"I'm like"

I find the "I'm like, 'What'd you do last night?'; He's like, 'Nothin''; I'm like, 'Really?'; "He's like, etc." style of reporting a conversation so annoying

BUT

then I think. How do I report conversations (and how did I do so when I was a teenager)?

Is "I said...he said...I said...etc." that much more interesting?

And likely I said/say "I say...he says...I say", using what I will call the Narrative Present. (If that's not its real name, it should be.)

Note that we use the present for the future as well: "I'm meeting with Oswald tomorrow."

I'm considering resolving to report conversations creatively from now on:

"What did you do yesterday?" I queried.

"Nothin'" he muttered disconsolately.

"Really?" I probed inquisitively.

"Yeah, really!" he spat venomously.

"Hey, calm down. That's cool." I offered diplomatically.

Now that would never get annoying.