I'm having one of those days where I want to shake a certain person and say, "Don't be so hard on yourself!"

You know how you can try to be funny in an IM, with all the smiley faces in the world and it's still misinterperted? That was today, over all things, cookies and a visit to my desk at work. Or really, not visiting my desk.

I joked about my friend not dropping by, and was taken much too seriously, which was turned into a bit of self-depreciation from my friend, and "Am I a bad friend?"

Now I'm no stranger to self-depreciation and being hard on myself, but damn. I guess I needed a preface to it. I certainly straightened them out, but damn.

It's hard when you think just the opposite, and you've hoped you've conveyed that to a person and they don't seem to get it. When someone's been as good, thoughtful, patient and sympathetic as someone could be, but they don't think so, I certainly think I need to do a better job of telling them how cool they are.

Mostly, I feel sorry for a person who would think that about themselves.

Oh, and I want to shake it out of them sometimes....