i live in a little town called clarksville, tennessee. this little town is also home to the austin peay state university governors. i am definitely not a GOV, but today i decided to join my roommate for the annual mudbowl.
the original plan was for her to come pick me up after her CPR class, but seeing as how there was a very tiny time gap and travel that made the original plan unnecessary… we went to get lunch before heading to campus.
we took a different way than she’s used to.. because for some reason i have a thing with cutting through neighborhoods. cutting through tenth street, you come across dixon park. i have driven this same route for YEARS… it’s a tiny road, and you cross railroad tracks that (as far as i know) are NEVER actually in use. well today, this railroad crossing psyched everyone out.
definitely NOT in use. no one knew what to do until a cop half-wailed his siren and sped through the crossing… but it was probably the funniest part of my day, maybe even my week. it’s all about the little things, man.
now on to this mudbowl.
maybe it’s a fun idea.. getting friends together to play tug-of-war or volleyball in a mudpit. MAYBE. maybe if the weather is just right and it’s with the right people…MAYBE.
today, was a NO.
i was left to watch stuff for.. probably over ten people. i really don’t even know exactly though, because a lot of them i didn’t even know. i’m not a student so i couldn’t actually participate (supposedly), but with all this stuff to guard… i couldn’t even WATCH any of the games. so i sat.. in the grass… playing okkervil river on my ipod and playing the new sonic rpg on my ds. needless to say, i was a big grump on not really in the mood to socialize with complete strangers. some people really have some nerve, i tell ya! some girl honestly stared at me, knowing i couldn’t hear her at all AND that i wasn’t looking at anything but my ds screen.. until i shifted my line of vision for a second. i heard “this is hard” between songs and looked up (thinking, that’s what she said!) and looking up to find a seemingly helpless girl staring at me. so i politely took my head phones off and asked, “what?” so she repeated, “this is hard.” i didn’t know what she meant. she wasn’t doing anything at all. she was standing next to her bag… that’s it. she wasn’t trying to do anything at all. apparently someone she knew (a boyfriend maybe?) went looking for her shoes that she somehow misplaced and that’s why she was alone trying to strike up unnecessary conversation? who knows. it was awkward for sure!
someone once talked about this being generation ipod. “you miss so much of PEOPLE when you walk around with those ipods in…”
it’s funny, because i think about this conversation (i’m pretty sure it was my pilates instructor at MTSU) every time i’m anywhere listening to my ipod. it makes sense… but then i think about all the times i’ve interacted with people while my ipod was playing in my pocket and how for the right people, it’s not hard to take off the headphones and have a conversation.
i use my ipod to avoid AWKWARD social interractions like the ones i had at the mudbowl…
besides, sometimes, in the right mood on the right day.. right time.. right place… i get so much more out of music and myself than talking to or hanging out with anyone else in the world.
it had potential to be fun!
