I am so great! I am so great! Everybody loves me, I am so great!

  (Title is stolen from an episode of The Simpsons)

   So, this weird thing has been happening lately, and I don't know how to handle it.

 .   .   .

   People have been complimenting me.

I know, weird, right?

  I don't take compliments very well. Well, little ones like, "Hey, your hair looks normal today!" are cool. I can let those make me ridiculously happy without it going to my head too much. But the other day was more than my ego could handle in one go.

  I love English. I love the writing, the reading, everything about it (except grammar. Really, grammar nerds are the worst. I fear them). This usually shows in my English class, and my teacher thought I deserved some recognition in the form of reading my essay in front of the class. I thought I'd be able to handle it, but I was wrong. I stared steadfastly at my notebook the entire time and pretended I couldn't hear. Really, is there a correct way to act when someone's reading something you wrote with dramatic pauses and comments like, "Isn't that a great line?". When she finished, she looked up and said, "Does anyone want to comment on this, other than to say 'What amazing writing'?" One girl did, saying I had great word choice. Oy! I wanted to melt into my desk, a puddle of ego and embarrassment.

  Over the next couple days, I kept receiving other compliments that I tried (in vain) to keep from going to my head. Thanks for all the compliments, they meant a lot, but I am just one prideful little snot.

  It's alright, though, I've stabilized. I sat down in my tiniest pair of pants the other day, and the button on my jeans popped right off and flew across the room.

No ego can survive that.