Blathering On

Now that the fun stuff has been posted...lol

Not much going on with me these days. I've just been chilling out and watching the rest of the world. It's fun to people watch sometimes. For a long time I never understood what some folks got out of people watching. When I was a kid whenever my grandparents would take us to the mall Granny would always be the one taking us from store to store. Pa-Paw would merely make his rounds at the book store and then park himself on a bench in the hall and people watch. We always made fun of him for his choice of activity and I never understood what he found so interesting about watching a bunch of strangers.

Now that I'm older I've figured out the entertainment value. My buddies/co-workers Brenda and Betty and I go for coffee breaks in the snack shop at least once a day. The snack shop is fronted by three huge picture windows that face the main hub of campus, the drill field. The outside part of the window is tinted and acts as more of a mirror than a window making it all the more entertiaining to people watch. I know these kids have to know that the glass they're using as a mirror is actually a window so it amazes me that they come right up to it to do everything from fixing their hair and wiping their noses to digging out wedgies. We've all had a good laugh at those experiences.

What's even more interesting, though, is watching the people who are merely passing by. It doesn't take longer than a moment to figure out what the latest styles and trends are by looking at the clothes, but more than that it's a study of human nature. Do you know that at least three out of five people who pass by are talking on their cell phones...or at the very least, walking around with their cells pressed against their ears. These are college age kids walking to and from classes. What could be so important that the MUST speak to someone in the 10-15 minutes they're walking across the drill field to class? Of course, taking my general loathing of phones into consideration, I'm not the most un-biased person to be talking about cell phones. I mean, I don't even fully understand why it is imperative that people be able to call me at all, let alone reach me in between and sometimes during class. But I digress...

Cell phones aside, I watch this campus full of students in their gaucho pants and flip flops, back packs slung over their backs so that they hitch forward to bear the weight of it and I wonder who these people are. Who will they become? They all seem so young, so hopeful and many of them seem so in tune with who they are and comfortable with the approaching future. They walk in clusters of laughing girls and groups of scruffy boys with worn out caps and frayed jeans. They don't walk with their heads down and their eyes trained to their feet the way I did when I was one of them. They tilt their heads up and face the world around them as though they know for certian that they belong there. I envy that.

Brenda, perhaps more than any of us, studies body shapes. She's always quick to point out the girl with the wide hips or the huge butt or lament for the girl with the double D's. She can pick out guy with a nice butt clear across the drill field while Ms. Betty and I are squinting our eyes trying to figure out who she's talking about. And she can always spot the girl with the worst hair or the sloppiest clothes.

Ms. Betty is always quick to notice the people who dare to dress like hookers and Britney Spears. She can't stand the site of a big chested woman wearing a tub top or ANYONE wearing a mini-skirt. This usually brings about a conversation on why young women think that garnering that sort of attention is a good thing and how any of them could possibly think that dressing like a street walker is acceptable.

Me, I watch for the guys. The hot ones, the nerdy ones, the older ones, the ones with the frayed Levis and worn out baseball caps. I study them and the confidence they emitt. The sheer testosterone that oozes from every pore. And I watch how the girls react to them and how they react to the girls. I'm in awe of how at ease other girls seem to be with guys. They flirt and tease and talk with all the ease of having known the guys forever.

I wonder what this says about us? Does what we notice in others reflect something about ourselves? For instance, does Brenda's notice of the different body types speak to the fact that she is self concious and aware of her own body and her wish to change it? And does Ms. Betty's judgement of what others wear disguise a hidden longing to be able to dress with funk and style instead of professionalism? Does my interest in the male species mean that I'm hunting? In my case, probably, but more likely I just love to admire the male form. hehehehe

Pa-paw, his thing is, he notices behaviors. He always comments on the way a child reacted to a particular store or something or the way a parent reacted to a child's behavior. He notices the couples who hold hands and the ones who argue. He pokes fun at the way teenage girls giggle and chatter. I'd say that he is a man who is interested in life and the living that goes on around him.

Now I wonder what people think when they see me pass by that window. I've always admitted a self-consciousness of walking in public...afraid of what people say or think when they see me. Friends who try to encourage me always say, "Nobody's watching you or talking about you." But that isn't true. They are. I know Brenda, Betty, me and Pa-Paw aren't the only people in the world who people watch. Maybe the trick is to simply hold my head up and pretend I'm one of those girls who look the world straight in the eye with a who cares attitude.