Not in public!

There are 50 shades of public behaviour ranging from unexpected, awe-stricken delight to abject horror. I will not be addressing abject horror. That is the evening news and abuses we avert eyes from.

Madonna - you will forever remind me of the best of times, the worst of times.

Hearken ye to the year 2002, I'm pretty sure, in my last year of sweet education. If you are wondering if my favourite kara!oh!ke! song to sing then was Madge's Like a Prayer - you are correct. By the by Ms. Ciccone, thanks for not having ads in front of your music videos.

Getting right back on track - so I am given'er! during this song. Friends Jack and Lo are outside having stimulating discourse over tabacco swirls. Jack turns his head to witness me, not quite so elegant. Whilst given'er, I was also feeling the passion of this song and decided after, no one's counting how many beers, to get down on my knees (like a little prayer). Underestimated the combination of gravity and my lack of equilibrium and ended down on my knees, flat on my back (like a little crab). Jack and Lo, I learn, then rock/paper/scissors for whom has to pull me back to my doddering feet. Jack does so in a gentlemanly fashion, asks if I am ok, I nod yes (still singing, hello) and go back to finish in epic rock fashion.

You know, until this moment I haven't even thought of the audience. I have no idea how that played out before their drunk retinas. hmm.

I love my iPod. So much. You know what I'm saying. When shuffle just finds a magic path and links perfect songs in a love symbiosis. I used to have this happen the most often walking home over the Georgia Street Viaduct at night. My favourite view of the city is from that viaduct.Anyhoo, low level special is when I am internally bursting with joy over one of my current favourites songs and I beam at the world. Then we segue to mid-level. I am now off in my brain on magical tangents. My head is swaying and I am quietly laughing to myself over my savvy bon mots. Wisecracks! I have officially forgotten I am in public. I laugh out loud I am shimmyin' holding onto the subway pole (ay-yoooo!) Like a shotgun, reality intrudes. Usually people are studiously averting their eyes but smiling, so I am happy to have added levity to the commute.

And that's on my own. I have handsy friends who for some reason haven't stopped finding me making high pitched noises, from being randomly jabbed, ass slapped, bresticle grabbed, très amusing. Rude.

Ok, so kind of horror - I saw suffering. Belatedly, although I am at a loss on how to have ameliorated the situation.

I was heading home via the people's chariot after a seminar session. I love people in the streets (ba-da-di-da-day) and, by corollary, public transit if I can't hear them. If I have my iPod in I think nice things about the people around me. If I can hear conversation, I'm upset. I also spend a lot of time on public transit, so I use it to catch up on reading. Blissfully, I was availing myself to these resources and took no notice of those around me. This particular bus ride was jammed, a bum per seat style. I headed to the back since I am a final stop individual and spotted another passenger with their light on and sat down beside since I wouldn't be bothering my fellow passenger with my light. This is a one hour ride. 35 minutes in we stop at the other major drop off point. There seems to be a mad rush to get off but I love people moving with alacrity so I am not alerted to anything being amiss. When I crossed the aisle and was about to resume reading, I noticed the woman I had been sitting next to giving me a quizzical look. I interpreted it as her thinking, 'oh, so I'm not good enough to sit with? Do I stink?' (I was wrong) I smiled a 'no lady, you're great, I just thought we could all use a little more wiggle room.'
Back to my book. Finished it a few minutes later, put it away and settled back to enjoy the last 15 minutes/my iPod. It's then that I realize I can hear someone coughing up a storm past the tunes being pumped into my ears. I look up and realize it's the woman kitty-corner to me, so just in front of where I had been sitting. I'm like, why is she bent over so much to cough which is when she leans back and I see a trail of mucous/liquid from her mouth. LAWDAMERCY! Lady! You are puking in public! (not pointing fingers, just to be clear. I stuck to alleyways/garbage bins in my yout, just sayin.) I am agape and now mentally scanning my inventory/the seats around me to see if there is something to help her when she lurches to her feet and stumble-jogs off the bus. I turn in my mild state of shock to the woman whom I had been sitting next to and exclaim, That woman was sick! To sum up I had been in the middle of the pie eating scene from 'Stand By Me' and was oblivious. My boots had been in the river of sadness.  I felt really bad that I had been clueless but other than getting her kicked off the bus I didn't have a whole lot of resources open to getting her help. Shit. Damn. Let that never be me.

The flip side is that I have been truly astounded and/or delighted by the actions of others around me, beauty in unexpected pauses. And possibly the other side would have voted not in public and I would have lost out. So basically, in re-reading this post-eroo, I realize the memo is let go of public yes's or no's (to an extent, no streaking still - sorry) as I am not being judged and other's anecdotes are sparks that ripple out.