Preoccupied
Every day when I'm on my one hour commute on the NYC subway, I marvel at the other people who can just sit there, listless, for the duration of the ride. If they fall asleep, that's fine. But I simply cannot wrap my brain around those people who stay awake and stare blankly into space—or at other riders.
Increasingly so, in recent years I've been unable to let my mind idle for too long. I need some kind of stimulus to occupy my mind: a magazine that I've already looked through, while not ideal, will do. Failing a book or periodical, music will suffice. I can escape into that ephemeral medium for a time. It's not that I require in-depth mental pursuit. I just need a little something new or inspiring to ponder, however small.
I guess it's about escaping boredom. If I'm somewhere without book or music, I resort to my blackberry. It's got a very slow and very limited access to the Web, so I can at least peruse Dictionary.com if I'm truly bored. But it's something, you see. I can't stand unoccupied moments.
What's wrong with me? Or what's wrong with them? I actually like that I need some kind of phrenic activity to stay content. But it has its obvious drawbacks. When I'm in an environment that offers no active stimuli, time oozes by like molasses wearing heavy, wet denim...
Increasingly so, in recent years I've been unable to let my mind idle for too long. I need some kind of stimulus to occupy my mind: a magazine that I've already looked through, while not ideal, will do. Failing a book or periodical, music will suffice. I can escape into that ephemeral medium for a time. It's not that I require in-depth mental pursuit. I just need a little something new or inspiring to ponder, however small.
I guess it's about escaping boredom. If I'm somewhere without book or music, I resort to my blackberry. It's got a very slow and very limited access to the Web, so I can at least peruse Dictionary.com if I'm truly bored. But it's something, you see. I can't stand unoccupied moments.
What's wrong with me? Or what's wrong with them? I actually like that I need some kind of phrenic activity to stay content. But it has its obvious drawbacks. When I'm in an environment that offers no active stimuli, time oozes by like molasses wearing heavy, wet denim...
posted by Jeff LaSala at 10:38 AM
4 Comments:
Are we being egotistical and assuming that the people who have no book, paper, or iPod while on the train or bus aren't doing something interesting or creative? Sometimes I think that those people are probably dumb, but then I find there are days when I can't stand to have headphones on, or don't feel like reading, and when you sit there listening to what's going on around you, or look out the window, or at the people along the way, you see or hear some pretty interesting things.
I think the people reading the James Patterson books have less going on in their brains than the ones just sitting there.
Egotistical...er, yes. That's precisely it. I'm insinuating that they're lesser human beings than myself.
This comment has been removed by a blog administrator.
Well, I don't know... this:
" If they fall asleep, that's fine. But I simply cannot wrap my brain around those people who stay awake and stare blankly into space..."
seems a tad egotistical, or at least does not acknowledge that there is anything going on behind that blank stare. I'm certainly not saying you are egotistical, but that the idea that someone who is not listening to music, reading, or clicking buttons is somehow not pondering something new (or that their minds are unoccupied just because their various orifices happen to be) does seem that way. Y'know?
Post a Comment
<< Home