Last night, my sister/roommate and I went out for drinks with one of our neighbors.  Although we’ve lived here for more than a year, this is the first time either of us have socialized with him.  Prior to this, the most meaningful conversation we had ever had with him immediately followed the discovery of a very politely worded note on our front door asking us to please try to get our dog to stop barking for hours on end at 3:00 a.m. because he has a job and stuff.  I was horrified and immediately apologized, of course, and since then neighborly relations have resumed.

Following that humiliating discovery that I am “that” neighbor that everyone hates, my sister and I thought it prudent to ask him for drinks to make up for his lost sleep. 

Which brings me to yesterday.

We went out to a local place and got down to the business of getting to know each other.  After we had all finished beer #1, he had developed some sort of side to side head swaying motion that continued through most of beer #2.  Finally, we asked him hat he was doing, and he explained that since the day we moved in, he had thought that we were some “boring choir girls” goodytwoshoes types and he couldn’t wait to tell his ex-roommate (who moved out a few months ago) what we were “really” like.

I guess that struck me for two reasons.  Although I constantly form opinions and stories about people I don’t know or barely know, I forget about the possibility that people may be doing the same thing about me.  I guess it’s natural for my neighbor and his roommate to speculate about two girls who move into their building, but I never really occurred to me that they would.  I was also surprised about the image that we must portray to someone who knows nothing about me.  There are a lot worse things than “choir girl,” I suppose, but, I mean, really?  And his impression of us was clearly so strong, that he was still shaking his head in amazement and/or bewilderment when we got in the car, on the drive back home and as we walked back to our respective apartments. 

So there you go.  A relative party girl who comes across as a relative choir girl.  Huh.  If you ever wondered what kind of impression you give off, I sugget you take out a neighbor you’ve barely met and get him all liquored up and see what he says.