riding the subway to dinner tonight, i recognized the girl sitting across from me in that i know you but i don't know you way. and i realized it was Kameelah from The Real World. and she was just as obnoxious in person as she was on TV.

i don't know why i disliked her "character" (which is how cast members refer to their on-screen personnas, as if they were somehow different from their more real off-screen selves). perhaps it's simply that she reminds me so much of so many people i went to school with (she and i went to the same college): overly confidant in their complete and perfect view and understanding of the world. maybe it was a sensed anxiety and self-consciousness that was bubbling just under the surface, probably due to her own thickening grasp on the realization that she didn't know a damn thing about life.

whatever the reason, i found myself enjoying my growing dislike of her and shouting at the TV, "girl, you know you better shut up already!" it's like hating a rival sports team: you know there's nothing really wrong with them but it feels so good to tell them where they should go anyway.

in any case, it was fun sitting across from my "as seen on TV" archnemisis. i wanted to say something but what is the proper quip in that situation? i just stuck with my smirk and the good feeling that i knew her and she didn't know me.