Surreptitious Show Off

You know when you're having a chat with someone and you're both basically stating facts that you already know, you know the other person already knows and it's a bonding, pre-going-over-the-top experience which soothes the pain of the massive amount of work which is suddenly going to land on your tiny plate? And then you say,

"Ha! They're probably leaving it until the last minute as they know the deadline isn't until next week. This was how I approached my degree (why do something early while you have time when you can sit up through the night before the exam or due date, drinking coffee and panicking?) and where would I be today without that?"

And then they respond with,

"I know, right? That's the approach I took for all three of my degrees and it did me no harm."

Well that's surreptitious showing off. She could have written,

"I know, right? That's the approach I took for my studies and it did me no harm."

Or,

"I know, right? That's the approach I took for mine and it did me no harm."

Both of these other options would be accurate for her as 'studies' is both singular and plural. 'Mine', too (unless you're still affected by Thatcher and Scargill where they became less and less plural).

But no. Not only did she choose to belittle me, she has caused me to write a blog post which means the deadline is now even closer, the work is bigger and my plate is smaller.