As the semester winds down, I cease to have anything, really, to do. I do still have two exams, but because they are open book/notes, I don't have much to get worked up about. So, instead of studying - err... organizing my notes, I suppose it would be - I find other ways to remain occupied. One afternoon, I started to read almost every book I own, and discarded each one after the first ten pages proved to be not quite what I was looking for.

I've also spent a considerable amount of time sitting outside of coffee shops with Emre. We've noticed that both of the nearest cafes have lovely views from the front- one faces an alley and a dry cleaners, and the other faces an alley and the infamous hole-in-the wall student dive. Ahh, I just love it when attempts at yuppification backfire in some small way!

[...]

The air was cool and heavy with dampness late Friday evening, and I sat outside the grocery store to wait for the bus. After a time, I found myself drawn into watching people, not in the usual way where I simply amuse myself with the eccentricities of others, but trying to get into their thoughts a little. I wondered if the professional woman who ducked into her car with bags of take-out mexican was truly happy, imagined what she might be thinking and to whom she was coming home. When middle-aged couples walked by I tried to feel, physically, what it would be like to be moving in their paunchy utilitarian bodies.

It was a little surreal to try so hard to place myself in the shoes of others. The 'self' is such a nebulous idea sometimes, you know?

 

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