Flipped!

I read the book Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen recently (okay, not that recent, like the beginning of April), and I absolutely loved it. For those of you who haven't read it, it's a dual voiced book telling the story of Bryce Loski and Juli Baker from both of their perspectives ('one chapter him, one chapter her' type of thing, but they are using the same time frame). It's set mainly in junior high, but it has some build up from when they are younger. Because it's supposedly a 'teen romance' novel, I shied away from it for a while.

The premise is that Juli from her youngest years is crazy about Bryce, and he thinks she's nothing less than a pest. But there are some events that happen which change their feelings for each other to the complete opposite of what they were before, hence the whole "flipped" thing.

Yes, there is a romance element to the story, but I felt a few deeper messages pervading the novel. You shouldn't judge others on what you believe to be true (whether it is or not). Another I found was similar to the theme of Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli, that although not usually popular, you can learn to love life best from a genuine and unique person.

I found it more of a coming of age story than a teen romance, but it was very good nonetheless (and probably because it wasn't what it seemed).

Now.
I didn't really write this because of my love of childrens literature, but because I realized how "flipped" my own observations and outlook on life have become.

So...the boy at work who I thought it might be good to take on a date and get to know better?
He has a girlfriend. And might have when I asked him on a date. Or was about to. I don't know, it doesn't make sense to me because I would think that he might not have said 'yes' if he been dating his girlfriend. But he's supposedly has been dating her since February.

My life is like Juli Baker's. Totally skewed on what reality was. After I mulled over it for a couple of days, I realized some things like: why he wouldn't really talk to me after our date, why it was so hard to bring up conversation for a long time...ugh. Yeah.

And then I realized that it wasn't going anywhere, but then he started asking me for rides all of the time. And we had good conversation. Like he enjoyed being around me. Dang. So I'm flipped (and maybe he is a little as well, but not as much as Bryce Loski).

(This was probably supposed to have been written about a month ago, but shhhh, don't tell. I'll catch you up on the other amazing :S aspects of my life soon)