Today on the train...

I am starting a new blog entry series about various random happenings that I encounter on the train on my way to and from work called "Today on the train..."

Well, tonight on the train I sat across from two men who were taking a trip back from Chicago to Highland Park. One was talking on the phone almost the whole time. He had a very flamboyant voice inflection and told each of the several people he spoke with the same story about how he shopped at Water Tower Place and it was "like a Trump building," how he saw Stepford Wives and thought that "it was crap," saw the old water tower buildings that still stood even though they were built before the Chicago Fire and was amazed, and so forth. The interesting thing was, I really got a new, fresh perspective on the city from this excited man, since these are all sites that I have seen many times (well, not the Stepford Wives), and I also learned exactly what he thought of every. single. thing. that he encountered today. The other aspect of this particular situation that I found interestingwas how when people recount their experiences to various friends and family, they tend to adopt a particular script and continue to stick with it with each repeat of the telling of the experience.

Oh, "Human Behaviour." (Bjork)