You're Asian, you must be smart, right?

So just a few days ago, Friday the 28th to be exact, I went to the MU Games Area with Chase, Sean, Diana, Ave, Oliver, and Joanna. Now at the MU, there really are only two things I will ever do there: play pool, or bowl. Seeing as how Sean has a hernia, and it'd be rude to exclude him, I went up to the desk to get a rack of balls. The guy working that particular night is that one guy that's there nearly all the bloody time. I believe he's gay, he usually puts on a lot of Carpenters, and errrr.., yeah. And I refer to him as being gay because it's an identifier that many people might recognize.
Anyhow, I go up to the desk, give him my ID card, and he turns around and gives me the rack of balls. As he punches in the stuff, just before I leave, he says to me, in a very unfriendly manner, "I see you coming in here with that shirt all the time, do you know anything about communism at all?" Now, to be entirely fair, I don't study forms of government in any significant amount, although I don't consider myself entirely unknowledgeable about the subject. In any case, it didn't matter on whit since the shirt had absolutely no meaning whatso-fucking-ever. Anyone who'd be offended by the shirt probably needs to pull the rod out of their ass and get a sense of humor. Non-confrontational as I am, I simply said "It doesn't matter either way since the shirt doesn't mean anything", and walked away. The shirt was a shirt I bought from a webcomic artist whose comic I read fairly often because I thought it was amusing. It was gleaned from a particular strip entitled "Heavy-Handed Political Metaphor Comics", and that was more or less the spirit I wore it in. It really had no meaning whatsoever and any meaning one might glean from it would have to have jumps in reasoning that the normal human being would falter upon encountering. So, I was kinda irked, but I figured that it was just water off my back, since I didn't even know the guy. Personal insults on my character mean very little to me, especially insults from people who I don't know and don't have a professional relationship with.
Chase however, seemed very irked by it. He felt that the guy, as a service person of the MUGA, had no right to treat me, a patron of the MUGA, in such a way. His attitude and comments were not respectful towards me either as a server to a patron or even as one human being towards another. As a representative of the MUGA, his actions were very unprofessional, and Chase would have nothing to do with it. So Chase grabbed the rack and went to talk to the guy at the front desk again.
I should have went up to the front desk, but I figured that the guy would simply apologize for his outburst as most reasonable people do and give me back my card. However, from my vantage point, it looked like Chase and the guy got in quite an argument. When it had gone on a while, I went up there to see if it could be resolved in any sense, so I went up and asked them what the issue was. The guy replied, "Your friend here is trying to speak for you", and then he gave Chase some change, which Chase left on the counter as he led me away.
Out of hearing range as I was, I don't know exactly what words were exchanged, but it seems as though Chase went up and asked for an apology or a refund. The guy was adamant about providing neither, and accused Chase of trying to speak for me. Chase asked him what his name was, and the guy replied that it was against policy to give out his name. In the end, Chase returned the pool balls, and was forced to pay something like 23 cents for the time that was spent, which included the time that was spent at the front desk.

Really, I suppose I just wonder what the hell the guy was thinking. Why would he accost a patron of his workplace in such a way over a shirt that, if you thought about it at all, didn't really make any sense. If any other person came up to me and did such a thing, I'd think to myself "Bite me" and walk off. But as someone who is supposed to be helping and assisting me, I don't believe that he should be acting in such a way. But in general, what the hell was his problem? I suppose I'll never know, but I do know that I'm going to wear that shirt every time I go to the MU from now on.

So last Saturday night I went with Diana and a friend of hers to a beginner's dance night at some dance studio in Sac somewhere. It was fun I suppose, but as I lack any sort of training in typical social dances, I really, really suck at them. I did do swing for about a year, but leading in East Coast Swing is a lot simpler than in any of the more traditional dances such as the Waltz or the Foxtrot. So altogether, the night was fun, but I seriously suck at ballroom dancing, wheee. I suppose I can at least be proud that I didn't actually step on any toes.
Dancing is another one of those things I wish I could have spent more time doing, along with pretty much everything else in my life. I'm so damn flighty sometimes it's kinda sickening, makes me wonder whether I'll ever be able to stick with something long enough to become more than marginally skilled in it. I gotta wonder why it's been that I rarely stick with something for a long period of time.
In some sense, I realize that I lack diligence; a cursory examination of my grades should more than prove that statement. But then again, what's new? I suppose that not everyone can be skilled in everything, and that there will always be someone better, so maybe I shouldn't worry about this kind of thing. So altogether, I'm simply a normal guy who pursues his interests, although I've yet to find something I feel I can dedicate myself to. It's not worth worrying about I guess, but then another problem arises.
Why is it that always feel this need to excel at something? Why does it hurt every time I realize that I have not yet achieved greatness in any particular thing, or at all? Just thinking about the people in my life, I can name one or more things about each of them at which that particular person excels. Sometimes it's a skill, sometimes it's part of their character, but there is always something.
But then, what is it that I have ability in? I'm sure that, given time, one could think of a few things, but what of these things is my ability truly noteworthy? There are people who are famous for their skills by my age, why is that I've yet to find a single activity to which I can confidently say that I am skilled in? I could potentially justify all this with some mumbo-jumbo about how life is some sort of zero-sum game and what I lack in some areas is somehow complemented by strengths in other, unknown areas. Maybe I have latent abilities that have yet to be tapped, or perhaps I simply have not yet discovered the activity at which I will excel.
Or maybe, just maybe, it doesn't really matter anyway. So what if I'm not special in some way, so what if I may never be known for my abilities? What should it matter to me?
When it comes down to it, when you look to others to figure out why you are doing something, you begin to forget your long term goals. Why should the actions of someone else stop you from enjoying your particular hobby? That's the real meaning of being self-sufficient I suppose; you should be looking to yourself for reasons and looking to others for support.