sometimes I forget how important it is to have a good awareness of subtle power plays between people.

I met a dude recently who is the new drummer in my former band. at first impression he seems like a cool dude but I had an interesting interaction with him. He was probably drunk while I was sober the whole evening.

At some point he told me that he thinks I'm cool to which I directly replied that I think he's cool as well. it came naturally to me then as I do feel that about him, but only now it dawned on me that I might have leveled the playground by not letting him have the power to define me.

The overall tone was friendly and we were just the two of us at that moment, but I couldn't help but notice that he was a bit surprised by my reply and took a split second to recompose himself, then he added that I'm more relaxed than he thought I was. I maintained the friendly tone but inquired why did he thought that about me, to which he did not have a clear answer which brings me to several possible scenarios: he was indeed sizing me up, my former band mates who are theoretically my friends talked some shit about me behind my back and he just spilled the beans on that one, or he was just expecting me to lap it up without any ulterior motive

what are your thoughts on this? this being said I won't lose sleep over this so that's that, but this interaction had me philosophizing about this kind of human interactions, which are often overlooked to one's own peril. The only thing I'm pissed about is that I did not have anyone to teach me about this when I was younger, and I can admit I could still improve in reading and reacting accordingly, when someone is indeed making actual power moves.