Is she talking about the same person I used to be?

As anyone who was unfortunate enough to attend EIMC between 1992-1996, my college years were mostly spent (in hindsight) being bullied by my peers (due to a classic misjudgement between media perceptions formed from a childhood in mid Wales, and brutal everyday reality amongst a bunch of 18-year-old kids) before the Internet and Stephen Fry proved to be a salvation of sorts.

So it was a real surprise when an old college friend/acquaintance ended up chatting to me online, and then describing my college-version-of-me as an "intellect", an "analyst", a "schmoozer" (hah! Try saying that to any of my ex-workmates! I once managed to tell the head of the company I was working for that the idea she was endorsing was the daftest thing in the world. In front of 300 people.) and "a tireless questioner, hungry for truth, always debating, annoyingly challenging". Whereas I just thought I was the snarky git at the back of the room throwing in the odd awkward question without actually offering any kind of solution or alternative.

Of course, said friend then accused me of settling for mediocrity, and said that they'd always thought I'd be the one who'd "stand up and challenge" things. Although I think my college and ex-workplace experiences have put paid to that.

But isn't it odd how someone can have a totally different perception about you as a person to your own self-perception? Especially when said someone and I didn't exactly get on like a house on fire back then...