Arrogance and Ignorance

A few clever quips and we're all veritable Einsteins. I wonder what we'll become when we learn to read and listen.

When did Lewd Behavior Become the Norm?

It has been said that man is a rational animal. All my life I have been searching for evidence which could support this. -Bertrand Russell



Today, amid my 14 hour shift at the kissing booth, I read a couple of articles in the New York Times arts section (for the first time in weeks, I've had time to actually delve into the paper which was incredibly exciting). One of which was about the upcoming royal wedding and the media's overwhelming response to it - which I honestly hadn't noticed until this week because I just hadn't time or interest enough to watch tv.
The article about the soon to be newlyweds got me thinking a bit about etiquette and what pomp and circumstance would be seen this upcoming Friday. Somewhere in this train of thought, I became curious as to my own etiquette....I was brought up to be painstakingly proper but have been a tad more relaxed as of late. None-the-less, in my personality, passing judgement happens quite naturally even when I display the unappealing qualities that I am eager to correct in others...so I began spouting off (with my co-workers) a list of pet peeves that I believe genuinely stem from our culture's defiance of all perceived norms.
I don't know when people stopped knocking on doors - especially bathrooms - before entering. Or when it became acceptable to break wind in public without asking pardon. Or when spitting began being fashionable. Or when walking with a group of people (taking up the entire sidewalk)refusing to budge even when you see others attempting to get through. Or not cleaning up your dog's excrement in other people's yards or walkways. I thought these were mostly common sense....definitely not something, you needed a book or a visit to Miss Manners to instill, but somehow we've forgotten general politeness...and it makes me ill.
I would like to think that as humans with the ability to reason, we would be more aware of others (and our impact) than our bonobo relatives...Maybe someday we will improve mentally upon the evolutionary chain.

People Are Surprising

Today whilst judging the world, I was pleasantly surprised not once - but twice on the CTA. The first was by a man reading Dumas on the el, and the second was two teens helping a blind man off the bus.

Small Attempts

I wish there were thoughts floating through my head all of the time....I wish that life were interesting enough for me to regale you all with tales for days. But, alas, I'm not that interesting as of late. I haven't done much besides work and attempt to find singing gigs in this city. I feel like my life is a reality show minus all of the editing....so I have a 150hrs of boring until we get to the juicy bits (5 minutes in comparison). I'm pretty sure everyone's life is as such. Hmmm.... I suppose this weekend was juicy, but not in the way I wish - no romance or new shoes or anything nice really. I had a "The Hills" worthy argument with one of my roomies over my general disdain for our personality clashes. All of this was spurred on by the third roomie who was tired of tension and feeling like a middle-man....Honestly, though I know the tension in a home can be exhausting for friendships, I don't think it was her place to essentially force us to talk before either of us were ready. It just makes living a bit more uncomfortable - not less. We've both said our parts and now more than ever, I don't want to be in the same space too long for fear I may explode with explicatives and whatnot. Here's to hoping that I can control my tongue and remember that this arrangement isn't permanent and this situation is beneath my contempt. Maybe one day we'll look back and laugh at all of this. Maybe not.