An interesting day (and a boring post)

I apologize in advance for how this post doesn't flow at all and is kind of a journal entry.

________________________________________

As I was standing at the West Falls Church metro station platform, I noticed a man. Here is a drawing of his face.

He was white, maybe in his late forties, his hair having already started graying. Poor guy; it was so easy to conform him to a stereotype. I mean, he probably used to have a more athletic body and a rich, dark brown crop of hair. But now, he most likely spends his free time playing around with train sets and drinking beer. His doctor probably tells him he should cut down on the barbecue and steak. His collared short sleeve shirt alluded to a possible job in construction/lawn services. He looked to be that kind of guy, you know?

And then I saw what seemed to be a white stick sticking out of his mouth. Was it a cigarette? A toothpick?

Nope. It was a lollipop. Here was a big ol' man, sucking on a lollipop.

But I couldn't see the candy portion of his lollipop, so I couldn't really tell what kind it was. Perhaps he was sucking on a Blow Pop or a Dum Dum? Was he a fan of blowing large, pink bubbles which popped and then left your lips and nose sticky for hours afterwards? Or did he like the simplicity and wide array of flavors that Dum Dums offer? Or was it a Tootsie Pop? Did he eagerly await the soft, chewy surprise treat that lay hidden in the center of his candy-on-a-stick?

We'll never know.

_______________________________________

Then, as I walked from the Rosslyn metro station to my bus stop, I looked around at the people walking and the dry asphalt and the construction site to my left, and I decided that the world around me would be a lot more exciting if it were to rain. I didn't linger too long on this thought, though, and I just kept on walking along as I listened to some Death Cab for Cutie. More about this whole rain thing later.

________________________________________

After I got to Georgetown Hospital, I went to talk to my mentor about the reference intervals that I determined for thyroid stimulating hormone. We disagreed about which statistical methods were appropriate for this purpose. It was at this moment that I realized that I was a total math dork. Whatever. Before long, it was time for me to head home.

________________________________________

As I stood at another bus stop, I noticed that the woman beside me had an awesome bag. She herself was unremarkable; she was middle aged, had blonde, straight hair and wore a grey pantsuit. But her bag was great! It had all these stick-figure parodies of famous modern-era paintings on them, like The Scream, or Salvador Dali's weird melting-clocks painting. Partially because her bag was so amusing and partially because she had started to notice me staring at it, I decided to blurt out, "Hey I really like your bag!"

N.B.: This is probably the first time I have ever started a conversation with a complete stranger by complimenting one of their articles of clothing/accessories.

Anyway, she was polite and said that it was a gift and that she liked it too. And then she went back to pressing buttons on her blackberry.

________________________________________

Right before the bus dropped me off at Rosslyn station, I noticed that it had started to rain. Hard. I slogged across the street and into the station and got on the train and in the process, I totally forgot that I had wanted it to rain.

But then I had to walk from the West Falls Church metro station to the parking lot, which usually took two or three minutes. The rain was pretty relentless, but since I was hungry, I decided to not to wait it out. Instead, I adopted a leisurely pace and started moseying off to where my was parked. I told myself, you like rain, right? You like the way it bounces off cars, they way a mist forms on the highway, the way it taps on your roof. But before I even got halfway to my car, I was soaked.The water, by now, had gone through my shoes, and my socks were squishy and wet; the only part of me that was dry was my back, because I was carrying a backpack. It was only then that I remembered that this very morning, I had wished for it to rain.

I made an "XD" face in my mind.

________________________________________

Have you stopped reading this post yet?

More random observations follow:

I'd like to note that Three Cups of Tea was an excellent book and that I actually wanted to finish it. It is indeed inspiring, and makes me want to do humanitarian work.

But I've also found that my attention span has diminished massively. I honestly could only read for 10 minutes at a time. In between these short reading sessions, I doodled on the blank index card that I used as a bookmark.

The result:

There have been studies, actually, that have suggested that our attention spans become shorter when we habitually use the internet: http://www.wired.com/wiredscience/2009/08/multitasking/

[Strangely enough, Felicia Day (Penny from Dr. Horrible) posted that link on her twitter feed. XD]

________________________________________

And that's all! (Yea, I'm terrible at concluding statements.)

To those of you who are in college: post more!