Despite my reputation for the inflated ego, and how much I enjoy playing off like I’m so awesome (I mean, I mostly am awesome, but I play it up a lot), in real life, I’m terrible at being a celebrity.

I don’t really know what to do when I get an e-mail from someone that says something like, “I found your blogs and I just want to tell you how talented you are.” I mean, I can say “thank you,” but it always feels like I’m brushing someone off. Like maybe, if someone took the time to contact me, what they really intended to do is open a dialogue? But if they don’t actually ask me anything, I don’t really know what to say other than “thank you.”

And then there’s the face-to-face weirdness: On a day to day, real life basis, I’m mostly just me all day long. Which is much less interesting, dramatic, or provoking as I come off in a blog post. I’m just another nail tech sitting around in the salon all day; doing nails, chatting with clients, goofing off with the neighbors I see every day, trying to stay on schedule and find time to eat. I’m not all that interesting.

So when Berenice and her friend stopped by on Tuesday while making the rounds of promoting their business, I was mostly just trying to clean things up as I said goodbye to one client and get things ready for the next one while taking a moment to check some stuff online in the half-hour break I had. I wasn’t expecting anyone to come in and tell me they read my blog and think highly of me. I don’t know what to say to that. I feel like I probably looked pretty stupid and Berenice probably walked away from meeting me thinking, “Well, she’s a dork in real life.”

But I do really appreciate that she thought to send me a copy of the photo she had taken with me like I was famous or something. That was sweet of her. But I’m telling you — I am not that interesting if you happen to meet up with me in real life.