Thursday, November 8, 2012

I am not good at listening to headphones on the metro

Normally when I'm commuting on the metro to work, I have the kindle.  Sam has very generously let me have it almost all the time, and I've been reading like crazy.  Right now I'm reading Cloud Atlas, which is very strange.  I'm not too far in, so don't ruin it for me.

But today, Sam wanted a turn with the kindle.  And how could I say no, after having approximately a gazillion turns myself?  Plus, I had to do my homework of listening to all the Lady Gaga songs for the concert we're going to in a couple of weeks, because it's always more fun at a concert when you know all the songs.

So that is how I found myself listening to music on my commute.  I barely ever listen to music because I am terrible at multitasking, so if I am listening to music I am completely unable to do anything else, like read or think.  But that goes perfectly with commuting, on the metro at least.  (I strongly discourage listening to headphones while biking!)

Normal people, when they are listening to headphones, just sort of sit there, and maybe play a game on their phone or something.  Mostly, they are pretty much acting normal.  Not so for me.  I don't seem to be able to hold still while listening to music on the metro.  I mostly restrained myself to bopping my head or tapping my foot (just a little, I know how annoying that can be!).  It was really hard not to dance!

Also on the metro today, I saw a super-gringo, which I am just now going to define as a guy with red hair and freckles.  Sometimes I pretend that I can blend in as a Chilean, at least until I open my mouth.  Some of the upper class/richer Chileans are pretty fair-skinned and light-haired.  But this guy, not a chance.  No one here has red hair!  Also, no one here is black or Asian or Indian or anything other than light-to-medium skin and dark hair.  It really emphasizes how diverse the US is.  Another place that does that is Denmark (and Iceland), one of the most homogeneous places ever.

So anyway, if you saw me on the metro listening to headphones, you would probably laugh.

1 comment: