Scrambled

It’s an early morning, but I lively morning in the coffee shop.  Well, everyone in here is a little livelier than I am right now.  Two men sit at the window table. Both on the edge of their seat deep in conversation.  I don’t even think they realize they have coffee ready for them. They haven’t touched their coffee sense I got here. 

A chocolate lab dog sits right outside the door of the shop. Barking and wining, the dog paces back and forth begging for attention from someone.  It has a collar but no tags. I think he is a stray at least, or his owner is somewhere in here. 

The table to my right sits an old woman, a boy with long hair, and a man around 30 with a beard.  The part of the conversation that caught my eye, was when the man tells the old woman, “We shoulda called the cops! Because it’s only a matter of time.”   The old woman and the man both notice how concentrated the little boy was on their conversation, and quickly changed the subject and started talking in Spanish.  The man started naming off a bunch of common Hispanic names, saying that all these individuals had done is “pissed everyone off.” The little boy was just sitting there quietly, drinking his pine apple juice from the can.  The man then tries to include the boy in conversation so he doesn’t feel left out.  He asks him what his name is, and they shake hands. The boy seemed happy to have been notices.  The shop worker brings a plate of eggs to the old woman.  The man quickly apologizes for taking up the old woman’s time and swiftly leaves with a happy step.  What???  I am confused on what their conversation was about.  It seemed like a very personal conversation, but when he got up to leave, it seemed like they barely knew each other.  The old woman and the boy continue to sit there and share the eggs, talking about what their favorite way to prepare their eggs is.  The boy then talks about his father living in Washington, and when he will be able to go see him next.  It makes me wonder if the boy comes from a broken family.  The old lady doesn’t seem like his grandmother, because she keeps referring to the boy as “her friend.” With a few more quick bites of egg, they get up and leave. 

Behind me there are two men and two separate tables.  They haven’t moved much. One is looking at a magazine while the other one is on his computer. 

I notice a table of three men talking about Ireland. Two high school boys walk in and sit down where the old lady and boy were.  They are next to the three men, sitting close to the tallest man at the table.  I believe the tall man is the boy’s father, because of the similar height and facial features.  The boys focus on the iced coffee and oatmeal they ordered.  They did not seem interested in their dads boring conversation, so they turned to talk to each other and eat breakfast.  As the three men’s conversation came to an end, the tallest man tells a man with an earring, that if he changes his mind, to let him know.  The tall man then explains that whatever they are talking about is at a four mile pace.  I assume now that they are discussing some kind of race. It is clear now that they are because they keep mentioning marathons and 10k, in the conversation.  The high school boys tell their dad they are deciding to head out.  Before they go, they clear the table for the three men. I can tell that the boys have great manners, discipline and respect, coming from a similar background. 

The shop is quickly filling up with the line reaching outside the door now.  A lot of the people that have more than one person in their group keep looking at me, wondering why I took post at a four person table.  Although it was the only table open when I got here, I guess I will leave and grant their wish.

Real Madrid's game vs. Mancherster City Enthusiasm

It was 1:35pm and I had gone with my friend to the food court to buy some tacos. As we were ordering the tacos, one of our friends comes in and invites us to go to the Aggie lounge, but didn't tell us why. As soon as we entered the room, i was surprised to see all of the seats apart from each other, although it was a mess in there, they were all somehow facing the TV, and for the first time I noticed that everyone within the room were all looking at the TV, with a look of suspense. Once I turned towards the TV, I noticed that a soccer game between Real Madrid and Manchester City had just gone towards half time and they were saying the highlights of the game, in which they seemed to be tied, 0-0. I turned around to see if there were any Manchester City fans, to my surprise I saw one person wearing their jersey, even though I never thought that somebody would like that team, but of course there were four people wearing Real Madrid jerseys.
Once the television went towards commercials, everyone started having their own conversation, and two guys that looked Mexican, stood up and went around to go towards the Aggie Corner Store. After around 5 minutes, they finally came out of the store and they both seemed to be holding a drink called, "Peace Tea". Once they went back inside, they got in just in time to watch the second half of the game, once the game started the whole room got quite just putting attention to the television. As soon as the game went back on the Manchester City team got closer towards the goal and as the player got closer the guy with the Manchester City jersey started yelling, "go!" multiple times, once the player shot and missed he seemed to had gotten a little bit of disappointment. After a while of the teams going back and forth with nobody scoring, the game finished with the score of 0 on both sides and everyone left right away with faces of disappointment.

Please Don't Drink and Drive

The library is quiet today when I first walk in. There are only four other people here, five counting the man in sweats who walked in at the same time as me. The Asian male is here, as usual, and everyone is working hard on homework. The atmosphere on campus begins to change around this time as finals approach, with less students goofing off and more students cramming for tests and writing last minute papers. There is a woman wandering around, possibly looking for a book, but she is doing so very quietly. Suddenly, an older man and a blond woman enter. The blond woman seems to be escorting the older man around the library, and she looks nervous. The older man takes his time to stand in the corner of the quiet zone and have a good look around. He doesn’t say a word, but nods his head when he is ready to move on. The blond woman tells him that next they will be going around the corner as they begin to leave. Perhaps the library has inspections and the older man is here to do the job? The way the blond woman is keeping her distance, but staying very close to the older man makes me think it is some sort of inspection or checkup.

The couple that was here last week is back again. This time they decided to sit together at the same table. Now that they are sitting at the same table, they only have one computer open and are pointing to the screen while talking about something. They are speaking so low that I cannot even tell what they are saying. She looks like the princess Jasmine, so I will call her Jasmine for her pseudonym. Jasmine leans in very close to the boyfriend with glasses, but they never touch one another. When they are done talking about whatever is on the computer, Jasmine scoots her chair away from his and begins writing on a piece of paper. After a couple of minutes, the boyfriend gets tired of working and stares at the ceiling. He stays that way for a while, so I think he has fallen asleep. The boyfriend bolts awake, however, when a man sitting in the corner by the window begins talking. He is speaking so loud that it shocked almost everyone in the room who is used to the silence we have been enjoying. Loud-mouth has his headphones in, and is holding his cell phone away from him while looking at the screen. This causes me to think that loud-mouth must be Facetiming someone. Loud-mouth is speaking in a different language, Spanish, and must be talking so loud because he can’t hear himself outside the headphones. Because I haven’t learned how to speak Spanish yet, I can’t understand what he is saying, but I can tell he is talking to a buddy by his tone of voice and the curse words I recognize.

Another couple has settled at a table, and they both have giant cups of iced Starbucks drinks. The man has a chain around his neck, and the woman has a lacey see-through shirt. Lacey begins talking about another man who is taking a lot of classes, and says that she doesn’t know how he handles the workload. Chain-neck replies very smugly that this is the other man’s third time taking chemistry, and they laugh about it with each other, commenting on how many classes they have failed. Even though the man in the corner is being loud, they are both speaking quietly and being considerate of everyone around them. They are talking about their chemistry professor in a very disapproving way, but chain-neck doesn’t seem to care as much as lacey. Lacey is ranting and raving about how the chemistry professor doesn’t give any grades back until the end of the semester, and I remember hearing about the professor from someone else before. Lacey thinks she should be required to give grades back every week so they can see their grades before the semester ends and they get a surprise. In the time that I have taken notes about their class, they have moved on to talking about how they think the drinking age should be lowered (no wonder they are failing classes). They are interesting to watch converse with one another, because they are sitting across from each other, on opposite sides, but lean in to one another as they talk. Lacey does most of the talking, and chain-neck listens and says “really,” and “wow,” and “no way,” appropriately. It seems like he is interested in her because he is obviously a little bored, but keeps listening. They are joined by a male in a bright green shirt, but as soon as they start talking about friends driving under the influence, I cannot force myself to listen to them any longer.

Jasmine and her boyfriend have now left, so there are two open tables left in the library. The library is always quiet when I first get here, and busy by the time I leave. This is probably because most students prefer to take classes in the afternoon, instead of early in the morning like I do. A man in khaki shorts has come in and he sat at a table next to a girl he knows. They say hello to one another, very formally, and talk about their finals. They are sitting far apart and are not as quiet as neck-chain and lacey. Their conversation ends quickly, however, and they both get to work. Another male has walked in, carrying a big bag of Hot Cheetos. Cheetos stands in the middle of the room, presumably looking for a seat. Even though there are more tables open than usual, Cheetos can’t seem to figure out where he wants to sit. After looking from the Asian male, to me, to the man in khaki shorts talking in the corner, he decides to sit by khaki shorts against the wall. Instead of leaving a table between him and khaki shorts like most people do, Cheetos sits down right next to khaki shorts, pulls out his laptop, and gets to work. It’s possible he didn’t sit by me or the Asian male because there are no open seats near me, except for the one directly across from me, and one open across from the Asian male. Cheetos could possibly be observing people as well, because every time I look up from my notes he is watching others and typing on his laptop. After five minutes, the number of people in the quiet zone has doubled and I am happy to get a phone call telling me it’s time to leave campus.

Watch what you say

Watch what you say

Blake’s was packed full for the first fifteen minutes. Barney and Pinky Thumbs aren’t here this time so it seems as though my visit will be less eventful. There is a group of four gentlemen sitting in front of me going on about the errands they have to do today. By the looks of their clothing they are maintenance. The man on the left (goatee) leans over to talk to the man on right (silver fox) and asks him what he has going on at noon. Silver Fox replies with a confused look on his face and says, “What in the world does the moon have to do with this?” It would appear that Silver Fox has a bit of hearing issues. Goatee just laughs and goes back to his food. The other two gentlemen (Lefty and Righty) decided to play on this loss of hearing. Lefty tells Silver that Goatee called him a loon and Righty says that he calls him that all the time. Silver lifts his hand and smacks Goatee in the chest and says, “You start sayin’ stuff like that you’re gonna end up with Copenhagen in your burrito.” Goatee politely flips Lefty and Righty the bird.

There is a couple in the far left corner attempting to study but as far as I can tell the young lady is just ranting about someone in of her class. Her boyfriend is just nodding and trying to get away with as few words as he can. After the rant she gives her attention back to her laptop and remains that way for the next five minutes. The boyfriend pulls out his phone and begins to play a game. His frustration seems to be growing because I see him mouth the word dammit every so often. Not long after, the girlfriend starts going on about another subject that appears to be unrelated to school. The boyfriend looks at her and says something to offend her and she begins to pack up her stuff. In a panic the boyfriends put his hands up in a gesture that says calm down it’s joke. Whether it was or not is yet to be known.

In the right corner near the computers a very pale white guy is just minding his own business working on homework. Though he is quiet, his body language is very loud. Every thirty seconds or so he starts to scratch his head violently. It appears to be an irritable tick that he has. Unfortunately, that is all he has done for the past ten minutes.

As my time ends I see Barney from last week on her way in and I think, “Why?! This could’ve been very entertaining.”

Fast food restaurant

Me and my friend decided to go eat to a burger place in canpus never been there before so i decived to write this in there. as we walked inside there were some people eating other studying. But a group of student got my attention they were taking about a test that they just took a few hours ago. One of the guys told his friend about question 3 i remeber he said ´´joe was the answer really c ´´ as his friend replied yes. they started arguing how confusing that question really was and how the teacher didnt specifiend the question correclty other student beside his was eating and said ¨guys mr ..so is here lets ask him. after the teacher ordered his food one of the student called him and he sat next to the student they started to talk about the test and that certain answer. He first started explaining the question and he explain the answer as well the student thay was confused was really confuse. The teacher then told them that they still have part B of the exam in case they did bad on part A so they started to set up a study group. they agreed to meet in one of the study room in corbett center second floor on thursday a few hours before the test so they could study and have some material fresh in the min. My time was up and i was able to see how a restaurant in school can be helpful to students and teacher they can interact with each other.

Buffalo Crazy

Buffalo Crazy

Came to Buffalo Wild Wings and a young man of about 18 years old asked whether I wanted to sit at the bar and so I sat at a booth in the corner of the restaurant. The server was tall, thin, had short hair and seemed to have a condition of short term memory loss because she forgot my order. There is a table right in front of me with 4 people. A grandmother and a couple with a small girl around 3 years of age. Everyone at the table was looking right at me because I was having a small argument with the server about not getting my order straight. The waiter (young woman with short blonde hair) seemed to not learn her lesson. She did not have a little notepad to right the orders there. Everybody was getting ready to watch the amazing NBA season ending that was going to happen. Everyone watched all of the news of the Warriors and Kobe Bryant's retirement. I enjoyed my time there and my wings weren't that great though. The wings did not have that much sauce. There was a group that arrived later to the restaurant and they sat at the bar drinking a lot of beer and there was actually one person that seemed to be getting drunk. It was weird to see because it seemed as if it was his first time. He really looked young like if he barely turned 21. Some girls that sat around 3 tables away from me were just staring and I think that I had seen them before in the University but just could not recall where exactly. They were just laughing the whole time and seemed to be having fun. Society nowadays, everybody is always on their phones. Those girls each had iPhones and I actually think they were either texting each other through their phones or they face-timed. Every time a girl looked at another girl then that girl checked her phone and laughed. This went on for a while. The friends at the bar were just talking about the NBA and had some arguments or maybe they were just drunk to where they did not know they were raising their voice. There was an old man that was sitting next to me and he seemed to be bothered with all the noise. I was like "Dude, If you are reading the newspapers and want peace why would you come here of all places!" He also did not get what he ordered and I noticed he did not even tip the waitress. As soon as I was about to leave a large group of people came in and seemed like if they were on a trip or something since they came in vans. I guess I was at Buffalo Crazy at the perfect time.

The Unseen

              While spending the last 5 days in the H building we tend to see a lot and notice a lot that we wouldn’t normally see at another place. Walking the halls of the H building we tend to look around. You see that there are a lot of people who are alone and the only people they talk to are the scrub people. How sad is that when you are in a state that you need support and people to be there, there isn’t anyone there. You just sit there in a room becoming irritated and frustrated of being alone. They could even fall into a depression if they know that they have no one to care for them or support them.

               Walking in and out of this floor I pass many rooms. We have room 219 who has been alone all day. 219 looks at their phone but barely has any energy or strength to hold it up. The only person seen with 219 is the scrub people. Could it be that they don’t have any family here or could it be that they are a john doe and no one knows there are here? Since 219 was on their phone it leads you to believe that someone must know. Later on in the day 219 was no longer there. Could it be that they got better or worse? There are multiple people who are alone like 208, 207, 217, 215 and so one.

                Then there is room 202 who has had people coming in and out just like in 203 which is where we are. Could it be that our cultures customs are much different than others. Our culture is very family oriented and is always there for one another in the good and the bad. It didn’t come to me that this is why these people could be alone. Is it that their culture is different from 202 and 203?  That could be as to why the others only have a visitor for 15 minutes or they have none at all. They could have been raised differently.

               203 has had people in and out all day every day since they have been here. People have been coming from out of town to see said person. It doesn’t matter what it is but if they can’t come to the H building then they want an update though text of phone call. Our phones are constantly going off because people want to know what is going one if things are any better or if they are worse. It’s not that they are being nosy it’s that they want to know that 203 is getting better and that they can worry a little less. We have all been taking turns staying here and keeping 203 company and keeping those who aren’t here informed.