Sunday, May 2, 2010

Weirdos everywhere!

Okay, so Jamie says it's not a cultural thing. It's just... a thing. But honestly, Boston is the first place so far where I've seen anything like this.

People on the T (local subway) are really weird sometimes. Like 'psychopath' weird.

The guy with headphones in his ears, singing along OUT LOUD (like, really loud) - wouldn't be as bad if he wasn't also dancing to his music. Pretty good moves, actually. Some may say: oh, he is just free in expressing himself. Maybe. But so is the 'hissing guy', who hissed at me all the way to work? And the guy who was making obscene gestures to the people around him while waiting for the T. One of the things he did really offended another guy. In fact he came up to him and said 'What's your problem, man?!' I thought he would punch him in the face. The sad thing is - this strange guy seemed to not have control over his movements. I don't know if he was even aware of what he was doing.
Then there is this girl who does ALL of her makeup procedure on the T. She rushes in to find a seat available, so she can start her beauty session. And out come the foundation, the liners, the shades, the blush, tons of brushes, etc. etc. Her hands move vigorously as she applies a ton of foundation all over her head. Maybe it's only disturbing to me. I don't feel comfortable even putting some collorless lip balm on my lips as people are watching...

Also, this woman who clips her nails on the T. Ewwwwww..... Can you imagine? Pieces of her nails flying out into the crowd of people as she perfects her manicure...

But the weirdest of all the weird things is this. People around not only seem to be not bothered by it at all. They don't even notice it! (except for the guy who wanted to punch the other guy in the face)

So the question is: perhaps it really IS me who is the weird one - too concerned about what others may think, raised on the strict Soviet rules of public behavior? Or would all of those above mentioned things be a little out there for an average American, too?

3 comments:

Volye said...

с возвращением в блог!
а насчет этого поста - удивила :)
меня часто наш народ смущает в метро, там бы я точно с ума сошла...

Шемякина

Andreich said...

Tourette syndrome (also called Tourette's syndrome, Tourette's disorder, Gilles de la Tourette syndrome, GTS or, more commonly, simply Tourette's or TS) is an inherited neuropsychiatric disorder with onset in childhood, characterized by multiple physical (motor) tics and at least one vocal (phonic) tic; these tics characteristically wax and wane. Tourette's is defined as part of a spectrum of tic disorders, which includes transient and chronic tics.

Tourette's was once considered a rare and bizarre syndrome, most often associated with the exclamation of obscene words or socially inappropriate and derogatory remarks (coprolalia), but this symptom is present in only a small minority of people with Tourette's.[1] Tourette's is no longer considered a rare condition, but it may not always be correctly identified because most cases are classified as mild. Between 1 and 10 children per 1,000 have Tourette's;[2] as many as 10 per 1,000 people may have tic disorders,[3][4] with the more common tics of eye blinking, coughing, throat clearing, sniffing, and facial movements. People with Tourette's have normal life expectancy and intelligence. The severity of the tics decreases for most children as they pass through adolescence, and extreme Tourette's in adulthood is a rarity. Notable individuals with Tourette's are found in all walks of life.[5]

Dasha said...

Andreich, that explains it... Thanks for making an interesting point. I have absolutely nothing against Tourettes. It's just curious that I see that a lot more here, in Boston.