Beginnings and Endings are for Chumps
I'm moving to Minneapolis on Sunday morning. Woot! Oy.. Alas. Erm?
I've spent the last few days packing. Which is to say, I've gone in spurts of an hour or two over the last few days, filled in with errands and games and Firefly/Serenity, because it turns out packing my whole life away doesn't actually take three full days. More like 6-8 hours, which I couldn't bear to do at a stretch. So, the pile of boxes in our living room has been growing in bursts, and my room now feels very slightly more empty. Not as much as I would have thought (or hoped?), I guess because I never did all that much to make it my room. No decorations to speak of, no posters, only a couple of pictures, no plants. The most prominent thing in my room has been my computer, which will of course remain in place until the final moments of loading. After all these years, it still amazes me how integral the machine is to my life.
I went for my last big Madison bike ride today, on a trail that more or less rings the entire metro area. As always, I pushed myself too hard and had to spend half an hour recovering when I got home, but it was a good ride. The day was beautiful and sunny, but mercifully cool. I'm glad I finally got around to adding the water bottle holder, too; without that I think I really would have collapsed. I noticed something funny, though: almost all of the 20-30-something guys I passed on the trail would make eye contact and greet me with a nod or a wave or even (dare I say it?) a "hello," but the women ignored me completely. I even made a point a few times of looking over and waving at a passing gal, but every one of them was eyes-forward, completely unwilling to acknowledge my presence. Now, maybe this says something unflattering about me personally, but I prefer to believe that this says something interesting about our society in general.
I mulled over it for the rest of the ride and I have some ideas about what that is, but I want to hear from you all first. After all, since (to my knowledge) nearly my entire readership is female (and I can count them on one hand), you should know better than I, right? So tell me, how often do you greet or otherwise interact with a male stranger? How often do you snub male strangers who try to greet or otherwise interact with you? Why?
In other news, thyme is my favorite herb.
I watched Serenity on Thursday (or was it Wednesday?). At first I didn't like it as much as the series, but I think I regard them equally now. Different, but both excellent. Joss Whedon is, in point of fact, a very good storyteller, and when I finished watching the movie I started it all over again with the commentary on. The details of how so many people played into the production -- actors, cameramen, lighting techs, sound editors, security guards -- made me want to go into movies somehow. I fear a lot of the gigs would kind of suck, but boy would I have loved to work on something like Firefly or Serenity.
I've spent the last few days packing. Which is to say, I've gone in spurts of an hour or two over the last few days, filled in with errands and games and Firefly/Serenity, because it turns out packing my whole life away doesn't actually take three full days. More like 6-8 hours, which I couldn't bear to do at a stretch. So, the pile of boxes in our living room has been growing in bursts, and my room now feels very slightly more empty. Not as much as I would have thought (or hoped?), I guess because I never did all that much to make it my room. No decorations to speak of, no posters, only a couple of pictures, no plants. The most prominent thing in my room has been my computer, which will of course remain in place until the final moments of loading. After all these years, it still amazes me how integral the machine is to my life.
I went for my last big Madison bike ride today, on a trail that more or less rings the entire metro area. As always, I pushed myself too hard and had to spend half an hour recovering when I got home, but it was a good ride. The day was beautiful and sunny, but mercifully cool. I'm glad I finally got around to adding the water bottle holder, too; without that I think I really would have collapsed. I noticed something funny, though: almost all of the 20-30-something guys I passed on the trail would make eye contact and greet me with a nod or a wave or even (dare I say it?) a "hello," but the women ignored me completely. I even made a point a few times of looking over and waving at a passing gal, but every one of them was eyes-forward, completely unwilling to acknowledge my presence. Now, maybe this says something unflattering about me personally, but I prefer to believe that this says something interesting about our society in general.
I mulled over it for the rest of the ride and I have some ideas about what that is, but I want to hear from you all first. After all, since (to my knowledge) nearly my entire readership is female (and I can count them on one hand), you should know better than I, right? So tell me, how often do you greet or otherwise interact with a male stranger? How often do you snub male strangers who try to greet or otherwise interact with you? Why?
In other news, thyme is my favorite herb.
I watched Serenity on Thursday (or was it Wednesday?). At first I didn't like it as much as the series, but I think I regard them equally now. Different, but both excellent. Joss Whedon is, in point of fact, a very good storyteller, and when I finished watching the movie I started it all over again with the commentary on. The details of how so many people played into the production -- actors, cameramen, lighting techs, sound editors, security guards -- made me want to go into movies somehow. I fear a lot of the gigs would kind of suck, but boy would I have loved to work on something like Firefly or Serenity.
posted by a at
7:06 PM
3 Comments:
I almost always say hi to people I pass on the street, except if I'm walking around the lake, in which case there are just too many people to acknowledge. The only time I avoid contact is when I'm either very crabby or feel threatened in some way. Maybe it's your surly demeanor that's working against you. I know when I first met you, my impression was "This seems like a guy who might punch me in the head for no reason."
By
Anonymous, at 12:34 AM
I always smile and say hi, unless I think that my doing so would be perceived as flirting when that's not my intention. I'm also kind of intimidated by "trendy" women/girls so I avoid them sometimes, too. Lots of times, though, especially when I'm biking, I kind of get into a zone and don't even notice my surroundings. It's actually kind of amazing that I haven't ridden into the creek yet...
By
Caitlin, at 9:14 AM
I am way more likely to greet a man than a woman, mostly because girls make me uneasy in general for reasons I can't even explain (I like all my girlfriends and everything, don't get me wrong, but girls can be bitches to each other!) so I guess I would have failed the experiment. My theory, based on your findings, would be that there could be an underlying fear of showing compassion and/or weakness toward a male stranger when out alone in public, a fear that is ingrained in women when we are small because we are taught to feel weak and defenseless against strange males. Perhaps? (Not to say that you, Alex, are strange, just an unknown entity that is more likely to be a threat than a female.)
I don't know what the hell I'm talking about.
By
Andrea, at 11:35 AM
Post a Comment
<< Home