I was going to blog about this last night after my busy bee kinda day but I was pooped! I went from waking up earls for the commute to the city, interned all day*, commuted back to New Gross and went to night class til 930pm. Made a dinner fit for a famished gymnast (if only I looked like a famished gymnast...maybe I should have said, "made a dinner fit for a UNICEF baby." But that's just wrong).
*Today, I manned the spinach & artichoke dip one of my superiors put in a crockpot. She had to leave the office momentarily and put me on "stir" duty. I didn't mind it. The shit smelled awesome and all I wanted to do was call it a day and steal said crockpot and gorge on cheesy, spinachy, artichokey goodness all on my own. Also, a breadmaker was ordered for the office and same superior made bread yesterday as well. Both bread and dip tasted awesome! I love the ad industry - one never encounters the same things everyday in the office. It seems like ad people have to keep themselves amused for the sake of creative juices to continuously flow in their brains when they conjure up creative and innovative ways of selling/promoting goods & services. I'm glad I'm an ad major...so far.
Whenever I'm in the city at the peak hours of absolute chaos - around 830am and 530pm - I get this feeling of rush and hurry, especially yesterday on my way back to New Gross. I was walking through Grand Central to get to my platform and felt like a robot. For multiple reasons:
1) I knew what it was like to work in the city - chaotic rush to get from point A to point B and it seemed like I only had five minutes to do so - when it actuality I had ten minutes to spare. I even got a cappuccino beforehand and scored a nice seat on the outside of the aisle. The fact that I ordered a cappuccino was also weird because I usually opt for coffee or chai but I needed a boost for night class and energy for the commute back.
2) I resembled everyone, or a majority of, the people in the main concourse of GC: in a hurry, bundled up in winter wear, and had headphones in blasting fast-paced jams as I scurried gracefully past other people in my way. Also, I don't really do that thing where you don't know where the other person coming in your direction is going so both of you sway left and right and get confused, and laugh nervously and look dumb as often as I used to.
3) I have a mastered the art of fast feet - as to not bump into people coming my way and bypassing any confuzzle from other people in a hurry and tourist taking pictures. I even took this skill out on the streets. I walk past/cut off people who are slow. This is something I learned fast upon my arrival to New York years ago. And I kinda sorta have a better sense of getting around the city.
In conjunction to my observations, it just seems like everyone in large urban centers are constantly in a hurry and it could be for no particular reason. Has the way of life in fast-paced environments, in a way, program people new to city life to embody similar patterns as those around them? Adaption theory, you know. Do people block out distractions around them so they can get to their destinations quicker? (hence, the iPod/MP3 endemic that has taken over New Yorkers and other city dwellers full force).
I've always been a victim to music. For some reason, I just can't go anywhere without it. Even if I'm walking across campus, which takes me roughly 5-7 minutes, I need to be listening to music.
When I studied abroad in the relaxing, worry-free country of Oz, I noticed how people just kind of moped happily down sidewalks and took their time getting to places (at least the ones I saw). The biffle nug and I would look at each other if people were walking slow in front of us. We both had the tendency to walk with a fast gait. It came naturally to us - maybe because we always walked like that or maybe because we were used to a fast-paced environment back in the states.
Whatever the case may be, I don't see my tendency for zooming by faster than the road-runner to settle down anytime soon. And I'm not letting my iPod leave my side either.
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