... I've been told off more than once by a complete stranger for bumping into him her, and/ or knocking his/ her belonging to the ground and not apologizing.
Thing is, if I am aware of making such a collision, I *always* say I'm sorry, whether I bumped into a person, or an inanimate object. If I bump into you and I don't apologize, it's because I didn't notice I bumped into you. That is not an unusual occurrence for me.
Even though, I'm nice to inanimate objects, and apologize when I bump into them, I don't think they like me very much. It's not unusual for an inanimate object I'm holding to randomly fly out of my hand.
It was some time after my sixth birthday that I figured out the proper response to "Happy Birthday," is not to say "Happy Birthday," back, but "Thank you." On my sixth birthday, I wished several people a happy birthday following their birthday greetings to me.
I've learned to take it in stride when I'm greeted by someone I don't recognize. I'm not in the habit of using names every time I greet/ speak to people anyway. When this happens, I follow the same script I do when I'm greeted by someone I recognize. I arrange my face into what I hope looks like a smile, and say,"Hi," "Hello," "Good Morning," or "Have a good evening," depending on the time of day. If the person asks, "How are you?," my response is, "I'm okay, how are you?" Of course, if I accicentally skip ahead in my mental script, I might respond to "Hi," or "Good Morning,"
with, "I'm okay, how are you?" A conversation with me must be such an exciting event. Maybe that's why many people don't make much effort to talk with me. They can't take all that excitement and unpredictability.
Additionally, some of my best conversations are imaginary. On a good day, I can be a brilliant conversationalist when the conversation is taking place in my own head. I just haven't quite mastered generalizing that skill to conversations with other people.
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"And I find it kind of funny, I find it kind of sad./ The dreams in which I'm dying are the best I've ever had."