ouch.

In the computer lab today, a guy I didn't recognize at all said hi to me. Of course, I was immediately suspicious. Is he coming on to me? I thought. What was up?
He actually had to tell me his name for me to realize that this was a guy I had lived down the hall from all of last year. He had shaved his beard and started wearing his hair in a ponytail, making him look like a completely different person. I'd say this qualifies as my Embarrassing Incident of the Week.
I'm also ashamed of my assumption, however conscious, that if someone I don't know says hi to me, he's automatically trying to get some. How New England am I, anyway? "People are not friendly to me unless they think there's something in it for themselves." Will I ever escape that mindset, or did 18 years of living in the coldest region of America, weather-wise and personality-wise, make that kind of attitude inescapable?
Not fifteen minutes after I left the computer lab, I was told by a guy who worked in the Russian department office that I didn't smile enough. Now, I barely know this guy. I see him only when I go in to run errands for my job or my Russian class. And here he is telling me that "every time I see you, you always look so focused...so caught up in whatever's going on in your head."
Despite others' reassurances to the contrary, I couldn't help but believe him. I mean, nobody would use the words "sunny," "optimistic," "warm," or "always happy" to refer to me. But does that come from my native region, or is it something else?