So I'm sitting down at my own temporarily personal iMac at the good old College Ave Computer Lab at approximately 1:30 am, and I'm doing my usual routine of ten minutes work/2 minutes staring off into space/ 30 seconds eyeing up the other people working, when something surprises me. On the computer next to me, some guy has my image on his screen. No, I don't know him. He's contemplating a facebook picture from last week's multipurpose party on 94 Central. Neither of us know the other, we're just random bricks in the gigantic Rutgers wall of illusion. I would say something, and it's almost as if under different circumstances I would be compelled to, but I realize that my body has become so used to occupying this position that I cant break the spell.
It brings up a lot of interesting questions, such as "what the fuck are we doing?," and "How did I arrive at this state." It seems like 3 year olds have more face to face interaction than undergraduate students in a big urban college. I seem to have lost any feeling of relatedness to this choatic swarm of people around me. Some days, walking to the dining hall, I play the game where if someone crosses my path I'll pretend like I'm looking at my shoe or a tree. "Say, is that a lightpost? How interesting." Other times I get fed up with my act and I decide to face whoever is coming toward me eye to eye, chin to chin without flinching. But then I realize that they also are struct by some fascinating object just off to the left as they walk by. I wonder what primitive people used to do when a group of seed gatherers crossed paths with a group of rabbit slayers. Did they say "whats up" in their native tongue? Or give each other high fives. If out of every three people I passed on the sidewalk one gave me a highfive, I would be a lot more content with my life.
Haha, welll said! Walking down college ave can totally get awkward at times. There's that pressure of timing the act of glaring away from an incoming stranger just at the right moment- so that its not too early that you are rudely avoiding looking at someone entirely, but not too late that you are in some sort of taboo creepy eye lock.
ReplyDeleteI dunno there Justin.
ReplyDeleteHonestly, I love people and culture, so I am extremely interested in the people around me. When I walk anywhere I always always look at people and many times even just give a little polite smile to acknowlegde them. More times than not, I have gotten a smile back, or even a greeting, wave, or sometimes a small convo!
If you feel lost or alone or unconnected personally to people, there's a reason. If one person does it, than someone else will do it as it becomes a domino effect. But if you look up and smile, or nod or whatever all the time, you will notice that we really are still connected on a physical rather than technological sense.
:)