I spend roughly three hours a day in transit, depending; as a result, it's where I get a lot of my thinking done  about such important issues as whether Jersey Shore is real or if we're all just being trolled by The Situation, or if I should stop and buy Mini Eggs (the answer is always yes), or how I can convince my manfriend to grow his beard and buy a kilt and answer the call of the Scottish Highlands, which, to my complete surprise, he's not really game for. But no, today I had an "oh shit I still have to blog" moment was thinking about what I'd learned in this class, and it ended up cycling back to the bus.

I'm one of those people who's usually tuned out behind headphones from the moment I leave my house until the moment when I absolutely cannot avoid interacting with someone. It's better this way, trust me. Anyways, a couple of weeks ago my beloved, noise-canceling, "I'm wearing these so you won't try to talk to me" headphones broke (snapped, actually, which...I don't even.) On the bus, of course. It was horrid, and since I didn't have time to get to the mall to exchange them, I spent about 10 days alternately fighting with a pair of Apple's piece of shit iPod earbuds and giving up and paying attention to what was going on around me.

It wasn't awful. I mean, the junior high girls talking about J.Biebz and R.Pattz didn't get any less painful. Otherwise, though -- being forced to pay attention to the people I'd never listen to was sort of a learning experience. The kinds of things people will talk about in public never cease to amaze -- I'm looking at you, girl on the 109 talking about her discharge over the phone. Buses move through communities, but they're also tiny moveable communities themselves, and seeing how they function can be kinda cool sometimes. It's also interesting to see how sound or its absence can shape a place -- I never really minded taking the bus, it was almost peaceful, until my headphones broke and I couldn't hide behind Owen Pallett anymore. But when they're taken away, well. Like I said, buses are interesting. I almost want to spend a few hours taking random routes, and just seeing what the people are like, how the buses change depending on the time of day or the destination.

I guess maybe what I'm getting at -- since it's 5:04 and I'm supposed to be posting this four minutes ago, which, sorrysorry -- is that maybe what I've learned the most in 380 is how to experience places and spaces in new ways, and that I should do it more often. I've got my headphones back, thank you dear baby Jesus, but maybe every so often I'll start leaving them off to see what happens and what I hear. Just not on the junior high bus.