rudeness -vs- obliviousness (and where they intersect)

i've learned how to be REALLY zen in my small sleepy opioid-transfixed western masschusetts valley town over the last 8 years. is it my imagination? is there wifi in the water? warming trends interfering with the electrical impulses of the human brain? solipsistic white contact improv-looking motherfuckers learning to take care of themselves first before taking care of everyone else but never really learning anything? TRUMP fever? sometimes i feel like if i just stood still in the middle of the sidewalk 8 out of 10 people would just walk right into me. and this isn't even about cell phones.

i'm going to get the bottom of this. i don't remember this from living in a city where everyone did the elaborate cranky ballet of avoiding contact because of possible death repercussions. but i haven't lived in a city for years. maybe its bad there too. people used to know how to do it, i swear. but its not just that. lines and your place in them just ain't what they used to be.

i'm very polite. but i could see a turn for the ratso rizzo in my future. i did get out of my car and scream at a truck that went around a stopped school bus not that long ago. so it could happen. and turn on your fucking blinker!

i think i just live somewhere really slow and people seem to be lost in thought a lot. the opioid people aren't even a problem. they are slow zombies and easy to avoid.

okay, i got that off my chest. carry on. and have a great day!

I used to kind of brush off the idea that people needed to retreat from their daily grind but it's real. Personally, if I don't have time to just let my mind wander and not be doing something, my reaction time goes down and I become a worse driver, walker, talker, everything. And "doing something" includes watching television, posting to ilx, etc.

all this consumable art and literature and film and internet interactions crunching around in my brain, along with having to interact with people and just walk in a straight line, can be too much

I think people are rude because they're oblivious, and they're oblivious because they're either not living in the particular moment (brain thinking about Twin Peaks theories or some work deadline shit) and have no idea how they're being perceived. And half the time everyone else is just as oblivious so it doesn't matter

People take the rudeness (relative term and as defined by the observer particularly so) and obliviousness of others far too seriously, personally, whatever.

Pass on by. In the event of material damage done, sue. Otherwise idk not anyone's job to guide other adults unless it is your job to guide adults in which case I presume you're chiding them over actual behaviours and not what you from your particular pov and in your current mood consider to be rude

Guide = chide and autocorrect is a ride cunt

thats rude dmac

i was just venting. i don't want to guide anyone. i do make an effort to be aware of my surroundings though and i interact with a lot of people who don't do that. and it does frustrate me sometimes. i just try to be patient. there is a slower pace where i live that i'm still not entirely used to. i shop regularly at a market with a big older/elderly clientele and i have learned to move slower when i'm in there. people get startled in there if you are moving too fast or your voice is too loud. i just do what the natives do. one of the reasons i don't own an ipod or a cell phone is that i really do want to be aware of what is around me. and i totally live in my head/own world too! but i adjust when i have to. and a lot of people don't. but maybe i am just older and crankier too. plus, i quit smoking....

and i'm also not the best at social cues. the eye contact thing. other things. i'm sure i confuse people sometimes. i have nervous energy. and that can fluster people. sometimes i do miss being around people with similar nervous energy. city people. people who talk fast. that's why i liked going to those EMP conferences and hanging out with ILXors.

i think i'm also just super-aware of how people are acting/talking in public. and i do end up obsessing over rude (perceived or otherwise) behavior. there is probably a pill to get rid of that.