Dulles

Being shackled to technology is sometimes not such a terrible thing. As I sit here in the terminal during an interminable lay-over, I engage in a favorite pastime of the urban american: people watching.


I slouch in a chair designed to encourage and punish such poor posture, queue my newest iPod playlist, and get to it. What amazes me is how effected my awareness becomes by the music hitting my ear drums. 'Life is Wonderful' comes on and suddenly I notice the families in the waiting area. I no longer see the kids as tiny weasels, somehow the love of their watchful parents is clear. An alarm sounds, but it's nothing to worry about *shuffle: 'Juan Loco'* or is it.

Blu & Exile is on and now I am distant, not one of them, but then we shuffle again and 'The Highway Man' unites me with the fold again and again and again and again. Tom comes through and starts rasping about his 'Jersey Girl' and I can't help but think of the one I left behind (sorry honey but after 6 years you count) and now the couples in the crowd find themselves in my mental spotlight. And then Waylon Jennings reminds me just how far we all are at this juncture from where we'd most like to be.

Through it all I wonder. Is the music clouding my perception? Am I projecting my musically induced emotions onto a blank slate? This love and kinship and anger and fear, is it just a construct of my mind? Am I just seeing myself mixed up and disseminated to all?

This is craziness. Clearly these people have no bearing on my life. Their only purpose is to amuse me and ease the passage of an otherwise dull lay-over.