A Girl On The Bus
For the majority of the time I have spent in the UK, I have ridden the bus to work. This is a 35 minute commute, during which time I normally read a news magazine or academic papers. During the time that I've been taking the bus, I've gotten to "know" some of my fellow passengers. I don't have conversations with them or anything like that, rather, I mean that I've come to recognize the regular riders of the bus.
There is one girl who gets on to the bus about halfway through my ride. As I exit the bus before she does, I'm not quite sure where she is going. She does, however, usually have art materials, which makes me believe that she is in some sort of higher education program. This doesn't narrow it down much, except I can say that she doesn't attend the university at which I work.
This girl is probably about 20, maybe a bit younger, and has a distinctive goth/metal look to her. She is well groomed, but she tends to wear the same clothes each day (or atleast extremely similar versions of clothes). These clothes consist of black boots, dark baggy cargo pants, some version of a band's t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Of course, being slightly goth/metal, she accessorizes with metal studded belts, chains, fingerless gloves, very little makeup and other items. She has long black hair that is always clean and combed, but never made up. She's not beautiful, but she's cute in an odd way. She doesn't smile often and usually listens to her iPod so that anyone sitting near her can hear the pounding drums and guitar music that she listens to. In all the time that I've shared a bus with her, I don't think I've ever heard her voice.
The point of describing this girl is to explain the kind of unknowing impression that I had created without really knowing this girl. She seemed friendly, and if the need or opportunity had arisen, I would have talked with her quite easily (I think). I don't think that I'd given any thought to really determine what my impression of her was before today, but with some hindsight, I would think that she was the traditional cutout goth art student...maybe a little aloof, detached, disinterested and distrusting, but friendly if she knew you.
This morning she got on to the bus with a boy about the same age...perhaps they're a couple...perhaps they're friends...perhaps they're related...I'm not quite sure, but it was obvious that they knew each other and were friendly. They talked freely during the time we shared the bus, and she acted positively giddily in her interactions with him. It was a bit of a shock to hear her describing movies and music with glee and happiness, especially since the movies were the type of b-grade slasher films (for example, the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre) that one would assume she would be interested in.
There are no big lessons to be learned here, just an interesting anecdote that made me think about how I perceive and interact with the people who surround me on a daily basis.
For the majority of the time I have spent in the UK, I have ridden the bus to work. This is a 35 minute commute, during which time I normally read a news magazine or academic papers. During the time that I've been taking the bus, I've gotten to "know" some of my fellow passengers. I don't have conversations with them or anything like that, rather, I mean that I've come to recognize the regular riders of the bus.
There is one girl who gets on to the bus about halfway through my ride. As I exit the bus before she does, I'm not quite sure where she is going. She does, however, usually have art materials, which makes me believe that she is in some sort of higher education program. This doesn't narrow it down much, except I can say that she doesn't attend the university at which I work.
This girl is probably about 20, maybe a bit younger, and has a distinctive goth/metal look to her. She is well groomed, but she tends to wear the same clothes each day (or atleast extremely similar versions of clothes). These clothes consist of black boots, dark baggy cargo pants, some version of a band's t-shirt, and a black leather jacket. Of course, being slightly goth/metal, she accessorizes with metal studded belts, chains, fingerless gloves, very little makeup and other items. She has long black hair that is always clean and combed, but never made up. She's not beautiful, but she's cute in an odd way. She doesn't smile often and usually listens to her iPod so that anyone sitting near her can hear the pounding drums and guitar music that she listens to. In all the time that I've shared a bus with her, I don't think I've ever heard her voice.
The point of describing this girl is to explain the kind of unknowing impression that I had created without really knowing this girl. She seemed friendly, and if the need or opportunity had arisen, I would have talked with her quite easily (I think). I don't think that I'd given any thought to really determine what my impression of her was before today, but with some hindsight, I would think that she was the traditional cutout goth art student...maybe a little aloof, detached, disinterested and distrusting, but friendly if she knew you.
This morning she got on to the bus with a boy about the same age...perhaps they're a couple...perhaps they're friends...perhaps they're related...I'm not quite sure, but it was obvious that they knew each other and were friendly. They talked freely during the time we shared the bus, and she acted positively giddily in her interactions with him. It was a bit of a shock to hear her describing movies and music with glee and happiness, especially since the movies were the type of b-grade slasher films (for example, the remake of the Texas Chainsaw Massacre) that one would assume she would be interested in.
There are no big lessons to be learned here, just an interesting anecdote that made me think about how I perceive and interact with the people who surround me on a daily basis.
1 Comments:
please open up conversations- how interesting those lives are- and then share with us!
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