I was at the DMV today for over 6 hours. Standing in 7 different lines and sitting in 3 different waiting rooms. Of course, I brought a couple of newspapers and a book to read.
Looking around at the masses, I realized that fewer than 10% of the others were doing anything to occupy themselves while waiting. These people just sat there for hours on end.
I’ve noticed this all over the place: on the Metro, on the bus, airports, waiting rooms, etc… Even people who are with somebody seem content to just sit there and stare off into space.
Now, I realize there is the occassional person who is contemplating significant things, thinking through mathematical proofs, mentally developing their next novel, and such. However, it seems that most are content to just sit and stare. Sit and stare.
My theory? Many of these people are so used to being passively entertained (television) that they have lost their desire for active intellectual stimulation. I’m not saying only Shakespeare and Milton would do (I mostly read horror, sci-fi, newspapers, and political books); but when one has hours of nothing to do but wait, what a great chance to catch up on something enjoyable to read!
So, how many of y’all are book-toters? For those who are not, what do you think about to keep yourself from getting bored to tears?
I’m a book-toter. I live in fear that I will have to wait in a magazineless waiting room for more than 5 minutes. I have no clue what people do who don’t read. I can’t sit and stare at a wall, I’ll go nuts in ten minutes.
I once quit a job over this issue. Well, maybe not only this issue, but it was a major factor. Part of my job included copying 10 or 15 disks every few weeks. I used to bring in a newspaper or a book to read while I copied the disks. My boss took me to task for this, telling me it “didn’t look good” to have me sitting at my desk reading a newspaper. I said “But you know I have to copy the disks - what do you expect me to do? Stare at a wall?”
She answered “The company pays you. If they want you to stare at a wall, you should stare at a wall.”
I was dumbfounded. I think I quit about 4 weeks later.
I recently had an 11 hour wait at Orlando International Airport. I read 2 books, several magazines & listened to the broadway version of RENT twice (I believe I can now perform any part). I also spent 1 solid hour doing nothing. Nothing. Not even people watching.
I work in video post production. I spend my entire day being bombarded by images, music, sound effects …etc. I actually enjoy having time where I can just sit & ignore everything. I have gotten to the point where if I’m zoned out & you talk to me I probably won’t notice you unless you touch me.
I always have my latest book available for lines/traffic jams/lunchtime, etc. I don’t know how people can just stand there. At the very least I usually have my Palm Pilot with me, where I can play a game or two.
After sitting for literally thousands of hours in doctor’s office waiting rooms over the years with my son and/or mom, etc. I learned to bring a book. My mom and I used to sit at the cancer clinic for 6-8 hours at any given time and if you didnt have something to occupy your mind, you would go nuts.
I don’t bring books when I go someplace and end up waiting. If I’m sitting there waiting (pre kids and wife) I’d mentally develop stories I’d like to write down.
Now, however… chasing after two kids takes up time.
Long answer: I constantly have reading material with me. I frequently have a spare with me just in case I unexpectedly finish the book I am reading.
I can’t go to sleep if I don’t read first. I may only read for 30 seconds, but if I don’t do it, I won’t sleep.
If I’m on the pot and somehow didn’t grab something first, there is the shampoo bottle.
If I don’t have a book with me so that I can read while I eat lunch, I won’t eat lunch. I am amazed when I see people eating at a diner and just sitting there doing nothing.
If Baglady wants to go shopping (I NEVER want to go shopping) I will go along just so I can sit in the car and read.
I have personally experienced the story told by Bill Hicks (not anymore) - “it looks like we have a reader here.”
jesus, god, used to be I couldn’t go anywhere without a backpack full of books or toys to keep myself entertained in lines and waiting rooms and airport lobbies, but lately it occurs to me that one can also use the time for meditation and self-reflection. I used to look at the starers like they were some sorta freaks, but lately the people who need constant entertainment are looking stranger and stranger to me.
Also, why not start up a conversation with the other bored, waiting people? Seems like not a lot of us do that either, we seem to prefer being in our own isolated spaces…
I can’t stand having nothing to read. In fact, I stockpile books in my house in case there is a freak blizzard and we’re stuck at home for a couple of weeks. (Note to self: perhaps self should look into stockpiling flashlights, candles and batteries as well).
One thing I have noticed is that doctor’s offices and other waiting rooms no longer have the selection of magazines that they used to. Now, if they have anything at all it is a dozen hunting magazines and one three year old issue of Time. Dang it, if they are going to keep me waiting for an hour past my scheduled appointment, the least they can do is provide me with some nice trashy reading material that I’m too ashamed to buy for myself. Why can’t they carry People? Now if I’m in the mood for celebrity gossip I’ve got to go all the way to my Mother’s house and read them in my Father’s reading room (aka the downstairs bathroom).
I almost always bring a magazine or a newspaper with me, pretty much whereever i go, and if im in a “waiting situation” i buy something to read…
If i for some reason cant get ahold of anything to read and i didnt bring it with me, i ALWAYS have my MD or CDplayer with me and music listening + people watching usually does the trick… that and then ofcourse anything to do with math… Whenever im not really doing anything math questions just pop up in my head and i sit there (staring out in thin air at absolutely NOTHING) figuring out stuff…
I wonder if theres people out there who actually does NOTHING at all… like no thoughts no nothing… just… silence and emptyness… coz some people definately look like that when theyre waiting… it looks like theyve completely shut off their brain.
I’m pretty good about letting my mind wander during the boring times (which is bad when I almost miss stops). Like, say, on the hour El ride back from downtown Chicago yesterday I planned how to visit my girlfriend one last time before she leaves the country for four months…
But when it comes to eating by myself (at home or otherwise), I have to have something to read.
Oh, and I’ve said this before, but have you ever been to somebody’s house and noticed that they have no books on display? Not even a flippin’ newspaper on the coffee table. Creepy isn’t it? I guess they could store all their books and magazines in closets or cupboards, but somehow I doubt it. How is this possible?
I tend to do that actually… mostly at airports or train stations or stuff like that so i always have an excuse to go sit somewhere else if the person annoys the fuck outta me… “oh there comes my train… gotta go… bye” and then go sit somewhere else… Also i usually find it interesting talking to foreign people and about travel… and those seems to be the best places for that type of convo…
I dont talk to people at the doctors or stuff like that… its just like… people got their problems to worry about there… you dont really feel like talking to other ppl… u just wnat it overwith (whatever the reason youre there is) I mean people dont go to the doc. coz their life is just peachy and everything is great… and i really dont feel like hearing about their misery when i got my own shit to worry about (not that i go to the doctor all that much… but anyways)
Im always happy to be alone with my thoughts tho… so i dont mind not talking to anyone at all.
When I expect to wait somewhere, I carry at least one book and often a notepad. I alternate between reading, staring blankly (thinking very deeply often gives me a “nobody’s home” look), reviewing things I’ve read in the past (I’m told this is disconcerting–my eyes focus and track as if I’m actually reading the lines on the page again), and writing things (random thoughts, poems, stories, games, or little doodles). I also talk to people–the notepad seems to attract conversation.
When I’m caught unprepared, I either have the blank stare or the tracking eyes–neither of which are likely to incline people to speak to me.
Hmmm, needing to be constantly entertained, whether by book or game or music or whatever seems to me more of a problem than those blank stares. I have very rarely had a problem with boredom, although admittedly I do sometimes, but I am one of those people who you’ll see with blank stares. What am I doing, could be one of many things, thinking about mundane stuff, trying to work out some problem, daydreaming, reviewing happy memories, reviewing stories I have read or seen, trying to focus on important life goals (currently being more patient and loving primarily), reflecting on the beauty of the world even in its mundane details.
As a child, and still sometimes now, I would look at people during these down times and try to guess what they were thinking about and how they differed from me and how they were similar. I would wonder if they ever did the same thing and might be wondering what I was thinking about. I would/will play mental games, like trying to visualize an object as realistically as possible (including smell/taste/sound/feel/look). Often I am just basically thinking about nothing, a sort of peaceful meditative state.
Patience is important to me, and so I view these waits as times to practice patience. And I have the feeling that if my own mind isn’t entertaining enough then I am doing something wrong.
If nothing else, I’ll look at Wal-Mart ads or restroom graffitti…I’ll even converse with the brain-dead. Anything but just sit there for hours.
Now, once I master Zen…
Peace,
TN*hippie
I also bring along something to read if I anticipate being bored. It’s funny: the people who think it’s rude of me to do this (they see it as “shutting other people out”) are later admitting they wished they’d brought something too.
I find that my mind is my best friend. Daydreaming is what I do best. Usually I can stand having nothing to do for hours on end. Sometimes just for fun I lay on the floor and just think. I’ve wasted a lot of time doing this. But usually if I anticipate having nothing to do for a while, (i.e. docs’ office) I bring a book to keep me company.
I can go either way with this issue. I love to read and frequently take books along if I anticipate a wait. However, I don’t feel like I’m going to expire if I can’t read. I will daydream or peoplewatch if I can’t read.
