oh, the randomness...

i feel as though sometimes my life is a series of incredibly entertaining events. oftentimes there is someone else to experience these bizarre moments with me. most times i am left to enjoy these little plot twists alone with a smile on my face.

for example...

i take the bus to campus most days. the bus is my favorite place to people-watch. sometimes i am listening to music. sometimes i enjoy the silence of it all. one day, i was sitting across from a man who looked OK. nothing odd or out of place. he had a backpack beside him and he was watching the moving scenery outside. all of a sudden, he pulls a tennis ball from out of his bag. he holds it gingerly in his hands...and begins to talk to it...nay, he begins to yell at this little yellow object. i am listening to music on this day, so i reach into my pocket and pause the noise in an effort to better hear this tirade against his fuzzy friend. yes, i am aware that this is eavesdropping. anyway, to my surprise, there is no audible sound coming from him...he is merely mouthing these words of rage. we reach the next stop, he puts the ball away...and descends from the bus.

yep. and i remain on the bus...confused.

ok, so yesterday i am on the bus again...and there is a teenage boy sitting a few seats behind me. there is nothing particularly unusual about this guy...except for the fact that he is listening to his CD player...and it is so loud that i can hear almost every word. i smiled to myself as i watched other people on the bus look at him with annoyance. i finally get off a few stops later and go about my day...8 hours later, i get back on and take a seat, ready to go home. and i hear it. the same music. the same volume...and i turn around...and lo, he is there. it's almost as if he never left. what are the chances.

or...as a student and i walked across campus to find a bench in the arboretum for our weekly chat, a male student with firery red hair begins leaping across the bricks in front of us...jumping onto benches, leaping off of them, rolling across the ground, diving into the grass...it was all very movie-stunt-man-ish. then he just stopped and began walking normally. we were amazingly confused...but amazingly entertained.

we finally find a little bench and begin to talk. a few minutes later, a young man walks past us...over to a spot under a tree. he bends down, fluffs up some leaves like a little pillow, sits indian-style and begins meditating, palms up and sitting as straight as a pin. he never moved. this is certainly not something you see everyday.

and finally, this morning started with a bang...or a cymbal crash. there is a lumberyard only a few feet behind my apartment. many mornings have begun with loud noises coming from this place filled with wood...and this morning, i was woken up by very loud hispanic music. i mean, it was LOUD. i realize that it must be coming from a truck that had come to pick up some lumber...i crawl out of bed, and open my window...i just stand there...blinking in the face of the light...and then i realize that a man is watching me. creepy. so i just look right back at him. it's like staring contest...and he walks over to the truck and shuts off the music. apparently i won. i smiled, closed the window and slipped back into bed for a few more minutes.

like sands through the hourglass, these are the days of my life...