Ralph Ellison
Ralph Ellison is really busting on me right now. Invisible Man is good. Fantastic is a better word, but in a bad way. Some how I got way behind in my reading. Well, I shouldn't act like I'm at all surprised. It happened the same way it always happens I just don't know what that way is. I'm going to attempt to rock with fervent determination through 200 pages of it which to be honest, given the brutal nature of the text, is going to be rather draining on a white suburban youth like myself. I shall persevere and perceive!
I have a new love.
Talking to strangers. This is something I always see listed in the facebook profiles of girls I have crushes on. I think I just really like talking and have decided that rather than wait, most impatiently, for someone to engage me in talking, I will just take matters into my own hands and talk to whoever I want whenever I want. Usually people are a sort of, "This is weird but, whatever, I'll deal with it". Sometimes, and these people always make me chuckle. Literally chuckle, St. Nick style. I'll say something to someone, greet them, ask them a question and they will ignore me. This seems like a good idea if you want to avoid the creepy guy asking you bizarre questions about the razors behind the counter at the Shriver Market, or asking which Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle you find most attractive. In actuality, this person has uped the awkward level well beyond turtle to some even larger more obscure reptile. Now, here we are, this stranger and me, walking within a foot of each other down the street, each aware that one has said something and the other has ignored him and that we are both headed in approximately the same direction for who knows how painfully long.
He or she avoids eye contact. He crosses the street. She pretends to text someone. All the while I think to myself, "This isn't my fault, you're the one who is socially inept". That scene in the movie Fight Club where they have to start a fight with a stranger could have been just as easily to talk to a stranger. The level of difficulty is about the same.
I asked my manager if I could start wearing a dinosaur costume to work. She said, "no".