Friday, December 03, 2004
Sightings
I’m having this weird thing lately where I keep thinking I’m seeing random people from my past on the train or in the street, when in fact I’m just seeing the usual assortment of random people. For instance, today I was walking to meet a friend for lunch and I could have sworn I saw my statistics teacher from college, the one who never made us do homework or take tests (because she "trusted us" to learn the material) and instead had us write journal entries discussing our feelings about statistics (sample entry: "Sometimes it makes me really angry the way politicians misuse statistics!"), but it was really just another old lady, probably nowhere near as gullible. A few weeks ago I thought this guy in the grocery store might be a gentleman from my undergrad famous primarily for having no sense of people’s personal space and bathing rather too infrequently, but a closer examination revealed no familiar odor. And once, just once, I thought I saw the weather guy from the local news station we watched when I was a kid working at the Cold Stone Creamery. Turns out he’s still in the TV business, though.
It’s hard to say what this all means, if in fact it means anything at all. Are these bizarre hallucinations a manifestation of some sort of misplaced nostalgia? I don’t recall having particularly fond feelings for statistics or even News Channel 10, for that matter, although I did once send a rather heartfelt fan letter to their noon news anchor. Has the vastness of the world just left me desperate to make a connection of any kind with anyone at all? If that were the case, I feel like there are internet sites and escort services far more effective for that purpose. Maybe my brain just is that random. I mean, I also thought I saw Oprah in the Walgreens the other day, so it’s just barely possible...
I’m having this weird thing lately where I keep thinking I’m seeing random people from my past on the train or in the street, when in fact I’m just seeing the usual assortment of random people. For instance, today I was walking to meet a friend for lunch and I could have sworn I saw my statistics teacher from college, the one who never made us do homework or take tests (because she "trusted us" to learn the material) and instead had us write journal entries discussing our feelings about statistics (sample entry: "Sometimes it makes me really angry the way politicians misuse statistics!"), but it was really just another old lady, probably nowhere near as gullible. A few weeks ago I thought this guy in the grocery store might be a gentleman from my undergrad famous primarily for having no sense of people’s personal space and bathing rather too infrequently, but a closer examination revealed no familiar odor. And once, just once, I thought I saw the weather guy from the local news station we watched when I was a kid working at the Cold Stone Creamery. Turns out he’s still in the TV business, though.
It’s hard to say what this all means, if in fact it means anything at all. Are these bizarre hallucinations a manifestation of some sort of misplaced nostalgia? I don’t recall having particularly fond feelings for statistics or even News Channel 10, for that matter, although I did once send a rather heartfelt fan letter to their noon news anchor. Has the vastness of the world just left me desperate to make a connection of any kind with anyone at all? If that were the case, I feel like there are internet sites and escort services far more effective for that purpose. Maybe my brain just is that random. I mean, I also thought I saw Oprah in the Walgreens the other day, so it’s just barely possible...
