Experiementation

I've decided to change up my commute and stop wearing my iPod to drown out the city, but instead listen to what people are saying, take in the noise around me and try to more carefully observe what's going on around me. Of course, this is only a temporary experiment for I already know that this can't and won't last more than a week. I started it on Tuesday and am already craving my music, or my NPR/This American Life postcast fill. Especially when, like this morning, I'm stuck sitting next to the man who at 8:45 am decides is the proper time to bust out singing R&B music without headphones; that's right, he just felt like singing a Capella for the entire ride. He started out with something awful by I believe, R. Kelly, and then moved on to another something awful by the infamous Usher, and finally the last song, a rendition of something by Boyz to Men, which I unfortunately missed the ending to because we were [finally] at my stop.

I'm also trying to keep track of certain things (some of which I cannot take credit for thinking of) like:

• how many people ask me directly for money on the way to and from work
• how many iPods I see (white ear buds only as this is the only fail-proof way to ensure it is, in fact an iPod, and not one of them crazy zunes or whatever)
• how many times I hear the F word, in any of its many forms
  
• how many times I hear "stand clear of the closing doors please"
• how many times someone approaches me for directions
• how many times I can hear the music of the person next or near to me
• how many times someone steps on my foot

I think that should be enough for now, as it is, that's a lot of things to have to keep track of in the morning when I'm only half awake and in the afternoon, when I'm still only half awake from having spent the day here, in front of this beautiful 30." I think I need a notebook.
Stay Tuned...