Where everybody knows my name: Part 1 Muckraker

I live in a small town. A very small town. It's also town where there are basically 2 major business, and believe me when I say you are always seeing people you'd probably rather not be seeing when your hair is unwashed and you just did an 11pm Ben & Jerry's run in your sweats. (Um. Not that I've ever done this. No sireee.)

I was feeling rather annoyed with my grad student friends this evening. There was a hockey game and then a party and one of my friends said he would give me the details as to where people were meeting up, but he never did. I could have called him, but I've been more than a little annoyed with him and that entire crowd lately, so I pouted a bit instead.

My friend Meg had called me earlier that day to see what I was up to, so I gave her a call and asked if she would want to come back to town and grab a bite and a drink. I had left a note for Ro at her office, and mentioned I'd be going out with Meg, and so she decided to join us.

Well, we got on the subject of -- what else-- guys (in addition to many other topics. We're not completely shallow! But for the purposes of this post, we talked about guys. :-). And so I filled them in on where things stand with both muckraker & science guy.

So, Muckraker? Still shady as shit. And still as incomprehensibly annoying as ever. I was out sick a portion of this week and on Wed as we were walking out of class he came up beside me and asked me where I'd been. I still wasn't feeling well, and I was rather annoyed with him for not following up with my lunch invitation, and so I pretty much blew him off. Seriously, if he can't be bothered, why should I? Today he arrived in class before the class started and had placed his things next to the seat where I usually sit. Since I always sit in the same spot--in the middle of a row-- it was pretty obvious he was putting his things down there in order to sit next to me.
He gave me a pretty thorough up and down look that I was rather annoyed by. Not because he was looking, but because he was looking (and appreciative, I think), and he can't be bothered to actually make a move. Why bother looking at all then? He left quickly after class without giving me a second glance.

And then... that afternoon, I found out something that really pissed me off. I had a class question and went to his facebook page to message him, and I saw on his wall all his friends were congratulating him... for his upcoming appearance on a national talk show to promote his latest book. Hey, I don't wish him ill, right, so why does it piss me off? I should congratulate him on his success, right? Well it pisses me off because if you'll recall, in one of my very first conversations with Muckraker he asked me not to mention his books to anyone in the program because he just wanted to blend in. Guess that will be kind of hard now for him, huh? It just all feels very disingenuous and very faux-humble.

Ro & Meg think muckraker is very much a "Bill Clinton" type-- Someone who is very charming and very into you, and very focussed and intently into you when you happen to be there, and then it's out of sight, out of mind, and he forgets all about you. Bingo. Unfortunately, when he's charming, he's really fucking out of this world charming... and I tend to forget his shadiness at those points.

Ro & Meg are very much onboard the Muckraker hate train that Npapaya is currently the conductor of. The whistle is blowing, and I've got one foot on the platform myself.

There's the grown-up equivelant of the prom tomorrow. I may or may not go. I may or may not see muckraker there. I'll keep you posted. I have half a mind to tell him what an ass I think he is, though that wouldn't be productive, I know.