One of those people

Exam today was rather tougher. Considering it is all multiple choice it is a tad oo-er that it should give more than pause for thought. At least we will have our results for these first three exams in three weeks.

Over lunch at college there was some chit-chat about who had done what for Christmas and it is interesting the impressions we have of other people. For example, there is a young lass, younger than my daughter and with a young child of her own, who has one of those pale pallid complexions and takes a while to wake up in the morning. She looks a bit of a heroin head with the way she can look so spaced out and yet since early November she had been sharing how she had already done all her Christmas shopping. Meanwhile, as I gave out Christmas cards to my colleagues today I shared that these were the only cards I had managed to write and give out this year, and that I had only just started Christmas shopping. To which one of my colleagues expressed surprise that she had thought I was one of those people who would have Christmas all wrapped up by August. The curious thing is that it would not be the first time I had been wrongly attributed such organisational skills, and I suppose I would not have the nickname "Monica" (from Friends) if I didn't sometimes pull it out of a hat. It is not a bad thing to be associated with, and I can see it is a whole lot kinder than "heroin head".

The serious point to this is that old chestnut of what happens when people find out I bluff it just like anyone else and do not have any special organisational qualities. It is just that sometimes I do manage to get it together. The other thing I wonder is what is it that gives people that impression about me and I think I had better re-assess how I look to the world and perhaps I do not look anywhere near as shambolic as I think I do. Maybe I do look neat and tidy most of the time. They certainly have not seen my desk (and the floor around it) piling high and needing clearing before the Christmas visitors start.