Tiny Mysteries
I've always had the ideal that it's as rude to be early as it is to be late. I don't know where I get that from, but I feel bad if I'm not right on time. Of course, as I generally use public transport it means I usually have to be early, so as not to be late. It never bothers me though; I just go for a walk, listen to music, or do one of my favourite things, which is just to space out and think about stuff. Mathematics, stories I'm writing, JJ, whatever, it's fun to just think and imagine.
I remember one time, idly thinking and suddenly having a complete breakthrough on the concept of logarithms; just utterly changing my view of them and helping me immensely. It flowed through my own philosophy of mathematics, expanding my ideas on vector spaces and Number Theory. I genuinely believe one day that insight I had will lead to something the world hasn't seen before. I remember grinning so much and going yay, spazzing out and being a complete idiot in the street, I was so happy. Then later babbling it all out to my bemused girlfriend, hehe.
Yesterday I was a little early for a tutoring appointment. So I walked about a bit, and eventually sat down at a bus-stop to think. It was at the top of a hill and you could see down for something like 500 metres. A girl appeared at the bottom of the hill, slowly walking up towards me. She would have clearly seen me sitting there, apparently waiting for the bus. Closer and closer she trudged until five minutes later she was about 100 metres away and a bus suddenly rounded the corner, charging up the slope. She panicked and started running her heart out to catch it.
Of course, I got up and hailed the bus for her. It stopped and I stood there with my hand on the open door, holding it so it wouldn't get away. She came jogging up, smiling at me in relief and I gave her a smile back, then I turned and quickly walked away.
I love the idea that I'm a mystery to her. Why was I waiting at the bus-stop? Why didn't I catch the bus? Had I been there just to make sure she did? Why did I immediately leave? Maybe she thinks I could be her guardian angel! How wonderful to give her a tiny mystery to wonder about.
Or is it only someone like me who would think about it so much? Turning it about in my mind till I understood...
I remember one time, idly thinking and suddenly having a complete breakthrough on the concept of logarithms; just utterly changing my view of them and helping me immensely. It flowed through my own philosophy of mathematics, expanding my ideas on vector spaces and Number Theory. I genuinely believe one day that insight I had will lead to something the world hasn't seen before. I remember grinning so much and going yay, spazzing out and being a complete idiot in the street, I was so happy. Then later babbling it all out to my bemused girlfriend, hehe.
Yesterday I was a little early for a tutoring appointment. So I walked about a bit, and eventually sat down at a bus-stop to think. It was at the top of a hill and you could see down for something like 500 metres. A girl appeared at the bottom of the hill, slowly walking up towards me. She would have clearly seen me sitting there, apparently waiting for the bus. Closer and closer she trudged until five minutes later she was about 100 metres away and a bus suddenly rounded the corner, charging up the slope. She panicked and started running her heart out to catch it.
Of course, I got up and hailed the bus for her. It stopped and I stood there with my hand on the open door, holding it so it wouldn't get away. She came jogging up, smiling at me in relief and I gave her a smile back, then I turned and quickly walked away.
I love the idea that I'm a mystery to her. Why was I waiting at the bus-stop? Why didn't I catch the bus? Had I been there just to make sure she did? Why did I immediately leave? Maybe she thinks I could be her guardian angel! How wonderful to give her a tiny mystery to wonder about.
Or is it only someone like me who would think about it so much? Turning it about in my mind till I understood...