I don’t know how people perceive me. It’s an unfortunate side effect of human nature that we’re not completely up front with people when they’re acting strangely (to us), unless we’re already very good friends with them and share that kind of open criticism regularly. I love observing others’ behavior and gauging the reactions of the people around them to mean one thing or another, but since I cannot view my own actions in the third person, I can’t get a very clear read on the reactions around me.

I’m rambling, so let’s get to the point. I am wondering if my friends (the females, mostly) observe my enthusiasm over little things and wrongly characterize my commitments.

For instance, one of my darling [female] friends just visited me at my office after declaring via IM that she was too busy to do so today. Naturally, I was delighted to see her! Though it was a very simple gesture, to me it meant a lot that she would come by without warning even though she knew I wouldn’t be expecting her. She was totally off the hook of obligation, but she came anyway.

This got me thinking: When I get excited over such simple gestures, do the folks around me interpret my reaction in a way that matches my mentality? If a person does something for me/to me that I appreciate outwardly, but to them it requires hardly any effort or focus, do they think I’m “coming on too strong”? Does a girl I’m interested in think “whoa, this guy is way too attached” even when I’m in full control of my wits?

Sometimes these thought-provoking ideas are much harder to type explicitly than they are to describe to myself in my head. So I’m sorry if this seems like nothing more than sporadic babble. At least it makes sense to me!