A Nuisance

​“SHUT UP!” My eyes widened and my jaw dropped far below the earth’s core. I was startled to hear those words, from my best online friend, of all people. “Sam, you’re so freaking annoying sometimes, stop complaining about stupid crap! Let me do this!” I sat there, watching the A.I. of the game obliterate me and my teammates. I got off, letting the words follow me through my sleep, or there lack of. My sister always told me the same thing.

​“You’re so annoying.”

“Why? What makes me so annoying? How can I not be annoying noo-nah?” (누나 or noo-nah is the masculine term for older sister in Korean.) She never answered that question. I lay there with my eyes half open, wondering what made me such a nuisance to others. Before I knew it, hours flew by me like the voice of a mother’s nagging. I was on my side, staring at the alarm clock, waiting for the minute hand to reach 12. 

Beep! Beep! Beep! There it goes, that stupid alarm. I had to get up, but I didn’t feel like it. What’s the point? I thought, I’d be better off in my room. I heard the thumping of mom’s footsteps behind my room’s door. She was ready to charge in and throw me out of bed. I covered myself with my sheets, shivering over the thought of having to leave my cozy bed for the cold, real world. “Sung Jin-Ah! Get up! You’ll be late for school!” Sigh…

School appeared mellow and the classrooms felt debilitated. Maybe it was just me. I guess the words from yesterday were getting to me. The negative thoughts of other people grew to influence me. I drifted the idea out of me and tried not to care. I went to my fifth period class, which happened to be art. I was fairly good at drawing. People have asked me how to draw well and I’ve always responded with, “Draw everything you see and don’t see.” Many people didn’t understand this, of course, but there exists many details you have to consider when you’re drawing, real life or not. Reflective light, cast shadows, sun light, bumps, slopes, lines, and whatnot. The tools you use play an important factor as well, not to mention the correct mindset of, “I want to do this!” People eventually stopped listening and went back to whatever conversation they already had with their friends, or whatever. How tactless. Maybe going overboard was what’s considered annoying.

I heard a few people next to me talk about my favorite game series.

“It’s just the same crap as the rest of the series, you just hold right! It’s easy.”
​“I know right? SEGA should try something new, and ditch Sonic. Sonic sucks now.” They were wrong. I knew it was their opinion, and I’m sure they didn’t need some dweeb like me to burst in to tell them otherwise. I still felt this sudden impulse to tell them how I felt.

“Actually, Sonic does not suck. When it comes to Sonic games, it’s more important to consider the fact that Sonic’s gameplay in two dimensions is purely defined by three gameplay elements: Speed, platforming, and exploration.” I continued to blabber out, “Have you even gone past the first stage? The rest of the game is anything BUT blazing towards the right like a blundering idiot. You need to go left, up, and down to explore the level. That’s what makes Sonicgames so intriguing. The fact that you can explore at blazing speeds just adds to the experience.” They gave me a distasteful look, like some abomination or a plague in society. I did it again. I was a nuisance to them. At this point I realized it would probably be best to just keep things to myself.