How to Be Awesome, Tuesday, Period 3

[vanillajello]

This week, class was meeting in a regular classroom again, and Kate was perched on her desk, giving the students a little wave once they'd all come in. "Hi, and sorry about last week," she began. "Got sick, it was terrible. But I hope you had a good time with my boyfriend, and that he didn't blind anyone with his paleness."

Sorry, Bod, you really were terribly pale.

"Also since the topic was awesome in relationships, he probably undersold his own skills because seriously, dude came out here in my stead to teach you guys. He's awesome in relationships defined." It was possible your teacher was head over heels in love, kids, yeah. Feel free to double check that that cute ring really was on her middle finger instead of her ring finger. "Anyway, yeah, I hope you had a good time and that it was educational. 'Cause we're gonna move on now. And because my last week was decidedly unawesome with the sickness and all, that's what we're gonna cover today."

A beat.

"Uh, things that are unawesome," she clarified. "Not my illness, you don't need to hear crap about that. Anyway, yeah, sometimes you just need to be able to spot the things that aren't awesome in order to stay on a course of awesomeness. And that's not always so easy. Because things might seem super awesome when you're putting on a costume and posing for paintings and making like music videos and stuff, but it can turn out way less so when you have lame and skeezy dudes Skypeing you." True story. "So what I wanna discuss today is how to spot potentially unawesome things. Situations, relationships, maybe even just picking the wrong thing to drink at the wrong time, whatever you can come up with. Or you can just keep it general and talk about how something potentially unawesome might make you feel and how that could be a warning sign. Any ideas?"

Comments

Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[vanillajello]

"So what I wanna discuss today is how to spot potentially unawesome things. Situations, relationships, maybe even just picking the wrong thing to drink at the wrong time, whatever you can come up with. Or you can just keep it general and talk about how something potentially unawesome might make you feel and how that could be a warning sign. Any ideas?"

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[flickofthewrist]

"Ignore the frat boys," Flick said since that was the only thing he could think of. "All they do is bring unawesome things and douchey haircuts."

Generalizing frat boys? Probably but he didn't care.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"What's a frat boy?"

To be fair, Rapunzel probably wasn't the only one who was going to wonder about that. She also didn't know what 'douchey' meant, but she'd get there.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[flickofthewrist]

"Cocky, self centered, meatheaded, beer guzzlers who think they're God's gift to women and men and who will tell you that in no uncertain terms," Flick told her. "Best to avoid them."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"And I can recognize them by their bad haircuts?" Rapunzel guessed, nodding seriously. She didn't think she wanted anything to do with these people, by the sounds of it. Ugh. Like ruffians, but worse.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[flickofthewrist]

"Yeah, that's an easy way," Flick told her. "But, they'll also be driving some huge truck or some expensive sports car and their muscles will have muscles. But as soon as they open their mouths and start talking, that's the best evidence you'll have."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"They sound really, really unawesome," Rapunzel said with a frown. "Have you met any here?"

She was still keeping her eyes out for thugs and men with pointy teeth. Frat boys would have to be added to the list even if it didn't fit in the song.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[vanillajello]

Kate tilted her head to the side as she considered this. "I never went to college, but I... am going to have to say they're probably about as bad news as skeevy guys on the internet, yeah." She nodded. "I feel like I should be discouraging you from labeling entire groups of people, though."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"I think it's important to know who to listen to," Rapunzel offered shyly, raising her hand. "I mean, if you have a friend who tells you how unawesome you are all the time, well, you're gonna believe them after awhile, right? And vice versa."

She'd maybe been thinking about that a little, since being away from her mother and finding -- dare she say it -- actual friends here. Not that she was ready to say that Mother was anything less than an awesome parent, but still.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[tigerundercover]

"Definitely," Raven agreed. "Though I'm not sure someone like that can really be called a 'friend'."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Maybe," Rapunzel agreed with a little frown as she played with her hair a little. "I mean, sometimes you know people for a long time and it's hard to think of them any other way, even if they say mean things to you, right?"

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[tigerundercover]

"If you've known them long enough, and they're important to you, then you should be able to tell them to stop being mean," Raven said. Huh, now she was suddenly thinking about Charles. "Though I guess sometimes if it's been happening long enough, it's not always easy to tell that it is mean."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Sometimes it can feel like they're just trying to give you advice," Rapunzel said thoughtfully. "So maybe their intentions are good, but if they make you feel bad about yourself, it's probably best to just know not to listen, right?"

She had a lot of trouble with that, still.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[tigerundercover]

"But if all they do is give you advice to be better, but never acknowledge the stuff you're already really good at, then you won't end up listening to anything they say."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[vanillajello]

"Um, Raven's actually already covered most of what I would've said too," Kate said, having just watched the girls talk for a while. "But yeah, you kinda have to be wary of people who tell you you're unawesome, because even though they're not necessarily bad people... They also aren't doing much to support your awesome."

She paused.

"Also, general reminder, my office hours are open. Just saying."

Smooth, Kate.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[likes-ducklings.livejournal.com]

"Really?" Rapunzel asked, fiddling with her hair nervously. "So I can come bother you about stuff when we're not in class?"

She really wanted to learn more about eyeliner, from a few weeks ago! And also Kate seemed...really approachable, and sort of concerned about this, the way Raven was. Hmm.

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[vanillajello]

Kate was from the John Mitchell School of Teaching, and their philosophy leaned heavily on being approachable. Even if it came about through being kind of unsure whether you should've been allowed to teach in the first place.

Also a fabulous hipster fashion sense and a tendency to make people go 'DAMMIT'.

"Totally," she said, nodding. "That's what it's for. Also, the office is seriously boring for me all on my own, so really, you'd be doing me a favor."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[tigerundercover]

"People who spend all their time trying to start arguments because they think making people mad is funny." So, you know, internet trolls. "Very unawesome."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[vanillajello]

"Ohh, I think you've been online," Kate replied, nodding sagely. "It's a slippery slope when it comes to awesome because you get so much really awesome stuff... And then that. But, sadly the best you can do to avoid the unawesome is just to not engage."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[tigerundercover]

"That's the same thing they tell you when you're getting bullied in real life."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[not_a_moonie]

"People who assume they know things about you just because of what you look like," Alana volunteered. "Not awesome at all."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

"Absolutely not," Ichabod agreed, and, thinking about his attempts at conversation with Edward, added: "And the same goes for making assumptions based on how you speak and and on you situation in life."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[not_a_moonie]

Alana nodded in conformation. "Right. It's not like that stuff totally doesn't matter, but surfaces only tell you so much about somebody. And you miss out on a lot of awesome people if you decide you don't like them because of their hair or their accent or whatever."

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[not-called-icky.livejournal.com]

"I quite agree," Ichabod said. "It takes time to know someone's true character. Has that happened to you? That someone passed judgement based on your appearance?"

Re: Discuss [Awe 06/10]

[not_a_moonie]

"Yeah, at home people thought I was some kind of Goth, and here" -- she raised her wings to lightly flutter them in Ichabod's direction --"some people here aren't used to anybody not from Earth."

"What about you?"