Home Trinkets

I think it's so interesting what kind of trinkets people choose to decorate their homes with. College rooms are usually photos and letters from home as they adjust to being away for the first time, whereas adults seem to have more useless trinkets designed to decorate only. In my home we have fake books (why!?!) and tasseled pillows. The pillows are uncomfortable, why do we have them? Right now I'm babysitting and the family has a jar of M&Ms in the living room, all different sizes, but it's not for eating. There are trinket boxes and fake flowers, tiny furniture too delicate for even a child. It boggles the mind the kind of objects with which people surround themselves.

Facial Facts

Today I focused on trying to read people's expressions and just watching people's facial attitudes. There was a boy in one of my classes whose mouth was slightly ajar, his eyes were slightly closed and glossed over, and he was not paying attention at all. In all honesty, he could have been asleep or high. A girl I noticed today, when I was playing football against her, would not look in me in the eyes when she was on offense. Her eyes would move to the left or right or down--anywhere besides where I was looking. Then there was a professor I met with who would look you in the eye while constantly nodding to anything you said, and would say, "of course. Of course, right, right."

Southern Sayings

So I was in the south this weekend--kind of the first time I'd spent a while down there interacting with southerners. It was a culture shock coming from first California and then Baltimore. "Y'all" is actually used almost every other word, "mam" and "sir" are the proper titles when talking to someone, and people are polite. They smile a lot. I had one person tell me they were going to open a door for me. This was of course after I had already opened it, so then I got awkward and kind of let it close again. It was something I was not used to. I was also at a school that was gung-ho school spirit! Tailgating all day, packed stadium, painted chests, chanting the alma mater, and I got to finally see what school spirit was about and how people treated football in the south.

Meeting with a Professor

Last night I went to a meeting at a professors house for graduate students (obviously not me, but that's another story). She was a mix of contradictions. She opened the door in an apron, but then all her food she put out was store bought. She also was a balance of many roles: advisor, mother, professor, and person. She was fashionably dressed in a mix of colors I would never wear and then had screaming or questioning children all over her. She was a very affectionate mother, but then ignored her crying baby. She seemed very warm and open and then talked about how she wanted her dog to die. She was a very interesting character I never would have come up with.

Litter Bug

Liter is everywhere! Broken down signs, broken bottles, shattered mirrors, wrappers, and aluminum. So I got to thinking--how long has it been there? Why doesn't it get picked up? Whose job would it even be? And it would be such a thankless job because you would come back the next day and there would be new trash. What got me into this thought train, was when I was leaving the train station. As we slowly started to roll out of the station I noticed a rusty, obviously old, half-buried bucket. Then a rusty lid, tin boxes, metal wires--all rusty, and all had obviously been there for a while. Why were they still there? So close to the beginning of the station and they hadn't been picked up. It made no sense to me and I'm still baffled.

Uncrunchable Leaves

I realized today, as it rained, that I find leaves to be particularly strong and beautiful after a rain shower. Their color is glossier, they're shiny, and stuck to the pavements in folded or completely flat ways. They're no longer dull or easily tossed aside by the wind. Instead, they are stuck fast to the pavement, no longer able to be broken or crunched by one step. Now, they can handle many feet treading over them, and still remain intact.

Nature's Black and White

I'm taking a black and white digital photography class, and I never realized how hard it would be to take something that is so pretty in color and change it to black and white. So, I was walking home from this class when I looked up into the sky and I noticed the clouds. They were this beautiful dark gray, with light centers and darker edges and they stood out starkly against the lightness of the sky. I was shocked. Here I was looking up at a perfect example of black and white from something that is normally so colorful and vibrant (or just blue). It made me realize how much variety there is around us in terms of color, and it also made me realize how ever-changing the sky is.

Sleep Signs

Sleepy people are the funniest. I had to get up at 6:30am today, and I'm one of those people who grumbles for a second and then energy just hits me. I don't believe I'm the norm. I noticed a lot of swollen eyes, the eyelids not fully open, and the eyeballs a little glazed. There were many yawns, and head shakes, as if you could shake yourself into consciousness. My favorite thing though, was the faces that had slight indents on them from pillow creases.

Paying Off!

So it seems like my daily journal of observing has been paying off! I saw one of my residents walking down the hallway and I noticed that he had gotten a hair cut. When I commented on it he was extremely surprised since his hair is very short, and not even his really good friends had noticed. The reason I could tell was because earlier in the week his hair was in a very short mohawk, which I was surprised his hair could even do because it was so short. Then when I saw him today his hair was just a little bit shorter.

Emergency Room Residents.

The people you meet in the ER. GOOD LORD. Let me tell you it is not a place I want to frequent. Thank goodness I've also only ever gone during the middle of the day. Today there was a woman in a wheel chair. She was wearing a black tank top and black shorts, but both were too small. The shirt was pulled up above her stomach and her shorts were really short. She had died red crazy hair, a scorpion tattooed above her chest, facing down, pinchers out, and a crystal stuck to her corner lip. She had many other tattoos that covered her body, one was the name of a city in Maryland, followed by a comma, and then "MD". Also there were some IX girls, very put together, and obviously more wealthy. A concerned father with a little boy, and then me and my friend. These were just the people in the waiting room. Inside the ER is a post for another day.

Book's Cover

Personal style. It's something that is so telling about a person because of the labels that have been put upon it, but also is something that changes based on the times. Today I saw a woman walking down the street in a red m&m dress--the Halloween costume type. I was confused, but then it made me start to think about style. Some boys love color, while others shy away from it. Girls can be labeled as hippies if they wear long skirts and flawy tops, while others are edgy if they wear cut up shorts and a crop top. Style is so interesting because it can say so much about someone and in that way you can judge a book by its cover.

Utopia Reached

College is a weird place. I can't describe all the oddities, but I'll mention a few. It's kind of like you're transported into a new world. Time is different, as is the setting. Since you live and work in the same place your whole life begins to rotate around this one thing. You see people ALL the time. You live with them, shower in the same place, eat in the same place, go to class, everything. So when you don't see someone for a day the time seems unbelievably long. There are also very few people not your age. So after months of being on campus, or weeks, you leave and you see a young child or an old woman it's a shock to your system. You start to form this small world in college and it isn't real. College is just this fake time, a sort of utopia in a teenagers sense, that really can only exist for so long before you have to move on.

First Hair Impressions

Hairstyles. They're extremely interesting. They said a lot about a person, and they are what a lot of people use to judge others. If your hair is greasy, and it's hanging limply in lumps, people assume you're lazy, gross, or dirty. If your hair bounces, stays in place and swings together like in a hair commercial, you're immediately seen as put together, pretty, and other's envy you. You have a mullet? You're living in the past and are weird. The same goes for a rat's tail. Hair can say a lot about a person, and sometimes it's not even something we can control.

A Smoker's Concentration

Today I saw a man smoking. It first caught my attention because I was annoyed because I was trying to eat and the smoke blew into my face. Then I started to look at him (kind of creepy, I know). His face would pull into concentration as he sucked on the cigarette. His brows drew down, slanting in towards his eyes, and his forehead would wrinkle. It was weird to notice his face turning into something that looked like concentration, but with smoking. I never thought someone would smoke with that much force, since I've always thought of it as more of a relaxing thing to do.

The Overwhelming Presence of Leaves

Walking down the street I noticed that there is something wherever I look. That breaks up the monotony of either a sidewalk, grass, or road. Leaves. In the sidewalk cracks, they're folded like a burrito, a splash of yellow, brown or green, sometimes a pretty mix. Or they're just splayed out in the middle of the road, or they're balancing softly on top of grass blades. They're everywhere. Fall hasn't even started yet, but I could not go more than two steps without walking over a leaf on the sidewalk and everywhere I looked they blanketed the ground.

The Missing Imperfections

I've noticed that something I tend to do, and maybe others do it as well, is to glance over things. I automatically assume something is perfect and I don't look for the imperfections. I don't see the pencil marks on the brown table, all the leaves on the trees are green and whole, not browning on the edges with missing holes, and light covers are pure white without black spots. My brain would rather gloss over things and just see them as the whole image they are in my head, instead of focus on the imperfections that make it what it is.

Saturday Mall Day

I never realized how diverse a mall was. It means so many different things to different people. There were young preteens, faces heavy with dark eyeliner as they gossiped and texted, a mother with her young son, couples, and those who just wanted to be by themselves. Malls are a universal area that mean different things to different people, but it's a place that most people will end up at some point or another.

Night out

Red faces and sweaty hair matted to the forehead in sticky spikes. The cheeks are flushed and the inhibitions are lowered. Some change their style others stick to their normal colors.

What's Beneath Our Feet

Bricks are such funny things. Why aren't they the same color instead of shades ranging from orangey red to dark dried blood (excuse the gory description) color? Also, how come they aren't smooth? Instead they have little crevices, broken corners, and they aren't placed neatly together. Instead there are gaps between them. It's something that really confused me as I walked around campus today. Because how do they even get the different colors or why do they make different colors and why aren't they perfect?

Confidence with Keys

Something that is interesting to pay attention to is how people type on a keyboard. Can they type quickly without needing to look down or do they use one finger at a time. There's a man sitting in front of me in the library and he types with his two pointer fingers, one letter at a time. He's also not graceful about it. He pushes down harshly and I'm a good 10/15 feet from him and I can hear his keys protesting. Versus to the left of me there is a girl who is typing, she is using all her fingers and is hardly looking down, she is confident in what she is writing.

Hot Pink Hello Kitty

Today I saw a security guard. She was sitting behind campus all by herself. Her hair was black, in mini braids, except halfway down it changed to a dyed red color that got brighter towards the end. I wondered if it was because she was lazy or if it was intentional. I started to wonder more about her. She had a Hello Kitty backpack placed by her side, her legs were crossed and she was texting. Her phone was hot pink with electric green ends and as she texted she leaned her head to the right slowly and almost sadly. I couldn't help but thinking--why was she hear? How old was she? Her accessories and appearance said young, but then I wondered why she was working during the day if she was my age. Did she ever go to college? It was interesting how that one snapshot of her as I walked by has stayed in my head all day.

Sweat

It's weird how the world looks in a hurry. Your heart is beating, everything becomes life or death, every new to-do becomes the biggest stress. It makes it hard to appreciate, hard to recall. Recall the way that sweat becomes like raindrops when it falls from a chin or the dark brown sticky hair strand. Or the way sweat changes the color of a white shirt to see-through while it make a "U" starting out at the top of the left shoulder, down to the xyphoid process, and then back up again to the right shoulder.