I'm my best friend
Surely I've written about people who talk to themselves, right? I can't seem to find a post in my (albeit rather cursory look back) so I'll have to rant a bit now.
There are three categories of people who talk to themselves, I have decided.
Category 1: Cyborgs.
There are many of these in the city. They actually are having hands-free, blue-tooth-enabled cell-phone conversations. From one side, you'll see a smallish blob attached to their ear, probably with a blinking blue light. From the other side of their face, you just see someone having an animated discussion to no one in particular. It's spooky. Especially since people in this city don't have a sense of privacy. Perhaps it is because it is so crowded, so you never get true privacy anyone; you share a home with strangers, you share your commute in very close proximity with strangers, sometimes you go to the club and spend the night with strangers.... So people don't really seem to mind having private conversations in public. I, however, find it uncomfortable to overhear private conversations. Especially when i can't see the other half of that conversation!
Category 2: Crazies.
Okay, there are people who just see invisible beings, and feel the need to converse with them. Sometimes these conversations are fairly benign, but I don't usually notice those ones. The ones I notice tend to be on the near-violent-rage end of the conversation spectrum. These people tend to be rather agitated and are intensely upset over something/someone. When in the subway or on the bus, I try to move far away, just in case this person (the one that *I* can see) decides to act on his/her violent urges. Unfortunately, even if they aren't about to be violent, they often don't smell very good, which is also why I like to move far away.
Category 3: Stream-of-Consciousness.
We all self-talk; that's pretty standard. I often replay conversations in my head, think about what probject I'd like to work on next, imagine what I'd like to eat for supper. But these thoughts are just that: thoughts. There seems to be a large proportion of people here who verbalize their thoughts, though. I find this strange and a bit creepy. (Yes, I know, I am easily creeped out.) And I'm not talking about the occasional expletive when you've stubbed your toe, or the occasional mono-phrase utterance.
One time at a grocery store, I overheard this self-conversation: "Hmmm. The potatoes look good. Guess I can make potato salad for supper. I gotta get milk. Four dollars for milk?! It's cheaper at the other store. I'll get it there." And on and on. It makes me wonder why some people just verbalize their thoughts. Is it because they're under much stress? It's literally too noisy to hear their own thoughts? It does make me worry that I'll start verbalizing my thoughts some day. And what a frightening day that will be!
There are three categories of people who talk to themselves, I have decided.
Category 1: Cyborgs.
There are many of these in the city. They actually are having hands-free, blue-tooth-enabled cell-phone conversations. From one side, you'll see a smallish blob attached to their ear, probably with a blinking blue light. From the other side of their face, you just see someone having an animated discussion to no one in particular. It's spooky. Especially since people in this city don't have a sense of privacy. Perhaps it is because it is so crowded, so you never get true privacy anyone; you share a home with strangers, you share your commute in very close proximity with strangers, sometimes you go to the club and spend the night with strangers.... So people don't really seem to mind having private conversations in public. I, however, find it uncomfortable to overhear private conversations. Especially when i can't see the other half of that conversation!
Category 2: Crazies.
Okay, there are people who just see invisible beings, and feel the need to converse with them. Sometimes these conversations are fairly benign, but I don't usually notice those ones. The ones I notice tend to be on the near-violent-rage end of the conversation spectrum. These people tend to be rather agitated and are intensely upset over something/someone. When in the subway or on the bus, I try to move far away, just in case this person (the one that *I* can see) decides to act on his/her violent urges. Unfortunately, even if they aren't about to be violent, they often don't smell very good, which is also why I like to move far away.
Category 3: Stream-of-Consciousness.
We all self-talk; that's pretty standard. I often replay conversations in my head, think about what probject I'd like to work on next, imagine what I'd like to eat for supper. But these thoughts are just that: thoughts. There seems to be a large proportion of people here who verbalize their thoughts, though. I find this strange and a bit creepy. (Yes, I know, I am easily creeped out.) And I'm not talking about the occasional expletive when you've stubbed your toe, or the occasional mono-phrase utterance.
One time at a grocery store, I overheard this self-conversation: "Hmmm. The potatoes look good. Guess I can make potato salad for supper. I gotta get milk. Four dollars for milk?! It's cheaper at the other store. I'll get it there." And on and on. It makes me wonder why some people just verbalize their thoughts. Is it because they're under much stress? It's literally too noisy to hear their own thoughts? It does make me worry that I'll start verbalizing my thoughts some day. And what a frightening day that will be!
posted by blumaroo at
2:15 PM
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