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Author Topic: High School, and how to interact with it.  (Read 2194 times)

Beneviento

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High School, and how to interact with it.
« on: September 21, 2013, 12:40:48 am »

Hi everybody. I writing this because it has come to my sight that I am painfully socially inept and shy. I want to talk to girls, especially the one or two I am somewhat interested in, but just cannot psych myself up enough to do so, because the thought of messing up paralyzes me. I'm 14, a freshman, by the way, and so am not sure I really should be bothering with things like this. The best advice I have got elsewhere was to give a friend a $10 bill, and if I don't talk to a girl before 30 seconds are up, the $10 is his. I don't really want to lose what could possibly become large sums of money over this, so Bay12 advice session, GO! 
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 01:49:14 am by Beneviento »
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Vector

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Re: High School Girls, and how to interact with them.
« Reply #1 on: September 21, 2013, 01:21:56 am »

You should bother to talk to girls because they're other human beings, which is true irrespective of how old you are.  First realize that you're not talking to each and every one of them to date them, and then say "Hello, my name is ______.  What's yours?"
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Darkmere

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Re: High School Girls, and how to interact with them.
« Reply #2 on: September 21, 2013, 01:25:49 am »

Eh.... women are just people? I'm not seeing what the problem is here. Talk to them like you talk to anyone else. If they're snobbish or ignore you, forget them and move on.
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NullForceOmega

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Re: High School Girls, and how to interact with them.
« Reply #3 on: September 21, 2013, 01:32:45 am »

Honestly? You are 14, rejection is part of life, you will never be anything other than shy and socially inept if you don't talk to someone.  If you mess up, no big, there is a lot more life to come, and many thousands of opportunites ahead. Take what you learn from the failures and successes and move on.
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Beneviento

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #4 on: September 21, 2013, 01:48:50 am »

Sorry, I believe that I have been misunderstood. I do talk to girls regularly, the problem is more about not being able to talk with the ones I am interested in. On rereading my first post, I see how this could come across as "girls scare me because I am afraid of each and every one of them, because I'm afraid they will reject my advances." but that really isn't it. It's more about how to talk with people and navigate high school in general. Talking with guys scares me a little too. Not that you weren't helpful, but this seems to have become a "Women are not objects" rant (by some of you, at least). I was looking for advice on being social and talking with people, not accusations. You may be right though, in that I need to see all people as just people, irrespective of whether I "like" them or not, or any other factors. Thank you for the tips.
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And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the Assaulted Lanterns Magma Artillery' - King Id I of the Assaulted Lanterns

Heron TSG

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Re: High School Girls, and how to interact with them.
« Reply #5 on: September 21, 2013, 01:56:59 am »

These people, they are not so different from you. Speak, and they will hear. What you say is your choice alone; the barrier before you is but an illusion. When you are frightened or nervous, you hesitate. But what of when you are comfortable? Do you hesitate then? The hesitation is no permanent object, no eternal force bent to deter thee. What was once hesitation is but a dream ill-remembered. Speak! No harm shall come to thee from a tilted phrase or artless jest. At worst a ghost of regret shall linger for but a day, perhaps two. You will live to try again!
« Last Edit: September 21, 2013, 01:58:44 am by Barbarossa TSG »
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freeformschooler

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Re: High School Girls, and how to interact with them.
« Reply #6 on: September 21, 2013, 02:12:55 am »

These people, they are not so different from you. Speak, and they will hear. What you say is your choice alone; the barrier before you is but an illusion. When you are frightened or nervous, you hesitate. But what of when you are comfortable? Do you hesitate then? The hesitation is no permanent object, no eternal force bent to deter thee. What was once hesitation is but a dream ill-remembered. Speak! No harm shall come to thee from a tilted phrase or artless jest. At worst a ghost of regret shall linger for but a day, perhaps two. You will live to try again!

This man. His words are not formed but experienced. Read them, live them.
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Darkmere

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #7 on: September 21, 2013, 02:12:58 am »

To be fair, the thread topic was basically worded "how do I talk to girls?" :P

On a more generalist note....

Everyone else there was a freshman and felt just as overwhelmed and insecure as you. You'll be in their position and then graduate before you know it (seriously). I'd suggest talking to them like you talk to your friends. Some will like you, some won't. That's how life is, so the sooner you start getting social practice in, the better off you'll be for .... well for the rest of your life.

As to what specifically to do... well... almost anything. Join clubs, go to sporting events, go to academic competitions, mock UN, debate team, chess club, A/V club, student newspaper, student magazine, be a teacher's aide later on. Pick anything and everything that sounds interesting and go do it. It'll get you out around people that have common interests and goals, and it looks pretty decent on a college application either way.
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And then, they will be weaponized. Like everything in this game, from kittens to babies, everything is a potential device of murder.
So if baseless speculation is all we have, we might as well treat it like fact.

Beneviento

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #8 on: September 21, 2013, 02:24:26 am »

@Darkmere: You're right, it was. This was because I was thinking about the girl I like when i wrote up the first post, and wanted to get some advice about that, and how to get enough courage to ask her out, not really about  talking to her, as I actually do talk to her somewhat often, but right now I think that it would be better to get advice on high school and how to deal with insecurities, etc, as i am somewhat shy and introverted.

@Everyone: Thank you so much for the thoughtful answers. I feel like they will really help me. I'll consider getting into stuff like cross-country and speech and debate.
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And any man who may be asked in this century what he did to make his life worthwhile, I think can respond with a good deal of pride and satisfaction: 'I served in the Assaulted Lanterns Magma Artillery' - King Id I of the Assaulted Lanterns

Vector

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #9 on: September 21, 2013, 02:41:56 am »

Make sure to develop a few hobbies that you work on, and not the usual music/sports/theater stuff.  That will make you more interesting.  High school kids tend to really end up in little clusters of activities.

Also, be nice to the girls other than the ones you're interested in.  Tease them or whatever, just be confident and nice.  That usually really helps your social status, especially among women.  Like, I'm not kidding, it's a huge deal if you consistently ask girls who are sitting alone to come hang out with your group (without being skeevy.  Ask guys, too), say hi to them in the morning, stuff like that.

Source: I Am A Girl
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"The question of the usefulness of poetry arises only in periods of its decline, while in periods of its flowering, no one doubts its total uselessness." - Boris Pasternak

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Scriabin

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #10 on: September 21, 2013, 05:03:20 am »

You're undergoing a huge metamorphosis during these years and most of the people in your age are experiencing the same feelings. Try to build a foundation of self-confidence. This could spring out of lots of stuff, building a skill that you're proud of for example. Enroll in more activities to meet new people and practice your social skills. Don't be too hard on yourself if you're shot down/commit some faux pas. Just have fun and relax a bit.

Then the usual advice, read more books, work out, do some meditation. :P
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Imperfect

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #11 on: September 21, 2013, 05:39:26 am »

Oh man, high school times, anxieties, girls... Been there, done that. The first thing you should know is that this general anxiety is but a small symptom of an entanglement of issues raising from just being in high school(no, being locked for four years every day in a box with a bunch of bored teenagers doesn't do too much of a good job in making you a happier person, or keeping you sane for that matter, yet for some reason we still do it) and a bunch of stuff going on in your brain, growing up and the like. I don't know you situation, or how well can you relate to anything I will say in this post, but I'll try to give you some advice based on what I wish they told me when I was your age.

A good start for getting rid of your anxeieties, worries, and so on, could be http://www.raptitude.com/2010/02/3-pieces-of-advice-id-give-my-18-year-old-self-if-i-could/. Just give the blog a shot, read this article and two or three others, see if it makes any sense to you. The whole thing is worth reading, actually. Oh, and if you indeed admit that it indeed has something to it, don't expect all those new worldviews and habits to kick in right now, it takes time for them to latch on. The starting article I chose is a bit symbolic, I too wish that somebody offered me some real advice when I was in (high) school, instead of absentminded remarks like "Everybody's been through it, you can do it too." or "Kids can be cruel."

And finally, the advice I can give from my own experience, i.e. things I wish I knew or did when I was your age:

1. Do research about how to skip classes and then do it. Ask your parents, teachers, principal, ministry of education, google, or anybody about under what circumstances can you skip years and earn you high school diploma sooner(remember Sheldon: "It took you four years to get through high school?"). You'll probably have to do a ton of studying and practice, but your reward will be years of your life when you're out of high school, ahead of everybody else, and on a college(Be *careful*, and I mean really freakin' *careful* with the student loans, if you'll have to take them. Consult a lot of people and the internet before making a move. Remember all the game designers and english majors flipping burgers and standing behind a counter with a debt on their hands! This is a chapter by itself, read up choosing(or at all going to) a college real well.), which can actually teach you something, as opposed to high school. Which gets us to the second point:

2. Do not be scared of work. When it really comes, it's never as bad as it seems from a comfortable life situation when you don't have to do much stuff and don't have much responsibility, such as high school. More studying or more difficult courses to take always seem daunting, you'll always imagine yourself slaving away half a year only to fail at the exams and lose all that time you could have spent just chilling out or playing videogames, but it never turns out like that when you're actually doing it.

3. There aren't any untalented people, just ones who don't put time working on some of their talents, and bad experiences that teach them not to. For eaxmaple, you know why I hated and avoided math throughout my school life? It wasn't the functions and absolute values that made me want to run away every time I saw them, it was my vicious math teacher from the elementary. I could see her wrinkled face evey time I looked at an equation and hear her humiliating smartass comments(and the class' laughter) every time I made a mistake, all that wrapped in her terrible cigarette-stained breath that made flies drop. This article offers a great analogy on the relationship of talent and the work on it: http://www.cracked.com/blog/6-harsh-truths-that-will-make-you-better-person_p1/ Look for the dirt->tomatoes part.

4. If you find yourself in one place with idiots, remove either them or yourself from there. Trying to change them or accomodate your behavior to fit in will not work and will make you miserable.

5. Do not be afraid of making changes, of doing something that's untypical for you. I know that people can be really annoying at first when they comment on some visible change and you hear the same remark 20 times a day, but that will pass. The present state of things, even if it sucks a bit, hell, even if it sucks a lot, is always more appealing, more comfortable to the usual human mind than making a change in any direction, because it's familiar, but following these impulses throughout your life will only lead to unfulfilling careers, families you're not really part of, and ultimately, deathbed regrets.

Hope some of it helps!
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acetech09

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #12 on: September 21, 2013, 12:32:30 pm »

I wish I could dispense something useful, but looking back on high school, I don't think that my experience would be quite helpful. I'd end up promoting antisociality, moral elitism, and other stuff which is generally frowned upon. Nor could I help with talking to girls. (My GF I met in high school was also a antisocial DF player... we both kinda skipped the 'standard accepted social codes' nonsense).

I did see a bit about self-confidence though. Do take that to heart. You don't appear to be 'weird' to other people unless you truly think of yourself as 'weird'. Act normal and you will be.

+1 to all the other replies too. This whole subforum reminds me why b12 is such a great community.
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Facekillz058

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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #13 on: September 21, 2013, 08:03:16 pm »

Wear shirts that have buttons.
Buttons are damn sexy.
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Re: High School, and how to interact with it.
« Reply #14 on: September 21, 2013, 08:07:22 pm »

Wear shirts that have buttons.
Buttons are damn sexy.
This.
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