Jax Attax

I thought maybe I would get back into the swing of things with a second installment of silly revelations about myself for ‘08.  Jax is back and in effect! 

5)  I am a fast-walker.  I blame my dad for this, as he is the fastest walking person that I have ever met.  I used to think it was funny as a kid that I had to run to keep up.  It’s true, just ask my mother.  She still complains that when they hold hands and walk he is essentially dragging her along behind him.  Once I reached my full, adult height (5′ 9″), I came to appreciate the long stride and resultant advantage it afforded when rushing to get from point A to point B (no surprise that I ended up living in New York City – the most urgently paced city in the world).  However, when walking with vertically challenged or merely slower friends, I am often confronted with a frustrated “hey, wait for me.”   

 6)  I cannot take a compliment.  I don’t know why.  To be fair, with the exception of my relatives, the only compliments I seem to get are from complete strangers.  I guess I’m caught off-guard when someone I don’t know tries to say something nice to me.  I don’t know if I just think that they are mistaken, or if I am worried that they are trying to flatter me to prepare me for some kind of manipulation.  I get that this is cynical of me and I have worked to improve in this area.  For example, I do not roll my eyes, laugh or say “yeah, right” anymore.  I combat all of my natural instincts and simply say “thank you.” 

7)  I talk to myself.  All the time.  I know others who do this, so it shouldn’t make me feel particularly odd.  But it is getting worse as the years pass.  The main problem is my habitual use of accents and my fondness for relaying sentiments in song.  When you are in the midst of an actual conversation with others it can be amusing or, dare I say, endearing.  When you are standing in the aisle of a grocery store with no visible dialogue partner it is just CRAZY. 

 8)  I believe there is a soundtrack to my life.  I wake up with a song in my head and I basically need to listen to music all day long.  I also happen to believe that music needs to be played at high-volume.  This has not made me the best neighbor in the past (that was intentional, but I was provoked!); it also doesn’t make me the most popular driver at a stoplight during the summer (I don’t like A/C, so my windows are always down) or the most pleasant subway passenger every morning (I finally got an ipod, so I’m just making the most of it).