Mute

I'm shy.
Obviously.

I've never been much of a talker, ever... even when surrounded by friends, if there's one new person, I'll keep mum.

I never really noticed how others viewed my quiet persona until the last day of 7th grade.

I was sitting behind my best friend of the time, and her friends had gathered around us as we waited for the bell to ring.
Somehow, and I can't remember what the hell the subject was, I started talking.
I said something witty, and it got a crazy reaction from the people in the group.
After everyone was done laughing, the "tough" one of the group looked over at me and said
"Dude!! You're funny! And here we thought you couldn't talk!"
I looked at her with a look of "WTF?" and someone else said
"Yeah, we all thought you were a mute since you never talk in class! That's why we never really talked to you because we thought we weren't going to understand you."

It was fucking algebra class... how the hell was I going to talk in there?

I just looked over at my friend and asked her why the hell she didn't tell people I talked.
It was a funny moment for everyone in the immediate area, but deep inside, I was sort of hurt and angry.

Anyway! This brings me to what I've been doing recently.
I'm a kid at heart, big time, and I enjoy children's programming almost as frequently as regular adult programming.
I'll watch Arthur when I'm in the mood... I'll watch The Suite Life of Zach and Cody before heading out to yoga Saturday morning... and recently, I've been regularly watching Signing Time (I think that's the name?) on PBS.
I'm really hooked on the show because it teaches kids sign language. The first time I watched it, the host's voice really bugged me... but after seeing the kids they put on the show, my heart melted.
So here you have me, weekdays at 1 in the afternoon, signing along to little kid songs and trying to memorize things like the difference between "flowers" and "Spring" (and also collecting a list of favorites. So far, "Bee" has the edge over "sun").

People sometimes think I'm mute, right? I might as well fuck around with them a little and talk in ASL.
Never again will people have to listen to my aggravating, jocky-voice.