The Overbooked Society discussion

Hello ! This is my first nook so I really don’t know how to start..

I guess I have so much to talk about and would really love talking to people about things I like and my random thoughts.

My real name is Mary by the way. Unknown reader is just some username which I thought was cool like 5 years ago when I started,
I guess I really liked how it sounded ?

it sounds cool.
my name's Imaan. I just like the name Artemis. ( bcz I'm a Greek mythology nerd)

My name is Zoe, I don't really have a cool nickname. *sighs*

my name’s danerys. good to meet you :)

Hello. My name is Ishika and I lowkey like it.

@Artemis @Zoe @danerys @Ishika

Thanks a lot for replying ! It feels so exciting lol.
As for my username, I sometimes feel like I should change it because it sounds a bit childish but I’m bit attached now.

I actually want to talk about storytelling.
I do really love storytelling and there’s a reason for that.

I actually find it hard to talk , like converse with literally anyone except people close to me. I will get so self-conscious of everything I’m doing and my mind will go blank of any topic to talk about.
If the other person tries talking to me, I’ll just give one word answers and just make the atmosphere awkward.
Even if I do talk, I’m very careful and feel really drained for no reason.

So, this became a problem for me when I transferred school. I would never initiate conversation and when others did talk to me, I would just be really awkward. I hated going to school because I ..uh,. had no friends.

So I remember one time this girl came up to me and I don’t remember how the conversation went to it but it came to me storytelling.
And I have never felt so free while talking. Like I would feel so constricted while talking to people, but when I’m storytelling I feel so great and in control of the conversation.

hi Mary (I can call you Mary right?)
whatever you said happens to me too

I know what you mean
I am kind of a superhero.
I can make any situation awkward in 5-10 minutes.

I talk alot. but I never talk about what I'm thinking. many times I have heard that I'm too philosophical and I talk about books too much. so I only talk to people I know will listen.

I told so many stories and had so many people interested in listening to my stories. I just felt so happy. It also helped me warm up to people and make friends.

That’s one of the reason I love storytelling.

On that note, I’m really curious about how people talk easily with people they are not familiar with,
Like how ? Can someone suggest something ?

Ishika wrote: "hi Mary (I can call you Mary right?)
whatever you said happens to me too"

You can call me Mary !
So glad to find similar people, people around me are so confident that I feel like the odd one out

Artemis wrote: "I know what you mean
I am kind of a superhero.
I can make any situation awkward in 5-10 minutes.

I talk alot. but I never talk about what I'm thinking. many times I have heard that I'm too phil..."

I’ve suffered that , I’m talking about something I’m excited about and the other person is just bored and disinterested ?
Yeah, I’d rather never speak, thank you.

Though I admit this mostly happen with my cousins who I don’t see much often.

OK so here's the thing - I can easily start a conversation but then I always run out of things to say and then everything gets awkward and all.

Ishika wrote: "OK so here's the thing - I can easily start a conversation but then I always run out of things to say and then everything gets awkward and all."

Sameeeeee, except if it is my friends, then we can talk for hours without running out of things to talk about

@Ishika honestly same hsjshsjshs i’d rather listen than talk tbh

Zoe - if I am talking about books

Ishika wrote: "Zoe - if I am talking about books"

oh I can talk about books for hours. My friends love listening to my rants. They say it brings them joy.

Most of my irl friends don't give a shit about books

Ishika wrote: "Most of my irl friends don't give a shit about books"

oh no im sorry. One of my best friends loves book and I just got her out of a reading slump *HAIR FLICK* And my other besties find it so FUNNY whenever I rant about books

most of my irl friends used to not care about books—— until i forced them to start reading andddd now they’re addicted !!

Hi Mary, I'm also a bit like that... I can talk about things I'm interested in for however long, but force me to do small talk with people I don't know, and I get all awkward and say something stupid because there is nothing to say.

Part of it is being introverted, the rest is just personality, I guess. I'm actually just about to leave for a wedding where I know just a couple of people, and oh how I'm dreading the inevitable mingling and chatting I want no part of. I know I'll be exhausted before the party is halfway through.

Ishika wrote: "OK so here's the thing - I can easily start a conversation but then I always run out of things to say and then everything gets awkward and all."

Urgh !! Conversations drying out, I hate when that happens. Like we are excitedly talking about something , that topic ends and now we don’t know what to talk about.
Then I’m frantically searching for topics to talk about.

I think this happens when people don’t have much in common with each other.
I try to solve this by taking about some current affair or news but If the other person isn’t interested then I can’t do anything. Then it’s a sign to avoid that person ( can’t do it if you have to see those people again)

Zoe wrote: "Ishika wrote: "Zoe - if I am talking about books"

oh I can talk about books for hours. My friends love listening to my rants. They say it brings them joy."

I just love people who at least take effort to listen, like they don’t have to like it or anything even taking a bit of time to listen is enough.

On that note, I remember talking to someone who acted very disinterested and bored when I was talking about some book plot. And before I could complete, they Interrupted me and changed the topic quickly.
And I felt like just leaving …but I couldn’t , I was just forced to listen.

So yeah, people who listen..love them.

Kirsi wrote: "Hi Mary, I'm also a bit like that... I can talk about things I'm interested in for however long, but force me to do small talk with people I don't know, and I get all awkward and say something stup..."

I can 100% relate to being stupid when I talk to people I don’t know that well. I feel panicked so I miss some obvious things and just say whatever comes to my mind. I can’t even listen to people properly because I’m thinking of what I should say. I feel like shouting at them and saying ‘this is not me ! I’m way better than this’ but I feel frozen.

Also, I absolutely HATE going to weddings. I have to greet older people because it’s very disrespectful if I don’t and I feel very awkward when I do talk to people.
It’s also very boring because I don’t know many people there.

I really hope it was better for you

I love going to weddings. The problem is, we never get invited anyway 😫😭

some weddings are really fun to go to but some are really boring especially if there’s nobody you know there.

danerys wrote: "some weddings are really fun to go to but some are really boring especially if there’s nobody you know there."

Weddings of close relatives are fun ! Like my relatives gather before the wedding, so it’s actually fun. But going to weddings where you don’t know anybody ? It’s boring. Yeah, I know it’s someone’s big day but it’s really boring for me.

Yeah, I just try to focus on the food at those ones. It helps😂

Well, the food was excellent, and I do love the speeches at weddings. I'm exhausted, but overall it was a nice party and I was placed in the same table with people I know, so it wasn't bad at all. :)

So glad to find other awkward people here.

I have to tell you of my first school transfer ( I had a few ) !

So, actually.. I have attended my first 8 years in the same school , which honestly, is a blur. I first transferred when I was in 7th grade and oh god, I knew what being out of place means because it was some experience. The students around me interacted with me but I was way too shy to converse more and they then just left me alone.

So..that leaves me and seat mate , not bad ..I had someone at least ?
WRONG.

She talked with me at first and was really annoyed that I was giving one word answers. She then started saying stuff like, ‘ why don’t you talk ?’ And ‘ why are you so quiet ?’. She was irritated with how boring and quiet I was and didn’t like me AT ALL.

All I thought was ‘what a bad first day ‘…it gets worse.

So it was the second (or third) day and the two people in front of us were fighting like very intensely. They have been fighting for two days now, so one of them asked the teacher to change seats (changing seats without permission wasn’t allowed). So, the teacher asked if anyone wanted to exchange seats with her…

Guess who raised hands ? Yup, the girl beside me. Guess what’s worse ? NOBODY else raised hands..,she was the only one.
I really wanted to cry right there but held it in and was frozen instead.

So yeah…I changed seats but it get better from there because I then became friend with the new person sitting beside me. I also became friends with 2 people in front of me. I was a part of the friend group,

so…all’s well that ends well ?

Yeah, I was transferred to other class the next year and was separated from my friends but that’s story for another day.

Can someone share embarrassing experiences like this ? I want to feel a bit better 🥲

I have embarrassing experiences on a daily basis.

this one day me and my friends were walking and we stopped at this classroom. the door was closed so I wanted to open it slowly. I was kinda being dramatic so I started opening it slowly. then this boy came up to the door and put his hand on the door handle next to my hand. and we stared at each other for awhile. He had nice eyes.( not the point)
I never lived that down every time we passed him in the locker room, my friends would laugh and giggle and make things even more awkward.

Omg your story is such a fairy tale style Artemis. it's not bad at all compared to Unknown Reader's.😂

Artemis wrote: "I have embarrassing experiences on a daily basis.

this one day me and my friends were walking and we stopped at this classroom. the door was closed so I wanted to open it slowly. I was kinda bein..."

Thanks for sharing your experience.
That must have been awkward for the moment but on the plus side, he must have forgotten it the next second like ‘that girl is so slow’ and just went his own way.

Hard to forget when your friends remind you though.

OK, my awkward experiance:

I was doing a speech in front of the class years ago and there were like 60 people and I had extreme fear of speaking in front of people. So I got up there and started and started to sound like I was crying. It was so bad.
And then at the end the teacher was like ' is there any feedback?' and someone said ´I could tell you are very emotional about this topic´ Worst day of my life (Well not really bc I have had worse days)

But I have one like yours too Artemis. I only changed my school twice. Once after third grade, (An asshole businessman bought our school to build one of those fancy towers! I didn't know that could happen to a public school at all!) and once when I was going to transfer to middle school. (I had some of my friends and my cousin there, so it was good).

But in my freshman year there was this handsome boy whom I knew from middle school but didn't have any class with him. We were in different friends groups, so we didn't have much interaction. I was in the school's play and he was in the football team. We had many classes together and as the time passed a huge crush was growing inside me. He was always with his teammates, but once they got into a fight and he came and sit next to me. (I was star-struck like I had met Brad Pit or sth😂) but thankfully I played it really cool and kind. After the class he didn't want to be with his teammates again so I invited him to the theater group.

We got along and got to know each other and I was obviously delighted by this. Months past and we became really close. (Nobody knew about my crush, so were just close friends).

One day he came to me so happy (like he had won the lottery) and said He had great news. I was excited and asked what it was. He said that he had finally took the plunge and confessed his feelings to his cousin that he really liked. I pretended to be happy for them and hugged him, but you had to see me inside. I felt every organ stop in my body, but thankfully I was an experienced actor so I kept my cool and we went on as close friends for the end of that year. I even helped him buy her a present for her birthday (It was torture😂).

This went on until he changed his school for the sophomore year and we lost touch after some texts without any particular reason. I wasn't humiliated at the surface, but I was dying of embarrassment for having a crush on a person who viewed me like a sister for so long a time.

Sorry it got long, but it was an experience a year long, so this is the shortest version I could produce 😅

Sorry about my incest brain, but does he like his cousin? Or was he confessing his feelings for someone else to his cousin?

Oh my gosh, this is soo good. And I didn't know you were into theatre

Zoe wrote: "OK, my awkward experiance:

I was doing a speech in front of the class years ago and there were like 60 people and I had extreme fear of speaking in front of people. So I got up there and started a..."

I hate how much I could relate to this,

Except in my case, it’s 100% because of me. I confidently participated in one speech competition. I thought the first round will be done in class like before, but for some reason they called us in the auditorium with OTHER CLASSES and also other teachers.

So yeah..I mixed up words, I was obviously nervous and also kind of forgot the whole speech in the middle ? I ended it up and had that awkward self conscious walk to my seat.

Also yeah, ..public speech, worse memories.

Bonnie wrote: "Sorry about my incest brain, but does he like his cousin? Or was he confessing his feelings for someone else to his cousin?"


His cousin is his girlfriend now. I think that settles everything?😂

MoonLight wrote: "But I have one like yours too Artemis. I only changed my school twice. Once after third grade, (An asshole businessman bought our school to build one of those fancy towers! I didn't know that could..."

Oh my god , this was like reading a short novel.

I have only read about ‘unrequited crush on someone who thinks of you as a sister’ in novels, so it is came up as a surprise to think of it happening to someone in real life. ( I should come out of books sometimes)

I felt kinda bad for you when he announced his crush but helping him buy presents for her ? You are really strong 😓

Elena wrote: "Oh my gosh, this is soo good. And I didn't know you were into theatre"

Yeah as a reader it's really interesting, but I really didn't feel good at that time😂 btw I'm waaaay over it. I just laugh about it now.

And yeah I was a theater kid back then. Taking all the lead roles every year. But I as time passed, I got interested more into Literature. They are kind of related, but literature is my love now. I'm happily gonna major in English language and literature in uni too!

Unknown wrote: "MoonLight wrote: "But I have one like yours too Artemis. I only changed my school twice. Once after third grade, (An asshole businessman bought our school to build one of those fancy towers! I didn..."

Yeah I kinda hated myself for having a crush on such a decent guy who loved me like his own sister and wanted to punish myself and redeem the mess I had made in my mind. So when he asked, I deliberately accepted. And he said that she loved the present which made me feel a lot better and deal with it easier.

MoonLight wrote: "Elena wrote: "Oh my gosh, this is soo good. And I didn't know you were into theatre"

Yeah as a reader it's really interesting, but I really didn't feel good at that time😂 btw I'm waaaay over it. I..."

I love interacting with people here because I would probably haven’t even talk to these people in real life.
@Moonlight, You and I would have probably not even sat on the same side of the class, forget being on the same friend group.

do you guys know when you pass someone random and they look at you and you look at them. then they smile at you and you smile at them and you feel so weird and also weirdly happy.
Does that ever happen to you guys?

No…I don’t know how to say this but…I don’t look at people.

I’m not kidding..I find it hard to keep eye contact and if I do, I panic and move away. So if they are smiling, then I wouldn’t know.

But I do like it when random people on street give simple greetings and move one. Like wow, they took few seconds to give a greeting to me ? I’m pleased.

it's weird. sometimes I wonder if that random person could of been my friend. I always wonder what their story is and who they might be. there was once this girl in this supermarket, she was about my age, she had a high ponytail and a blue jacket. she looked at me and we made eye contact for a while and she smiled at me and my mom called me so I waved at her and left. I kinda wanted to talk to her. And when I came back to see her again she was gone.
I kinda wanted to get to know her she had a sort of kindness to her. I don't know.

Is going out with your cousin even allowed? 😂 sounds like Jane Eyre