People Are Watching

People Are Watching

 

I have some time on my hands, and am involved with leisure time activity.  Recently I have added blogging more than once a month to my to-do-list.  Tomorrow is a football day, and is already on the schedule.  Long day.  70,000 people in the stadium to see their team play, and projecting that it will be fun watching their performance.  Fun Watching.  Spectator and Sports.  That has nothing to do with the blog as it is titled, People are Watching, but then again maybe it does and I am just not seeing it that way. 

Now, is Saturday and into evening.  Have done most of the things I intended to do today.  Now am winding down, and it occurred to me I could spend a few minutes blogging.  So this is the start of that thought, being actualized.

 

People are watching and I am not sure if I wanted to write about people watching Netflix or our modern day equivalent of 1950’s TV.  Lately I have told myself its all the same, and is a form of Screen Watching.  Passive, except when the screen allows you to be interactive, and for this reason there are many screens in the room with me.  Modern and most people can relate.  So many ways to be in the world, using modern communication capabilities.  People Watching and it occurs to me this can occur, without a screen.  So let me put that near the top of this blog.  People Watching.

 

Need a little help here to keep this topic interesting.  On another screen I notice that  en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_watching gives me a lead in to what we can entertain next.

Copied from wikpedia:

People watching or crowd watching is the act of observing people and their interactions, usually without their knowledge. It involves picking up on idiosyncrasies to try to guess at another person's story. This includes speech in action, relationship interactions, body language, expressions, clothing and activities.

 

Now I have to focus and follow the path of the eye.  People are watching, and this is like making a statement.  Already I have seen that people are watching a lot of TV, and playing video games, and using their devices to accumulate a lot of screen time activity.  Add to this, just going outside or even standing on your balcony or porch  and doing what Wikipedia describes as people watching or crowd watching.   So two variations or ways I could continue on with this blog.   Will sit here for a moment, stare into the unknown, and ask myself:  What are people watching?  And feel like I already know.  People Watching, and with or without my knowing or with my permission or otherwise, they could be watching me.

 

What has started out as a perfectly appropriate conversation with myself, converted into print and serving as a pathway to sharing, suddenly it occurs to me.  This is making me uncomfortable.  Not sure if I am naturally shy, or just now brought the subject up that surveillance software and devices are embedded into the screens that I watch, and are perhaps a vehicle for others to watch me.  Surveillance.  People are watching.  Now I am asking and might have to look into all this further.  Is people watching or the reverse, people watching me harmless or perverted or so common now, that I should dismiss it from my mind.  Not sure how I would answer this, so I will change the subject.

 

Didn’t watch the Presidential Debates that took place in the United States and was broadcast world-wide on those screens I was talking about.  Didn’t Watch.  Looked Away.  Wait more truthful,  I opted to watch through a filter, as it was the next day and I was reading about The Debates and the performance.  Then via replay, there was video of various portions of the debates that people were commenting about.  After-the-fact people are watching, and in common language this is mentioned as Video Replay.  And its as common as tea and crumpets to begin my day.

With surveillance and with replay and am now aware that the prospect of watching, (people are watching ) is now prolonged.  Could replay in my mind the bad feelings that I have concerning all of this.  Or, as is the case often now,  I don’t prefer to watch in live or real time.  Wait for others to direct my attention to something worth seeing.  And of course,  that ties in with the title of this blog.  People are Watching.  And this helps me enjoy the present moment where writing a blog was and is to be an enjoyable experience, at least for me.

 

I am not sure how I can check how many people are watching the debates, or the sports game that caught my interest earlier in the day, or finally how many time are watching me, in real time and in repeat-replay style.  Have washed my hands and satisfied myself.  Won’t prolong this.  Official numbers and determining who is doing the people watching, and who are the victims of the watch, are outside the scope of this blog.  But having brought it up,  I now know why I am reluctant to carry a smart phone, with camera embedded around with me.  Do not have a cell phone.  Hoping to not take my wifi e-reader Kindle with me when I go out, but find myself doing so, more and more.  Like to read.  Have time on my hands.  Leisure time activity.  Walking.  Taking a break.  Getting a signal and checking in on what interests others.  Checking the news.

Put it out there.  People are watching.  Leisure time activity.  People Watching.  And now I am acutely aware why I will say no more.  Realize that when I am in public I feel like people are watching me.  Like I can’t get enough, and I am important enough to be the center of attention.  I think not.  Even in replay, I think that I blend in.  So why worry.  Replay it in your mind.  Most people are not watching you.  But the surveillance cameras are.  And he decides that none of this should be seen as a good or bad thing.  Not involved in a crime.  Just being me.  No reason to keep all this video that has me in it.  And so I am thinking, on a broad scale, how do I hit the erase button, and make it all go away?

People Watching and it happens all the time.  People are watching, and I have decided not to invest the energy nor the time, to determine what they are watching.  Not part of the debate, and so the whole idea of the scope of this silences me.  Am now working on an-invisibility-cloak that will allow me to hide or be in public or even in my home, and not be seen.  When I get that done will write a blog about it.  Until then, just wait and see.  What the vision and the object have in common with you.

 

Expansion Joints

Expansion Joints

 

I have no intention of getting all technical on you this morning.  But need to tell you that this blog will not really be about expansion joints, unless of course you can put yourself in my place and share a part of my mindset, that is a little different.  Needed a title for this blog, and went with what first came to mind.  Occurs to me that this is mostly a single affair, blogging on Blogger, where readership or membership is international and it doesn’t hurt to expand one’s level of interest and take in words and music and life with maybe a different take on things as we know it.  Having said that, let me say:  “…. This is not switch and bait conversation and blogging, in the traditional sense of things.” 

So that is my alert for now, that this is not what it seems, if you see the title, and want to come and read about nuts and bolts and mechanical science.  That is my disclaimer, but even so I have a penchant for talking about multiple subjects at the same time.  And so we begin.  I will try to keep it short.

 

Expansion joint and the translation software and program tells me this:  Expansion Joint is a joint that makes allowance for thermal expansion of the parts jointed without distortion.

Formally or officially or following a script, the sensible thing to do is make this blog all about that which interests you, as you are investing time in reading a blog that seems to be going in the direction of the expansion joint.  Having said that,  I will save time and see if I can expand on the subject and at the same time, satisfy my own needs.

 

Woke up this morning and had this question firmly planted in my consciousness.  But didn’t know how to share this personal moment with others, without possibly entering into argument and misunderstanding and conflict.  Even so,  the idea I woke with did not go away.  It seems I woke, asking myself, “When is it proper that your significant other is not your spouse, or lover or intimate relationship in your life?”  Simple and I should not have the need to be complicated, or complicate the situation.  Not here to start a fight, or argue about the title of this blog or that my significant other requires an arrangement that might not even include you.

 

Significant Other in the way I intend to express it in today’s blog, has to do with needing something greater than you.  Okay now I have said it.  Let me go the expansion joint route, and allow for your reaction to all of this.  Do this knowing   things will heat up, when I say, “….. my significant other is not you.”  The silence and the deadly stare adds to the discomfort that starts building as a tension and pressure that must be accounted for gains space in this conversation.

 

It is an awkward moment when he confesses.  “I am in love with words.”  For me, that is the significant other that resides with me.  The echo comes and leaves a vibration around me that suggests,  this will be okay.  Expansion joint and it does its job.  It leaves me whole in the moment and things come together in a minor form of agreement or understanding.  She doesn’t really agree, but has a sense of what he is saying.  He loves words.”  And he wants everybody to know.  He is not ashamed.  He loves words.

 

Simple it is.  The joint is but a simple device for handling this situation.  He allows it to do its job.  It calms his mind and allows him to write and express himself.  For a while now, this has become an issue.  For various reasons, he just stopped writing.  Some might say, “Writer’s Block.”  But it was more than that.  Things around him changed.  He wanted to write, but did not want to share the intimate details about his personal life.  He wanted the blog site to be a fantasy or free zone where he could write, but did not have to explain or over justify the obvious contradictions that come with posting a private journal in public space.  He didn’t want, nor did he seek a facebook experience.  He wanted to blog. 

 

And have it be a place where he could reinvent himself, talk about things that were on the list in his home or office, that were improper to bring up in proper conversation.  So over time he felt it happening.  Silence.  Depression.  A chasm between what he wanted to say, and what others, even his significant other, would allow.  You might say the expansion joint became an expansion loop and some way or another,  it was not serving its purpose.

 

Lost in space and feeling displaced.  The old blog site just become inoperable.  People left and he was left talking to himself and strangers.  It was a disappointment and a let-down.  Nobody in the old crowd was there to laugh at his words and folly.  Nobody came around to say, “….don’t worry about it.  Its only human to have these things on your mind and in your world. Its okay.”    And in many ways , without expressing the frustrations in life and without connection to others, that have experienced the things you have, it is as if you find yourself in strange circumstances and mental space, and that it grows to the point that in your life there is now distortion and dissidence

“Oh no.”  He said.  “I don’t want that.”

 

And so it has been a while since it felt right to blog.  Missed the old crowd and didn’t know what to do.  Didn’t know how to show up in a new place and just tell things as he needed to.  Then this morning he decided he would experiment in double speak.  Join the different aspects and sections of his life in one blog, and sentence and moment.  Expansion Joint.  Significant Other.  Word Lover.  Marijuana and the Calming Effect.  Construct a viable space and place where he could use the proper materials and setup and layout, to deal with the contraction that comes with pulling back, or letting go, or pushing out with all the things you have come to love. 

And so it is he has reached the settlement point today.  Has a sense of personal responsibility and control as he seeks resolution.  Grounded now and firm in his conviction and understanding of his position in the present moment.  He lets it be known.

“I am a lover of words. “   This is my significant other.   “Is there a problem?”

 

Fixated On Stairs

Fixated On Stairs

It is a before and after type of blog.  Before you know, you have immersed yourself in summer, spending most of your time outdoors, and have made a pledge some time back in Winter, when one was Cabin-Fever-Bound  affected, and said:  “If I ever get out of here…….”  And had my favorite song blasting at the ice and windows and the future that was but 10 feet away from where I was sitting in front of the fire.  If I ever get out of here, I will leave my stuff at home.  “Don’t need it.”  And capped it off by identifying the song.  Hotel California by the Eagles.

And stuff I referred to was the computer and the smart phone and the digital glasses that played to theme of Reality TV.  So it has been a long summer and I have made good on my promise.  No cyber-world-gear and as a consequence, intended, he just stopped blogging.  Truth be told, and it seems it is an election season where I live, so the truth is lost in the glare of the day; what with the sun out and we have sunglasses and blinders.   


Truth or Dare, and I dare myself to come up with a good reason why I have actually stopped blogging.  Okay, once a month and its time for one more.  Another month as we step around Indian Summer where I live, and into October, when the rain and wind begin.

 

Before and After this blog, and there will be many things that just didn’t fit, and were left unsaid in the printed form.  But I mention to myself without repeating in verbal space, that this blog might be troubled in content and in intent.  Many days ago I was looking for something to inspire me, and to get a grasp of the reality that comes with not blogging over a prolonged period of time.  The people go away, and it is not a big thing in summer.  Like I said, was pledged to go outside but leave all my communication gear at home.  Into nature, and it is part of my nature to try to keep my promises.  Even to myself, and even when they are not verbalized or advertised or even clearly known, in terms of intent and outcome.  Have to be spontaneous and a natural occurrence, as much is possible.  Before and After, and before you know it, blogging is not something you really think about.

 

And when   it dawns and radiates and causes echo in that locked mind you have acquired, away from the influence of total strangers on the Internet, asking and demanding an answer.  “What’s up?”  Isolation is one thing, and before 2000 and the advent of cyber-nets and blogging as a possibility, and that invisible society and community that just seemed to grow and grow to the staggering degree that no matter where you went, they were there.  Embedded in the smart phone, and screens in Time Square and in the hollow-grams  that  were your friends.  Before and After, and have that in mind just now.  Before I started writing this blog, I was online and saw some pictures of stairs that just kept my attention and suddenly the After part was born.  And needed a place in my world.  Hence pictures and words and in my world, this is what I call a Stoney Blog.

 

Before and After is becoming more than I thought it would.  Before I got into the real issues that I wanted this blog to represent, I saw trouble on the horizon.  Pictures of stairs came from an internet site:  Let me provide the link and maybe this will make my problem area go away.  Give credit, where credit is due.  Link:  www.seattlestairwaywalks.com

 

Making more out of this than I really should, but it all started because I knew I should make time to blog, but  knowing that I was still experiencing the best part of Indian Summer  in my area, and knew I just had to get outside.  Take a Walk.  And that’s when I came across this site about Stairway Walks in Seattle.  Suddenly the interest and the content for a blog was born.  Started growing in my mind and finally a few days later, I am happy to just not go outside, and instead, write my one a month blog.  This one will be posted in September if I finish it today.  And I think I will.  Contrasting issues.  Go for a walk and at the same time,  blog.  Blogging means staying at home.  Going for a walk means being outside and not taking a device with me that could be used to accumulate and store words that would be the basis for the blog.

Do one thing or the other, but not both.  And certainly, not at the same time.  Hence, Before and After, but not both.

 

Back to the beginning.  Back to the future.  Walking and Blogging, but not at the same time.  But then I found a way.  No longer am I worried about stealing material from  an internet site, seattlestairwaywalks.com, and making it the focal point of a blog about stairs and walking and being outside during the Indian Summer that occurs in and around Seattle in September of most years.  From the exposure to my own locality and from the practice of walking around is material   enough for an original blog.  And this is what this happens to be.  A blog about being Fascinated By Stairs.  And once said, my mind travels and I go back and forth over terrain and thoughts that have become second nature to me.

 

At first I thought I would call this blog:  Adventures of the Stair Master.  Then decided I was back to where I started.  Worried about popular expressions and the branding by others and how they used the words, natural to me, but business to them, and Stair Master became a thing, and not a level or degree of those who grow up and are surrounded by stairs, and become good with such things as natural place markers for the ground they walk on, going from place to place.

 

Fascinated By Stairs, but not wanting to get in an argument about stair masters and exercise machines, and people who considered good at stairs.  Hence, stair matters.  Surely a simple misunderstanding and not meant to steal somebody elses material or ideas.  Great to be the first and have an internet site dedicated to Stairs and Walking and Exercise in the great outdoors.  Great to be the first to make a lot of money, on something called a Stair Master.  And then  I come along.  Stoney Blogger and he wants to make a point.  He is fascinated by stairs.  And would like to tell you why.  In fact, he wants to write a blog and tell you everything.  But it violates his code of conduct.

 

He had made a pledge to do one or the other.  Stay home and blog, (The Before Part ) , or go for a walk and leave all his electronic and communication gear behind.  This includes the paper and pencil he has in his backpack.  So he takes it out.  No books.  No e-reader.  No camera.  That is the After Part.  After he takes his walk and is true to his own code of conduct.  Keep it short.  One or the other, but not both.  So its true, stoney blogger is fascinated by stairs.  He lives in an area where there are many hills.  You could say, his backyard is nothing but one hill after another, carefully placed.

 

Going for a walk in and around Seattle is all about climbing hills and negotiating the ups and downs one finds along the way, during a normal outing.  Lose the car.  Walk.  And that requires knowing where all the aids to going up, and then getting down happen to be.  Stairs and elevators and this is how he developed such strong legs and calf muscles.  Was natural to get out of the city and go hiking in the foothills surrounding Seattle.  And if you go far enough,  you are actually mountain climbing.  And that’s a subject for a future blog.

 

For now,  I will try to keep this short.  Fascinated by Stairs.  Stair Master, but not the one you buy for fitness exercise.  Stare Master and am use to having people look at me as I do my routine on foot.  Up and down and all around.  Going for a walk.  In my neighborhood.