Bleaky.

Writing has become catharsis for me. It's the only explanation for the bleakness of my recent posts. Or I'm slowly losing my mind. Very likely. Still bleak.

I got seriously pissed off today. I saw a scene on tv and it triggered a memory. It was in school back in Kuwait. I had a group of friends. We were diverse people but we got along well. Except for this one girl who I really disliked. I never said anything because she was part of the group and that's that. But by god, I disliked her. I used to watch her in wonder because she seemed like the most fake person in the world to me. Even when she laughed, I'd notice her watching people. Her beady eyes always gave her away, to me at least.

Once, my friend S and I were studying together in an unused classroom. That's when DQ (for drama queen, not very original, but oh so apt) flounced into the room, plopped in an empty seat across from us and started parroting everything I said. Why do people think that's funny? Let me rephrase- what kind of people think that's actually funny? Anyway, she kept at it long past when she should have stopped. We had a big test coming up and after what seemed like hours to me, I raised my voice and said, "Stop it!" That's it. DQ stood up and flung herself out of the room. Within minutes, someone came and told us that she was crying in the room next door.

What amazed me was that slowly, one by one, my friends left me to console her. As if she were a victim of some great attack. That female milked it. She was apparently inconsolable when I finally (tired of waiting) went to see what was happening. She was still sobbing, with a large cooing crowd around her.

The thing is, people do this. And other people inexplicably fall for it. That instance and a few others over the years has shown me that people are strangely susceptible to tears. It's like, you can be a complete bitch but if you turn on the waterworks, people will support you. I've seen people who are hysterically emotional and delusional make use of this factoid to come out on top of a situation. On the other hand, if you want to become an instant villain, have an argument with a person like that. Within minutes, people will be like, 'Gasp! You made her cry?! You devil spawn!' And if she happens to be pretty, forget about it. You might as well tie yourself to a stake and set yourself on fire.

The sheep mentality, the illogical placement of sympathy, the complete lack of fairness and justice, the shallowness... I could rant about this for pages. It's blatant manipulation, and when learnt at an early age, creates monsters who look like people.

Recently, a 'friend' on Facebook started a conversation with me. She disagreed with one of my posts. I think I got one sentence in right at the beginning trying to clarify what I meant. After that she carried the entire conversation herself, typing at a furious pace, jumping from one opinion to another without letting me respond to anything, until in the end, she finished with a 'I could be wrong. Bye.' I unfriended her. I'm sure that if this conversation had been happening in public, she would have finished in tears, as if I'd just slapped her for having a dissenting viewpoint. She's that type. As much as I am sympathetic to whatever hardships she's going through, I don't want people like that in my life- it's just downright disrespectful.

What eats me is- why can't I cry on command? Let me tell you- it would have gotten me out of a few sticky situations. I just looked it up and there are numerous youtube videos that promise to get you teary in tens seconds- an acting technique, I suppose. I'm not going to watch any, but it amuses me to imagine myself using it. But not successfully. You see, the manipulator (is that a word?) has a plan B. If you end up crying before she does, she'll become the all-knowing condescender (definitely not a word). "Hey, don't be so emotional." "You're really over-sensitive." "Just relax! You have to learn to take life easily." "You shouldn't take everything so seriously." and the real insult-  "Just look at me." Then comes the injury- she'll go around telling people about how you lost it. I've seen it happen to decent people. They usually lose the will to live and become zombies.

I'm not a zombie. I know how to handle these types- I fully embrace my role as witch and enjoy it. As long as she's crying, why not give her a real reason to do so? It's a wonderful way to release pent up feelings and practise those dusty curse words you've kept on the shelf too long. I may be bleak, but hey, you can't say I'm repressed. Wink wink.

Oh, and DQ? I understand her life is a drama filled mess. I won't pretend- I think she got what she deserved, in general. But a more enlightened way of putting it would be what I said in my previous post- More than anything, who you are determines how you live. So if your life is bleak, you need to take a good long look at yourself. Which is what I should be doing right now, instead of ranting. Off I go.