Adventures in eavesdropping

Today may have been one of the longest T rides I've been on. Ever. It actually took us 20 minutes to get from North Station to Government Center. And at Government Center, it took probably another 20 minutes to get a B train... although it was really nice to see two C trains go by empty because they came immediately after the first C train.

Once I finally got on the train, I discovered one of the more awkward situations you can find yourself in - caught in the middle of someone's conversation. Some people enjoy awkward encounters - I don't. I really do all that I can to avoid them, but this one was unavoidable. And entirely not my fault - I sat down first. But there they were anyway, the guy standing over me, chatting with his (I assume) girlfriend sitting in the seat behind me. I really didn't want to be eavesdropping, I tried turning up my iPod, but in the end their conversation (mundane as it was) had more of a pull than Matt Nathanson.

Would I normally care about the lives of random people? I would think not, but really that's what blogs are - tidbits about bloggers' lives, their thoughts on certain topics, things they find interesting - and I do read those. I guess the anonymity of the internet just makes it easier. And significantly less awkward because, let me tell you, this whole situation on the T felt awkward. At least for me, anyway. Because, when it came down to it, I did want to know about the appetizers they were thinking of serving tomorrow night, the vegan restaurant she was taking him to for dinner, the battle of the bands he was going to be in, and how she wanted to rearrange the furniture in the apartment. I was just curious. And bored. But I also felt like they knew, in some way, that I was listening to them. I had my earbuds in and was still listening to music and was trying so hard to stop eavesdropping, but I feel like they knew. Uncomfortable.