Well, today was not the day for this.

I was handing out a homework in class, right? And it was a simple, short, research question - basically I gave everyone the name of an organism and asked them to tell me certain facts about it. I reiterated my policy: it is to be in your own words and you cannot just print out a copy of a website and hand it to me, that will be zero credit.

And my BMOC* blurted out, when I said that, "Damn!" Signifying, I guess, that that was what he had been planning on doing. Or at least he was making that indication as a joke.

And you know? This is just not the right day for that. I was kind of offended. I bit my tongue but I am sure my face betrayed my aggravation. This guy is getting a D. He's on the football team. I've contacted his coach about him but he's just not making the effort. It's like college is a big joke to him.

And you know? The hell with being friendly and charming and pleasant all the time. The hell with never having an irritated reaction to someone doing something irritating. (He also left after completing the quiz, so whatever.)

I'm just not in a mood for people to jack with me today. I realize he didn't know that, but still - his behavior this semester has gone beyond my point of tolerance.

I suppose part of it is that I see him as the sort of person who seems to be able to get by on charm and good looks, and as I am neither all that charming nor good-looking, I have to get by on hard work and native intelligence. And you know? That takes a lot more work than smiling nice at someone and getting them to do what you want. So in a twisted way, I'm a little jealous of this guy, who seems to slip so effortlessly through life. I know it's stupid and I know the old Plato quote about everyone carrying a heavier burden, but I'm not in a good mood today so I all I can see is the popular athlete having an easy time of it while I labor in my office and have people always "needing" me for something.

(*Big Man On Campus. Ironic reference to the 1950s ideal of the popular well-liked scholar-athlete-frat brother)