![\"Tomoko\"](\"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-content\/uploads\/2014\/02\/Tomoko.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nO HAI I LIKE ANIME DO U LIKE ANIME OK COOL BYE<\/em><\/p>\n The girl seemed nice enough.\u00a0 She was actually quite pretty in that tall, blonde Scandinavian sort of way, but we clearly had all the chemistry of an empty test tube.\u00a0 Unfortunately for us, the other two people at the table worked in the same field and were completely engrossed in talking shop. \u00a0So, we plodded pleasantly through the barroom ritual of making small talk with someone you\u2019ve never met before and won\u2019t see again any time soon.<\/p>\n \u201cYes, I come here all the time.\u00a0 Yeah, you can\u2019t go too far wrong with any of the appetizers.\u00a0 No, I ate earlier, so I\u2019m just having a beer.\u00a0 Oh, you work at That Job but would rather do That Other Job?\u00a0 Interesting.\u00a0 I produce written and video content for this website I made.\u00a0 Yeah, one guy does a column about video games, I write about anime\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cOh,\u201d she said between sips of hard cider, \u201cyou like anime?\u201d\u00a0 It wasn\u2019t the excited voice of a fellow otaku, but the politely interested tone of someone who couldn\u2019t possibly care less about the topic at hand.<\/p>\n Normal human detected! All hands to battle stations!<\/em><\/p>\n \u201cYeah, I guess you could say so\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Stop trying to backtrack, idiot.\u00a0 You just admitted to writing a weekly column.<\/p>\n \u201cI mean, yeah, it\u2019s not the kind of thing most people are into.\u00a0 You wouldn\u2019t come across it unless you knew someone who already watched it\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n Oh, GREAT.\u00a0 Reinforce the idea that your hobby is weird.\u00a0 What a clever idea!<\/p>\n \u201cI guess I just like it because it\u2019s not what you\u2019d normally see on TV, you know?\u201d<\/p>\n It\u2019s not worth it, dude.\u00a0 Change the subject ASAP.\u00a0 Abort mission.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s gotten a lot easier to access over the years.\u00a0 You know, it used to be like twenty bucks for a VHS tape with like two episodes on it.\u00a0 Now there are online subscriptions\u2026\u201d<\/p>\n STOP!\u00a0 Just stop.\u00a0 You\u2019re babbling.\u00a0 What\u2019s wrong with you?\u00a0 You\u2019re not even attracted to this girl.\u00a0 Why can\u2019t you just speak like a normal human?<\/p>\n Social interaction failed. Retry from last checkpoint?<\/em><\/p>\n The conversation dragged itself along for what felt like another three centuries.\u00a0 I managed to avoid offering a pompous correction when she made a reference to \u201creading anime,\u201d but couldn\u2019t stop myself giving the world\u2019s worst explanation of why manga is printed from right to left.\u00a0 I nearly stood up and danced for joy when a fifth person arrived at the table and hijacked the conversation with tales of her job as a waitress.<\/p>\n Looking back, I\u2019m baffled by what an absolute ass I undoubtedly made of myself.\u00a0 If you went nine years back in time and asked High School Me about anime, he\u2019d probably have been more coherent.\u00a0 I normally pride myself on being able to convey my interest in something without talking someone\u2019s ear off.\u00a0 Heck, I essentially have a monologue titled \u201cYes, I\u2019m Quite Fond of Anime\u201d stashed away in my subconscious.\u00a0 So why did I become such a spectacular train wreck while chatting idly with someone whose name I can\u2019t remember?<\/p>\n I suspect some of my own prejudices lie at the heart of the matter.\u00a0 On the rare occasion anime gets any kind of mainstream exposure in the US, it\u2019s typically shown in a less than flattering light.\u00a0 I think this gives some American fans (myself included) a bit of a persecution complex.\u00a0 We expect \u201cnormal\u201d people who \u201cjust don\u2019t get it\u201d to write us off as a bunch of awkward dorks.\u00a0 In the moments before my epic conversational failure, I let myself fall prey those expectations.\u00a0 Based entirely on appearances and some meaningless small talk, I had decided that I was dealing with someone who would judge me because of my interests.\u00a0 It was a lazy, ignorant conclusion that colored my interpretation of everything she said and did.\u00a0 I started reading condescending dismissal into perfectly innocent remarks like, \u201cI knew some people who were into anime.\u201d\u00a0 In my state of mind, that casual attempt at establishing common ground was promptly translated into, \u201cI had to interact with this bunch of nerdy losers once, and I assume you\u2019re just like them.\u201d\u00a0 Standing in front of an imagined firing squad, I became my own stereotype of a socially inept otaku.<\/p>\n If our mutual acquaintances ever put us in the same room as one another again, I owe this girl an apology.\u00a0 I let my preconceived notions distort my opinion of her, put her through a painfully awkward disaster of a conversation, and apparently couldn\u2019t be bothered to remember her name.\u00a0 If you ever find yourself in my position, dear reader, I hope you\u2019ll learn from my mistakes.\u00a0 The day may come when you\u2019re judged unfairly for the things you like, but expecting someone to do so shows the same kind of prejudice on your part.\u00a0 It also makes you look like a doofus.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n It happens from time to time, even to the best of us.\u00a0 Caught flat-footed on an off day, we suddenly find ourselves completely incapable of explaining our hobbies to someone without babbling like a moron.\u00a0 In one terrifying instant, years of knowledge and insight melt away, leaving behind an inarticulate puddle of stupidity.\u00a0 Here for [Read more…]<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[10],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=707"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":712,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/707\/revisions\/712"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=707"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=707"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/sharkpuppet.com\/wordpress\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=707"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n