(no subject)
Social conventions are all right in their place, but I think the ones that dictate how we act around people we aren't even interacting with are annoyingly arbitrary. Consider this. You're walking down a populated hallway at your regular place of work or school or down the main street of your home town. You realize that you forgot something and must turn around to go get it. You are not allowed simply to turn around and walk in the other direction, because this appears stupid to everyone else (none of whom care what you do in the least). Instead, you must give some visual indication of why you are deciding to change directions. An eye roll accompanied by a frustrated grunt is acceptable, for instance, for this indicates that you have forgotten something and are perturbed that you have to hike it all the way back from whence you came. A forehead slap is an alternative that conveys the same information. I'm going to rebel against this ridiculousness. I'm going find a populated hallway or street and walk down it in alternating directions repeatedly, never once acting out the part of forgetfulness, just to spite that silly unspoken social convention. People who see me do it will then be more comfortable doing it themselves. And when my little revolution is won, I'll be heralded as the champion of the new world order.