Danger: Eavesdropping may result in judgement.

Hello all,

The Knight Shift has had a makeover, as you can tell. I thought it looked cooler. Plus, stars...night...It relates.

Well, tonight on the blog'o'sphere (I sincerely hate that term) we will touch on the timeless rude act of eavesdropping and the fact that it is alright to judge, as long as you are conscious about it.

First off, I have to say that it was pretty cool being published in the Phoenix. I was glad that they went through and edited the post before publishing it, because I had some bad mistakes in there. Like the Cranberries don't sing "Time after Time" Cyndi Lauper does. In my defense, they sound similar, I love both bands equally, and I'm pretty sure neither the Cranberries nor Cyndi actually read this blog, so who did I really offend? It was cool to see someone on the shuttle the other day reading my post, that is a feeling that I hope to never forget. Because I was watching their face the whole time, which is odd because I actually support that action in the post he was reading...AH! INCEPTION! I'm using that for anything that has layers of understanding. I don't care if it makes sense (which it doesn't).

So I was having a conversation with codename: Above the Caps Lock the other day, and we were talking about how awesome eavesdropping is, which obviously sparked from listening to two girls conversation about a boy...which I have to tell you, is a common eavesdropped conversation. It is definitely one of rudest things that you can do because pretty much from birth you're told to mind your own damn business. Still, I feel that its fun, unavoidable at times, and most of all necessary.

I personally hate when I'm walking down the sidewalk and someone is walking just a slow enough to keep up with me the whole time. In this situation, I say that it is the person in the back that needs to either speed up and go around the person, but then you have to walk far enough ahead to create some space or fall back and create some space. Either way, create some damn space! I don't like when I feel people are listening to what I have to say, and that's mostly because I know what I think when I listen to what other people say.  That person is going to be judged for whatever they say. Not even the whole conversation, just the small part that the outsider hears is enough to judge them from the point of view of the Eavesdropper. Which is shitty, but it happens.

I'm not going to stop eavesdropping because I judge people based on these small encounters. I'm totally conscious of this decision, and right after I judge them I remind myself that I caught a 5 to 10 second moment of someone's life. That is so insignificant and tells you absolutely nothing about who they are. Who the hell am I to judge anyone on 5 to 10 seconds of a persons 20 something years of life? Even if its a slightly longer conversation 2-3 minutes you can't know a person from that. You can know elements about them, but not who they really are. Still, it is not going to stop me from doing it, and I think you should too.

Listen to other people and hear how stupid they can be sometimes. I don't care about context at all, just listen. We listen to one another all the time because its vital to not being a selfish egotistical douchebag and also because we need to train ourselves in ways of the words. We need to hear what not to say just as much as what to say. Its sort of like when someone peer reviews your paper, you may think that what you just wrote is gold, but when someone is looking at that from their own perspective it may look like a piece of shit. We don't catch these mistakes because lets face it, most of us don't critically analyze our own actions or words that often, especially in everyday situations.

This is also the reason that most only-children tend to be socially awkward to extremes of shy and barely talks or annoying because they don't filter anything they say. I think this is because all of their life, all their parents ever did was praise them or hate them. I really think it could go either way on that nurturing path, but regardless a parent is too of a extreme to train a kid for the real world they will face. They don't relate to their children's generation so how can they teach us how to talk and interact with people our own age? We need brothers and sisters and cousins to tell us to "Shut the Fuck Up!" when we make a dumb remark. Yea, it sucks, pretty embarrassing, and definitely leaves some scars, however those scars are constant reminders to not repeat the same mistakes. If you are an only child out there, I'm not saying your like this. I've met my fair share of normal only-child kids who are awesome, and they totally dick with my theory.

That's obviously not the only factor that dicks with my theory. There are certain people that tend to be louder then most, or have more douchebaggery than others. We see these people everyday, and I don't know if they're only-children and personally I don't care, but when you are having a conversation on your cellphone on the "L" and don't want people to listen then I suggest you talk at a respectable tone, tell them you will call them later, or simply shut up and don't answer it. If you do chose not to answer it, silence your ringer because no one wants to listen to it. I got rick-rolled the other day by some little asshole who didn't feel the need to silence his four missed calls.

Still, I ask you to eavesdrop with caution. There are things out there that we can't unknow... On the other end, have fun with other people. That's where the game where you make an absurd awkward statement right as a group of people are passing you.

For instance a statement like, "So, that's when I stopped showering with my Dad/Uncle..."

August logically explained to me why Uncle was creepier to shower with than your Dad, and I agree, but still don't underestimate the creepiness of either option. Sub a "Sandusky" in there if you're trying to be relevant. Don't hold yourself back to just that statement, "Long story short, the doctor said I can still have sex with it..."  get creative with it! It's all pretty fun, because it shows you that you don't give a shit what strangers think about you, and it shows the Eavesdropper not to talk in public about showering with relatives.

Anyway, that is all for tonight. I hope you guys have a good week, and I will be back on Tuesday. Listen to each other, but also listen to strangers because they're probably more interesting than you anyway.


Night, Nite, Knight,
Jarrad