually give you facial expressions that you don't recognize/understand? I'm not talking about the general ones like when someone is really happy, sad, or angry. I can get those. But the other more obscure, subtle ones are like I'm trying to figure out a foreign language without any translation. I feel like asking the person outright about what that look they just gave me meant would only make things worst... and more awkward.
![Confused :confused: :confused:](https://cdn.jsdelivr.net/joypixels/assets/8.0/png/unicode/64/1f615.png)