I'm A Big Boy

I think sometimes people confuse my laid-back nature with being afraid of confrontations. I'm not quite on the end of the brothers Reid who have no fear in the face of confrontation, a quality which I greatly admire and one that I think their wives can mostly do without, but I've had my own share of run-ins.

For example, I had to talk one time with a friend about looking at websites that were maybe a little less visually stimulating when he was living at my house. I talked with my cousins a number of times about the same things and even had to give their mom a tongue-lashing or two about making some changes to help them with their troubles, which are many. My friends and I have clashed on occasion because of disagreements. The thing is, I can get annoyed, but very rarely do I ever get actually get angry and most of the people I associate with also share this quality. On top of that, we don't hold grudges or keep scorecards on one another, and we all release most of our stuff through humor. So maybe we're just more passive-aggressive. Like most people, I don't relish those tough talks, but it's not that I'll necessarily shy away from it either.

I have two items to present to the court to supplement my case:

• Yesterday, local grocer Smith's and I disagreed on whether or not I had actually purchased enough items to qualify for the mega deal which would have knocked off $5 instantly from my bill. After listening to my complaint I left exactly one box of Captain Crunch and $2.90 richer than when I had first gone through the check-out counter.
• And about 10 minutes ago I was actually in the midst of getting some work done on my thesis, only to be subjected to the hard-hitting bass belonging to my neighbor's downstairs complete with profanity-laced lyrics that I could hear word for word. It's 11:30 on a Thursday guys, come on! So I got my sandals, trudged down my stairs and over to next door and knocked loudly. No answer. Couple of doorbell rings. About a minute later, two guys come to the door and they looked so tired. Their eyes were bright red. Worse still, it smelled like their oregano was burning. These poor guys were having a rough night. I started to smile and almost laughed when they approached the door, realizing their plight. I had clearly frightened one of them as he quickly agreed to not just turn the music down, but turn it off completely so as not to disrupt me. His companion was a little more curious, wanting me to point out exactly where my room was so that he could turn off only those speakers nearest me so that I might not be disturbed anymore. I answered the same question multiple times as he seemed to be so tired that he wasn't even really able to understand what it was that I was saying.
  

What's the take home message kids? Not being afraid of confrontation has supplied me with an extra week's worth of breakfast, enough money for three chicken soft tacos, and now some quiet so that I might actually continue to get something done. And maybe my new friends next door can get some of the much needed rest that they so clearly need.

At least I know where I can get some fresh oregano now.