In elementary, middle, high school…I got horrible grades for…participation. C would usually be the score, because how could teachers fail me in that if I did well in everything else?

You can’t annoy people by saying nothing at all.

For so many years, I thought it was a nurture thing. If my parents had encouraged me…if I wasn’t so rejected…but then I met Chris.

Surely, an Asian parent can’t encourage a kid to be extroverted, talkative…and all-around obnoxious, right?

In grade school, he did well in every subject. He was the Hermione Granger. The one who would shoot his hand up in class and wave wildly, “Pick me! I know the answer!!!” Because he often did. But at the same time, it was also analogous to a comment on one-too-many report cards: “Talks excessively”.

Not only that, he liked talking to everyone. Can you imagine being on an airplane where two 8-year-old kids kept talking and talking…when later you find out that they didn’t even know each other before boarding the plane…and they sat together because their parents wanted to sit in first class…and that one of the kids was the biggest talker of all?

So then the argument must suggest that it is nature.

Of course, due to nurture or in our own case…perhaps our understanding of environment and what society expects of us, Chris became quieter and reserved…while I found ways to express myself if not loudly.

But yet talking to some…is a sign of courageousness, bravery. It’s expression. It also means that it is a sign of self-confidence.

During my last year in college, I had been going through some rough times. But then I had a revelation one day…what if I told people what I really was feeling? Granted, there were a few times that it backfired, but…in all…it suddenly really did make me feel better by talking excessively.