Walking in someone elses shoes

I have been in a conversation with someone I bumped into online. She is from Pasadena California. I hope to make it down there this New Year. Of course making it down there would mean the Cougs are in the Rose Bowl. So let’s keep our fingers crossed. We were talking about people watching. In real life you sit in a bar or at a store and you watch how people act. Online it is different because there are some many places you can find stuff about people. I have a blog so there is a ton of information about me. I have many websites where there is information about me. If someone wanted to stalk me they could online. They would probably have a tough time keeping up with me in real life because I am always on the move. I never have a set schedule so no one would know where I will be from day to day. Most of the time it is a surprise to me.

In reference to some things she said, I responded in part with the following:

I like to do that too. In the bars or other places I will watch people. Look at how they are dressed, who the hang out with, what they look like. Then I will imagine what got them to this point. What do they do for fun? What is their home life like? What they do when they are bored and hanging out with friends.

I always wanted to go up to some people and just ask them their life story. I would love to see someone doing something and join them. I saw some guys getting their quads ready to go riding. I looked at them and wondered what their life was like. Wonder if they have fun a lot or if their life sucks. I wonder what it would be like to be a fly on the wall for a while and see what they are like.

One other thing that I made an observation about is my attitude towards friends:
One thing I noticed last night is something I do, and I don't understand why. I have some theories, but I don't have a good answer to it. But I was looking through my phone numbers on my cell phone and I scrolled through a lot of names of people I have gotten in "fights" with. They were not real fights. In fact I think I am the starter of most of them in some ways. It is that I start to get a chip on my shoulder that they are not reciprocating the friendship very well, so then I look for things and when I find something I let myself get bent out of shape and get mad over it. Then I will take it out, non-verbally on the person who is the focus of my rage. That person usually does not know there is something wrong. And that makes me more upset. By the time it is discovered that there is something wrong other things go bad or so much time has accumulated that our friendship all but over.

It is almost like I am testing the person to see if he is my friend.

hmmm... The more I think about this the more female-like I sound... I hear comedians joke about this kind of behaviour, and here I am doing it. I am a choad!

Speaking again of being able to be somewhere else I can't be:
So anyhow one thing about classic rock is knowing that at one time it was new rock. When I walk around campus and hear people blasting rap and R&B I think about what it was like when Pink Floyd, AC/DC, Led Zeppelin, and other great bands were getting the same kind of air time on people's stereo systems.

I wonder what it would have been like to walk around campus and see Greek row and campus in that era. How much different it would have been. It seems to me it would have been a little dark or dreary. It would seem to me that there would be some more open drug use and a lot more alcohol use. I try to imagine the first time people heard Stairway to Heaven. How weird that would be to have someone say... And new from Led Zeppelin... Stairway to Heaven.

It would be interesting to see those days. I wish that I could live a day in the life of someone in college in the 60's and 70's. What is different is that I think I am a lot more conservative than the stereotypical college student back then. I would not have been one of the big time protesters, as far as I can tell.

Other than talking about that kind of stuff I was thinking about my attitude towards moving and what that will mean to me. I think in many ways I am ready to go. I am in a bad mood. I hope it is not a phase. Emotionally I am tried of the friggen games and all the drama. Physically I am tried of all the work, but I cannot stop all my jobs. I do not make enough money to do so at one job. That is another reason why I think moving would be a good thing. I could work less hours for more money.

I would miss out on my softball teams, but I know of one league, the Emerald City Softball Association, that I could get into. There are others. If I am around long enough I would find something. I would have to try to rekindle old and broken friendships. I would lose those I have over here, but that happens with time and distance. I think there would be parts of me that would miss riding under the red lights, but maybe I could find something to fill that void that would not be so full of drama. I doubt it.

I went to fire training tonight even though I planned on not going. when I talked with Bob about possible make ups, he said John has waited so long for me to get healthy. So I decided I better go. We were crawling around in the fire training tower. We crawled through some stuff that is tight without turnouts and an air bottle. With those things it is even tougher. There was one point where I was working my way through a wall where the studs were sixteen inches on center. I had to fit through the opening while wearing turnouts and a SCBA air tank. I was going through and was sort of stuck, I was forcing myself and then I got caught by an electrical cord. I was hanging upside down. I fought some more. Finally I got free.

It was a long training. When it was over I put my gear away and went home. I still had to get dinner. I was starving by that time.