Too Much Technology!!!

I work in a parking garage as a work-study job while I'm in school. Not the most glamorous job but I get paid to do very little work which is great for college. I can do my homework, watch movies, and there's wireless internet in the garage so it's nice. As customers leave the parking garage they pay me for parking, so I see a lot of people every day. Most are nice, some are mean (then again, parking is shockingly expensive so I guess I'd be mad too but still...it's not MY fault! haha) but I've noticed that increasingly there are so many people on their cell phones as they leave. Some people don't even acknowledge me they just shove money at me and drive away. Today an SUV drove up and there was a woman who had headphones on and she was talking on the phone and the guy in the passenger's seat was listening to his ipod with headphones in. The two sitting there in their SUV with no acknowledgment of me or of each other struck me as a little funny and very sad. Scary how cut off from each other we all are. Sometimes I notice the same thing when I'm riding the bus. Almost everyone, or at least the ones under 30, have headphones in or they're on their cell phone. No one talks to each other anymore. You can't just strike up a conversation with a stranger, they'll look at you like you're crazy. How strange society has become. Also, the other day I was in a coffee shop and there was a man sitting in the corner, talking to himself. Whenever someone would walk by he'd say "hello what's your name?" Not one person told him their name. One woman awkwardly turned around, looked at him, said "oh, uh, hi..." and walked away. He came up to me and asked me my name. I told him, then I asked his name. His name was Charlie. He smiled at me and then walked away. He wasn't doing any harm, didn't ask for money or anything, just being friendly. Maybe he had some kind of mental disorder going on but hey, there's no reason to be ignoring him. I had that simple little interaction with a random stranger and it was nice. I met someone new. How often do we meet someone new just on the street or on the bus or in a coffee shop anymore? We just cut ourselves off from everyone around us. I do it too. Sometimes I have my headphones in when riding the bus home or walking to class on campus. Sometimes I will consciously leave my ipod at home just to leave myself open to any random conversations or interactions that might happen along my way.

Well anyways that's my random thought for the day. Last weekend was a fun one. Friday night I met Kira at a place near my apartment that has all kinds of awesome tea and I tried bubble tea for the first time - quite an experience! It's not your average tea but it was pretty good once I got used to the tapioca balls at the bottom of the cup, haha! Saturday I drove up to Fort Collins for a "sustainable living fair" which was pretty cool, and then Sunday I went to the Journey of Hope concert/benefit thing at Red Rocks, also very fun. Greg Mortenson, the author of Three Cups of Tea spoke at the event, as well as a bunch of other people, and there was music, and tea...all kinds of good stuff. It was cool, and definitely made me want to go out and help people around the world! Hopefully someday I can get to the point where I can do some traveling and helping of others.

This week I've started to feel kind of sick so that's unfortunate...and the weather is getting much cooler (it snowed a tiny bit yesterday...what?! It's September!) so it definitely feels like fall. I'm ok with that though. The summer was too hot...I'm ready for cooler weather.