Two aliens walk into a bar...

I tend not to take an immediate, definite dislike to people I meet for the first time. Nor do I find I'm immediately enamored of people right away. Believe it or not, I do try very hard not to make snap judgments without first at least having a few conversations, getting to know a person a little. I'm shy, an introvert, and appreciate a little understanding before people form any hard opinions about me...I need to warm up to people and find I like it when people give me the opportunity to be warmed up to. And having gotten to know people, I really find that I actively dislike very few people. If I don't end up liking someone, or being able to see eye to eye with them on SOME level, they remain at the periphery, not someone I spend time with, so therefore don't waste any energy hating them or even thinking about them much.

But eeeeeevery once in a while, I meet someone for whom the antagonism is immediate, definite, even violent. One such person is someone I met at a wedding a few years ago. It was the wife of a co-worker of my husband, and it was almost...chemical. She was flashy, glittering with shiny clothes, jewelry, make up, and biting ill-humor. The antithesis of me, in short. Proceeded to give me her expert opinions about everything, including the behavioral patterns and psychological imbalances in cats with calico patterns. "It's been proven," she said. (Erm... it should be noted that she does not own cats, but has several large dogs. While I...I own three cats, one of them a calico, the smartest of the three, and the one I think is probably smart enough to have a paper route, if she only had thumbs.) When I tried to say this, I was interrupted. "No," she said again, "it's been documented."

Fucking crazy bitch.

And this one that I've met a few times at a friend's house. A relative of hers, an in-law. This is one that is less crazy, but still...what IS it about this woman that makes me cringe when I'm in her company? Is it the sense she gives off of always 'sizing me up?' Maybe that's it. It just always seems that I'm on display, up on some kind of block, waiting for her approval or disapproval. And she's looking me over, ready at any time, with the slightest provocation, to give me thumbs down and send me to the lions. And I can find no common ground, nothing to talk with her about. News, current events, books, music, nothing. She's only a couple of years older than I, and yet...we're just worlds apart.

It's like...it's like two aliens, from different universes, coming together in one place, looking each other up and down and going " What the fuck are you???"