You know how sometimes you're in a meeting or having a conversation with a friend and you realize after a long while of the other person rambling on and on and on that you just totally did NOT pay attention for at least the last minute or two?
And then you sit there wondering, "What the fuck was I just thinking about?! Holy crap I haven't been paying attention during this conversation at all." But then you realize you're still *IN* the conversation and that you had better catch up real quick! So you tune back in, but then find yourself working SO hard to tune back in, that you're concentrating on the tuning and not on the actual conversation again?
The worst is when the other person stops so you can either A) react or B) answer their question.
I'd go with a "Wow", if I were you. Usually does the trick. And sometimes I just blurt out, "OMG, I just totally wasn't paying attention. Oops." Is that rude of me? It's always funny, that's for DAMN sure. Maybe people are more forgiving now that I'm more of a 'natural' blonde.
Random memory for the night: The first time I actually remember doing this tune out thing was when I was in the second grade and the art teacher was going on about what a 'horizon line' was. Man was I PISSED when I finally tuned back in and realized I had NO idea what our assignment was. How many 8 year olds know what the fuck a horizon line is - that was the whole point of the class!!!
So I remember picking up a purple crayon and starting to draw. Some squiggly lines here, and then a yellow sun there... all the while eavesdropping on the art teacher telling off the kids who weren't listening as they fumbled through disaster horizon lines (I'm a really good eavesdropper, by the way). I got that 'hot all over' feeling as I realized time was running out and started sweating thinking about my first non-A in art. Just in the knick of time, however, I picked up some extraordinarly juicy bits about the actual LINE!!! WOO HOO! I fucking threw in a tree, finished the LINE and landed an A.
Anyone still listening?
Comments
I'm sorry, I just totally wasn't paying attention then - could you tell me that again?
F!!! You get an F for listening today.
Wait, maybe you should get an A. Definitely an A - so sorry. Keep up the good work.
There have been countless times that I've heard the line "OMG, I wasn't paying attention."
It's either Maggs has an ultra short attention span like the rest of us or I tell really rambling, long, pointless stories
wow. you're soooo right.
(that works, too)