Impression Management

Yesterday I had a meeting with a professor. She seems to have a favorable impression of me, which is utterly beyond my comprehension. She first told me that I seemed like I must be "a very good graduate student." Being the Socially Awkward Sociologist that I am, I told her that I was actually a fairly mediocre graduate student. She went on to say many other complimentary things. The final one, made after I thanked her for putting up with my whiny mood (yesterday was pretty crap), was, "you never seem whiny. You have a very positive energy."

Huh?