Am I starved for appreciation and/or praise? Of course! Well, actually, as a kid, I loved praise and appreciation. I always drove myself to be better than everyone else in gym class, and would throw a half-assed hissy fit when I didn't do as well as I expected. I jumped up and down and yelled out YES! multiple times when I won first place in the fourth grade science fair.
I got depressed at a Santa Claus parade that my sister was in in 10th grade because I had never been at a parade my whole life at that point in my life.
WHen I finally got to be in that same parade in 12th grade with a friend in his fire truck, I waved at people like crazy. I try to be as polite as possible to the customers at work because some of them give me compliments and in rare cases, even tips!
When I get something new for christmas or birthday that seems extravagant to me, I get excited about it and brag about it endlessly, thinking that I will become the envy of other people. This happened when I got that 60-CD shelf stereo in 11th grade for XMas. I bragged about it endlessly at work and school. I kept repeating the phrase, "It was great, I got a stereo that holds 60 CDs." I expected to become the envy of everyone at school. Instead, some were like, "Really? No way!" others said stuff like, "Mine holds 61 CDs," or, "100 watts? Weak!", and/or,"You wanna know how many mine can hold? 400."
Why do you guys think I went off on a tangent when I fould out about Jason McElwain?
Unfortunately, one problem I have had to deal with as a kid was that I wanted everyone to give me attention and praise for something well done, but yet, I usually forgot to do the same for them.