Do you remember that scene in the beginning of Office Space when Michael Bolton is sitting in traffic with his car stereo pumping out some gangsta rap and he's just jamming to it with no abandon? Until, that is, a black guy asking for donations comes walking by. At this point, Michael composes himself and turns down the stereo so as not to bring any attention to himself and his antics.
He's not the only one who acts this way. I don't necessarily mean this as a class delineation by any means. I just mean we worry about how people in other cars see us when we're driving or stopped beside them. The scene from Office Space was just a good example of someone reacting to his surroundings and altering his behavior.
I'm guilty of this as well. I'll be rocking out to music from my iPod in the car, singing out loud and bopping my head or thrusting my fist in the air in some constrained form of musical revelry. Until I'm next to someone else, that is. Then it all stops. I don't even know why I do it. It just happens. Totally unconscious physical reaction.
Why are we so self conscious around our fellow drivers? Why is that we give such a damn about people that we're likely to not personally know and not likely to ever see again?
I don't get it.
And it's not just how we react to our music. I've observed as others carefully and stealthily consume their meals, and do other things, while driving. Heck, even I do it (eating, not the "other"). But, when you're eating something that looks like this, you might do the same...
Katie and I call it the "banana burrito." It is simply a piece of bread with peanut butter spread on it wrapped around a banana. Totally phallic looking, yet delicious. Even worse than the appearance that results from eating just a banana.
So I'll forgive myself for hiding this little gem as I eat it.
