11 October 2012

I can tell a lie

One of the prompts for this month's NaBloPoMo was, "How good are you at telling a lie?"

I'm damn good.

I have a face that can tell people anything and because I can hold my affect constant, people cannot tell whether I am telling the truth or not.

Just  the other day, a colleague asked me if I wanted to join her for an activity that was a pretty exciting venture.  When I told her yes, she wasn't sure if I was saying yes because I wanted to really do the activity or because I felt cornered into doing it.  I had to convince her that I was genuine.

A few years back, I convinced a class of students that my first name was actually spelled something like this: 90.7sqwvsoind.  I was able to get them to believe that my parents were hippy-ish and named me that because they wanted me to remember their favorite radio station call numbers.

Even during the years when colleagues who did not know me thought I was a high school student, I was able to convince students that I was actually 54.  I had them believing that healthy eating, Dove soap, and regular exercise were the keys to good, smooth skin.

Besides these things, I can convince people that I am doing fine when my mind is actually in turmoil.

The day after my horrible hair cut, I convinced the people at work that I liked it and actually believed their compliments (which came moments after the shocked questioning of why I cut all my hair off).

I just have that way about me.

I should have gone into acting.

I've been told that on many occasions and wish I had pursued it in my younger years.

But, I guess, with teaching, I get to perform each day, too.  I get to convince the kids about the history stories  they learn, I get to try and convince them that the break up with their sig-oth is not the end of the world.  I get to help them become enthusiastic about the basic things we do in class - even when I think they are mundane.  Just the other day, I was able to get the kids to create a rap song (beat included) that is basically just reciting what they are to do a the start of class.

Today, I'm joining a link-up with Papa is a Preacher.





18 comments:

  1. The ability to convince people of things I guess is a blessing and a curse. In a strange twist of fate I can convince people I am fine when I am really suffering, however I am completely inept at telling any other lie.

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    1. It is definitely a blessing and a curse.

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  2. I agree with Sleepy Joe, this gift can be both a blessings as well as a curse.. I think I'm pretty good at telling lies except when it comes to how I'm feeling. For the life of me I can't pretend to like something I don't (such as a gift), no matter how much I try.

    Thanks for linking up a.eye.

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    1. Thanks for hosting!!

      I am not good at saying I like a gift that I don't. That is one of the reasons for the past few years I have been telling people not to do gifts for me for birthdays or holidays.

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  3. I'm good at keeping a poker face as well.....good thing? or bad? Kudos to you on being a teacher, the toughest job in the world...besides motherhood!
    Carolina
    sewcarolinaknits

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    1. Thanks! It is hard, but sometimes very rewarding, just like motherhood (or so I hear since I have no birth children, just hundreds of student-children).

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  4. I am totally different. I am horrible in telling lie. Once I told a lie to my boss that I needed a day off to attend my girl's field trip. He took a look at me and said, "You are lying, you are going for an interview." And I blushed and he went on saying, "You can't even lie!"

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    1. That's funny! It's probably good that you can't tell lies, though, and that people can read you just by looking at you. I'm sure that makes some situations easier.

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  5. So what you're saying is that you're not really 54?!?!?!

    This is funny to me, I think I am a horrible liar! In my head as I'm fibbing all I can think of is how phony I must sound and yet people seem to believe me most during these times!

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    1. Hahaha!!! I'm glad you were able to witness some of the kids actually believing me telling my age. Many people don't believe that it is true!! It amazing me a lot of times that people believe so much of the crazy things I say and don't believe me when I tell something simple and genuine.

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  6. Oh, teaching is utterly full of theatrical needs! Fun post....and now I feel better about getting one over on peeps.

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    1. Teaching is so theatrical!

      Thanks for stopping and commenting and carry on with getting one over on people! So much fun when done in a good-hearted way.

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  7. That is hysterical! My youngest sister is a teacher and has that same sense of humor and tells the kids the funniest stuff. The other sister just goes a long with it. I ruined one of her jokes by accident. They make cookies for the holidays and once I went in to celebrate wtih them and a teacher asked me if I could give her the recipe for the cookies. i just stared, and said sure. "Mrs. Fields Cookie Cookbook". The teachers were rolling on the floor as my sisters had told them they couldn't share my secret family recipe that had been passed down from generation to generation. They were asking for the recipe for years! Sisters were bent with me for a bit, but now everytime we make them I ask about their "secret" recipe.

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    1. I love it!!! So funny that she was saying it was a secret recipe and even funnier that you accidentally let the cat out of the bag!

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  8. Me too! Well, not the acting part, but the lies so convincing no one knows that I'm crying inside over the worst cut bangs in the history of the world. It's a true talent!

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    1. It is strange that we sometimes like to hide our pains. But I guess that is part of survival.

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  9. I'm not necessarily good at lying...but I'm good at hiding how I feel. Sometimes I really don't want to share how bad I'm doing so just fob people off with a shrug or "I'm doing fine thanks" when really all I want to do is hide and cry.

    I am pretty good at lying to keep a joke running though...and for that I blame my father! He's the joker of the family, and I've been raised to be just as mischievous.

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    1. I totally get that about saying things are fine.

      I also got some of my tall-tale-telling from my father.

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