There is a person in my class whom I developed a very severe dislike for, very early into the session. Let me elaborate:

The first of my reasons for disliking him is based on my deep-rooted shallowness, and centres on the fact that he's very poorly groomed. He has shoulder-length, greasy hair, cut pseudo-mullet style to try and cover the balding patch on the very top, and generally has a reasonable amount of dandruff flakage frosted over his shoulders. He is hairy like a monkey, but with very black hair and very white skin (the kind of pasty white skin of one who sits inside far too much), and his fingernails are too long for his pudgy moist hands. In short, I find him physically disgusting. Once I saw him eating a banana in class and there was something so gross about that vision I sneered inadvertently. He also wears the same man-cardigan every week and I feel quite sure that it's as unwashed as he is.

The second of my reasons for this dislike annoys me far more. I can ignore the physical repulsion I feel toward him by closing my eyes. But I cannot ignore the fact that he is one of the most pretentious, arrogant wankers I've ever come across. He spends most of his time, and accordingly, most of our class-time, talking in long complicated sentences, full of big words, and sounding very pompous and knowledgeable, but if you actually stop and listen carefully to what he's saying, you realise he's saying nothing at all! And to top it off, he is rude to other people in our class, talking over them and disrupting when he disagrees, yet out teacher says nothing.

I have come across people like this before (though perhaps not with the same level of associated disgust I feel about this person), and the thing that just kills me, is that for some reason, teachers think these people are the best thing since sliced bread. They get sucked in by the pretention, they don't notice the fact that all that is spewing forth is great mounds of crap, and they let these people dominate discussion as if what's being said is somehow profound beyond the ability of others in the class.

And, what pissed me off most of all today; I got cut off by our teacher when I tried to respond to one of this guy's questions in class. A question that was just so, so full of obfuscation and wankery, that was trying to be smart for the sake of it. He was allowed 5 minutes to elaborate on this question, and then when I tried to respond (with a comment that was actually from the readings), I was cut off: "Don't forget we have other people's questions to get through."

The wankers have got them all fooled and it makes my blood boil. I was so angry, I still am, I even resorted to passing notes! Said my note to my neighbour, "I forgot that **** is the only person who has anything valid to say in this class." And it was accompanied by an elaborate eye-roll and me making vomit gestures.

No one ever said I had to be as mature and profound as him in my behaviour.